As I am looking at Ageism in TV for my case study, I chose X Factor as my text. I will be focusing on the 2008 season as there was a contestant called Daniel Evans who was being abused because of his age; he was claimed to be too old for the show.
Marxism and Pluralism:
This links in with Marxism because the producers and Simon Cowell wanted him to go. While the producers didn't specifically specify any dislike towards him, Cowell (who owns the show) disliked the fact that he was old, as X Factor is a pop show.
The upper classes (the people who run the show) wanted Daniel to go as he was older than the target audience and they didn't think him being old would sell records. As a result every time he would go on he would end up singing songs that are from his era rather than songs which the audiences would no as it's a young audience.
They wanted to try and alienate him from the core audience who actually vote, but while they attempted to do this he still stayed in the show for a few weeks more than the producers could have kept him in.
This links in with pluralism as the viewers actually had a choice of who they wanted and acted freely. While the producers did try and alienate him to get him to lose votes (which in the end actually worked) for a good number of weeks he wasn't voted out.
They would argue for this that the people watching aren't being controlled by the upper-class or the owners but making their own mind up into who they want to stay in the competition; a web 2.0 version of TV.
The presses were also on the contestant's side throughout the series, and acted as a Fourth estate noting whenever he was treated poorly wand whatnot. Marxists could counter argue that while the press was on the side to Daniel it was all a sub-narrative plot to get higher ratings and finally end with how the upper classes wanted it to end as his press decreased near the end of his stay.
