Analysis of the YouTube clip called All Male Fox Panel Laments Female Breadwinners

            I  have chosen to transcribe this video clip and from this I am going to analysis the types of language used and how this could be linked to a possible investigation. With using theories that could be used to show how the language can affect the meaning and portrayal of particular groups, and in this case women but particularly women who are the breadwinners or the working women of America.

          

            A meaning that is strongly portrayed in this clip is that women are of a lesser social status and this is shown through the language which is based on folk linguistics, or stereotypical assumptions. One such example of this is in the phrase ‘something is going terribly wrong in American Society (.) it’s hurting our children’ This phrase implies that women should be at home looking after the children whilst the men are the ones who should be the ones out at work earning the money. Juan who is person B on my transcript is the main person who uses these stereotypes or at least emphasises them the most. He does this by combining this with the use of emotive language and using negative verbs such as ‘hurting’ so persuade and create emotion the viewers. Especially as children have been used as they are considered to be a vulnerable group in society it creates an image of women abandoning this group.

            Juan is also very aware of the audience and knows that it is these people that he needs to convince and therefore he has thought about what he is going to say and used certain techniques to include them in is argument. One way he has done this is by using inclusive pronouns such as ‘our’ in the previous quote ‘our children’. This makes the audience feel included and that what they think is a problem affects anyone’s children so they all should do something about this. Similarly, Eric feels that each gender has it’s certain roles but he uses nature back up his thoughts, but he also is aware of the audience and uses flattery to influence the audience of his opinion. ‘We as people in a smart society’. This quote again uses the inclusive pronoun ‘we’ but it combines this with the adjective ‘smart’ which means he is saying the he and he viewer are smart people, therefore should share the same opinion.

            Lastly, Juan tries to appeal to the audience and create sympathy for men. ‘Disintegration of marriage, men who were hard hit by the economic recession’. This quote implies that men can’t find work as women are the ones who are hit most as women are taking up jobs men should have.  The use of ‘hard hit’ tries to show that all men were hard hit and it was specifically this group. My making this sympathy it’s trying to show this group as a group you should help and therefore agree with what he is saying. However a man wanting sympathy goes against the theory that is presented by Deborah Tanning as she argues that typically it’s the women who wants sympathy.

           

           There are other types of data that could be collected to be compared with this transcript. One type of data that could be collected could be other transcripts of television interviews or discussions that are based on the roles or generally about females’ positions in society. Perhaps even have some that have females involved in the discussion so a point of view from a female can show the opposite opinion to the one shown in the transcript I have analysed as it has only male views that all have similar opinions on the roles of women.   

Another type of data that could be used to compare is the way in which females are treated compared to males on unscripted shows such as game shows which can show if there is a difference in the way women are treated in unplanned situations. Lastly another way in which other data could be compared would be by seeing how women are portrayed in newspapers and seeing the difference in the language that is used to describe them compared to a male equivalent.

       

            If I were to do my investigation on this subject I would use a title such as ‘How does the roles of women in society get conveyed in unplanned situation’ or if it was comparing this transcript against newspapers it could be a more general title of ‘An investigation into how women’s roles get conveyed through the media’ and this could be newspapers, the news and on television as well.  For these investigations there is real life data that can be collected to help in the investigation. I could record discussions that are on television and then transcribe them and compare these ones to the one I have already transcribed. Equally I can transcribe game shows to see the difference in the language used for men and women, and I could also record conversations that people have about the roles women have and what they think about their roles in society. I could also collect newspaper articles from different types of papers to show  the different views on women I think a more highbrow paper may have a different view of women then a lesser brow paper. Collecting these and comparing them may also be another type of data I could collect that real and not just clips from You Tube. 

 Websites used for images 
http://adv91alonsoaye.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/racial-stereotyping-in-world-of.html
http://www.newspapers.co.uk/uk-online-newspapers/