A/B grade essays on Collective Identity (they are focusing on different

groups and may have different theorists but it gives you an idea of
structure and style)
IMMIGRANTS
6) Analyse the impact of media representation on the collective identity of one or more
groups of people
There are many ways that immigrants living in Britain are represented by the media;
most which I was not aware of before studying them. At the beginning of my studies of
the topic of immigration I found that my perspective and opinion was fairly basic. It was
not until I developed a deeper understanding of the different representations that I began
to realise the impact the media has on representing immigrants. In summer 2010 user
generated content was uploaded to the Internet titled My tram experience and was the
first representation I found that truly shocked me. The video is of a woman called Emma
West who is expressing her views on immigration. She makes the claim you aint British,
youre black and tells an immigrant on the tram to go back. Through interaction and
convergence the video went viral and I was surprised to see numbers of responses from
people of all classes and ages both agreeing and disagreeing with her opinion. It was not
until I looked closer at theory that I began to understand why. Gilroy makes the claim that
Blackness and Britishness are mutually exclusive which is evident in the text when
claims you aint British, youre black and Chambers claims that one view of Britain is
anglo-centric and backward looking evident in go back. This then begins to provide a
case of where this representation of immigrants has come from and how her opinion
developed. In the 1960s newspapers, in the main, kept to the journalistic values of
balance, fairness and accuracy, which allowed their representations to be what Albert
Szymarshi claimed to be pluralistic. In April 1968 The Guardian reported on the
consequences of Enoch Powells Rivers of blood speech, expressing racist views, with
the headline Mr Enoch Powell dismissed which is both a formal and balanced
representation. However, contemporary newspapers instead follow claims by the
Glasgow Media Group and display what Stuart Hall claimed to be hegemonic
representations, providing an understanding of where Emma Wests opinions have
derived from. In September 2011 The Express published the headline Immigration
crackdown needed for the good of the country which negatively represents immigration
and expresses Glasgow Media Groups claim that journalists reduce complex issues to
simple explanations. This is due to the fact that it blames problems that occur within
Britain on the presence of immigrants, which provides a simple, unproven explanation
and also demonstrates The Glasgow Media Groups second claim that journalists reenforce stereotypes, as blame is stereotypically played on a minority group. The
headlines are viewed by millions which provides an explanation to why similar views are
reflected within society. They also provide evidence of what Anderson claims to be an
imagined community that is involved with having a national identity. Many individuals
within todays society are holding the view of a community where British attributes are
present and are not allowing for the positive attributes that can be brought from a multiethnic society. Film on the other hand can be said to express more of a pluralistic
representation in both historical and contemporary texts but in todays world is not as
well received. In 1959 Sapphire, directed by Dearden, was released. The plot involved a
young pregnant woman who was murdered, the white detectives set about trying to
solve the mystery of her murder and discover that she had black blood and it was a
racist attack. It displays a pluralist representation thoroughly evident when the white
detectives are speaking to a black club owner and both are represented in a balanced
manner. The film was well received and won a BAFTA for the Best British Film the year it
was released demonstrating how these views were present within society. Ghost (2006),
directed by Mike Broomfield, showed similar representations but was only seen by
thousands. It involves the plight of illegal Chinese immigrants entering Britain and again

is pluralistic throughout. The sequence where the immigrants are trapped in a box in a
lorry, the camera is in the box held at shoulder height, the lighting is dark and the
breathing is amplified to create a claustrophobic feel. This then shows a balanced
representation of immigrants but is not one that is strongly evident within society. It
attempts to offer Chambers ex-centric view of Britain but those who view an anglocentric representation are not likely to have seen the film. Despite this We created
music expression (Gray) offers an ex-centric view of Britain which is homogeneous
and is well received within todays society. Dizzzie Rascal expresses the genre in his 2003
album Boy in Da Corner which includes tracks such as Jus a Rascal that portray lyric
evidence of socially and economically deprived areas of Britain and a multi-ethnic
environment. In 2006 MTV Base ranked it the sixth best album of all time. It eliminates
what Snow claims to be real or imagined shared attributes and experieces that are
anglo-centric, such as, all Britains drink tea, and instead offers a multi-ethnic
representation and portrays it positively. This is then a direct contrast to 1990s music era
where bands such as Oasis, Blur and Pulp made up the Britpop era which displays Britain
as anglo-centric. The issue is that Grime is just one small area that represents
immigration in a pluralistic manor. Although it is well received it is not enough to alter a
society where anglo-centric views can be said to be dominant; evident through Emma
West and her responses. To conclude there are many different ways that immigrants are
represented within the media from evaluating all the different methods I found that I was
not as shocked by Emma Wests views, although they are presented differently, they are
reflected in many other texts, particularly newspapers. While there are many pluralistic
representations of immigrants present, they are either not as well received or do not
have a strong enough impact. This then leads to the claim that they are mainly
represented negatively.
This answer ranges across a number of different media forms and makes some good
reference to theoretical viewpoints and specific critics. It is argued well and is systematic
in its approach to the topic. Examples are frequently contemporary but rooted in
historical context. Overall, there is definitely enough here to justify level 4 in all three
areas. Total marks 42

YOUTH
Collective identity implies a homogenous group, each with common interests and a
similar lifestyle. Representation is the way in which the media mediate, repackage or represent individuals, people, places and social groups to audiences. Anything can be a
representation. Theorists like Richard Dyer argue there are political and social reasons for
maintaining a hegemonic collective identity in perpetuating social divisions, maintaining
the dominant culture and legitimising inequality. Hegemonic assumptions about
collective identity are often reinforced and circulated by the media as common sense
and this can lead to marginalisation and can also embed ideological beliefs e.g. the myth
of older age and its association with wisdom. This in turn can be underpinned by moral
panics wayward youth culture was seen to blame for the 2011 London riots and
applying Stanley Cohens appropriation from Wilkins 1964 of the concept deviancy
amplification, youth was demonised in tabloid, mid-market tabloid and television news
coverage.
Changes in technology and the liberalisation of social values has led to more pluralistic
representations however. Web 2.0 has changed the face of media and technology
empowering youth more, not just in relation to the manifest rise of youth entrepreneurs.
It suggests a more confident identity and a more valued contribution to society than
archaic cultural stereotypes. David Gauntlett argues that the idea of identity is
complicated and that everyones got one with the added suggestion that the idea of
a collective identity is slowly being eroded this would link with the idea of the
young prosumer as both consumer and producer of media, exploring digital parameters
and sharing media via social networking. David Buckingham approaches the concept of
identity in a slightly different way suggesting that it is the way we relate to, or fit in with
those around us. This in turn could relate to notions of the disintegration of youth sub
cultures, prevalent historically but now perhaps recognising the power of the individual
and with identity as a unique marker of a person.
Cultural stereotypes and moral panics still remain however but arguably are as less
obvious than before. Passive computer game culture, obesity, young female drinkers and
smokers, unemployment and general social deviance are all still recurring though and are
often used to blame for problems within society. Quadrophenia is a 1979 film that can be
used as a historical frame of reference to explore the changing representation of youth
culture using a 1964 event on Brighton seafront as a visually iconic, recognisable
narrative the film builds to a climax by recreating the well-known fight between two
traditionally opposed youth sub cultures - the Mods and the Rockers. Stanley Cohen
described the event as a moral panic that was used to show how youth had become out
of control but in the film it could be argued elements of these sub cultures are
represented as glamorous and aspirational. Produced by The Who, the film had a primary
objective to entertain target audiences and as such, although themes and issues are
explored, particularly through the character of Jimmy it is a musical journey as much as a
spiritual one. A young Ray Winstone plays a biker while Sting (Ace Face) is represented as
the ultimate Mod with his Vespa GS 160 scooter that Jimmy drools over; his good looks,
smart dress, attitude and the ability to pay his fine in court immediately by cheque.

This representation is later smashed with Jimmy seeing the Ace Face for what he is as a
Bell Boy in a hotel, running around catering for the dominant classes which leads to his
complete break away from any structure or support mechanisms whether family,
girlfriend or youth sub culture. Older, middle class representations
inQuadrophenia reflect Gramscis concept of cultural hegemony middle class lives are
seen normal, natural and commonsense while the behaviour of Jimmy and his friends is
seen as different and unacceptable with social class as much as youth underpinning.
This struggle for acceptability changes over time in as much as the negative
representations of age and social class in 1979 is seen differently in more contemporary
television teen dramas such as Skins (E4, 2007 2013) and Misfits (E4 2009 2013) and
British films such as Fish Tank (2009) and The Selfish Giant (2013). The idea
of spectatorship and the encoding and decoding of, according to Stuart Hall dominant
preferred meanings is also important with interpretations varying.
Jimmy, for example could be seen as a more contemporary representation of youth (in
the end) looking to break away from his social, and in the end cultural straightjacket with
which he becomes so embittered and disappointed. In the 21st century his mental illness
and problems potentially would be identified but in Quadrophenia he resembles notions
of difference and the outsider as he reflects and obsesses over his own mod identity
which leads ultimately, applying Taijfel and Turner to his marginalisation from the
collective group (the Mods) to which being part of was so important. Jimmy is semi
suicidal, pill pops and in a final scene, the dominant reading of which is that he takes his
own life by riding the Ace Faces scooter off a cliff provides audience with a negotiated or
oppositional reading Jimmy instead is symbolically trashing the culture of the Mod and
with it, his collective identity. He is seen at the beginning of the film walking away from
the cliff furtheranchoring his individualism with the realisation that youth culture and the
politics of youth is built on fragile foundations.
In Subculture: The Meaning of Style, Dick Hebdige posits the idea that youth sub culture
maintains divisions in society identifying two stereotypes youth as fun and youth as
trouble. In The Selfish Giant, an independent social realist film distributed in 2013 the
latter trouble stereotype is explored it portrays the dysfunctional lives of two young
boys, Arbor and Swifty who steal copper cable for Kitten, the unscrupulous boss of a
scrap yard in Bradford, west Yorkshire. The film compares well with Fish Tank as two films
from the same genre focusing on the representation of youth and regional identity but
also for British film, seemingly unable again to detach itself from issues of social
class. The Selfish Giant explores the innocence of childhood, myths surrounding this
construct and the idea of consequences. Both boys attend school but Arbor is
permanently excluded and both have as priorities making money, long before they would
be stereotypically seen as legitimately on the job market. Arbor actually gives some of
the money he makes to his family in a reversal of parental expectations.
The film stops short of developing a macro narrative on the problems faced across the UK
in impoverished areas where young boys will risk their lives stealing cable from railway
tracks and other hazardous areas like behind power stations. At the same time youth is
represented as arrogant, selfish, aggressive, deviant and criminal but Arbor and Swifty
are also framed as kind, emotive and vulnerable with the key criminal in the film the
adult owner of the scrap yard who exploits them. Skins, on occasion offers similar
narratives to encode a challenging representation of initially deviant youth but
as victims of adult crime. In series four, episode one audiences immediately are
introduced to youth culture through drugs and club culture but soon into the episode we
see a morally correct young DJ challenging his unethical club owner boss who on a
regular basis has no problem with having his club flaunting health and safety guidelines
in terms of numbers allowed in.

The Selfish Giant has parallels with the 2007-2014 long running Barnardos Believe in
Children campaign, also social realism which asks the public to challenge the aggressive,
cultural stereotypes they are being presented with in the poster campaign and think
again about the vulnerability of youth. Martin Hoyles in The Politics of
Childhood examines how and why children have gradually been separated from the adult
world of work, in turn leading to a form of marginalisation where their role in society is
stereotypically to be looked after having no economic value (the Barnardos children are
represented as marginalised as everyone has turned their back on them).
Under no circumstances is Hoyles suggesting a return to child labour but points out that
media representations of childhood commonly conform to stereotypical assumptions
while a large proportion of young people earn a small amount of money to sustain
themselves and to facilitate independence. In The Selfish Giant and in Barnardos
advertising Aclands ideology of protection can be studied with Arbor and Swifty
promoting the collective notion that young people are in need of constant surveillance
and monitoring, allowing society and the state to have more control over them. The two
boys in the film strongly challenge this collective ideology on one level but in terms of
narrative outcomes it arguably is reinforced with Arbor hiding under his bed and refusing
to come out until the Swiftys Mum (Swifty has just been fatally electrocuted while with
Arbor stealing cable) appears in a scene that suggests emotional understanding and
forgiveness.

WOMEN
For A2 I have studies the representation of women in both contemporary and
historical media. As David Buckingham noted in 2008, identity is fluid and
changeable and arguably the identity of women in recent times has changed,
some may argue it has become more mediated.
Identity itself refers to who we actually are, the construction of ourselves perhaps
even the representation of ourselves and our social groups that we as media
consumers wish to have. While many such as Buckingham and Gauntlett champion
the fact the create and construct our own identities; others such aa Theordore
Adorno see identity as something pushed upon us by the mass media, that we have
no alternative but to take the dominant identities we are exposed to something is
offered for all so that none may escape, he writes in explanation of this fact. Adorno
therefore argues that our identities are becoming increasingly mediated that is, that
they influenced by the mass media, inherent identifies are weak and influenced by
the media around us.
Nuts magazine is a stereotypical lads mag, aimed at 18-24 year old males. In ana
analysis of the 19-25th March 2010 issue I performed the content proves interesting
with regards to representation of women. Images of semi-naked females in
suggestive poses represent women as victims of symbiotic annihilation. They are
portrayed as merely objects of sexual pleasure for men the images have been
constructed, Laure Mulvey would argue with her theory of the Male Gaze, solely with
the male consumers in mind, who using the Uses and Gratifications Model are
consuming the text for sexual pleasure. Most significant here, however, is the socalled Mirror Effect of Mulveys Male Gaze.
This states that women themselves consuming the images will apply the Male Gaze,
and see the female in the image in a sense of what Baudrillard would call
hyperreality, assuming the idea that this representation is how women should be
and in turn they should construct their identities similarly in order to appeal to males
aftr all women are the subdominant group in an apparent patriarchal society.

Identity therefore has become mediated in this situation as Adorno says. The culture
industry that is the mass media has imposed a dominant representation onto a
collective group; who have felt pressured to adapt it as part of their collective identity.
In the 2001 film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Lara Croft, the main female character is
represented as fairly masculine (stereotypically masculine) in terms of her choice of
clothing, body language and manner. All of these micro-elements construct her
identity. However, throughout the film, we also see Croft use what can be considered
the concept of femininity to her advantage, flirting with male characters and wearing
stereotypically feminine clothes towards the final scenes.
In terms of her characters identity this supports Buckinghams aforementioned
assumption that identity is fluid and changeable but also conforms to Queer Theory.
Queer Theory is widely recognized in Judith Butlers 1990 book Gender Trouble and
states that the genders male and female are just as much the product of
representation as the concepts of masculinity and femininity. She calls for a blurring
of boundaries between genders and their stereotypical identities and calls for the
media to celebrate such diversity. As a character, Croft arguably has blurred the
boundaries displaying traits of both male and female behaviour.
If Adornos assertions are applied here it can be argued that again the dominant
identity of women as sly, untrustworthy and in need of patriarchal dominance is being
applied through Crofts deviant use of fronting identity to her advantage.
However some could argue that the prominence of Queer Theory does not
encourage the mediation of female identity instead it encourages dominant
representations to be characterized and boundaries to be blurred implying greater
personal control over identity as advocated by John Fiske and David Buckingham
rather than mediated identities.
Cosmopolitan is a magazine aimed at females around 30+. In all ways it can be said
that pragmatically the magazine pushes femininity as an identity for itself, with
stereotypically female colours and text styles. In turn, the feminine identity of the
magazine is applied as a representation of the readers, further suggesting a
mediation of womens identity. The magazine focuses heavily on beauty and fitness,
reinforcing the dominant ideology of the ideal women that women should aspire to
a fixed concept of beauty.
As an example in the April 2010 issue a large image of Holly Willoughby (celebrity)
features on the cover. Although unlike Nuts magazine, she is wearing fairly covering
clothing and lacks cosmetic make-up, it is interesting to note that her clothing is
white in colour Ferdinand de Saussure would note that this has semiotic
significance using his semiotic theory and Roland Barthes levels of signification, we
can identify that white has connotations of innocence and weakness. Therefore this
represents her as innocent and weak reinforcing dominant patriarchal
representations of women. Due to her status as a celebrity, her level of influence is
great. In herself she is a semiotic symbol of success and affluence, so those who
take inspiration from her will take this constructed innocence and weakness and
apply it to their own identities. This is a clear example of the mediation of identity. It
suggests a passive audience, influenced by the mass media as Adorno and other
quasi-Marxists would suggest.
It can be seen therefore, that as post modernists say, we live in a media saturated
society. We are surrounded by signs which cannot be ignored. Women in the media
are often represented as varying, whether it be as sexual objects for the pleasure of
males; or as innocent, as stay at home housewives as suggested in 2008s film
Hancock. Here, despite possessing stereotypically male strength and superpowers,

the lead female aspires to be a housewife reinforcing the sub-dominant

representation of women. Either way however women are often the victims of
mediation. The theories of consumption and construction of identity from theorists
such as Adorno and Mulvey clearly show that despite the specific representations,
one common identity is forced upon women in the media a subdominant social
group living in a patriarchal society. Identity is constructed using this as a basis; and
even media texts which challenge this representation and encourage Queer Theory
diversity are still arguably mediating identity with their influence. Identity is fluid and
changeable and can be individually constructed as Gauntlett and Buckingham state.
But arguable, the mass media are, and have, mediated the identity of women in
contemporary society.
EAA 20
EG 18
T 10

FAMILY
In this essay I will look at how the family is represented in the media. In the 1950s and
the 1970s the representation of the family in the majority of adverts was the nuclear
family. This consists of a domestic mother based the home a bread winner father with a
job who can go outside the home roughly two children and usually a pet. A great
example of this family being shown is the 1959 Cornflakes advert and the 1960s Fairy
Liquid advert. Both show the traditional nuclear family. This representation is also
apparent in films such as the 1970s film Halloween. This film had a monstrous killer who
was raised in a dysfunctional family, the fact that the other household dont have killers
suggest that their way of living (nuclear family) was the ideal way.
So why was, and perhaps still is, this representation so dominant in media? One theory
is the Marxist Theory. Althussar is an important theorist here, he developed the ideas of
Gramsci on hegemony. Hegemony is the process where the ideological beliefs of the
ruling class in society become the ruling ideologies, which we all accept as the norm and
common sense. Althussar said the family (along with the meida, law education etc) is an
Ideological State Apparatus which creates an identity as good little law abiding citizens,
who accept the nuclear family as the ideal. Althussar argued that by promoting the
nuclear family the ruling powers in society create and maintain a Patriarchal and
Capitalist Society.
This is because in the family we learn our morality (its wrong to steal), the value of work,
the gender division of labour and to submit to often male authority e.g. fathers, bosses
etc. Therefore the promotion and maintenance of the nuclear families representation in
media is in the interest of those in power. As you can seem the media representation as
well as this theory behind it is complex.
In the 1970s big social changes occurred in the form the workers movement. This put an
end to the often violent exploitation and objectification of women. So did advertising
reflect this social change? Well, the media representations to follow were complicated.
Take the 1980s OXO advert mums out dads cooking. In this advert role reversal takes
place and we see the father cooking instead of the mother. So on the face of it the family
is being represented in a progressive way. But if we take a closer look we see that the
underlying aspects of the conservative representation still exist. For example, the dad
only cooks as a one off because the mother is out shopping. This suggests that the
mother is the usual cook and it meets traditional values as the mother is out shopping
(consumerist). Therefore this change was only superficial and the hegemonic

representation of the family is still dominant. Indeed it seems that this representation
may well be straightforward as no texts, as of yet, offer a challenging one.
If we look at current Britain further social change has occurred so it would be reasonable
to think that the hegemonic nuclear family ideal is not as strongly represented as the
nuclear family only exists in a minority of households (9-20% depending on how you
define it). But it still seems that the media is a transmitter of the hegemonic ideal nuclear
family. Take the 2005 action film, Cinderella Man. In this film the main male character is
losing a crucial fight until he has flashbacks to his family suffering. This then gives him
the motivation to go on and win the fight. The family gave him the inspiration needed
here. This, like many other Hollywood films, reifies the family into a solid unquestionable
thing. If we look at the recent 2009 Lloyds TSB advert For the Journey we again see the
conservative image of the family reinforced. For example the dad is seen with the bank
card suggesting he is the provider and manager of money and he is seen driving the car
(implies hes the dominant figure in the family). The daughter does ballet and the son
plays with the toy builder bricks both are conforming to their family gender roles. In
class we undertook a content analysis of a randomly picked sample of TV adverts. We
found that roughly 50% of them showed a nuclear family and none of them challenged
the ideal family. On the basis of my evidence here we can see the medias
representation of the family is in-fact relatively simply as all media reifies and reinforces
the hegemonic nuclear family.
However there are other media texts who show a different media representation of the
family and challenges the nuclear family as well as problematising the Marxist theories.
These are media texts such as the long running TV series since 2004, Shameless. In
Shameless we see the complete opposite of a nuclear family, a family with no mother, an
alcoholic father who hasnt got a job, family members that regularly break the law (e.g.
steal), one family member who is homosexual and family members that have
promiscuous sex. Although this working class family dont meet any typical conventions
of the ideal family in media they are still shown to be happy and there is love and care
within the family. This offers a different representation of an ideal family, therefore this
suggests that, with more than one representation, the family representation in the media
is more complex than I previously assumed.
Another text which undermines the nuclear family is perhaps the whole genre of soaps.
The most popular TV series in Britain, Eastenders, recently had a storyline about a
closet homosexual Indian who was married. Unlike other media, soaps explore the
internal functions of the family and show how actually they often cause pain, hurt and
disharmony. This is what happens in the gay Indian story as his mum and dad gradually
find out, we see the pain caused to everyone within the family. So soaps dont reify the
family, they explore its internal aspects and reveal its weaknesses. This again
complicates media representations of the family.
As I have just discussed the previous two texts which problematise the Marxist theories,
maybe these grand claims about media cant be made because if they were true texts
like Shameless and Eastenders wouldnt exist. So perhaps we need to look at how
specific texts look at specific audiences. Geraghty and Butler explored this area and
came up with the gay theory. Again this is very complicated and puts a different spin of
media representations but sadly I dont have time to discuss it.
In conclusion it is fair to say that media representations of the family are varied and
complex. While the Marxist theories may still be possible to make the increasingly
diverse ways of living and minority of households which hold a nuclear family is itself
evidence against them.
Also the self representation age where we can create our own identities with the use of
web 2.0 (on Facebook, Secondlife, World of Warcraft and Runescape etc) will further
erode any ideological power corporate, commercial media has over us. However the

very fact that we all still seem to carry around the nuclear family image around with us in
our head suggests the media may still be playing an ideological role. Either way, as I
have shown, it is a very complicated area with no clear answer. Therefore I do agree
with the statement.
EAA 16
EG 15
T7
(38)

TAMILS
One group of people that I have studied have been Tamils, and over the past year or so,
Tamils have been heavily reported in the news mainly because of the ongoing war in Sri
Lanka where conflict between a Sinhala majority and a Tamil minority has seen much media
coverage. This conflict has been going for approximately 28 years, therefore much of the
medias representation of this minority has been in relation to the war especially in the
western media.
Consequently, much of the representation created regarding Tamils are from news programs
and channels such as BBC and CNN. This is especially the case in the western media. So
this representation have sometimes been quite serious, especially with regards to the Tamil
army or the Tamil Tigers who are sometimes referred to as Freedom Fighters in some
media but as Terroists in others. There representations are also held by the general public
here in the UK which I found out in the research I conducted about the representation of
Tamils from people living in my local area in Harrow where I surveyed people from all
backgrounds in a questionnaire which I had made. One thing for sure, I did not find what that
alot of representation had been created from global news outlets such as Al. Jazhera and
CNN. Thus, suggesting that media professors Terry Flews theory that globalisation of media
has led to the barriers and distance felt between those in the world being broken down and
shatered. This has led to the representation of Tamils in the world ranging from the positive
to the negative.
One media area which provided a positive representation of Tamils was a film I came across
called My Neighbour is a Sri Lankan Tamil, produced by Third-Eye-Creations. The film is
based in the UK which is quite rare for a film about Tamils as well as the fact that the whole
film is in English. The film is a documentary, where English actor Robert Reina investigates
the truth behind the conflict in Sri Lanka though the eyes of an Englishman. In the film, he
finds out about how Tamils have been discriminated against for the past 100 years by
interviewing a number of people, all of whom are non-sinhala. Thus, suggesting that the film
is biased especially as the people interviewed can be accused of having anit-sinhala
agendas. For instance one of the people interviewed Sunday Times correspondent Marie
Colvin was involved in an incident where she lost an eye due to a grenade from the Sri
Lankan Sinhala army. Moreover, another interviewee Siobhain McDonough is the MP for
Mileham and Mordon on area in London which has a high British Tamil population. The fact
that these two were involved in this film can be seen as bias by comission.
Aside from the story of Tamils being the victims of the conflict, there is a representation of
them being intellectually superior to the Sinhala majority. This is evident in not only the
content of the film (Tamils being denied university places despite achieving higher grades

than Sinhala students). But in the fact that all the Tamils interviewed are all addressed with
their occupations stated at the bottom of the screen (below their names), when each
appears on screen each time. These include, poets, engineers and Ambalavaner
Sivanandan who is the head of the Institute of Race Relations, who coincendentially is
interviewed in front of a huge library of books where book titles such as those from T.S. Elliot
can be evidently seen on screen. Perhaps, reinforcing this representation by mise-en-scene
and perhaps showing a bias by placement. Moreover, its worth mentioning that Third Eye
Creations are quoted as stating on their website that their aim is to enlighten the world
regarding the discrimination of Tamils perhaps suggesting their bias. Moreover, the
representation of intellectual superiority could be linked to David Buckinghams theory that
despite race being a diverse and complex identity, people will strive for the more idealistic
version, thus showing that maybe the intellectual representation may be the ideals of the film
makers.
However, there have been strong representation of Tamils for instance a popular Sinhala
blog on website sinhala.wordpress.com is strongly against the efforts by Tamil people who
are intent on creating a separate state for themselves thus rebelling against the Sinhala Sri
Lankan government. This is evident in a news item regarding a petition set up by Tamil
students living in Canada against the Sri Lankan governments genocide of Tamils in which
they were to appear in the Oprah Winfrey Show.
In an article, headlined a letter to Ms. Winfrey dated at the the 12 th April 2009,
the blog suggests that the Tamils are not actually students these may be arguing
against the common representation that Tamils are on the whole quite
intellectual, despite not showing original sources showing they are not students.
Moreover, the article goes on to describe the Tamil Tigers as a brutal terrorist
group. The article shows heavy bias by commission, placement (on the side of
the article, Tamils are tagged along with mass murders and terrorism) and bias
by selection of sources (there are no sources) The article seems to be more of an
news article therefore cannot be seen as being biased but the website seems to
suggest that its a news article therefore making it heavily biased against Tamils.
This adds to and highlights the negative representation of Tamils created and
held by large amounts of people in the global media.
39