Study Sources A and B. The main story in both sources is about a group of immigrants who arrived in the UK in the 1950s from the Caribbean. They are known as the ‘Windrush generation’. The migrants were led to believe that they had been given UK citizenship at the time. In 2010, after the election of a new government, which was more hostile to immigrants, many of the Windrush migrants were deported (sent back to the Caribbean). The backlash from this led to the resignation of the Home Secretary at the time, Amber Rudd.
SOURCE A: Front Cover of The Daily Telegraph newspaper, 17th April 2018
https://a2018.kiosko.net/04/17/uk/daily_telegraph.750.jpg
SOURCE B: The Guardian website, 17th April 2018
Theresa May apologises for treatment of Windrush citizens | Commonwealth immigration | The Guardian
Question:
Analyse the different social representations in Source A and Source B.
Apply Gilroy’s theory of representation in your answer. [10]
In your answer you need to include:
An explanation of the theorist establishing the key words to return to in your essay.
Reference to the headlines - language, size, fonts etc.
Reference to subheadlines - language, size, fonts etc.
Reference to the image/s - Use of mise en scene to encode a message + anchoring text
+ ANYTHING ELSE YOU WISH TO INCLUDE.
NB: There is no specific order in which you need to address these elements.
Gilroy is principally concerned with the way that Britain's part in colonialism contributed to 'Black Atlantic' culture and with the impact of postcolonial melancholia. He claims that British society is shaped by media to distrust, otherise and villainise non-whites, and to construct a belief in white superiority.
ReplyDeleteGilroy:
ReplyDeleteo Trans-Atlantic culture (African, American, Caribbean and British) – blended culture containing all these other cultures.
o Colonial history influences attitudes towards ethnicity and the idea that white cultures are superior.
o Demonises immigrant groups. In a predominantly white community, black men and women are portrayed badly in the media.
Gilroy proposed an idea of ‘post-colonial theory’; he suggested that Britain was unable to fully comprehend and understand British colonial history leading to current generations retaining a positive outlook and attachment to it, despite the horrors that occurred. In the media this is presented as the belief in the superiority of predominately white, western culture, and a general alienisation and dislike of immigrants or anything ‘foreign’.
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ReplyDeleteBritain colonised many countries, which they failed to mourn the loss of. This created ‘postcolonial melancholia’ which is the term coined by Gilroy to explain the attachment to an idealistic version of British colonial history exists, an is responsible for shaping attitudes towards race and ethnicity. For example, in the media we can often see how producers use an ‘us and them’ approach, where white western culture seems to assume the superior position on the social hierarchy, while immigrants are criminalised and demonised.
ReplyDeleteGilroy's primary focus is on how Britain's involvement in colonialism has played a significant role in the development of "Black Atlantic" culture, as well as how postcolonial melancholia has affected it. According to him, the media has shaped British society to be sceptical, dehumanizing, and demonizing towards people of colour, while promoting the idea of white supremacy. This has resulted in a widespread societal belief in the superiority of the white western civilisation.
ReplyDeleteGilroy suggests that, in media, the representation of ethnicity is down to ‘postcolonial melancholia’ and how it has segregated immigrants from western civilisation creating an ‘us and them’ attitude, which is used by media to criminalise immigrants and to create a superiority complex for white western citizens. He also believes in his post-colonial theory, that there is transatlantic culture mixing African, American, Caribbean and British from slave trade called the ‘Black Atlantic’ culture.
ReplyDeleteGilroy argued that in a predominantly white society black men and women were portrayed in negative way to the masses through the media. During the 70's and 80's newspapers related stories of riots to multi-ethnic communities and repeatedly reported of muggings and violence unproportionate to reality.
ReplyDeletehttps://media-studies.com/paul-gilroy/
ReplyDeleteGilroy believed “unstable” and politicised identities are “always unfinished, always being remade” and ethnicity is an “infinite process of identity construction" In other words, ethnicity and national identity are not actually fixed or permanent. His concept of the black Atlantic argues that the huge movement of people backwards and forwards across the ocean has created a dynamic intercultural identity that is beyond the scope of national borders and ethnic classifications.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/GzAJCoU9dLk
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