Question 3

Using detailed examples discuss representations of modern issues in the media

Different media texts show representations of modern issues in society. Firstly different films present these representations to get a point across, in the film Crash (produced by Paul Haggis and released in 2005) uses characters to represent the issues in modern society. Racism is a key theme in this film and many characters get discriminated against, Farhad the Persian shop owner is referred to as Osama at the start of the film because the man he is buying a gun off of assumes he is an Arab. Also the Hispanic locksmith is discriminated against because when he is fixing the woman's lock she becomes suspicious and tells her husband she thinks he will give a spare key to his gang. The next representation is Gender, this is shown when the police officer pulls over the couple in the car and begins to inappropriately touch her despite her telling him to stop. This addresses the problem that men have power over women in society. The next representations are age and disability and they're represented by the older man in the film who is disabled and requires assistance from his son who desperatly tries to get the hospital to help him throughout the film but they keep turning him away. This shows the discrimination shown towards older and disabled people but disabled people in particular because the hospital show a lack of interest in the man with the disability. This film goes deep into the majority of issues in the modern day and that is why it is an important case study to use.

The next piece of media is a news story from the BBC on the 9th of February, the headline is 'Transgender girl, 11, shot in school with a BB gun'. This was a story about a young girl from Manchester who had been bullied for months and shot by a BB gun in school. According to the mother the school were informed in December about the bullying but did nothing about it until the girl was shot. This story is representation of Gender because the girl was being bullied because she was transgender, it is also representation of issues of bullying as bullying is a huge problem in schools more should be done about it, the article said that the parents of the girl had informed the school of bullying 2 months before the incident. Lastly representation of issues regarding children carrying weapons, even though BB guns are supposed to be toys and are legal they should not be given to 11 year olds to use, there is an 18 age limit on BB guns but this still doesn't stop people giving there children these sorts of toys. I think the people reading this article would agree that these are serious issues that schools need to keep under control. Although the pupil with the BB gun was permanently excluded it does not make the situation any better as they shouldn't of had it in the first place. In conclusion, this news article from the BBC and the film Crash help us understand the modern issues in society.