How Language operates and how Language Manipulates

Misrepresentation: Bias and Media

16th of April 2012

YouTube clip: Suntory Time Lost in Translation

What groups or people are being portrayed in this video clip? - Japanese and American How are they being portrayed? - The representation is that there is a Japanese saying quite a large amount of words which the American Actor is unable to distinguish whether he is being accused or there is something hidden between the lines. In your opinion is anyone being misrepresented?

- The Japanese man seems aggression.

Response to YouTube Class discussion

Stereotype of the Japanese over exaggerated which allows a misinterpretation. Insults those from the background.

Western man seemed quite superior through his body language. His reaction was moderately cynical.
Japs are used comedically. The underlying meaning seems like its more efficient to speak English.

Israeli/ Palestinian Class response

What groups or people are being portrayed in this video clip? - Israeli (soldier) vs Palestinian ( family) How are they being portrayed? - The soldier seems quite aggressive. Where the sympathies lies on womans children as the gun is pointed at them. In your opinion is anyone being misrepresented?

-The army is being misrepresented. The soldier seems aggressive.

What is Bias?
A particular tendency of inclination, especially one that prevents unprejudiced consideration of a question; prejudice.

Examples of Bias
Music/ Songs Rap v.s Classical Social etiquette British v.s America School genre Jocks vs Geeks

Film Genre Horror Movies vs Psychological

TV Genre Cartoons vs Documentaries Media Newspapers vs objective articles Social groups - Activists vs Pacifist Country race America Vs Iraq Race Black vs White Religion Christian vs Muslim Food/ Resources Africa vs America -

Representation through media

Pictures/ photos Songs Music Social networking Letters Memes

Newspapers
Articles Journals

Documentary
Preference and tastes Television programmes

Films
Propaganda Videography

Job Applications
Books

Advertisements

Techniques of Bias
Stereotyping Partial research / facts Rhetorical devices / questions Dictions Captions and Camera Angles Atmosphere

Emotive language
Personality traits Names Hidden Agenda Graphology More opinions than facts

Next
Select one of the things/ people from your brainstorm. Go on-line and find some representations of rather misinterpretations of this group. This could include a photo, a newspaper report, a TV or Radio news report, a website and speech etc. What techniques are used to convey this bias?

owbiz/article-1213280/KanyeWest-ruins-Taylor-Swifts-bigMTV-acceptance-speechstorms-stage.html
The hip hop star, who had been swigging Hennessy cognac on the red carpet earlier in the night, was booed roundly by the celebrity-packed audience of thousands. - Select and Omission continue any further, West leaped from his seat in the audience, ran onto the stage and rushed to grab the microphone as a bemused Swfit struggled to take in what was happening. Powerful verbs ( active)

Find out on Edward W Said:

Who was he? Why was his book Orientalism so special?

How the east is misinterpreted by the west.

Misrepresentation
give a false or misleading account of the nature of : you are misrepresenting the views of the government.

By Anish, Victoria And Sid

Rebecca Black's 'Friday' a Viral Sensation for All the Wrong Reasons
Ah, Rebecca Black -- blowing up on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube (with 2+ million views thus far) for all the wrong reasons.

Black's video for "Friday" is one of those rare occurrences where even the most seasoned critics of Internet culture don't know where to begin. From the singing straight out of Auto-Tuned hell to lyrics such as "Tomorrow is Saturday / And Sunday comes afterwards / I don't want this weekend to end" and a hilariously bad rap about passing school buses, "Friday" is something that simply must be seen and heard to be fully appreciated.

Video: Rebecca Black, "Friday"

There are million questions one could ask. Who gave these kids a driver's license? Are any of them even above the age of 15? What is "fry-eee-day" and does it have any relation to the similarly-pronounced day of the week? And most of all, because we all know we've been through this conundrum at some point in our dull and witless lives: which seat can we take? I can barely wrap my head around it.

Nicki Minaj Dear Old Nicki

http://shxnnxn.hubpages.com/hub/A-RhetoricalAnalysis-of-Dear-Old-Nicki-by-Nicki-Minaj