What does it mean to be ‘symbolically annihilated’ by the mass media?

I am going to dissect what it means to be symbolically annihilated and discuss Gaye Tuchman’s reading ‘The symbolic annihilation of Women by the Mass Media’ and the way representation in the media has a big effect on different types of people such as Black, Asian, Minority and Ethnic communities. To be symbolically Annihilated by the mass media means that a group of people are either being misrepresented or underrepresented in the media because of their race, sex, sexual orientation or social class.

Firstly, I am going to the discuss the text written by Tuchman and what she meant by ‘The symbolic Annihilation of the Mass Media’. Tuchman believes that Women are depicted by the media as the homemaker or Mother and are defined by their relationship with men. Tuchman states that “No one considered the way Women experienced the World, instead they were seen as men’s silent un-opinionated Consorts.” (Tuchman,1978, p.4). This depicts that Women were not up to the same standard as Men when it came to having the knowledge or know how to do the same job as them and that they were more seen as objects than people who can contribute a lot to the society, we live in. 

One theory in film and television that backs up Tuchman’s reading, is the Bechdel Test. This is a test that measures representation of Women and whether two or more Women can be seen on screen together at the same time discussing a subject other than a man. This is an important test devised by Alison Bechdel in 1985 because it is not a measure of the quality of the film but highlights how male dominated the film and television sector of the media is. Also, research conducted discovered that “of the 4,370 speaking named characters from the top-grossing films in 2015, only 31.4% were women and 26.3% were underrepresented racial/ethnic groups.”(http://bechdeltestfest.com/about) This confirms that a person’s race and sex are still having an effect on whether they can gain speaking parts in major blockbuster film and television series in today’s society.

This brings me on to representation, Representation is the process by which the media presents the ‘real world’ to an audience. Media texts construct meanings about the world – a picture, a film, a television programme or a newspaper article represents the world to help audiences make sense of it. A popular understanding of representation is through stereotypes. Stereotypes are a form of representation in which groups of people are characterised by attributing to the qualities that some individuals possess, and which later become associated with the whole group. Stereotypes are widely circulated ideas or assumptions about particular groups. Tuchman expresses “Stereotypes are confining…. Stereotypes present individuals with a more limited range of acceptable appearance, feelings and behaviours.” (Tuchman, 1978, p.5)

Misrepresentation of a certain community in the media can lead to a lack of opportunity. This was portrayed by Viola Davis in her emotional speech about diversity and opportunity when she won an award at the Emmys in 2015. (Viola Davis Speech on diversity and opportunity,2015) There is a lack of opportunity for BAME Women in the media and in power. This is highlighted in the reading ‘Intersectionality and Press Coverage of Political Campaigns: Representations of Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic Female Candidates at the U.K. 2010 General Election’ by Stuart Hall. In this reading, Figure 1 states from 2005 to 2015 there have only been 20 BAME Women representing a political party in the house of commons compared to 171 White Females in the same period of time and 438 White Male compared to 21 BAME Male represented in the House of Commons in the same 10-year period. (S. Hall,2017, p.45) Figure 5 also shows that the probability of BAME female getting positive coverage in the media is significantly less than any other group of people with 0.08 positive and 0.10 Negative coverage compared to that of a White Female who has 0.14 positive coverage of inter-sectional identity and only 0.05 negative. Therefore, this reading is clearly highlighting the lack of opportunity there is for BAME men and particularly Women to gain jobs in politics or the media, is significantly less than if a white male was to apply for the same job and this is highlighted by the speech Viola Davis gave.

Representations do change over time depending on society’s view of a social group, and are influenced by cultural and legislative changes and, arguably, by media texts. This brings me on to ‘The Work of Representation’ by Stuart Hall. Stuart Hall uses Foucault’s approach to representation by articulating “His concern is with knowledge provided by the human and social sciences.” (S.Hall,2013) This expresses that Foucault also believed representation is depended on society and the different social groups that live amongst society because contrasting types of people possess distinct amounts of “knowledge” which is a concern of Foucault for the reason that knowledge is power and power places people into different social groups.

To conclude, I believe being Symbolically Annihilated by the Mass Media means that many different groups of people are being ostracized from contributing towards a greater society, whether it be becoming a part of the everyday media we consume and not being about to complete for jobs due to a lack of opportunity or stereotypes being the main cause of prevention in obtaining jobs because a statement has been made about a certain group or person that falsely marginalises their chances. As stated, I believe representation to be the biggest feature in symbolic annihilation because the media has a large effect on representation, so if a social class or race is being misrepresented in the news which can be viewed on many different platforms such as television, the internet, on phones etc… then they are being exposed to the whole world, potentially in a negative light. This can lead to the lack of opportunity that Viola Davis stated in her Emmy winning speech of 2015.

Bibliography 

Hall, S. (2013.) “The Work of Representation.” In Representations: Cultural Representations and Signifying

Practices. Hall, S. Evans, J. & Nixon, S. (Eds.). London: Sage Publication, pp. 28

Ward, O. (2017.) “Intersectionality and Press Coverage of Political Campaigns: Representations of Black, Asian,

and Minority Ethnic Female Candidates at the U.K. 2010 General Election.” International Journal of Press/Politics,

22(1), 45-54.

Tuchman, G. (1978.) “The Symbolic Annihilation of Women by the Mass Media.” In Hearth and Home: Images of

Women in the Mass Media. Tuchman, G., Daniels, A.K. & Benet, J. (Eds.) New York: Oxford University Press, pp.

3-5.

Viola Davis Gives Powerful Speech About Diversity and Opportunity | Emmys 2015

http://bechdeltestfest.com/about