無 / A close relationship exists between media and the construction of women’s image, even more so in contemporary society when individuals rely on the written press so much to construct themselves. However, many media are still presenting stereotypical images of women as cute nurturers and housewives. Through content and semiotic analysis, the thesis examines the changes in the representation of women as shown on the covers of ELLE magazine at the beginning of the 21st century. The findings show that while the French edition of the magazine is portraying more and more realistic feminine and casually clothed ordinary women who have an extraordinary destiny and are concerned with human rights, ELLE China is walking a thin line between presenting inspirational images of trendy liberated working women and more traditional ones, and trying to mix them together to develop a more local image of the modern Chinese woman, whose Confucian values are still important. On the cover of ELLE China at least, women can acquire a higher status and develop a modern femininity with distinctive Chinese characteristics (although those characteristics are still in evolution) through consumption while the subjects on ELLE France covers are more substantial and varied and the image of the French women on the covers of ELLE magazine appears more stable. Therefore, we can conclude that ELLE serves as a venue for weaving local and global values together and create an image of the French and Chinese modern women in its respective French and Chinese issues.

How can the reintroduction of colonial depictions of Maori women in early twentieth century postcards engage a modern audience in a dialogue concerning the aestheticisation of Maori women, both past and present? Drawing on questions incited by the visual representation of my own family, the constructs of photographic depictions of Maori women in early 1900’s postcards will be examined. The correlation between the past and present will be the focus of this essay as the research considers whether the romantic, ancient ideals imposed onto Maori women by male colonialist photographers are still apparent in the present.

Det finns få studier om äldre karaktärer i animerade filmer. Studierna som gjorts visar att äldre karaktärer har porträtterats på ett oproportionerligt negativt sätt. Dessa studier är nu över tio år gamla och därför behövs ny forskning som undersöker hur äldre representeras. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur äldre karaktärer porträtteras i animerad mainstream-film från år 2017 genom en analys av de fem animerade filmerna Coco, Smurfarna - Den försvunna byn, The Lego Ninjago Movie, Monsterfamiljen och Kapten Kalsong. Med hjälp av en kvalitativ och semiotisk innehållsanalys undersöks vilka identitetspositioner, narrativa funktioner, samt stereotyper och tecken som används för att porträttera äldre. Studien visar en positiv förändring av äldres representation i form av mer nyanserade karaktärer i betydelsefulla roller. De vanligaste stereotyperna kring äldre syns inte i materialet, istället används ledarroller och arketyper så som den vise. Förekomsten av äldre och ålderstecken verkar i första hand vara ett uttryck för visdom och erfarenhet snarare än som ett tecken på deras kronologiska åldrande. / There are few studies that investigate older characters in animated film. Older characters have been portrayed in a disproportionately negative manner according to previous studies. These studies were made over ten years ago, therefore new research is needed to investigate how older people are represented. The aim of this research is to examine how older characters are portrayed in mainstream animated films from 2017 by analyzing five animated films: Coco, Smurfs - The Lost Village, The Lego Ninjago Movie, Monster Family and Captain Underpants. Using a qualitative and semiotic content analysis, we investigate how identity markers, narrative functions, as well as stereotypes and signs are used to portray older people. The study shows a positive change in the representation of older people where the characters have more nuanced and important roles. The most common stereotypes around older people do not appear in these films, instead authority roles and archetypes such as the wise are used. Rather than a sign of chronological aging the appearance of elderly and signs of age primarily seems to be used to convey wisdom and experience.

Chapter 1 introduces the study by means of its aim, scope, methodology and terminology. It also hosts summaries of all the folktales that are analysed in this study. Chapter 2 is a study of parenthood and its portrayal in Zulu folktales. Motherhood and fatherhood will be scrutinised separately. Chapter 3 concentrates on girl characters as siblings, brides and companions to old men. Chapter 4 analyses boy characters as herd boys, villains, tricksters and companions to old women. Chapter 5 concentrates on the status of the Zulu folktale. The influence of urbanisation, gender, and the media will receive attention. The lessons that folktales teach will be noted. Chapter 6 concludes and summarises this study and hosts recommendations on the promotion of Zulu folktales / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

During the Great War, the horse was essential to military efficiency. Horses hauled artillery guns, transported vital supplies and ammunition, and carried men into battle. The military horse was, in fact, a weapon. Many thousands of horses were purchased and supplied to the British Expeditionary Force at great expense, because without them an Army could not function. Although the British Army was the most modern of all the belligerent forces during the Great War, the horse was nevertheless favoured because of its reliability and versatility. For example, horses coped much better than motor vehicles where the going was difficult. It was horse-power that ensured the Army’s lines-of-communication were maintained. Indeed, without an adequate supply of horses it is probable that the British Army would not have achieved victory in 1918. However, the military horse was also a weapon which quickly broke down when it was not properly maintained. The British Army had learned this to its cost during the Boer War, when more horses had been killed by bad management than by enemy action. Good horse management in the field depended upon the soldier. It was essential that he had received adequate training, and it was also essential that he take responsibility for his horse’s well-being. During the Great War, all soldiers given ‘ownership’ of a horse were taught to put their horse’s needs before their own, and to always think first of their horse. They were taught to see their horse in the same way as an infantryman would his rifle; as something he may have cause to rely upon and which it was therefore in his best interests to look after. The soldier-horse relationship developed once the soldier’s care became one of sympathetic consideration. Soldiers and their horses spent most of their lives together when on active service, and it was this close proximity which helped to bond them into a unit. Many soldiers came to see their horses as comrades; they named them, and went to great lengths to protect their horses from harm. From the Army’s perspective, the soldier-horse relationship ensured that an expensive military asset was properly maintained. At home, portrayals of the soldier-horse relationship extended this vital contribution to the war effort beyond the battlefield. For example, images and stories that told of the soldier’s kindness to his horse bolstered a positive illusion the British had of themselves as a people capable of both strength and compassion. Images of the soldier-horse relationship played an important part in helping the British people to imagine war. They also provided much-needed comfort and reassurance when friends and loved ones were in danger. Importantly, by studying these portrayals dispassionately, we find that they were never entire flights of fancy, and often bore more than a passing resemblance to the soldier’s actual experience. Indeed, it becomes possible to question whether sense and sentimentality ever did entirely part company in the British imagination. Like their flesh and blood inspiration, portrayals of the soldier-horse relationship have not received the attention they merit. By rectifying this oversight, this thesis not only contributes to study of the horse-human relationship, but also to our knowledge of the Great War. Not least, because we achieve a better appreciation of what it was like to live in the War’s shadow.

Syftet med denna undersökning är att granska hur den neuropsykiatriska funktionsnedsättningen ADHD skildras i fyra olika bilderböcker riktade till barn i förskoleålder. Genom textanalytiskt perspektiv utförs en bilderboksanalys och bilderböckernas paratext analyseras, det vill säga allt som är kring böckernas huvudsakliga berättelse. Därutöver analyseras karaktärerna genom personskildring och symtom vid ADHD. Resultatet visar att ADHD skildras i stort sett på samma sätt vilket ger en missvisande bild av ADHD. Endast en karaktär skiljer sig från de andra karaktärerna och visar på utmärkande egenskaper som står i kontrast med de andra bokkaraktärerna. Kort sagt visar resultatet på att endast två olika bilder av ADHD presenteras i bilderböckerna. Flickorna och pojkarna skiljer sig åt genom att några karaktärsdrag är det enbart flickorna som uppvisar. Samspelet mellan andra barn skildras ur en negativ synvinkel hos pojkarna till skillnad mot flickorna. Bilderböckerna möjliggör inte för identifikation och förståelse då det inte är någon större variation i skildringen av ADHD. det resulterar i en stereotyp och oriktig bild av ADHD. Fler bilderböcker som skildrar ADHD med större variation och riktar sig till barn i förskoleålder behövs. / The aim of this study is to examine how the neuropsychiatric disability ADHD is portrayed in four different picture books aimed at children in preschool age. Through a text analytical perspective, a picture book analysis is performed. The paratext of the picture books are analyzed, which means everything about the main story of the books. Further, the characters are analyzed by person portrayal and symptoms of ADHD. The result shows that ADHD in general is portrayed in the same way, which gives a misleading picture of ADHD. Only one character differs from the other characters and shows traits which is in contrast with the other characters. In short, the result shows that only two different portrayals of ADHD are presented in the picture books. The girls and boys in the picture books differ because some character traits are merely portrayed by the girls. The interaction between other children is portrayed from a negative point of view in the boys, unlike the girls. The picture books do not allow for identification and understanding as there is no major variation in the portrayal of ADHD. This results in a stereotype and incorrect image of ADHD. More picture books depicting ADHD with greater variety addressed to children in preschool age are needed.

In October 2017, the actor Alyssa Milano announced a wish that all women who, in some way, have been sexually abused would answer their tweets with the words "me too". Almost a day later, #metoo breaks into Swedish social media. There are testimonies of countless of sexual harassments and abuse both from known, unknown and anonymous women who testify to the breadth of the major problem that came to be resembled as a revolution within the next few days. During the news reporting in connection with the campaign we discovered how the Swedish media generally showed differences in how suspected offenders were portrayed in the media. Using formulated analysis tools dramaturgical narrative techniques and criteria for newsworthiness from theories of media logic and theories of news value, we aim to investigate how one of the largest newspapers in Sweden, Expressen, choose to figure suspected perpetrators into sexual offenses in the context of the #metoo campaign. Our main research question is; “How do suspected offenders appear in Expressen's reporting of #metoo in relation to certain dramaturgic narrative techniques?” and “How are some suspects perpetrated in Expressen's reporting of #metoo in relation to certain news value criteria?” With a qualitative content analysis we examined a total of 20 articles and identified results that indicate that the suspected perpetrators according to our interpretation are expressed in the Expressens news reporting in such a way that they are to be perceived as guilty to the crime they're accused for. By identifying our chosen news value criteria in the empirical material which our study is based on, our interpretation is that there's a high news value of reporting suspected offenders in context of the #metoo campaign. The result of our study aims at contributing knowledge about how suspicious perpetrators are portrayed in cases of crime in the media. During our literature review, we found that the research previously conducted on media and crime is primarily about how the victim is portrayed in the media. With our study we want to contribute to the knowledge of how suspected perpetrators are portrayed, which can raise the awareness of how the media through different dramatic storytelling techniques and news evaluation criteria can shape news in different ways.

In this essay I compare the notion of the accomplished woman in Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice and Helen Fielding’s novels about Bridget Jones. My claim is that the notion of the accomplished woman that Austen described 200 years ago is still very relevant and not much different today as reflected in Helen Fielding’s narrative in Bridget Jones, but also that both authors satirically describe the pressure that is put on women to reach the ideal of the accomplished woman. I initially discuss feminist literary theory, and then I analyze the following characteristics and ideas which make up the accomplished woman: Physical appearance, Education & Knowledge, Marriage & Having Children, Career and Skills, Status & Class and Manners & Behaviour. This essay shows that the notion of the accomplished woman is still very much present and in some cases, like physical appearance, the pressure on women to reach this ideal has actually gotten worse. Both Jane Austen and Helen Fielding use irony and satirically describe the pressure on young women as a way of actually criticizing their contemporary societies.

Idag råder det en ständig debatt om hur kvinnor porträtteras inom spel och vad för betydelse det har på oss spelkonsumenter. Tidigare forskning och studier påvisar att kvinnliga karaktärer inom spel är betydligt mer sexualiserade än deras manliga motsvarigheter. I det här arbetet behandlas min frågeställning: ” Vad är det för faktorer när det kommer till visuell design inom spelvärlden som gör sexualiserade karaktärsporträtteringar av kvinnliga karaktärer icke konsistenta i jämförelse med deras manliga motsvarigheter?” Genom en djupgående undersökning om karaktärsporträttering och bildanalys av en samling speltitlar från år 2010-2015, kunde en slutsats dras att upprätthållandet av en intern logisk kontinuitet inom karaktärsporträtteringen kan vara ett steg bort ifrån sexualiseringen av spelkaraktärer. / Today there is a constant debate about how women are portrayed in games and what effect is has on us game consumers. Past research and studies show that female characters in games are considerably more sexualized than their male counterpart. In this thesis my question formulation discuss “What are the factors when it comes to visual design in the gaming world that makes sexualized character portrayal of the female character non consistent compared to their male counterpart?” Through a thorough inquiry about character portrayal and image analysis of a collection of game titles from year 2010-2015, a conclusion could be made that the upholding of an internal and logical consistency within the portrayal of characters could be a step against the sexualisation of video game characters.

This paper aims to contribute to knowledge of stereotypization mechanisms, bringing in the case of PR consultants. Using lenses of the key cultural form - film and television series - the project analyses a way of representing PR profession, as depicted on TV screen both in Czech Republic and the United Kingdom, during 2000-2017 time period. Theoretical frame is drawing on key ideas on stereotype, narrowed by film usage, as seen in the work of Walter Lippmann and others. Main hypothesis is based on assumption that negative media portrayal might interfere with professional reputation. Analytical part employs qualitative, thematical analysis that focuses on interpretation of personal features, behavioral characteristics and depiction of reocurring key themes. The final outcome then presents a professional portrayal of Public Relations on Czech and British television scene, builded up on prominent steretypes, accompanied by relevant quotes to illustrate the point. Key findings show undestanding communication as means of persuasion, leading to egoism, a lack of ethical values and dominant attitude in relation to clients and journalists. To prove the contribution argument that these negative attributes will further affect the future professional status of PR, the final insight illustrates such impact by...