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”.