Post-colonialism: end of unit essay

Does the British media reflect the modern, multicultural nature of the British society?

In this century the world is surrounded by the media, and in Britain the media can have a massive impact on the society. Also the British media represents the multicultural background of Britain of this day in age, but is this all stereotypes or does it really reflect the modern society. 

Films are popular nowadays due to it's entertaining and escapism factors, which is linked to Blumler and Katz uses and gratification theory. One film which represents the teengers of this society, and how race is nothing to do with their bad behavior is 'Kidulthood'. This is a urban film showing the everyday life of a few teenagers in London. The main characters are three 'ganster' teenage character Jay, Mooney and Trive. These are two black and one white youths, which shows it challenges the media representation of the corrupted kids in London always being black. The film is located in a west London rough estate which shows many different types of origins live; black, white, middle east and Asians. This shows the viewers the multicultural backgrounds in London, and they mostly do live in a working class area. it shows how these young teenagers are going out of school just to have sex which shows how young girls in Britain are becoming pregnant by even the age of 13 which is a major moral panic. As parents who are watching the film could be seeing this, which could make them wary about their children if they would be doing this. In the last scene there was a huge clash between two character which ended in a fight. This represents the everyday life for these teenagers, and how violence always is happening. The two characters were black which links to Alvarado's theory of themes in racial representation, and in this it would be dangerous. Which is something that most people in England already see most teenage black people. Which is a negative stereotype as not all of them are dangerous and rough. But due to the news and urban films like this it could strengthen the view which people could have towards young black boys in Britain. 

In the summer 2012, it was a great year for London and sports as the Olympics were held here.The opening ceremony was predominantly seen as a success and a good representation of modern Britain with multicultural themes running through out the performance. however, some could argue that the whole ethnicity has to chase the same ethnicity could represent the fact that people might still believe in segregation. In this day in age anyone can date each other no matter what colour origin you are. So out of all race the boy was instructed to chase her which could offend the audience as they might feel that the English people have still not accepted them as their people as well. Another race and ethnicity is being represented is through the use of an nuclear family. An example of this is when the White mum comes out of the Cooper with a mixed race child. This connotes that diversity is still occurring in the world and that there is cultures mixing which represents the modern day Britain. There is black father which is shown as educated and family orientated, staying with the family helping them out. Which challenges the daily stereotype that black fathers run away from their family or they could be drug dealers etc. This sort of representation could be linked to Frantz and Fanon theory that the  black man is putting on a white mask to fit in. This could be that he could have dropped his whole cultural background has become this new man with a 'white mans mentality'. This could be a way of the Olympics showing the viewers that this is the way to become successful if you aren't British. It also reveals that this type of family was difficult to find in Britain, a stable and successful nuclear family which bring a negative stereotype again that a black man cant raise a family and be successful at the same which could offend many people.

Another example of multicultural representation in Britain is through a film called Yasmin which is about a young Pakistani girl in living in Britain. It shows how the girl is changing from a her muslim clothing with the head scarf to a whole different clothing; which includes tight jeans, a jumper showing the shape of her breast and her hair showing. These are all forbidden for a muslim women to be wearing to be wearing this, it could be linked to Frantz and Fanon theory that she's trying to put on the white mask. As she wants to fit in the community when she's working so people don't treat her differently due to her believes. Even though she's went through that trouble to change her appearance, it don't change the fact that she's Pakistani. When she went into the pub, the locals looked at her different like she didn't belong there. This is where the theorist Edward Said is involved, as those people see her as different as she's from a country in th east which people have a negative view against. This view is dangerous as she's from a country which has been suspected of many terrorists attacks, which is stereotypical of them. This film shows how living in Britain is a struggle for the different multicultural people, as not everyone has accepted the right the people have to live in Britain. So other culture try their best to fit in this society, but however they try there will always be people that have this clash against the east. Which just shows that people's cultures will follow them however hard they try to change this, as they try fight to fit in the western society. 

Overall the media does represent the modern, multicultural nature of the british society in their films mostly so the public can identify themselves which can be linked to the uses and gratification theory . If the representation of the society in film or media was fails then people wouldn't have no interest watching this as it wouldn't have no relation to the society they live in. Some of these representation might be stereotypical in some ways but this is just how the British media of this generation are.