Mest 4: Essay Plan

The media obsession with sex and drugs

Introduction – A brief description of my independent research and a discussion based on my topic, representations and stereotypes.

Hypothesis: The media and audience, focusing on two of the three platforms e-media and print and showing how media texts represent sex and drugs.

My critical investigation will focus on the representation of sex and drugs with the help of the two platforms print, and broadcast using media texts including magazines, newspapers and television. I will be looking closely as whether institutions use issues to inform or to simply gain a profit and a name, also giving an insight on how audiences are influenced and react to these texts. Furthermore I will be investigating whether they use stereotypes or reality to represent sex and drugs. (S, R, A)
I will discuss how moral panics link to sex and drugs by using celebrity and print as a support. As my topic mainly focuses on representations, I will be using textual examples such as 90210 and Skins. (R, G, S)

Media representations of sex and drugs in the media
Within this paragraph I will be discussing the texts that I have analyzed. I will also show how these texts show and support how representations are used to investigate sex and drugs, presenting it to the audience for entertainment use. (R)
Looking at a variety of media texts that are based around the same issues, it is obvious that they copy ideas but add a feature that will get audiences excited and institutions a profit. 90210, Skins and Eminem’s music video for Purple pill are some of the media texts which represent these issues. (R, M)

How moral panic are involved in issues surrounding sex and drugs
“A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. Jones, M, and E. Jones. (1999).” Moral panics in media texts are often exaggerated and perhaps designed to inspire a threat as television programmes usually focus on characters that are made up. I will link this to “90210” and will show and discuss how teenagers are being put in situations where they are dealing with adult issues including drugs, pregnancy, love etc. (P, S, R)
In skins, 90210 and magazines, it refers to the social norms and values of teenagers. I will be using these media texts to show how reality is used to create issues as a way of relating to their target audience- this will relate to moral panics as I will be stating how teens use these shows to become something there not by acting older. (M, P)

How adverts influence the audience
In Anthony J. Cortese’s book he says, “The exemplary female prototype in advertising, regardless of product or service, displays youth (no lines or wrinkles), good looks, sexual seductiveness…The perfect provocateur is not human; rather she is a form and hollow shell representing a female figure. Accepted attractiveness is her only attribute.” This quote seems accurate as Cortese points out that if women want to look like he ones in adverts, they will have to spend a lot of time and money on this never ending journey, so it somehow relates to sexism in advertising.
Men are also shown as the ‘perfect provocateur’ as Baudrillard (1990) states that only women are seducers, but empirical evidence on advertising suggests ‘that men too, are seducers- a male version of the perfect provocateur. The ideal man in adverts are young, handsome, clean cut and sexually alluring’- this shows that there is an issue where institutions are criticized for telling audiences that they have to look great at all times, where it suggests that it is only women who face visual demands for physical ‘perfection’.

The comparison of men’s and women’s magazines
Looking directly at the two magazines I will be comparing, FHM and Glamour- I will be looking at the topics, the celebrities and the raised, showing how institutions use these to relate and sell to audiences. From the two magazines, it is obvious that they rely on the celebrities to sell, this is shown through all there copies- as glamour focuses on the fashion and the simplicity of celebs however FHM focuses on the sexiness and positioning of celebs- where the concept of the magazines are the reasons for this.
The topics raised in Glamour are sex, fashion, looks and real life issues however in FHM the topics are mainly about girls and sex with some references to sports and fashion. In my essay I will discuss how these topics are used inside the magazine and why institutions have done it in this particular way. Another similarity is that they both have online magazines. (ML, R)

Playboy girls - from porn stars to real women.
In playboy magazines, they are purely famous because she is ‘beautiful’, she is only seen for the pose which could be seen as soft porn. So, are magazines for men are likely to be stereotypical and perhaps sexist? (F, S, R)
Initially playboy girls are seen for a few things, .i.e. in the sense of the male gaze and sex- where a show called, ‘girls in the playboy mansion’ created this image of three girls playing a role of porn stars by become a girlfriend to Hugh Hefner, into women that people can relate to because of their jobs, their family and husband- where we see this through shows like Kendra (where audiences can also relate to her past, binge drinking and taking drugs at a young age etc) and Holly’s world (Where they can relate to the location that she is in, the job she has taken after the playboy mansion, etc). As a result of this, I will discuss how the girls have become more respected by the media and audiences. (P, M)

Celebrities and rehab
The media and audiences are becoming more and more obsessed with celebrity lifestyle- whether it is fact or fiction, institutions will do whatever it takes to feed audiences with they want by aiming to protect their economic interest, where the mass media produces false stereotypes and consciousness which leads to these being continuous, making audiences think what they see is true- and thanks to magazines, newspapers and social networking sites, it has become easier to locate audiences. Rehab has become a topic for a few months now, with more and more celebrities entering for their drug and alcohol addiction to even bizarre reasons which include sex addiction. From this I will be discussing different celebrities that have entered including the most shocking stories which include Disney stars and other innocent stars. (M, P, I)

Do institutions use sex and drugs to inform and entertain?
Audiences usually use the mass media to learn the latest news, find information, or to entertain. The importance of the media is to form decisions and to make us think and the mass media plays a major role in creating opinions and connecting people. Usually media texts are made to represent reality, for example skins represents how teenagers experiment with alcohol, sex and drugs and the effect of these on characters. (S, ML, ID, I)
According to estimates, most people consider TV their main source of entertainment- where we turn on our favourite TV programmes, music videos and new films as a source of entertainment; but is this just done for money? The Marxist theory states that institutions feed audiences with what they want by aiming to protect their economic interest, “Identity is complicated, everybody thinks they’ve got one. Artists play with the idea of identity in modern society.” - David Gauntlett (2007) states that the mass media produces false stereotypes and consciousness which leads to these ideas being continuous and making audiences think what they see is true. (M, I, ID)
The Hypodermic Needle Model suggests that the information from a text passes into the mass consciousness of the audience unmediated, i.e. the experience, intelligence and opinion of an individual are not relevant to the reception of the text. This theory suggests that, as an audience, we are manipulated by the creators of media texts, and that our behaviour and thinking might be easily changed by media-makers. It assumes that the audience are passive and heterogenous. This theory is still quoted during moral panics. (A, I, M)

How audiences can relate to ‘Jersey Shore’
Jersey shore is a reality TV series that doesn’t shy away from subjects that happen in today’s society, mostly involving sex, partying, relationships, love etc. In this section, I will discuss how Jersey shore uses sex as an advantage using the cast and the location as a support. (ID, M, R)
Also, Controversy: MTV received criticism from Italian Americans fro the way in which they marketed the shows by using guido and guidette, as one promotion stated that the show was to follow, "eight of the hottest, tannest, craziest Guidos'- where 'Guido' and 'Guidette' is generally regarded as an ethnic slur when referring to Italians. (I, M, R)
“Reality television is a relatively new fad in America that is sweeping the networks’ ratings and redefining programming altogether. Viewers cannot seem to get enough of the torture, embarrassment, temptation, and above all, drama of other regular, everyday people being placed in unrealistic settings and manipulated for the world to see.” – This quote was made by Grady, Barbara K. (1982). What is TV’s “reality” doing to students’ perception of the real world? I will be using this quote in my essay because I think it relates to what audiences see in reality shows and what they need to do in order to get audiences watching. Jersey Shore has been said to be the most watched show on MTV, which is why they have used the name to advertise MTV as a whole. (A, I, M)

Feminist theory
The feminist theory shows whether the media shapes the media by having to put in mind that women should be treated the same as men. In media texts, it is up to the audience to decide whether or not it has a positive or negative opinion on how women are treated. However, it could be argued that the media is only giving a representation of a made up person and it is not the media who is influencing them. (M, A, S)
I will be linking the feminist theory to my essay by adding quotes as a support.
“To the mind of the modern girl, legs, like busts, are power points which she has been taught
to tailor, but as parts of the success kit rather than erotically or sensuously. She swings
her legs from the hip with masculine drive and confidence. She knows that “a long-legged
gal can go places.” As such, her legs are not intimately associated with her taste or with her
unique self but are merely display objects like the grill work on a car.”—Marshall McLuhan “The Mechanical Bride” – This quote can be linked to the feminist theory as it discusses the representations of what women are like today perhaps giving an insight on what the media tells audiences to do in order to be accepted and how the audience may understand the text. (F, A)
Laura Mulvey is one example of a feminist theorist, where she believes that men and women are imbalanced, analyzing the way men see women, women see themselves and the way women see others- as audiences see the media as a male dominant society, where we live in a society where males decide everything. In my essay I will be using Laura Mulvey as an example as I think she discusses topics that I am analyzing. (F, A, I)
I will also include other theories including audience theory, genre theory, postmodernism, Marxism, and stereotypes.

Religious views
Within this paragraph, I will be discussing how certain religions are linked to my topics, mainly focusing on Islam and Christianity. They both share similar and also contrasting views regarding these sex and drugs- as in the QUR’AN it states that “O You who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones and (divination by) arrows are an abomination of Satan’s handiwork. Avoid (such abominations) that you may prosper. (5:90)” This described intoxicants amongst other things as being appalling, despicable and hateful acts of Satan and he has commanded us to abstain from them; whereas in the Bible it states, Bible on drugs: “A drug is a chemical substance which alters the way in which a body functions, thereby affecting the person taking it physically, perceptually, behaviourally or emotionally; sometimes in a destructive or harmful manner. The purpose of using drugs medicinally is, as far as possible, to restore a person to full health, wholeness. As such the responsible and controlled use of medicinal drugs is acceptable.( 2 Corinthians 7 verse 1 )” - this also states that harmful drugs are unacceptable. (I, M)

Conclusion – A summary of my key points linking them back to the title of my independent study
It can be seen that within my media texts the representation of sex and drugs are used through institutions using stereotypes for audiences to become familiar with the text- this is usually done by institutions copying each others ideas but somehow adding or changing a few areas which will get audiences more excited and institutions a profit. This will create a chance for audience’s ideas, views and opinions to be expressed within the text. (M, A, R, S)
So, I will discuss the representations of sex and drugs within the media stating how it has affected audiences through celebrities, TV etc, I will also discuss how the media has changed using media theorist to support my topic.