Moral Panic

Moral panic examples

60’s

The 1960’s saw a new revolution taking over the people. As society began to change and trends began to evolve people generally changed. For example the 60’s saw the ‘sexual revolution’. People in the 60’s were very big on taking drugs, having sex and listening to music. Groups of people within the 60’s were dressing radically and attracting media attention, these people picked up the name of hippies. Dressing in bright colours and lived the wild party lifestyle.

James Bulger

The murder of James Bulger rocked the UK in February 1993. The murder of the two-year-old boy from Liverpool shocked the UK as it emerged his killers was aged 10. This crime sickened society, poor James Bulger was lured out of a shopping centre and led to a near by railway line only to be tortured and killed. This crime shocked the UK, as it was abnormal for children at such a young age to commit such a horrendous crime.

E.coli

The E.coli outbreak in 1996 saw a huge food scare as the disease hit the shelves in supermarkets causing the public to be at risk. The media coverage surrounding the outbreak lead the public to believe the situation was a lot worse than it actually was. The media portrayed the outbreak as a very dangerous disease in which it was, however what the media failed to tell the public was that the situation wasn’t as bad as they were making it out to be. The media stated how the elderly and young people were in extreme danger causing panic and a huge concern over the food within the country.

Dunblane

 The Dunblane massacre that occurred in Scotland caused a huge public outcry for the restrictions regarding guns to be tightened in order to protect the people of Britain as well as the children within schools. The laws enforced regarding guns is known for the strictest law in place with regards to purchasing handguns. This law lead the innocent people who use guns responsibly to fall victim to the harsh legislations.

AIDS

Within the 1980’s a national scare evolved involving the disease AIDS this disease lead to a national scare portrayed in the media in a very poor way. For example the media reports published were based on assumptions and insubstantial evidence, however the public did not know this so began to take great caution with regards to sex. The gay community come under attack due to this scare as the media publicised the virus was prominent among the gay community. The gay community began to receive a lot of hate and took a lot of the blame for the outbreak of the virus.

British Ideology

People who visit britain will notice a number of things that fit in within the British ideology and the image Britain has. A range of things such as landmarks, icons and even food play a part. For example the items in the list below consists of icons noticeable within Britain.

• Black Cabs
• Red telephone Boxes
• The Royal Family
• The British Red, White and Blue flag
• Afternoon tea & Biscuits
• Marmite
• Toast
• Large Queues - Extreme Shoppers
• Fast Food

Ideology in Magazines

Ideology in Magazines

Why do magazines reflect the values and ideologies of their readers?

They want their readers to feel that they can identify with the magazine.

Here are the descriptions of the target readers of two lifestyle magazines:

The ELLE reader is spirited, stylish and intelligent; she expects to be successful at everything she does. She takes the lead and breaks the rules.

The SIGHT and SOUND reader is a true film buff who expects to be given intelligent information on all film releases, not just Hollywood, mainstream movies.

Task 2: Take a look at the two websites and note down how you think they reflect the values, interests and ideologies of their readers. 

Consider; 

typography (font choice, colour, placement)

How the pages are laid out, does the composition lead the eye and retain viewers?

Promises connected to ideology, values, interests.

Language use; words that the reader will understand, do they use informal form of address 'you'?

ELLE Magazine

The typography within the magazine reveals a lot about the type of reader the magazine is aimed at. The title of the webpage is in a serif font however is in a very elegant and sophisticated style reflecting the slim models who model for ELLE. The colour of the font is black which shows a sophisticated side to the web page.

The page layout is very well thought out as the webpage leads the eye around the page from the sub title to the pictures which slide across to reveal more articles and new web pages. The font of the the writing is in a black font which is very basic but effective as the colours are not to bright and in the readers face.

The webpage can mirror the fashion that ELLE tries to portray as the text has a specific layout in order for it to look good. similar to fashion. we see how the models clothing is very basic and not too drastic similar to the layout of the webpage.

The webpage is easy to navigate as the headings are clear and very noticeable.

The webpage also offers fashion tips in order for the reader to search for information they could use in order to find themselves. Topics such as fashion and latest trends appear at a glance.

Sight & Sound Magazine

The webpage for Sight & Sound is very basic and appears to be aimed at an older audience looking for an in depth knowledge about the the latest film releases hitting the cinemas. for example we see how the webpage offers sub genres that offer sections film of the week and a number of other articles.

The font of the magazine is very basic in a sans serif font.