Are modern documentaries on insitutions such as channel 4
really educating us or creating stereotypes and dumbing down britain ?
Documentary: Using
pictures or interviews with people involved in real events to provide a factual
report on a particular subject:
Media Representations
Who is being represented?
Who is being represented?
In what way?
Benefit claimers in Britain are presented extremely
negatively as a whole by channel 4. The show includes a couple who openly
admitted to benefit fraud as well as showing tenants stealing from shops to
make money. As well as this the constant shots of benefit claimers simply
sitting outside their houses presents them as lazy, and making it seem as if
they are happy to simply take tax payers money. Overall this creates a very
negative representation of benefit claimers to the viewer, causing anger and
leading to stereotypes being enforced by the show.
Why is the
subject being represented in this way?
Presenting benefit claimants in this way is simply an easy
way for channel 4 to gain views, and market themselves as making cutting edge
documentaries, possibly trying to attract a new audience, when in fact they are
simply exploiting a moral panic in society, as people become angered at the
benefit claimers in the show. This is proven by the uproar the controversial
show caused. This controversy and media attention the show received only led to
more views as shown by:
Death threats to residesnts
David Cameron and Nick Clegg spoke about the show
Two live debates shows on channel 5 were aired: The Big Benefits Row: Live
and Benefits Britain
Thousands
of complaints to Ofcom
Episode no.
|
Date
|
Total viewers
(including +1) (in millions) |
Share
|
Channel 4
weekly ranking |
1
|
6 January 2014
|
5.42
|
14.4%
|
1
|
2
|
13 January 2014
|
6.45
|
17.5%
|
1
|
3
|
20 January 2014
|
6.48
|
18.4%
|
1
|
4
|
27 January 2014
|
5.87
|
16.9%
|
1
|
5
|
10 February 2014
|
4.50
|
16.0%
|
1
|
Is the representation
fair and accurate?
The representation of benefit claimants in show is massively
false and misleading in my opinion, simply so that channel 4 can cause an
uproar, which they succeeded in doing, and to get more views.
One of the smallest percentages of tax payers money is used
on unemployment benefits, the highest percentage is on pensions.
Unemployment benefit claimers only receive £57.35 a week and £20.50
in child benefits with one child, but only £13.55 per child if you have more
than one.
Clearly this amount of money is barely enough to live off,
and therefore the stereotype created not only by Benefits street but by the media in
general that the unemployed live luxury lives off tax payers money is massively
false and therefore the animosity and stereotypes caused by representations of
the people in benefit street is completely unfair.
Media Languages and
Forms
What are the
denotative and connotative levels of meaning?
Denotation: People on benefits
Connotation: Lazy people living off tax payers money.
What is the significance
of the text’s connotations?
It creates anger amongst the viewers which is why the shows
has been so controversial and gained so much public interest.
What is the
significance of mise-en-scene/sets/settings (CLAMPS)?
The setting of James
Turner street is an essential part of the show, it
is the road in which all of the benefit claimers live. The run down nature of
the road gives us a clear insight that the residents don't live in luxury off
tax payers money like many people think, and the houses provided are clearly
small and also run down, however this does bit take away from the overall
negative representation of the claimants. Some of the residents clothes however
were expensive and designer, and some scenes showed residents boasting about
their designer clothes. This costume is again very likely to anger the viewers
who will think that a benefit claimer should not be wearing such luxury
clothing.
What work is being
done by the sound track/commentary/language of the text?
Throughout the show the main background non diegetic music
is very upbeat and almost comical. This accentuates the idea that residents on
benefits are happy and therefore not looking for work, which will again anger
the tax paying viewers.
What sound and
visual techniques are used to convey meaning (e.g. camera positioning,
editing; the ways that images and sounds are combined to convey meaning)?
One controversial piece of editing done by the producers of the
show was to edit out all footage of a working family on James Turner Street , which later gained
media attention. Again this piece of editing gives the viewer the idea that
every resident on the street claimed benefits, which gives the viewer the
overall impression to the viewer that Britain as a whole has more benefit
claimants than it actually does, causing more anger, more media attention and
more views.
Narrative
How is the narrative
organised and structured?
A multi strand narrative following various characters
throughout the series.
Genre
To which genre does
the text belong?
Documentary
What are the
major generic conventions within the text?
Multi strand narratives
Voice over/Narrator
Use of background/non diegetic music
Informative/Educational
What are the
major iconographic features of the text?
The James
Turner street sign is a big icon that is
constantly shown throughout the show and almost acts as a symbol of benefits,
as the road is now immediately associated with benefit claimants.
To what extent are
the audience’s generic expectations of the text fulfilled or cheated
by the text? Does the text conform to the characteristics of the genre, or does
it treat them playfully or ironically?
Overall the viewers expectations of the documentary are met.
The overall topic of benefit claimants immediately creates a negative
connotation and stereotype in the viewers mind before they have even watched
the show, and the show only enforces this negative perception of people on
benefits. It also follows the typical conventions of a documentary in that it
uses narration, background music and a multi strand narrative.
However one clear way in which it clearly does not conform
to the typical expectation of a documentary is that, in my opinion, it is not
educational at all. As stated previously the show has no motive to educate
viewers, but to instead rile them and create controversy to gain views. No
statistics about benefit claimants are mentioned at any point during the show
and fails massively in attempting to change perceptions and stereotypes of
benefit claimants.
Media Institutions
What is the
institutional source of the text?
Channel 4
In what ways has the
text been influenced or shaped by the institution which produced it?
The show is much more for entertainment purposes than
educational, like a documentary on channels such as BBC Four or BBC Two would
be as channel 4 is not an institution known for factual and educational
programmes but instead controversial and entertaining shows.
Who owns and
controls the institution concerned and does this matter?
The fact that the channel is not under the regulations of
institutions such as publically funded BBC means that the producers have a much
greater licence to manipulate the documentary and make it less factual and more
entertaining, simply for views.
Media Values and
Ideology
What are the
major values, ideologies and assumptions underpinning the text or
naturalised within it?
The ideology that everyone should work is clearly brought
out in viewers of the shows as shown by the outrage the show has caused and the
general stereotypes of benefit claimers.
What criteria have
been used for selecting the content presented?
Channel 4 has cleverly selected footage likely to cause
anger, such as scenes of benefit claimers gloating about their expensive
designer clothing and stealing from shops, as this gains views, as opposed to
less popular factual information and statistics on benefit claimers.
Media Audiences
To whom is the text
addressed? What is the target audience? (Demographics, Psychographics)
The main target audience of the show is working class
people, both male and female as well as rich people aged around 18-60.
Demographics C-A and Psycographics: Mainstreamers and Succeeders. This is
because these people are employed and are paying taxes which are used for unemployed
benefit claimants, and will therefore be interested in where the money is going
and how the lives of those getting tax payers money are. However lower classes
of Demographic E-D and Psychographic Strugglers who themselves may be on
benefits may also be likely to watch the show due to a sense of identification
in which they can relate to the situations faced by those in the show. Therefore
the shows has an extremely large audience.
What assumptions about
the audience are implicit in the text’s scheduling or positioning?
The usual air time of 9pm clearly shows that the programme
is targeted at an older, specifically working age audience.
Theories:
Levi-Strauss: Binary opposition - between viewer and
character on benefits.
Uses and Gratifications: Personal Identity
Dyer: Stereotypes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benefits_Street
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/apr/06/welfare-britain-facts-myths
https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit-rates
http://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/benefits-street
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/22/benefits-street-tv-programme-divided-the-nation
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