Topic 2: Media and Representation

Let’s Begin

American Actress Claire Danes got the Filipinos’ ire when she said that Manila was full of squalor and cockroaches. Film director Brilliante Mendoza became an international sensation for his use of poverty porn with the Philippines as setting. American author Dan Brown once angered Filipinos because he described Manila as the “gates of hell” in one of his novels. In the foreign TV show “90 Day Fiance,” one of the most popular couples was No Neck Ed and Rose, an American and a Filipina. They became popular because of the conflict they had that revolved around Ed’s suspicion that Rose was only using him to get a green card and a good life in the US. Recently, the Philippines was described by a Thai newspaper as the “land of Covid-19.” 

With all the aforementioned scenarios, a typical Filipino can’t help thinking whether the Philippines is being represented accurately by various forms of media especially those based abroad. National pride is, of course, at stake. With an inaccurate portrayal of our country, there will be serious implications. A Filipino travelling abroad is usually met with suspicion in immigration counters around the world. A foreign tourist arriving for the first time in the Philippines is usually warned not to trust people in the streets. 

In this section we will discuss how representation in media can affect society. We will see how representation in media can influence our perspective about cultures and other societies.

Learning Outcome:  After this lesson, you should be able to discuss the relationship between media and representation.

Read

“Social Inequality and Media Representation” by Croteau and Hoynes in Media/Society: Industries, Images, and Audiences, pp. 195-227

Think

Answer the following questions: 

1)     How have the mainstream media become a tool for the dissemination of racial, ethnic, gender-based, and class inequalities? 

2)     How do dominant ideologies influence the images communicated through the mass media? 

3)      What is your opinion about the writers’ conclusion about this role of the media?

Dig Deeper

Angeles, Vivienne S.M. (2010). “Moros in the Media and Beyond: Representations of Philippine

           Muslims.” Contemporary Islam 4, no.1, 29-53. Available online:

           https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11562-009-0100-4 

Austria, Fernando A. (2007). “Gays, the Internet, and Freedom.” Plaridel 4, no.1, 47-76. Available

           online: http://www.plarideljournal.org/article/gays-the-internet-and-freedom/ 

Cañete, Reuben R. 2005. “Bench Underwear Ads and the Male Body.” Plaridel 2, no. 2, 69-92.

            Available online: http://www.plarideljournal.org/article/bench-underwear-adsand-the-male-

            body/