Question
Communication Studies 355: Section 7 Application & Analysis
Assignment Overview:
In this assignment, you will write a short essay that draws upon the 2 of the chapters from Section 7. Choose any 2 chapters that interest you most, and/or that you think will make a strong analysis.
Use 1 of the 4 questions listed below as a prompt for your analysis:
1. How does your gender, race, class identity impact/relate to a particular social role you
occupy (parent, employee, member of a religious group, profession, etc.)?
2. Describe the impact of media/toys from your youth on you today. After all these years, what has left an impact, how?
3. Research continuously asserts that gender is best conceptualized along a continuum versus a binary, yet we continue to see the binary reinforced in numerous contexts. How do you
make sense of this?
4. How do television and other media portrayals of class connect with gendered identities?
Your task is to demonstrate that you understand and can apply the theories we have been reading in class. Your analysis will be graded on the depth of your analysis, the quality of your writing, and how effectively you apply course concepts. To do well will mean that you spend time working on the essay—it is easy to fill a few pages with haphazard observations, but difficult to provide analyses that are illuminating, precise, and thorough. Although you might start your essay by compiling a laundry list of observations (your first draft), your submitted essay (your final draft) will need to organize these observations coherently, explicitly integrating key concepts explored in assigned readings.
Basic Assignment Requirements:
1. Length: 2-3 pages.
2. Formatting:
Review the syllabus for instructions on proper essay formatting.
3. Appropriate style:
Write in essay form, with a clear (though short) introduction & conclusion, using full and complete sentences, and strong topic/transitional sentences. To write a polished analysis, you will have (at minimum) revised and edited your work at least once (see the editing and revising resources also found at melaniejoymcnaughton.com/students).
4. References:
You do not need to use any outside sources – drawing on assigned readings is sufficient. That said, make sure your in-text citations to the text chapters or course readings are properly formatted (conforming to APA or MLA). If you need a nudge in the right direction regarding proper in-text citations, consult the resources on my site
Solution
Class Media Portrayal and Gendered Identities
Media representations play an important role in promoting gender awareness among global ethnicity. Various media platforms such as television, social sites, films, and others that include texts and images, impact on the audience minds differently. Media has influenced the way different people view or understand male and female in distinct social backgrounds. Currently, with the emergence of digital media, specific activities are associated with specific personalities. In television advertisements, for instance, wealth and crimes are associated with men, while domestic roles are represented by women. Therefore, media influences an individual’s understanding of gender and race on the basis of social backgrounds.
Different types of media classes portray varying levels of relationship between gender and race. The term race here should not be taken to mean skin and color segmentation. It refers to the ways in which television and other media platforms are shaping our gender specifications. Various approaches, both theoretical and cultural, have been used to describe media and sex stereotypes (Werner 10). Notably, it is a cliché that men are criminals in nature and should face the law and theoretically believed that human lifestyle is inborn rather than developed. In most male prisons, the aspect of racial discrimination is a common issue. Media can act as a good or bad medium in portraying gender related information to the society.
In the modern world, numerous digital programs have been developed to channel information and offer entertainment to the audience. They include television shows, movies, soap operas, and others. These programs impact their viewers since they portray different messages. Television shows on racism and gender inequality represents the existence of racial classes in the world, where they include the white and the black people represented by their skin color (Werner 4 ). Undermining individuals on the basis of their race has been considered less important. People from different racial groups should harmonize with each other to promote peace.
Globally, media portrays women as weak beings whose role is parenting; hence, they are left to suffer emotionally in isolation. The result is rearing emotionally affected children, whose behavioral change leads to poverty in the society. News from the media showing women from minority classes suffering due to gender discrimination are very moving (Werner 14 ). It is unfortunate that these poor women end up in crimes and finally into prisons due to their gender or ethnicity. Therefore, women should empower themselves without getting worried of their race, color or position in the society, to overcome the challenges of gender inequality. Media has an important role in discouraging gender disparity in the world by educating its audience
Conclusion
Theories on gender roles in the social construction have ascertained that history and culture influence gender. There has been a drastic change in gender roles over years in most parts of the world. Media depicts clearly that gender roles vary from one society to another. It is the responsibility of media to educate the world on the effects of discrimination and inequality. All media agents should focus on positive creations that spread awareness on equality. Media representatives have to accept the reality that gender is not only based on being a male or a female. Indeed, accepting people the way they are regardless of their race or gender would promote harmony.
Work Cited
Werner, Kristern J. “The Racial Logic of Grey’s Anatomy.” Shonda Rhymes and Her Post-Civil Rights,Post-Feminist Series (2014): 1-17.