Media Language: Ideology

Ideology is a collection of ideas that are presented by a media product. It often takes the form of the 'moral of the story'. The ideology is placed in the product by the company that produces it, and in most cases will represent the views and  beliefs of the company. An example of this can be seen within American films, in which American citizens are represented as extremely patriotic, and are often the person to save the day in the end. American companies believe that they are strong and superior, and so they portray themselves this way within their media products.

In my A2 coursework, I represent the company who's ideas will be portrayed throughout the product. Being a teenager, I am all too aware of the negative stereotypes unfairly placed upon everyone in this age group. People often believe teenagers to be reckless, lazy, rude, and just generally bad people. Although this may be true in some cases, in reality this stereotype applies to a very small minority of teenagers. The ideology in my coursework is therefore created to neutralise this stereotype, and represent my age group truthfully. The main ways the ideology is presented are shown by the male character. In the opening of the short film the male character can be seen driving a moped, but more importantly he is seen to be driving it safely. Statistically, teenagers are the group most likely to be involved in a road accident, but that doesn't mean that every teenager is a bad driver. I think that by showing this character in this way, it is a small step towards changing the way people view young drivers.