Visual Geographies
Blogging about vision and visual culture in human geography
‘Ill Manors’: Conceptualising crime in the city
Last May, the famous British rapper Ben Drew (known to his fans as ‘Plan B’) wrote, directed and released his first ever film to hit the big screen in London to raise awareness for social and criminal issues within the city. The film ‘Ill manors’ is situated in the streets of Forest Gate and revolves around the various intertwined lives of ‘back alley’ drug dealers, homeless prostitutes and young ‘gangsters’. Drew has put a narrative spin on his piece of work, by overlapping the scenes of struggle with storytelling rap, to add a fourth dimension to the ‘underworld’ of London that is represented throughout this film (Thorpe, 2013).
Such a film reflects Hubbard’s theorisation of cinema and the anti-urban myth. Since the beginning of cinema, cities have been represented through film which is not surprising due to the hub of social and economic activity that takes place in urban space, film has been a unique media that was able to ‘capture’ the comings and goings of city life in an uncannily ‘realistic’ way (2006). The scene ‘Mr. Drug Dealer’ in the film visually encapsulates the concept of the city being rife with ‘hidden’ crime, where anti-social behaviours take place away from the eyes of the mainstream public, however, this media representation of the ‘squalor’ of cities often creates stereotypes in the dramatised scenes of entertaining media (Rawlinson, 1998).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwk-LOcCww8
Focused spaces of the city, as a consequence of these representations of place with particular regard here to Forest Gate, are shrouded in negative connotations of crime, danger and general ‘dirtiness’, forcing these spaces and their inhabitants to be socially displaced from the rest of the ‘unhindered’ urban landscape. The visual works here to portray ‘signs’ of criminality through the scenery of film, such as graffiti or peeling paint, mapping areas of the city that fall under such scrutiny of the public eye and influences the movements of ‘outsiders’ away from these spaces of urban ‘ruin’ (Holloway & Hubbard, 2001).
This representation is also intertwined with Rose’s notion of the visual being a ‘multi-sensory’ experience of space, where the visual can be aided in ways by other senses that create a richer tapestry of imagery than a simple still photograph (2003). ‘Ill Manors’ encompasses this in a number of ways with the temporality of space between which the characters are seemingly moving around the city simultaneously – creating a chronologically ‘realistic’ representation of ‘jagged’ criminal movement. This unique style of dismisses preconceived perceptions of urbanism as uniform and ordered, and portrays the urban as a contested space of formality and informality, familiar and unfamiliar and ultimately linking accordingly to our own perceptions of safety and danger (Hubbard, 2006).
It is without a doubt that the film ‘Ill manors’ seeks to master an alternative depiction of the streets of London through the lens of the camera, using motion as a way of breaking under-represented spaces of urban life and it is also important to understand that these representations seek to elevate themselves from spaces of urban conformity.
Charlotte Hales
P, Hubbard (2006). City. New York: Routledge. p59-68.
L, Holloway & P, Hubbard (2001). People and Places: the extraordinary geographies of everyday life. London: Pearson Education Limited. p107 – 110.
P, Rawlinson. (1998). Mafia, Media and Myth: Representations of Russian Organised Crime. The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice. 37 (4), p346-358.
G, Rose. (2003). On the Need to Ask How, Exactly, Is Geography “Visual”?. Antipode. 35 (2), p212-221.
V, Thorpe. (2013). Rapper, hit film-maker … now Plan B turns to helping marginalised youths. Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/apr/28/plan-b-each-one-teach-one?INTCMP=SRCH. Last accessed 4th May 2013.
Sociology and The Wire
Although The Wire ended in 2008 it has had a lasting legacy in both popular and academic circles. The next two blogs will explore The Wire as a piece of “social science fiction” and as a teaching tool of sociology. It is important to examine how this visual text can be used by geographers to frame and analyse topics such as urban inequality.
Steve Busfield’s (2009) article in the Guardian examined The Wire’s ability to be used as a sociological tool. The article provides a useful framing for the debate over whether The Wire is indeed “social science fiction.” Terry Austrin argues that the Wire’s “staged authenticity” was not valid sociologically; essentially this fictional story cannot be used as replacement for first hand research knowledge. Others such as Rebecca Bramall debated that The Wire embodied a world that was structured by the liberal-left demand for “progressive” representation and not of the realities of Baltimore. Busfield uses the homosexual gangster Omar as an individual who perhaps represents an idealised liberal-left character. However many do not share their viewpoints for example Dr Rowland Atkinson reasons that The Wire should be used as sociological tool. He claims that The Wire can be a flagship of the growing works of non-text based sociology, it has “rare qualities: insight, commitment and panoptic coverage of social institutions and urban structures.”
It would appear many agree with Atkinson including those who have genuine insight into Baltimore. These professors’ views on The Wire’s sociological importance are recorded in Lageson et al’s (2011) article “The Wire Goes to College”. Throughout the article academics such as William Julius Wilson explain “We used (sic) The Wire to integrate topics that form the basis of an understanding of urban inequality” and that is has been extremely effective in their respective courses. Much of the article provides a valuable insight into how The Wire can be used as a sociological tool, but it is William Julius Wilson’s answers that were particularly prominent hence why his work is analysed further.
William Julius Wilson uses The Wire to frame his course on urban inequality. In his article Why We’re Teaching ‘The Wire’ at Harvard (2010) Wilson highlights the show’s ability to incorporate multifaceted sociological concepts relating to urban inequality into one work. Wilson remarks that academic works often fail to capture the whole picture of urban inequality “often giving focused attention to just one subject in relative isolation, at the expense of others”, The Wire with its artistic license is better able to “weave together the forces that shape the lives of the urban poor.” The Wire unfolds slowly similar to a novel and each season considers different aspects of Baltimore. In its first season The Wire focuses on the drugs and the war against them. Analysed is their damaging impacts on the urban poor. Wilson explains how supplementary reading such as Bruce Western’s book “Punishment and Inequality in America” tie into the course. Western’s study shows that the widespread narcotics fuelled arrests and incarceration leaves ex-convicts unable to find work further adding the economic inequality.
As shown in this blog The Wire has become a sociological tool for many academics, it is important that geographers recognise The Wire’s ability to convey complex sociological themes in a unique way and adopt the fruitful approaches already outlined by sociologists.
Reference List
Busfield,S. (2009). The Wire: taking sociology forwards?. Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2009/nov/27/the-wire-social-science-fiction. (Last accessed 29/04/2013)
Lageson,S Green,K and Erensu,S. (2011). The Wire Goes to College.Contexts. 10 (,), 12-15.
Wilson,W.J and Chaddha,A. (2010). Why We’re Teaching ‘The Wire’ at Harvard. Available: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/news-events/news/news-archive/teaching-the-wire-at-harvard. (Last accessed 29/04/2013)
Acting out Reality: Snoop Pearson and The Wire
Jamie Hector and Felicia “Snoop” Pearson in The Wire
When Geographers have analysed visual culture in the past there has been a emphasis on how films in particular can blur the lines between reality and fiction. They have a unique ability to display a space such as a city with incredible veracity “mirroring our own experiences” (Hubbard 2006.)
The Wire has often been commended for its startling realism and authenticity, representing many sociological themes in Baltimore. To maintain this accuracy much of the cast is drawn from Baltimore locals. The authentic experiences that these actors have lived out in Baltimore gives The Wire a unique edge as a visual representation of Baltimore sociological themes. One of the cast of The Wire is Baltimorean Felicia “Snoop” Pearson. She was born to two drug addicted parents and was fostered at a young age, growing selling drugs she was sent to prison for murder at just 14. Several years after she was released came her big break, she was scouted by fellow actor Michael K.Williams (Omar Little) at a nightclub in Baltimore. (Dawkins 2006) She was invited to take part in The Wire, playing a “soldier” for drug boss Marlo. Her character share her name and many of her real life attributes, she is a character that really blurs the boundaries between reality and fiction. (Penfold-Mounce 2011). She states in her autobiography that The Wire’s producers requested her to act as herself, even going as far as to letting her change line to be fit in with her Baltimorean dialect. Pearson often reflects in her on the difficulty in distinguishing her real life with her on stage act. She goes on to explain how the acting role has gone on to influence ‘Real is pretend, and pretend is real. Snoop is real-life me and Snoop is pretend-life character on TV’. (Pearson and Ritz, 2007: 224) This confusion and blurring of reality has impacted on Snoops “reality” when she goes to drug deal on the corners of Baltimore in The Wire it is a direct reflection of her real life, but after The Wire she sees her world differently. Penfold-Mounce (2011) reflects how the character Snoop and the actor herself embody various sociological themes. Issues of gender are important in Ain’t I a Woman? (1999) bell hooks criticizes American television’s representation of black women as weak “fallen” women. Snoop’s character is challenges this typical representation she is a strong powerful and frankly frightening character, in fact Stephen King writes that Pearson is “perhaps the most terrifying female villain to ever appear in a television series.”(King 2007) There are also fascinating matters of “social bonds” (Penfold-Mounce 2011) the way in which Snoop fits into the drug dealing hierarchy and is socially situated within, yet remains marginalised from “traditional” society is one of great interest to cultural geographers and social scientists alike. There are many more that could be examined but what is extremely interesting to note is the theme of “product of environment” both Snoops real life and on screen personas are crafted from the decaying landscape of Baltimore a melting pot of drugs violence and poverty.
In her book Pearson writes how she would like to use acting as an escape from the hellish existence of Baltimore, her reality. However more recently in 2011 she pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to distribute heroin. This comes as a stark reminder that it is difficult to escape the realities of Baltimore.
Pearson is charged with drug offences.
References
Bishop,T. (2011). ‘Wire’ actress ‘Snoop’ pleads guilty in drug case.Available: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-08-08/news/bs-md-ci-snoop-plea-20110808_1_wire-actress-snoop-benjamin-sutley-pearson. Last accessed 12th April 2013.
Dawkins, D. (2006). An Actress’s Hard Life Feeds ‘Wire’ Character.Available: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D02E0DB163FF932A15753C1A9609C8B63. Last accessed 12th April 2013.
Hubbard,P. The City (2006). New York: Psychology Press. p60-68.
King,S. (2007). Setting Off a ‘Wire’ Alarm. Available: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1333799,00.html. Last accessed 12th April 2013.
Ruth Penfold-Mounce, David Beer and Roger Burrows The Wire as Social Science-fiction? Sociology February 2011 45: 152-167,
Sexualised Space: Women in Urban Advertising
After recently taking a trip to New York, I was intrigued by an article in The Independent regarding billboard advertising, particularly with regard to using sexualised imagery to promote charitable advertising, in this case encouraging men and women to check their bodies for lumps by having ‘attractive’ models in little clothing demonstrate the correct procedure. Whilst in New York, I visited Times Square, a notorious location for outdoor advertising on a colossal scale, with billboards adorning buildings amid monstrous moving and still commercial images. What drew my attention to this article ‘Sex sells, so charities should use it to their advantage’ (Widdup, 2012), was that Times Square was littered with sexual imagery used against the backdrop of a bustling shopping high street, and these commercial images primarily used women and the female form to market products.
This was an interesting concept as urban spaces rely heavily on visual-social construction rather than simply physical construction, to create a sense of place (Pritchard & Morgan, 2010). It is more frequently in the modern era that images of women are dominating outdoor advertising in the city, often these representations are sexualised, focusing strongly on the appearance and positioning of the model in the frame, rather than the product that is being marketed (Rosewarne, 2005). This particular type of advertising shapes the social construction of the urban unlike other forms of media owing to their prominent exposure to public space, where such images are inescapable whilst moving through the city, creating eternally gendered spaces (Rosewarne, 2005).
Gender is intricately associated with the construction of place, in ways that are often overlooked by those who utilise these spaces on a daily basis. Forms of power, behaviour and importantly, identity are represented and ‘negotiated’ by social systems that shape gendered spaces and draw from gender and sexuality (Pritchard & Morgan, 2012). Rosewarne argues that here the city is charged with masculine identity and power, where women are excluded in urban space through being objectified as ‘displays’ of the female form in advertising, as merely a decoration for men to admire (2005).
The frequent use of women in billboard advertising suggests the urban realm is associated with masculine discourses, drawing upon male heterosexuality and desire to sell products (Schroeder & Zwick, 2004), rather than the female equivalent. Here, the creation of place is centred on ‘the male gaze’ which brings the city into the focus of the western-masculine dominance of the advertising industry (Pritchard & Morgan, 2012). This form of gendered space can restrict the movements of women within the city, and their behaviour may be changed to comply with the underlying representations of male versus female social constructions, reinforcing the processes that construct these places (Rosewarne, 2005).
Through the use of imposing, public advertising in the city women are often socially excluded from urban space through over sexualised representations of the female gender and femininity. These representations draw attention to gendered spaces, through which women move and can exert dynamics of control over such individuals in these spaces.
Charlotte Hales
Daily Billboard. Spring 2010 fashion billboard was snapped on March 28, 2010. Available: http://www.dailybillboardblog.com/2010/04/fashion-week-tom-ford-spring-2010.html
A, Pritchard & N, Morgan. (2010). Constructing tourism landscapes – gender, sexuality and space. Tourism Geographies: An International Journal of Tourism Space, Place and Environment. 2, p115-139.
J, Robertson. This has certainly made us more aware of boobs. Available: http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/mel-b-topless-photoshoot-for-coppafeel-1321017
L, Rosewarne. (2005). The men’s gallery Outdoor advertising and public space: Gender, fear, and feminism. Women’s Studies International Forum. 28, p67-78.
J, Schroeder & D, Zwick. (2004). Mirrors of Masculinity: Representation and Identity in Advertising Images. Consumption, Markets and Culture. 7, p21-30.
E, Widdup. (2012). Sex sells, so charities should use it to their advantage. Available: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/sex-sells-so-charities-should-use-it-to-their-advantage-8145096.html?origin=internalSearch. Last accessed 1st May 2013.
Image Power: Crowd-sourcing and the aftermath of the Boston Bombing.
Newton once said (his third law): ‘to any action is an opposite and equal reaction’. In the wake of the Boston bombings (15th April, 2013), public outcry mobilised into (online) vigilantism. Mechanised via the Internet, ‘crowd-sourcing’ – the act of obtaining:
‘Information or input into a particular task or project…by enlisting the services of a number of people…typically via the Internet’
(see. Oxford, 2013), incited wild and unfounded accusations, as to the perpetrators of this crime (on a global scale). Intercepted by online communities such as: www.reddit.com and www.4Chan.com the ‘visual’ (public and private images) became a source for public scrutiny, imagination and debate (see, The Guardian, 2013). The result? – An online witch-hunt that raises questions; concerning (not only) the ethics of crowd sourcing, but (from a geographical perspective) how images are also translated and understood across globalised space (i.e. the internet). As, Masum et al (2011; xv) put it:
‘A dramatic intensification of the scope and speed of interactions in our modern society is driving an increasing need to distinguish what is true, useful and relevant from what is not’.
Simply, ‘online’ opinions affect the ‘offline’ world – how we interpret the ‘visual’ (online) has wider ramifications.
(Petapixel, 2013)
(Petapixel, 2013)
The speed, at which an image might be deconstructed and equally reconstructed, is dramatically intensified in the digital age. Provoked by confusion and/or fear, images fuelling online speculation (following the attacks; April 15th) entered the real world. Subjects of the camera lens, (wrongly identified) saw their identities, their appearances, manipulated to fit a supposed ‘terrorist’ persona (e.g. back-pack wearing, suspicious ‘looking’ individuals) –adopted and then elevated to ‘fact’, via front-page news (see, above image). Altering the context of an image, realising/seeing western ‘fears’ (in this case terrorism); within an otherwise un-associated ‘visual’ is an interesting topic of discussion (perhaps best left for psychological/sociological review). Still, its effects are conceivably linked to the geopolitics of ‘fear’ and the ‘everyday’ (see, for example: Pain and Smith, 2008) As, Pain and Smith (2008; 1) describe:
‘There may have been a period in history when fear was restricted to real and imaginary risks in primarily local settings: but increasingly, risk and fear are experience, portrayed and discussed as globalised phenomena…particularly since the onset of the ‘war on terror’’.
Perhaps, we might then explain the aforementioned events as a product of universal/ or global fears manifested into a form of reactionary action. Nevertheless, in its failure we recognise the power and mobility of the visual, alongside its ability to be misconstrued and transposed within fantasised contexts. A feature heightened by our growing interconnectedness.
This blog has performed several objectives. Firstly, I have articulated an ability for the ‘visual’ to be socially reconstructed. Whilst, I seek to draw attention to ‘crowd-sourcing’, as a social phenomenon; requiring further geographical engagement. As, so far; geographic study would seem to have but examined its economic and cartographic impact (see, for example: Leszczynski, 2012 and Sui et al, 2012).
The Guardian, (2013), Reddits Boston Marathon Speculation Shows the Limits of Crowdsourcing, The Guardian (online). Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/19/reddit-boston-marathon-crowdsourcing (Accessed: 3rd May, 2013).
Leszczynski, A, (2012), Situating the Geoweb in Political Economy, Progress in Human Geography, 36 (1); 72-89.
Masum, H, Tovey, M, (eds.) (2011), The Reputation Society: How Online Opinions are Reshaping the Offline World. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Pain, R, Smith, S, (2008), Fear: Critical Geopolitics and Everyday Life. Oxon: Ashgate Publishing Group.
Petapixel, (2013), NY Post Uses Photo of Innocent Teen as Boston Bombing Cover Photo, Petapixel (image online). Available at: http://petapixel.com/2013/04/19/ny-post-uses-photo-of-innocent-teen-as-boston-bombing-cover-photo/ (Accessed: 3rd May, 2013).
Sui, D, Elwood, S, and Goodchild, M, (eds.) (2012), Volunteered Geographic Information, Public Participation, and Crowdsourced Production
The Visual Geographies of Museums
Museum Geography is a contemporary yet highly unexplored aspect coming of more importance within the diverse discipline of Geography itself. Among studying matters revolving around collections, collectors, space and performance; it also includes exploration into many visual and representational issues. Geoghegan (2010) explains how the purpose of exhibiting artefacts has changed over time from being a “personal desire to inspire and entertain” to a more recent “need to educate the visiting public” (2010: 1462). It is the spatial and visual concept of how the chosen and organised articles are displayed that I find to be of particular interest.
The audience of a museum can be local, national or international and it is this audience which rely on the museum curators for the information and constructed environment which puts the chosen artefact into context. Therefore a lot of importance is laid onto the museum staff when constructing this display of place and identity that a single item or whole collection belongs in (Duclos, 1999). Geoghegan (2010) also identifies a shift in the Western museum culture in the late 1980s – ‘new museology’ – which strives to incorporate a representation of different perspectives. This political shift also brings with it a more inclusive access to the museums themselves to the wider contemporary society.
Due to the competition from other leisurely activities and pressure to justify their keep (Geoghegan, 2010) museums are always visually reinventing their displays and exhibitions. The National Museum of The Netherlands – The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has just reopened after a 10 year long closure for a €375 million refurbishment (The Independent, 2013). From hand painting intricate decorations on pillars to adding stained glass windows, every piece of the museum has been revitalised including rehousing every single artefact and piece of artwork from the 8,000 piece collection but one. The item that wasn’t moved was Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch”. Wim Pijbes, the museum director, describes this huge piece as a civilian display, which symbolises the power of the people in the Netherlands. The choice of keeping this piece displayed in pride of place represents the choices curators make about aesthetics within an exhibition, and as Geoghegan (2010) suggests, how certain pieces can create a sense of identity depending on where they are actively displayed.
In an article written by Dorment (2013) he reviews the ‘Ice Age Art’ exhibition currently at the British Museum. Dorment discusses how the British Museum has compared some of the pieces with relatively more modern art movements and artists. Despite him recognising the need for the curators to allow the extremely distant art to feel familiar to visitors by displaying it in context, he disagrees with these similarities and dislikes how they are displayed with the idea of “projecting modern ideas about art onto the distant past”.
Museums are a visual space which is active in the creating of meaning and therefore interesting to be studied in geographic terms. Geoghegan (2010) suggests many future aspects to be further explored including work on what goes on behind the scenes and in the archives- delving into what is not shown and why. Museums generally have a limited exhibition area which only allows for one collection to be shown at a time – leaving masses of artefacts, and therefore knowledge, off limits to the general public.
Rose Muston
Dorment, R., 2013. Ice Age Art, British Museum, review. The Telegraph. Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/9847328/Ice-Age-Art-British-Museum-review.html [Accessed 02/05/13]
Duclos, R., 1999. The cartographies of collecting. In: Knell, S. J. (ed.) Museums and the future of collecting. Aldershot: Ashgate, 48–62.
Geoghegan, H., 2010. Museum Geography: Exploring Museums, Collections and Museum Practice in the UK. Geography Compass, 4(10): 1462-1476.
The Independent, 2013. Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum to reopen after €375 million revamp with Rembrandt pride of place. The Independent. Available from: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/amsterdams-rijksmuseum-to-reopen-after-375-million-revamp-with-rembrandt-pride-of-place-8559428.html?origin=internalSearch [Accessed 04/05/13].
The Visual City Break
When it comes to the tourism industry visually pleasing images are of huge importance. Most holiday goers when choosing their next destination rely on travel agent’s brochures, online images, televised adverts and other forms of media which all showcase attractive photographs or video recordings that will entice the consumer.
Nelson (2011) explores the history of tourism within the Caribbean Islands commencing with when Europeans first discovered, and subsequently conquered, the area. She discusses how early representations of the Caribbean, in the form of written descriptive accounts and illustrations, were highly influential when it came to the island’s reputation. This reputation in time became the region’s identity as the pre-Columbian population, and with it their culture, became eradicated. Nelson states how this newly formed identity was a social construction and only held an outsider’s view – focussing on the tropical island landscape and surroundings. The idea of a landscape as an object to be viewed is a contested issue within geography. This aesthetic way of seeing reproduces the nature-society binary by constructing the landscape as a separate entity to society and culture.
Nelson (2011) discusses why images are so influential to tourists and states how an “outsider’s experience is almost entirely visual” of a place and often constructed from first impressions along with preconceptions. It is this aspect which makes visual media so significant in the tourism industry – the images projected by companies in this sector will become these necessary first impressions.
I decided to look at how city life and ‘city breaks’ were advertised contrasting with Nelson’s work on predominantly rural areas. When visiting a well know travel agent’s website – Thomas Cook – a viewer can recognise how the “pro-urban myth” is used within images to advertise the currently popular ‘city breaks’ (Hubbard, 2006). This romantic view of excitement and “urban opportunity” (ibid: 65) is portrayed over a variety of images displayed on the website of many different big city destinations including Paris, New York and Rome. There are numerous images of impressive night time skylines with imposing modern buildings and infinite bright lights highlighting the endless possibilities the focussed city offers. In addition there are many iconic pictures of famous landmarks held within the city hubbub showcasing the celebrated nature of city life.
McGreggor (2000) suggests that tourist’s perceptions of and their ways of seeing a place are highly affected by the texts and images of that certain place which they encounter previously to their travels. This links with Urry’s (2002) idea of the ‘Tourist Gaze’ upon which tourists view their vacation destination in a different way to how they would look upon mundane life.
Along with the place promotion offered by the endless tourism media – films can also add expectation and preconceptions of life in a particular city due to many films being set in such tourist destinations. Hubbard suggests that film representations of city life can change the way people view and act within the city. This idea correlates with McGreggor’s (2000) proposal of influential texts and images altering tourists’ outlooks.
I believe photographic images are such influential mediums to potential tourists and consumers due to their tendency to tell the truth. A photograph is often believed to show proof of how a certain city looks and therefore exists – it isn’t opinion and therefore cannot be lying or exaggerating. Hence why when booking a holiday to a destination many miles away, to a place that can only be truly experienced upon arrival, it is important as the consumer to see what you’re getting for your money.
Rose Muston
Hubbard, P., 2006. City, London: Routledge.
Mcgregor, A., 2000. Dynamic Texts and Tourist Gaze: Death, Bones and Buffalo. Annals of Tourism Research, 27: 27–50.
Nelson, V., 2011. The landscape reputation: Tourism and identity in the Caribbean. Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie, 102: 176–187.
Thomas Cook. Available at: http://www.thomascook.com/lp/city-breaks/ [Accessed 30.04.2012].
Urry, J., 2002. The Tourist Gaze, 2nd ed, London: Sage.
How ‘real’ is reality? Representing young people in the City
In our modern society we often find that cities are inextricably linked to ‘youth culture’ through representations in the media. It is almost impossible, in fact, to visualise the city’s night culture without imagining young urbanised adults as part of the fabric of such scenery. These particular representations are exaggerated and glorified predominantly through ‘reality television’ shows where individuals or groups of young people between the ages of 18 and 30 are filmed in an unstructured scenario, without direction or script material (Papacharissi, 2011).
One such popular programme aired on MTV is the UK hit ‘Geordie Shore’, which follows the lives of the reality TV stars in their movements through the city of Newcastle. Often, the shows include dramatic, over-indulgent ‘nights out’ ending in ‘paralytic’ vomiting, outlandish sexual conduct or violent brawls. A recent BBC News article condemned Geordie Shore as an untruthful representation of the people of Newcastle, therefore creating a negative representation of the city itself (BBC News, 2011).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A68qveBV9aU
According to Biressi, the label of ‘reality TV’ creates misleading assumptions of everyday city life by claiming to be a ‘truthful’ representation of ‘real life’ scenarios (2005). Although viewers often understand the implications of authenticity of such scenarios being wholly ‘unadulterated ’ by the commercialisation of the situation, it’s not always easy to distinguish between what could be ‘true’ and what could be staged in these urban spaces (Papacharissi et al, 2011). Therefore, using Geordie Shore as our example, natural assumptions about the ‘nightlife’ culture of Newcastle are made through the lens of the camera – creating negative perceptions of the young people who live in the city.
Following Papacharissi’s theory on reality TV as ‘a symptom of a postmodern era’ she emphasises the power that a programme has to influence perceptions of groups of individuals through advertising these shows as ‘outrageous’, marketing the ‘real’ people within the show as degraded and less superior to the viewer, as a form of entertainment to be both laughed at and horrified at (2011). This imagery can also be susceptible to mass generalisation through popular repeated processes, where hits such as Geordie Shore encourage further programmes of similar content to be produced, such as the famous BBC broadcasting of ‘Sun, sex and suspicious parents’, documenting the holiday behaviours of 18 year olds in cities abroad (Bondebjerg, 2002).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ8M_FTXU-U
Bondebjerg also points out that this form of media representation can be understood as a ‘metaphor’ of commercialised and globalised media-culture and new network society which changes the relationship between the audience and reality, often these audiences are young people themselves seeking glorified experiences of other ‘ordinary’ young people throwing these visual geographies into popular discourses and culture only to reinforce this somewhat artificial reality (2002; Papacharissi, 2011).
It is important to note the visibility of ‘ordinary’ individuals portrayed in these programmes, such visibility highlights the groups that these people represent, particularly in the case of young Britons and restricts their movements within urban spaces under societies now, seemingly more focused attention, often creating a spatial and temporal divide between social groups coexisting in cities (Biressi, 2005).
Charlotte Hales
BBC News. (2011). MTV’s Geordie Shore upsets locals. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13581236. Last accessed 14th April 2013.
A, Biressi et al (2005). Reality TV: realism and revelation. London: Wallflower Press. p1-20.
I, Bondebjerg (2002). Realism and ‘reality’ in Film and Media. Denmark: Narayana Press. p159-170.
Z, Papacharissi et al. (2011). An Exploratory study of reality appeal: Uses and gratifications of reality TV shows. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media. 2 (1), p355-370.
Visual Geographies 