Media Essay

Media Essay

“Media representation is complex, not simple and straightforward” How far do you agree with this statement in relation to a collective group that you have studied?

“Identity is complicated” – David Gauntlett. As technology continues to evolve over the years we have begun to see that many music videos have changed allowing audiences to use this form of medium to construct their identity. Thus the media representation is and has always been complex and will continue to be so.  However by taking into account Gauntlett theory and others we can see how youths have been able to develop their identity and form a collective identity through media’s representation.

Identity is complex. The relationship between collective identity and media representation is not and never will be straightforward. Stuart hall mentioned “the media appear to reflect reality whilst in fact they construct it”. This is true as there are many ways in which the media actually help youths to construct/develop a collective identity. An example of this is music videos and how the star is actually portrayed/ constructed in which in turns allows the media to reflect identity whilst in fact they are constructing the identity for youths.  “A star is an image constructed from a range of materials” (Richard Dyer, 1979). Thus music videos construct an image by creating an associated iconography: costumes, jewellery etc.

An example of stars that create a complex media representation rather than a straightforward or simple one through their music videos is Nicki Minaj and Lil Kim.

Both Nicki Minaj and Lil Kim have been able to mediate to the public their identity effectively by amplifying their hegemonic view of women today. Therefore the public have come to mediate their pre-conceived ideas on women originally. Therefore we comply with the post modernism view that the media shapes our reality on human identities through music videos, as these videos depict both Nicki Minaj and Lil Kim as a living Barbie, but are independent who do not rely on others (males) as a dependence on things.

Therefore through their videos they are able to amplify their identity through their persona, dress and grooming etc hence constructing to their audiences a pre-given structure which has thus been used effectively through music videos to impose their ideology on the audience. Thus creates a star vehicle within the music video industry as the primary purpose beside making profit but rather to enhance a person’s career by establishing their identity for people to copy or either fom a collective identity based on the star.

 If you think about it, we're bombarded by messages from the media, messages that make certain assumptions about us (taste, place in society etc), and as soon as we engage with the message we are positioned as a 'subject' rather than an individual. The idea is that we are controlled by these messages and go some way to defining our identity. Hence we find ourselves confused on what is actually being represented to us.

Print media is also another form of way in which presents a complex representation for/on youths as we have broadsheets and tabloids that continually amplify their set ideology onto the public everyday thus making it impossible their set reality from reality itself.

In conclusion media representation is complex. The relation between a collective identity and media will never be straightforward. The reason because the media through its different methods such as web 2.0, Television and print media has constructed a representation in which has become our reality today.

Media Essay

To what extent do audiences use media to construct their own sense of collective identity?

“Identity is complicated”- David Gauntlett. Over the many years we have seen a change in which the media is being used and prsented, especially the internet and how youths have been able to use this medium to construct their identity. By taking into account Gauntlett’s theory and others we can see how youths have developed their identities.

Identity is complex. The relationship between collective identity and media representation has and will continue not to be straightforward. However though are many ways in which youths can construct/develop their identities. One way in which this is done is through social networking websites, such as twitter, facebook and tumblr.  They tend to use these websites to begin developing their identities. As Henri Jenkins mentions “Teens are constantly updating and customizing their profiles online, adding photos and songs, and posting to each other walls”. While this could be interpreted as harmless fun, theses activities can also be a means for youths to construct and experiment with their identity. In particular, it can be a space for exploring one’s gender identification.  These social networking sites also give audiences a sense of belonging  as “We have an embodied experience and anything in which we use our bodies to create new things builds our identity” – Merleau Ponty said this in reference to how youths are able to create for themselves a collective identity through the use of new media as people begin to interact with you because of the same interest etc , hence giving off a sense of belonging.

Twitter, facebook and YouTube are part of the web2.0 along with tumblr. Now web 2.0 refers to the web application that facilitates participating information, sharing and user centred design. This has been used by youths regularly to voice their opinion and in retrospect rebel against today’s society. as the government cannot constantly censor website such as facebook or twitter because of its regular updates.  Take for example the recent London riots that had occurred in July.

The London riots were planned through the use of web 2.0, as youths were able to communicate through social networks such as facebook, twitter and also through the use of blackberry messenger.  Youths were able to effectively use these tools to post pictures with their stolen goods. One news article actually states that “brazen facebook user posted a picture of himself with suspected stolen goods” we see that tabloids are therefore resulting to creating a moral panic which is to create fear around youths and readers will then adopt this opinion. The word used “brazen” creates a negative view of youths, thus tabloids are persuading the public to believe that all youths fall under one collective identity, that youths are not governed, they are destructive, thus the print media aided a postmodernism view on youths today, hence constructing our reality.

Strinati touched on this point, on how the mass media can easily influence society to think a certain way that the mass media easily constructs our sense of reality, therefore contributing to postmodernism. An example is of the media image of youths wearing hoodie’s, bandana and riding bikes, this therefore creates a stereotypical negative view on youths. This is thus in line with Althusser’s interpellation theory that some media text/image impose their ideology on the audiences. The idea is that we are controlled by these messages and thus go some way into defining a collective identity.

However though youths actually construct their identities differently by actually choosing what will suit them. As many youths will turn to celebrities, fashion and magazines to create/develop their own identity. Hence when they turn to these different mediums, they see a representation which is perfect to what they inspire to be influenced by. This therefore creates the winship notion of complexity which is about being prepared, in terms with audience gratification, to finally recognise the ideal version f ourselves. Therefore when youths look at a magazine and see Selena Gomez on a cover of a magazine against a white background, some youths are going to believe that what they see is the ideal look needed to build an identity for yourself and others around you.

 Though all youths construct their identities differently by deciding to fit an identity to themselves by what they see in terms of media texts. Stuart hall encoding and decoding theory was correct in saying that media texts/images are written with encoded messages and thus we decode them in order to fit our need. So when articles was being produced about the London riots the public where decoding he message that youths are lawless and are not governed, whereas youths would decode the message and argue against it.

In conclusion youths use the media to their advantage in order to create/develop for themselves a collective identity through the use of web2.0.  However though through the use of broadsheets and tabloids it is hard for youths to actually create their own identity, hence David Gauntlett was right in saying that “identity is complicated”.

Theories for revision

Useful theory 1: Jacques Lacan - Mirror Stage‘Lacan's concept of the mirror stage was strongly inspired by earlier work by psychologist Henri Wallon, who speculated based on observations of animals and humans responding to their reflections in mirrors. Wallon noted that by the age of about six months, human infants and chimpanzees could both recognize their reflection in a mirror. While chimpanzees rapidly lose interest in the discovery, human infants typically become very interested and devote much time and effort to exploring the connections between their bodies and their images. In a 1931 paper, Wallon argued that mirrors helped children develop a sense of self-identity.’While it's not vital to remember all of the above the assertion is that we gain an idea of self-identity through reflection. Lacan suggested a "mirror stage" in which a child begins to develop an identity; it is a point in their life when they can essentially look into a mirror and recognise themselves. It can be argued that audiences are able to form and develop their identity and change the way in which they see or recognise themselves.

Useful theory 2: David Gauntlett's Construction of Identity is very useful as it discusses the power relationship between media and ourselves when it comes to constructing identity.

'The power relationship between the media and the audience involves a 'bit of both' or to be more precise, a lot of both. The media sends out a huge number of messages about identity and acceptable forms of self-expression, gender, sexuality, and lifestyle. At the same time the public have their own even more robust set of diverse feelings on the issues. The media's suggestions may be seductive but can never simply overpower contrary feelings in the audience.'

Useful Theory 3: Althusser's Interpellation
Here's one definition. And here's an attempt to explain it: Interpellation is the process where a human subject is constructed by pre-given structures. This has been taken up some media theorists to to explain how media texts impose their ideology (their set of ideas) on the audience. If you think about it, we're bombarded by messages from the media, messages that make certain assumptions about us (taste, place in society etc), and as soon as we engage with the message we are positioned as a 'subject' rather than an individual. The idea is that we are controlled by these messages and go some way to defining our identity.

This is an quite an extreme view and doesn't account for the fact that texts often have multiple meanings and audience approach texts with different uses in mind.

Research on online press & viral - London Riots

LONDON RIOTS

How does the internet provide an enormous challenge for regulations?

During the London riots, we saw that the BBC had created a huge challenge for regulation for youths living in London as it began to construct a sense of moral panic and stereotype youths, the idea of young people becoming viral villains. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14439970) However though youths tend have used social mediums respond back through the use of social networks such as Facebook and twitter by posting images of themselves with stolen goods and happy doing so. Hence this will be an enormous regulation for regulators as they cannot control these social networks as they do not have the right to do so.

How does the internet provide a post-modern vision of identity?

Well in today’s society we the public are not able to escape from the way the media portray certain collective identity. The reason being is that the internet provides a postmodern vision as technology continues to grow and create our reality. An example is that of the London riots where the social networks had allowed youths to regulate their own ideas in a more modern form. One reporter for the daily mail states “The report said: 'Whilst social media did not necessarily trigger involvement, it undoubtedly speeded up the exchange of information and increased the number of young people aware of the events as they were happening.”  In terms of reflection

How does web 2.0 present a change for rioters since the Brixton riots?

Since the Brixton riots we see the use of web 2.0 has been able to amplify a change for rioters in the UK. The guardian a broadsheet was able to reflect this through their online site. The reporter states “In fact the only visible difference I could detect was that most of the rioters in Tottenham were wearing hooded jackets and scarves around their faces rather than the woolly hats and cloth berets of my generation.”  The press shows a reflection of a negative representation of youths in the society and categorize them into a collective identity. 

Has online press affected us in today’s society?

Depending on the type of press you allow yourself to read. The reason being is that there are two different forms of modern press, which are tabloids, broadsheets, social networks such as twitter and Facebook. The fact that online press are so instant and has constructed a collective identity on youths it has thus left youths to adhere to the media

How does it present an area of control for today’s society?

Through the use of twitter and Facebook especially during the London riots, youths have been able to post videos and images of their stolen goods; this demonstrates that youths adhere to the constructions that tabloids represent for them.  

Media Essay

The media do not construct collective identity; they merely reflect it: discuss

Identity is complex. Therefore the relationship between collective identity and media representation is not and has never been straightforward, in a sense where the media actually constructs a sense of moral panic to its selected audiences or rather it reflects the facts of a certain identity.

David Buckingham believes that, ‘Identity is complicated’ hence in relations to a collective identity for youths today through printed media it can be very hard to reflect or construct it properly. As an adolescence progression is about becoming rather than being, hence the media can have a huge influence on this. 

However in today’s situations we as the public live in a society where the media has become post modernized, we have therefore allowed the media around us such as, newspapers, televisions and the internet to create our reality, shape our view on things because the media does both construct and reflect ideas, which has therefore made it inescapable for us to avoid it, that even if we don’t want it we will still be fed by the media.  However though whether the media constructs or reflects depends fully on the type of media you take in. An example is The Sun (newspaper) and The Guardian (newspaper).

The Sun newspaper is a tabloid which writes most of its articles to a specific audiences, some of its contents include sports, celebrities and music which then becomes soft news in order to attract younger audiences which then creates an audience gratification or a form of escapism or either a winship notion of complexity particular for youths as it is about being prepared in terms of audience gratification, to finally recognise the ideal version of youths in Britain. Now the Sun constructs a collective identity for youths, resulting in a constructed audience. We definitely saw this through the period of the London riots recently one quote from the newspaper states “The brazen facebook user posted a picture of himself with suspected stolen goods” this is a form of post modernism for the sun tabloid as it has created a sense of moral panic which is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order, through its chosen words. ‘Brazen’ this highlight’s to its intended audience a distorted view on young people today that they are no longer govern. This in effect means that youths today are careless, with no sense of direction and this is how the public view will and should view it.

However the Guardian on the other hand is a broadsheet which writes most of its art5icles for aristocrats or from middle to upper class. This broadsheet and like many other, present hard news or rather a reflection which means that they present the facts or the reality and are impartial in their articles in order to reach a wider audience.

As a broadsheet we see that the guardian is presenting a reflection of youths. One of the writers wrote “Just imagine for a moment that you’re a British teenage boy. You’re struggling to grow up, to find out who you really are” this is indeed a fact about today’s youths as many are looking/ finding their identity. The press has also been able to sell their idea for people to actually buy their product. The reason being is that the guardian has been able to not to construct the idea of moral panic but rather has been able to present their idea and the fact together effectively. Hence Stuart halls theory comes on encoding and decoding comes into account as the article is not necessarily fixed or determined by the journalist, neither is the message transparent to its readers but rather despite being realistic and recounting facts the article will also merely distort the intentions of the reader. Hence encoding /decoding will simply portray the media message as common sense/reflection of truth.   

Therefore the media today does both construct and reflect different collective identity depending on the different form you read as tabloids tend to construct a sense of moral panic and a broadsheet reflects the ideas.

A recent report even mentions that 85% of teenage boys said that newspapers portray them in a bad light. Hence they are in fact talking about a reflection on a construction of different type of media newspapers such as the mirror, the daily mail and the sun.

These tabloids have effectively been able to create a stir in society with it’s over exaggeration in its articles to create a moral panic for people in the UK. The daily mail actually states “A sense of glee pervaded these accounts – people were often grinning while describing their experience – a delight that the normal order of things was briefly turned upside down.” Hence constructing and amplifying to its audience a collective identity.

Youth Constuctions

Youth identity constructions

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“Identity is complicated everybody thinks they’ve got one" How far do you agree with this statement

“Identity is complicated everybody thinks they’ve got one” – David Gaunlett. David focuses on the fact that identity today is never constructed but rather formed into a collective identity depending on his/her influences therefore determines whom they are and how we should therefore view them or even categorize them among other so called individuals with similar identity. He goes on further to mention that “A focus on identity requires us to pay closer attention to the way in which the media and technologies are used in everyday and their consequences for social groups”, Hence what David is trying to say that an identity can be complicated due to the fact that the media and the technology around help us to form a collective identity for social youths today depending on their lifestyle, interest, way of clothing etc. This therefore forms stereotypes in a postmodernist view, that we simply make a social order for specific identities; hence identity today can be complicated!

However the theorist Merleau Ponty brings out a slightly different opinion in which a collective identity can actually be formed, he goes on to state “we have an embodied experience and anything in which we use our bodies to create new things builds our identity”. Do we allow our embodied experience or interest shape our identity today? Well through today’s mass media many do, through the use of social websites such as twitter and facebook. Merleau states “when we use our bodies to create things” this suggest that when we make a facebook profile, and then begin to socialise with other and then put perhaps our favourite music online or movie etc, we have begun to build our identity. However let us remember that once we have created either a facebook or twitter page we have thus joined an online community and within this online community we have thus allowed people of the same interest or even the same dislikes to associate themselves with us, the ‘individual’ , thus forming a group and primarily a collective identity.

Collective identity can be seen as stereotyping an individual and placing them in a group, ‘An individual sense of belonging to a group’. Though we have to know that due to the advancement in technology and the in actual influence in the media it has therefore allowed the public to form these groups without necessarily realizing. Lets take a look at one case study for example, the UK riots. From when the riots had begun and when it had come to an end the media, had created a moral panic – Moral panic is in fact the intensity of feeling expressed in a population of an issue that appears to threaten a social order. In these instances the media saw this has an opportunity to class together youths and technology to be the cause of a violent outtake on society, and that the majority of youths had similar interest into the reason why they were indeed in fact involved in these riots, due to EMA being cut off etc.

This had therefore allowed the public to form a collective identity of all youths, as being careless, lawless individuals whom have or share the same interest in one way or another, either through race, clothing or even the way they speak.

Although the theorist Foucault believes that “we are born with a basic identity but we develop our collective identity when with others.” He has therefore given us the sense that we mediate our identity with which we are with, therefore our language, mannerism all change depending on whom we finding ourselves to associate with. This is of course true as in society youths do mediate their identity depending on whom they are with, this in retrospective then limits the idea of actually constructing an identity as those whom we are with will no doubt act the same, then therefore forming a stereotype group.

Hence the statement “Identity is complicated everybody thinks they’ve got one” is true, because no matter what we will always be engulfed by those with similar interest and in affect form a collective identity.

How far does the representation of a particular social group change over time?

·         Rebel Without A Cause

·         Kidulthood

“A focus on identity requires us to pay closer attention to the ways in which media and technologies are used in everyday life and their consequences for social groups” – David Buckingham. As a society, we have constructed the idea that people’s identities are the person we are inside. We believe this is defined by factors such as gender, age, class, sexuality and social group we are in. This is what we believe identity to be and represented, though how has this changed over the years, specifically in reference to youth being represented in the media?

 Let’s take a look at two media texts which show a representation on how youths have changed considerably over time.

Rebel without cause is a film which shows the life of a rebellious young man living in a middle class system. The character in the story seems to show that he has led a bad life in the past, but comes to a new town where new emotionally confused suburban middle class teenagers await him. In the film James dean play a 17 year old character called Jim stark who is a rebellious teenager who arrives at a new school, meets a girl, disobey his parents and causes contentions between himself and the school bullies. This therefore creates an ideology in rebel without a cause we see that the film focuses on youths being either in the ‘in’ group or ‘out’ group and the struggle they face in finding which they belong to. Henri Tajfel talked about this in fact, he argued that there is a distinct ‘in’ group which is favouritism and the then there is the ‘out’ group which is then discrimination. The individual self esteem is maintained by being part of a group. 

Kidulthood on the other hand is a British film, based in the recent Y2K era. The film focuses on the lives of a group of 15 year olds from a mixed social class living in the inner area of west London. The story follows mainly the life of Trevor and his girlfriend Alisa who is pregnant by him. This immediately creates an ideology of women belong to men due to the fact that she is pregnant but the character herself seems to subvert the view by standing up for herself in situations where a man should have been needed to protect her.

If we compare this small ideology to “Rebel Without A Cause” we would see that the change in social group already is quite a lot. Back in the 1950s teenage pregnancy would have been un-heard off therefore this would have not been seen in films such as Rebel without a cause as the teenagers back then were not facing any problems regarding that but jump 50 years later and we see the change in problems for social groups facing teenage pregnancy.

In both films however we see that both social groups back in the 1950s and also in the Y2K era faced violence. However in scenes involving violence in rebel without a cause we see that there is not as much close up shots to depict where they got hurt etc, but once again in Kidulthood things have changed. The violence in films has heightened whereas in the 1950’s such things will be censored and be put at rating such as an 18 and not 15.

However though both films have been able to share a similarity which is the fact that the youths in each film have been able to demonstrate juxtaposition between their actually family lives in general when in comparison to their own, as we see that youths in both setting have families that live a rather balanced lifestyle whereas the children would rather prefer to live a completely separate lifestyle. In Kidulthood we see that girls in the film seem to live in a middle class environment but want to get drugs and would willing perform sex in order to get it therefore also creating a binary opposition, through the Mise-en-scene we see that they actually live in a nice area , although this maybe exaggerated for a group of girls at the age of 15 to act, the principle behind still remains that children in general carry a juxtaposition

Over the years we have seen through the use of these two films that even race and language has changed over the years. In rebel without a cause we that the film has a cast which is primarily white and adopted a slang which is slightly different to today’s, using words such as ‘g-wiz’ to express that a certain thing is cool. Whereas in the film Kidulthood we see that primarily the cast are all from multicultural background, but the use of colloquialism has changed considerably as now there is more swearing and foul language used in the movie, therefore in comparison to rebel without a cause, the colloquialism found in Kidulthood would have never been used in film or television back then. However today society is is now considered the norm.

The theorist David Buckingham was correct, over the years the media has affected the way in which social class act now than they did before when in the 1950’s. We have seen that youths have grown worse over the years creating for them a stereotypical identity based on their actions, although it was the same a few years back, youths back then were considered to be more calm and light-hearted  rather than cold and rude like the youth we see today. 

Media Essay - How do young people form their collective identity through reality TV?

‘Identity is complicated, everybody thinks they have one’ – David Gauntlett. Youths today have been convinced they have been able to form their own identity either through the way they dress, speak or act around their peers, family or workmates. However though theorists have proved that youths have been able to form a collective identity through the use of the media, by watching TV shows based on reality, but how?

Many youths in the UK have recently been tuning their television sets to e4 to watch the long awaited show ‘Made in Chelsea’ which is set in wealthy Chelsea in the district of London. The show follows the lives of rich and spontaneous socialite youths whom have no sense of direction into want they want to do when they are older. At the moment the show seems to focus on their extravagant lifestyle, of moving from one party/club to the other. Here is a quote from the shows opening scene from one of its characters Caggie Dunlop “You may have heard rumours that Chelsea is an exclusive world of royals, aristocrats and playboys. Where the gossip is as startling as the prices. Well it's all true, and I'd know. I'm Caggie Dunlop and this is my world. You might say that we've got it all, but having whatever you want can make choosing that much more tricky. In Chelsea the truth is more fabulous than fiction. This is our life.”

‘This is our life’! This statement has been able to manipulate adults and kids into thinking that all youths live a life that is short-lived with fun and partying all the time. The lifestyle that this show has portrayed has been able to create a collective identity for youths living in London, that through materialism and value you will become popular and recognized among your peers. This has therefore manipulated youths to act the same way in its settings such as at school, college, or even in a recreational environment, to go on living somewhat a pleasurable lifestyle, amplifying that capitalism makes you beautiful.

Another example of a reality TV show that seems to have a collective identity is Geordie Shore. This show follows the lives of 9 housemates living in Newcastle, working and primarily parting most of the time. Considering their age and their personality on the show, this show has been able to create for itself a collective identity, through their constant appearance on the show wearing raunchy dresses that reveal perhaps a bit too much, their crude and obnoxious personality demonstrate that they are in fact low middle class youths compared to the youths we see in Made in Chelsea. Therefore the cast in Geordie shore are social extremes rather than socialites.

However the social extremes that we see on this reality TV show seem to come to terms that the way the live their lives is what they are and they will not change for anyone, that rather the lifestyle they live is the life most people would want to watch as it is more funny and real. Note what a member from Geordie shore had to say about Made in Chelsea Charlotte told the metro: “No one wants to watch fur coats, diamonds and pearls and stuck up posh people talking about Chanel and Gucci. People want to watch a group of lads and lasses.....”

Even her poor language, constructs to us the identity that she and the others on the show are sharing. That rather being elegant and posh, they are in fact low middle class, party loving people whom live a provocative and immoral lifestyle.

The theorist Michel Foucault therefore was correct in believing that it can be limiting for youths to create an identity as it is actually developed into a collective identity with a stereotypical group and people will then automatically make assumptions to that specific identity. Therefore this is the case for youths in reality TV shows as Geordie Shore and Made in Chelsea as they all come together forming this one collective identity whom both want to be able to move outside of a fixed boundary but instead find themselves settling into one which is then stereotypical to the audience watching the programme.