Task 3: Constructing the Other

 

Any individual who is perceived by a group as different in a fundamental way becomes the ‘other’. The group who sees themselves as being the norm judge those who do not meet the requirements of the group and see the ‘other’ as lacking in the essential characteristics they possess themselves.

I have chosen two different types of ‘othering’ for this task. One shows an online tutorial for ‘coloured women’ who want to improve their makeup skills and the other shows a newspaper article headlined ‘Mothers are on the brink- Cost of living is ‘forcing 1 in 5 to skip meals to feed their children’, next to an advert for McCain Jacket potatoes with the title ‘Rumbling tummies, Rejoice.’

In the first example, the ‘Othering’ is how the distinction is made between ‘women’ and ‘women of colour’. The article is explaining how new cosmetics are coming out to suit a ‘darker complexion’ but because they are singling out their audience as being ‘women of colour’ they are suggesting that the normal woman is white by default.

The term distinguishes the women from white women so that they cannot just be ‘a woman’ but segregated into a group of their own where their identity is lost in their categorisation.

The second article is more of an unfortunate juxtaposition- the set up of the page clearly being the last thing on the editor’s mind.

The story is about how young mothers in particular are trying to feed their children but going hungry themselves instead. The advert below is rather eye-catching and at a first glance you do tend to read ‘Mothers are on the brink’ and then ‘Rumbling tummies, rejoice’.

This is ‘othering’ as the audience has a constant reminder that they do not know the mothers they are reading about and it draws them away from feeling much compassion. The target audience for the Metro is train travellers, usually business people who would look at the advert and think that it might possibly be nice for lunch. They are not going to engage heavily with the article if they are on their morning commute to work and the big titles around the page advertising other stories inside the issue solidifies this view that they are separate from the world of the mothers being featured.

http://thedailywh.at/tag/unfortunate-juxtaposition/
http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/style/makeup-for-women-of-color.htm