Online Media: Othering

Othering and Post-colonialism

The process of treating people as different, and categorising people as 'us and them'

The UK is suffering from the collapse of empire, and the relinquishing of the colonies has left scars on the British mind. As a result of this, our country is still institutionally racist and incorporates racial hierarchies

Hyperreal simulacra - A representation of something that never existed in the first place

The representation of gay men is complicated in Attitude Magazine

Paul Gilroy argues that power is maintained through strict hierarchies and that certain groups are marginalised through a system of othering. Evaluate this postcolonial representation theory. Make reference to Attitude Online to support your answer

The article takes the form of an editorial or opinion piece, and sees James Barr, a broadcaster, discussing his take on gay subculture

Lexis

• a number of words and phrases in this article position the audience as a gay man
• there is an assumed knowledge that the reader will be familiar with 'Feel It', a gay club in London Bridge
• the phrase 'here's the tea' is a gossipy and colloquial slang that makes explicit reference to drag culture, and the phrase 'the chems' refers to chemsex, a specific element of some people's sex life
• all three of these cultural references constructs a relatable mode of address that positions the target audience as a gay man
• however, this address is highly stereotypical and even othering
• yet ultimately the article constructs a new hierarchy, where knowledgeable gay men are made to feel included and are able to explore these subcultures

Main image

• an image of the journalist himself
• his light makeup and distinctive hairstyle subtly connote queer coding, a fact which is reinforced through the stereotypically feminine yet confident pose of his hand on his hip
• directly addressing the camera, his facial expression is clearly practiced and performatively encodes a sense of gay identity to the target queer audience
• the MES of his costume, a tight fitting tie-dyed shorts also has connotations of queerness
• by taking a stereotypically queer persona, the journalist is clearly othering himself
• however, we can argue that he is reclaiming the negative connotations of being gay, and reclaiming the negative connotations of being gay, and reclaiming a previously negative stereotype
• once more, this constructs a new hierarchy where James Barr is clearly in a dominant position

Layout

• the landing page takes the audience directly to Barr's face, assuming his importance and positions the audience as one who would be interested in him
• Barr, a minor celebrity who will be of particular interest to gay audiences, as they may have built a personal relationship with him throughout his career, and by reading the article and learning more about his private life, will further reinforce this relationship
• this reinforces the importance of queer identity in an otherwise heteronormative world, therefore subverting expectations
• the simple and straightforward layout allows the producers to target the largest possible audience while still remaining in the niche of targeting queer audiences
• the straightforward mode of address here reinforces that being gay is normal, relatable and even desirable
• the clean, clear and symbolically pure layout constructs a sense that to be queer is to be normal
• while the many stereotypes that this article presents doubles down and even reinforces the notion of queer people being othered, the symbolic connotations of queer identity are however inverted, and once more, a new hierarchy is constructed where to be gay is to be accepted