1a.
1b.
6. Discuss how one or more groups of people are represented through the media.
Gender
Youth
Intro
-Mediation - Process of a media outlet using focussing and selection vs rejection in order to create a false or representation of a particular group or issue - often conforming to stereotypes.
-David Buckingham - 'The media do nor just offer a transparent window to the world, but a mediated one. They don't just present reality, they represent it.'
-There is an existing view that mediation is used by media outlets' in an economically beneficial style - Merrin - 'The media do not reflect and represent the reality of the public, but produce it, employing this simulation to justify their own continuing existence.'
-Media outlets mediate content to maintain power - Gramsci - 'Society is run by the ruling elite to make sure they keep their position. Media is run by a small group who wish to maintain their position and status hegemony' - dominant ideology- Dyer (1979) - "Stereotypes are always about power: those with power stereotype those without power"
PARA 1 - Youth
Youth are an identity group that are often misrepresented in the media
Youth Agency - '76% of the reporting of young people in the media is negative'
Case Studies
contemporary - attack the block 2011
there is a social structure which shapes our lives ( traditions, institutions moral clades, established ways of doing things) but it relies on individuals following these structures.
Ann Gould stereotypes
historic - young ones
giddens- there is a social structure which shapes our lives ( traditions, institutions moral clades, established ways of doing things) but it relies on individuals following these structures - structuration -
Monday 16 May 2016
Wednesday 11 May 2016
Case Studies and Statistics
young ones
attack the block
kill bill - Kickass
50 shades of grey
magic mike
lynx - 'Wash Me' and "Keep Control'
coke advert 2013
fairy liquid
blurred lines
attack the block
kill bill - Kickass
50 shades of grey
magic mike
lynx - 'Wash Me' and "Keep Control'
coke advert 2013
fairy liquid
blurred lines
Monday 9 May 2016
Explain what is meant by 'collective identity' and the role of media in its construction.
Explain what is meant by 'collective identity' and the role of media in its construction.
Collective identity is an individuals sense of belonging to a group who share a set of traditions and values , part of personal identity. Any consideration of a 'cvollective identity' must take into account the role that representation plays within the construction of a media text and is deemed 'complicated and complex' by theorist David Buckingham. He also believes that 'the media do not offer us a transparent window of the word, but a mediated version of the world'. Mediation is the ways in which the media reconstruct reality and present a certain perspective to the viewers, often rejecting the truth. It contains three factors and ways in which content can be presented; these are selection objection, focussing and organisation.
For a long period of time gender has been a controversial subject, particularly with the ways that gender is presented in the 'feminist world' we are currently living in. The role of patriarchy and Gramsci's order on hegemony are very relevant to the representations of gender in the media. Patriarchy is a social system in which males hold primary power, predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property; in the domain of the family, fathers or father-figures hold authority over women and children. This can be supported through the statement by Guardian in 2011 which showed that 'The average percentage of the female reporters was 22.6% - compared to 77.4% of males' which can ultimately suggest reasoning for feminism in media as the majority of perspectives in the media will be produced by males, causing rather bias accounts.
Representations of women can be seen to be objectified. Objectification is a notion central to feminist theory. It can be roughly defined as the seeing and/or treating a person, usually a woman, as an object. In many modern entries, the focus is primarily on sexual objectification, objectification occurring in the sexual realm. This can relate to Scopophilia or scoptophilia which is deriving pleasure from looking. As an expression of sexuality, it refers to sexual pleasure derived from looking at erotic objects: erotic photographs, pornography, naked bodies. This furthers Laura Mulvey's theory on the 'Male Gaze' which is the view that the camera positions the audience in the perspective of a heterosexual male. The camera tends to linger on the curves of the female body. The movie Kill Bill (2003 onwards) includes a very strong and dominant women who isn't domesticated and restricted to the stereotypes. However, she still is presented in a sexual manner which can once again prove Mulvey's theory. There have been many modern contemporary texts which resemble the male gaze and feminism such as several LYNX advertisements including their 'Wash Me' and "Keep Control' campaigns. Often placing a female subject an objectified, sexual manner specifically in the 'Wash me' advertisement where the camera focusses on the sexual parts of the women's body whilst cutting her head out of the frame, giving her no identity and therefore objectifying her. In the 'Keep Control' advert, the female subject is further domesticated by being displayed to be carrying out domestic responsibilities. Domestic responsibilities include things revolving around housekeeping chores which require minimum physical ability. This is similar to the 1966 faire liquid advert where a women in presented in a stereotypical role to being a domestic housewife. Also a young female is shown to be learning the traits being passed down through generations.
Overtime, the roles and representations of women have gradually transformed to reach a much more sexual manner. It can be considered that the media has caused structuration through their representations which do not just simply reflect society, but imply a false representation. It in fact is shaping society through the representations it presents, providing a social norm to which people could potentially believe. This can relate to Anthony Giddens' theory that here is a social structure which shapes our lives but it relies on individuals following these structures. When they act differently the social structure can change and the process structuration occurs. This is where social structure is reproduced by the repetition of acts by individual people and can therefore change. This can be identified in the repetition of sexual representations of women increasing, ultimately causing individuals to believe or even follow the representations and gradually cause a transformation in the social structure.
Comparatively, Miriam Hanson and Gaylyn Studlar's theory on the 'Female Gaze' can be used to oppose the bias representation of women. This can be replicated through the Coca Cola advert in January 2013 where a group of women are having a picnic when a man is seen to be doing gardening (a domestic role). He then eventually takes his top off, placing him in a position to be regarded as sexual object. Similarly, the movies Fifty Shades Of Grey and Magic Mike (released in 2015) both focus on the sexuality of nudity of men. The male nude is having a cultural renaissance. Naked men have been largely ignored in the mainstream media for the last few centuries or so, thanks mostly to a frenzied occupation with the female form instead. The modern woman is decreasingly reluctant to express her sexual desires. The popularity of Magic Mike XXL is testament to the changing tides—a film which was greeted in its opening week by a 96% female audience, and which has already generated an enormous amount of commentary and discussion. It's a film that caters to the (presumed) sexual desires of women. In other words, a complete flip of the dominant cultural script. Fifty Shades of Grey is notable for its explicitly erotic scenes featuring elements of sexual practices involving bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, and sadism/masochism which similarly imply the sexual notion of men. However it still places women as a subject and object to man where she is physically and mentally strips of her independence and manipulated under the pretenses of “sexual liberation.”
Seeing someone as a sexual object or appreciating their beauty, sexuality is not necessarily reducing that person to no more than a sexual object. Society can see men and women as sexual beings without reducing them. However, objectifying someone reduces them to nothing more than an object, which means that person is not only not seen as intelligent, powerful, rich, confident not even seen as a person. This ideology is much more prominent in the views on women compared to the views on men in the media. This could once again relate to the aforementioned statistic that 77.4% of reporters are men, ultimately influencing the approach and perspective that is presented to viewers.
Collective identity is an individuals sense of belonging to a group who share a set of traditions and values , part of personal identity. Any consideration of a 'cvollective identity' must take into account the role that representation plays within the construction of a media text and is deemed 'complicated and complex' by theorist David Buckingham. He also believes that 'the media do not offer us a transparent window of the word, but a mediated version of the world'. Mediation is the ways in which the media reconstruct reality and present a certain perspective to the viewers, often rejecting the truth. It contains three factors and ways in which content can be presented; these are selection objection, focussing and organisation.
For a long period of time gender has been a controversial subject, particularly with the ways that gender is presented in the 'feminist world' we are currently living in. The role of patriarchy and Gramsci's order on hegemony are very relevant to the representations of gender in the media. Patriarchy is a social system in which males hold primary power, predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property; in the domain of the family, fathers or father-figures hold authority over women and children. This can be supported through the statement by Guardian in 2011 which showed that 'The average percentage of the female reporters was 22.6% - compared to 77.4% of males' which can ultimately suggest reasoning for feminism in media as the majority of perspectives in the media will be produced by males, causing rather bias accounts.
Representations of women can be seen to be objectified. Objectification is a notion central to feminist theory. It can be roughly defined as the seeing and/or treating a person, usually a woman, as an object. In many modern entries, the focus is primarily on sexual objectification, objectification occurring in the sexual realm. This can relate to Scopophilia or scoptophilia which is deriving pleasure from looking. As an expression of sexuality, it refers to sexual pleasure derived from looking at erotic objects: erotic photographs, pornography, naked bodies. This furthers Laura Mulvey's theory on the 'Male Gaze' which is the view that the camera positions the audience in the perspective of a heterosexual male. The camera tends to linger on the curves of the female body. The movie Kill Bill (2003 onwards) includes a very strong and dominant women who isn't domesticated and restricted to the stereotypes. However, she still is presented in a sexual manner which can once again prove Mulvey's theory. There have been many modern contemporary texts which resemble the male gaze and feminism such as several LYNX advertisements including their 'Wash Me' and "Keep Control' campaigns. Often placing a female subject an objectified, sexual manner specifically in the 'Wash me' advertisement where the camera focusses on the sexual parts of the women's body whilst cutting her head out of the frame, giving her no identity and therefore objectifying her. In the 'Keep Control' advert, the female subject is further domesticated by being displayed to be carrying out domestic responsibilities. Domestic responsibilities include things revolving around housekeeping chores which require minimum physical ability. This is similar to the 1966 faire liquid advert where a women in presented in a stereotypical role to being a domestic housewife. Also a young female is shown to be learning the traits being passed down through generations.
Overtime, the roles and representations of women have gradually transformed to reach a much more sexual manner. It can be considered that the media has caused structuration through their representations which do not just simply reflect society, but imply a false representation. It in fact is shaping society through the representations it presents, providing a social norm to which people could potentially believe. This can relate to Anthony Giddens' theory that here is a social structure which shapes our lives but it relies on individuals following these structures. When they act differently the social structure can change and the process structuration occurs. This is where social structure is reproduced by the repetition of acts by individual people and can therefore change. This can be identified in the repetition of sexual representations of women increasing, ultimately causing individuals to believe or even follow the representations and gradually cause a transformation in the social structure.
Comparatively, Miriam Hanson and Gaylyn Studlar's theory on the 'Female Gaze' can be used to oppose the bias representation of women. This can be replicated through the Coca Cola advert in January 2013 where a group of women are having a picnic when a man is seen to be doing gardening (a domestic role). He then eventually takes his top off, placing him in a position to be regarded as sexual object. Similarly, the movies Fifty Shades Of Grey and Magic Mike (released in 2015) both focus on the sexuality of nudity of men. The male nude is having a cultural renaissance. Naked men have been largely ignored in the mainstream media for the last few centuries or so, thanks mostly to a frenzied occupation with the female form instead. The modern woman is decreasingly reluctant to express her sexual desires. The popularity of Magic Mike XXL is testament to the changing tides—a film which was greeted in its opening week by a 96% female audience, and which has already generated an enormous amount of commentary and discussion. It's a film that caters to the (presumed) sexual desires of women. In other words, a complete flip of the dominant cultural script. Fifty Shades of Grey is notable for its explicitly erotic scenes featuring elements of sexual practices involving bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, and sadism/masochism which similarly imply the sexual notion of men. However it still places women as a subject and object to man where she is physically and mentally strips of her independence and manipulated under the pretenses of “sexual liberation.”
Seeing someone as a sexual object or appreciating their beauty, sexuality is not necessarily reducing that person to no more than a sexual object. Society can see men and women as sexual beings without reducing them. However, objectifying someone reduces them to nothing more than an object, which means that person is not only not seen as intelligent, powerful, rich, confident not even seen as a person. This ideology is much more prominent in the views on women compared to the views on men in the media. This could once again relate to the aforementioned statistic that 77.4% of reporters are men, ultimately influencing the approach and perspective that is presented to viewers.
Thursday 5 May 2016
Theorists and Revision
Collective identity - the individuals sense of belonging to a group who share a set of traditions and values , part of personal identity.
Representation - any consideration of a 'collective identity' must take into account the role that representation plays within the construction of a media text.
Mediation - The process of electing and shaping, creating meaning from an original event. An event which is mediated within the systems of values of an institution e.g. (News of the World, CH4 News). Their view is represented to the public. - Selection vs Rejection, Focussing, Organisation
Hebdidge - A subculture is a group of like minded individuals who feel neglected by societal standards and who develop a sense of identity which differs to the dominant on to which they belong.
Acland - Media representations of youth maintain social order/hegemony (the ones in control have the
most influence)
- Ideology of protection
Merrin - 'The media do not reflect and represent the reality of the public, but produce it, employing this simulation to justify their own continuing existence.'
Giroux - Youth becomes an empty category in representation and reflects adult concerns
Wilkins - Deviancy Amplification - A deviancy amplification spiral (also called deviance amplification) is a media hype phenomenon defined by media critics as a cycle of increasing numbers of reports on a category of antisocial behaviour or some other 'undesirable' event, leading to a moral panic.
Cohen - folk devils - group of people who are a threat to society
Althusser - Ideological state apparatus... Dominant ideology reinforced through different groups including the media.
David Buckingham - 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.
“media do not just offer us a transparent ‘window on the world’ but a mediated version of the world. They don’t just present reality, they re-present it”
David Gauntlett - identity is now consciously constructed and the media provides some of the tools to help us construct our identities. The media contains a huge number of messages about identity and acceptable lifestyles.
At the same time the public have their own diverse set of feelings. The media and media consumer are engaged in a dialogue in which neither overpowers the other.
Anthony Giddens - there is a social structure which shapes our lives ( traditions, institutions moral clades, established ways of doing things) but it relies on individuals following these structures.
When they act differently the social structure can change. Structuration is the process in which human agency and social structure are in a constant relationship + social structure is reproduced by the repetition of acts by individual people and can therefore change.
Gledhill - "There are no rules of inclusion and exclusion" (Gledhill, 1985)
Representation - any consideration of a 'collective identity' must take into account the role that representation plays within the construction of a media text.
Mediation - The process of electing and shaping, creating meaning from an original event. An event which is mediated within the systems of values of an institution e.g. (News of the World, CH4 News). Their view is represented to the public. - Selection vs Rejection, Focussing, Organisation
Hebdidge - A subculture is a group of like minded individuals who feel neglected by societal standards and who develop a sense of identity which differs to the dominant on to which they belong.
Acland - Media representations of youth maintain social order/hegemony (the ones in control have the
most influence)
- Ideology of protection
Merrin - 'The media do not reflect and represent the reality of the public, but produce it, employing this simulation to justify their own continuing existence.'
Giroux - Youth becomes an empty category in representation and reflects adult concerns
Wilkins - Deviancy Amplification - A deviancy amplification spiral (also called deviance amplification) is a media hype phenomenon defined by media critics as a cycle of increasing numbers of reports on a category of antisocial behaviour or some other 'undesirable' event, leading to a moral panic.
Cohen - folk devils - group of people who are a threat to society
moral panic - leads from deviant behaviour
Deviance amplification - one deviant act initiates a spiral, more is reported
Althusser - Ideological state apparatus... Dominant ideology reinforced through different groups including the media.
David Buckingham - 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.
“media do not just offer us a transparent ‘window on the world’ but a mediated version of the world. They don’t just present reality, they re-present it”
- “Identity is complicated/complex.”
- "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 Gauntlett - identity is now consciously constructed and the media provides some of the tools to help us construct our identities. The media contains a huge number of messages about identity and acceptable lifestyles.
At the same time the public have their own diverse set of feelings. The media and media consumer are engaged in a dialogue in which neither overpowers the other.
Anthony Giddens - there is a social structure which shapes our lives ( traditions, institutions moral clades, established ways of doing things) but it relies on individuals following these structures.
When they act differently the social structure can change. Structuration is the process in which human agency and social structure are in a constant relationship + social structure is reproduced by the repetition of acts by individual people and can therefore change.
Gerbner - mean world syndrome - cultivation theory - people who consume a lot of media, specifically TV, overestimate the amount of crime/issues in the real world.
Any one text has minimal impact on the audience but repetitiveness (drip drip) will effect the audience.
Gramsci - Society is run by the ruling elite to make sure they keep their position.
Media is run by a small group who wish to maintain their position and status
hegemony - dominant ideology
Steve Anderson - younger people are becoming a lot more empowered because of social media platforms such as Facebook, twitter and blogging.
Laura Mulvey - Male Gaze -Audiences are positioned to view characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male, such as through the extensive use of focusing particularly on the curvature of the female body. - Leads to the objectification of women. Women viewers are made to view the product secondarily.
Hanson 1984 - female gaze
Uses & Gratifications Theory - Audience are active individuals rather than passive ones. They will select what they watch, will consume in different ways and believe
different things.
The Hypodermic Needle Model - Suggests that people just take in media passively (believing everything)
Reception Theory - Based on Stuart Halls encoding/decoding theory. The text is encoded by the producer and decoded by the reader. There may be differences between two readings of a text based on different audiences.
Saussure (1983) - "Audience can look at a media text from a syntactic point of view, just describing what they see, or from a representational or symbolic point of view where the attribute meaning to what they see"
Ann Gould - identified 6 key stereotypes- representation of youth - Rebellious, sexual, nihilistic, self-destructive, artificial tribe, violent
Ann Gould - identified 6 key stereotypes- representation of youth - Rebellious, sexual, nihilistic, self-destructive, artificial tribe, violent
Dyer (1979) - "Stereotypes are always about power: those with power stereotype those without power"
Scopophilia - deriving pleasure from looking. As an expression of sexuality, it refers to sexual pleasure derived from looking at erotic objects: erotic photographs, pornography, naked bodies, etc.
Patriarchy is a social system in which males hold primary power, predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property; in the domain of the family, fathers or father-figures hold authority over women and children.
Gender Binary: Describes a system where a society splits its members of male and female sexes into gender roles, gender identities and attributes.
Genre Theory
Steve Neale - It is easy to underplay the differences within a genre. Steve Neale declares that:
"Genres are instances of repetition and difference" (Neale 1980, 48)
"Difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre" (Neale 1980)
Toderov - "Any instances of genre will be necessarily different" (Toderov - cited in Gledhell, 1985, 60)
Lacey - There are repertoires of elements that work together to suggest genre, which are a useful framework to use for analysis
Setting
Character
Narrative
Iconography
Style
"Genres are not discrete systems consisting of a fixed number of listable items (Gledhill, 1985)
Chandler - It is difficult to make clear cut distinctions between one genre and another: genres overlap, and there are 'mixed genres' such as comedy thrillers (Chandler 2000)
Burton - Each text in a given genre shares particular key elements to make up the generic formula:
- Protagonists
- Stock characters
- Plots/Stock Situations
- Icons
- Background and Décor
- Themes
Narrative Theory
Meaning - Roland Barthes - texts me be open, unravelled in different ways, or closed. He also decide4ed that the threads that you pull on try and unravel meaning ate called narrative codes
Structure - Tvzetan Todorov - Texts are constructed around the basis scaffolding of equilibrium, disequilibrim, new equilibrium
Character - Vladimir Propp - produced a character typography of characters and their actions
Conflict and resolution - Claud Levi-Straus - recognised the constant creation of conflict/opposition propels narrative. Narrative can on end on a resolution of conflict.
Binary oppositions
Wednesday 16 March 2016
Attack the Block - Applying Theory
Youth
Gangs
Vulgarisms
violence
assault
crime
weapons
language
clothing
location
class
culture
no respect
drugs
rebellion
rap music
youth assumably in the wrong
Anti - hero
Buckingham - The media do not just offer us a transparent window on he world but a mediated version of the world. They don't present reality they represent it. This statement is extremely relevant to the film as it is not a true reflection of youth. Instead it generalises youth to be the same as small minorities which actually are true to the negative representation.
Gauntlett - Identity is now consciously constructed, adnd the media provides some of the tool to help us construct our identities. This is relevant as the film presents a very negative stereotype which spectatorial audiences can chose whether to follow. Consumers can interpret the content how they chose, either distancing themselves or agreeing with the representation.
Giroux - Giroux's statement that 'youth becomes an empty category in representation and reflects adult concerns' becomes relevant to Attack the Block as there are many adults in the film that show fear in regards to youth. The youth presented in the film are negatively presented in an extreme fashion which is the worst case scenario.
Structuration is the process in which human agency and social structure are in a constant relationship + social structure is reproduced by the repetition of acts by individual people and can therefore change. It is obvious that structuration has taken place due to the different representations of youth which were deemed to be normal in their times. It is evident that youth has changed between 1961 and 2011 through the way that they are presented through negative texts. The Young ones (1961) illustrates a very positive representation of youth. Youth are mainly presented as happy, respectable, friendly, community activists and standing up for what they want in a responsible manner. Whereas In Attack The Block (2011) the youthful characters are presented in an extremely negative light. They are seen to be considerably violent through the fact that they carry weapons with them with intent to cause harm. They also are portrayed to be rebellious through the recognition that they lie to their parent on their whereabouts and also through one of the characters being arrested towards the end of the clip due to the possession of drugs. Their use of vulgarisms and dress code provide the sense that they are significantly low in class and education which differ from the youth presented in 1961.
Gangs
Vulgarisms
violence
assault
crime
weapons
language
clothing
location
class
culture
no respect
drugs
rebellion
rap music
youth assumably in the wrong
Anti - hero
Buckingham - The media do not just offer us a transparent window on he world but a mediated version of the world. They don't present reality they represent it. This statement is extremely relevant to the film as it is not a true reflection of youth. Instead it generalises youth to be the same as small minorities which actually are true to the negative representation.
Gauntlett - Identity is now consciously constructed, adnd the media provides some of the tool to help us construct our identities. This is relevant as the film presents a very negative stereotype which spectatorial audiences can chose whether to follow. Consumers can interpret the content how they chose, either distancing themselves or agreeing with the representation.
Giroux - Giroux's statement that 'youth becomes an empty category in representation and reflects adult concerns' becomes relevant to Attack the Block as there are many adults in the film that show fear in regards to youth. The youth presented in the film are negatively presented in an extreme fashion which is the worst case scenario.
Structuration is the process in which human agency and social structure are in a constant relationship + social structure is reproduced by the repetition of acts by individual people and can therefore change. It is obvious that structuration has taken place due to the different representations of youth which were deemed to be normal in their times. It is evident that youth has changed between 1961 and 2011 through the way that they are presented through negative texts. The Young ones (1961) illustrates a very positive representation of youth. Youth are mainly presented as happy, respectable, friendly, community activists and standing up for what they want in a responsible manner. Whereas In Attack The Block (2011) the youthful characters are presented in an extremely negative light. They are seen to be considerably violent through the fact that they carry weapons with them with intent to cause harm. They also are portrayed to be rebellious through the recognition that they lie to their parent on their whereabouts and also through one of the characters being arrested towards the end of the clip due to the possession of drugs. Their use of vulgarisms and dress code provide the sense that they are significantly low in class and education which differ from the youth presented in 1961.
G325 Exam Prep - Section 1
Identify Digital Technologies that you have used to construct media texts - Year 1 and Year 2. What new technologies have you learnt?
Year 1
DSLR Camera
GoPro
External Boom Mic
Adobe Premier Pro - CCTV Film Grain, split screen
Year 2
DSLR Camera - Variation of lenses, varying frame rates
Drone
Adobe Premier Pro - Colour Correction, Motion/movement keying facilities, Stabilising Brightness/Contrast,
Adobe Speedgrade
Logic X - editing soundtrack, audio
Photoshop
InDesign
Twixtor - failed
Year 1
DSLR Camera
GoPro
External Boom Mic
Adobe Premier Pro - CCTV Film Grain, split screen
Year 2
DSLR Camera - Variation of lenses, varying frame rates
Drone
Adobe Premier Pro - Colour Correction, Motion/movement keying facilities, Stabilising Brightness/Contrast,
Adobe Speedgrade
Logic X - editing soundtrack, audio
Photoshop
InDesign
Twixtor - failed
Thursday 10 March 2016
Explain what is meant by 'collective identity' and the role of media in its construction.
Stan Cohen - folk devils - group of people who are a threat to society
moral panic - leads from deviant behaviour
Deviance amplification - one deviant act initiates a spiral, more is reported
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Demonisation of youths
Gramsci - Society is run by the ruling elite to make sure they keep their position.
Media is run by a small group who wish to maintain their position and status
hegemony - dominant ideology
Gauntlett
Time Magazine British youth are violent, drunken and out of control
Collective identity is an individuals sense of belonging to a group who share a set of traditions and values , part of personal identity. It has to be taken into account the role that representation plays in forming these collective identities. Identity is deemed 'complex and complicated' by David Buckingham who also believes that 'the media do not offer us a transparent window of the word, but a mediated version of the world'., which can be furthered to mediation. Mediation is the ways in which the media reconstruct reality and present a certain perspective to the viewers, often rejecting the truth. It contains three factors and ways in which content can be presented; these are selection objection, focussing and organisation. Therefore many social groups suffer from misrepresentation and therefore result in spectatorial audiences believing the views presented, even when they're negative and an image is formed around a specific social group. This relates to the Hypodemic Needle Model which focusses on people taking in content passively.
The youth is continuously gaining negative coverage by the media which have seemed to worsen after the London Riots in 2011. When considering Stan Cohen 's Deviance amplification theory which suggests that one deviant act initiates a spiral or attention, the London Riots can be regarded as the initiation of the downward spiral of negative media coverage on youth.The theory is also relevant as youth is seen as a group of people who are a threat to society and therefore cause moral panic. Along with many other media texts, a stereotype is beginning to be formed on youth which is very negative and untrue and only is relevant to minorities of youth. The representations used by the media can be considered to be untrue, and in fact reflect adult concern (Giroux). A media text which conveys youth in this particular perspective would be the film 'Bullet Boy' made in 2004. This film is based in London where violence, crime, drugs and vandalism feature heavily. A young black male is released from prison for stabbing and despite his best attempts to rejuvenate his life he gets dragged back into trouble through loyalties with other youths. Also the audience see his younger brother being introduced to the culture and following in the brothers footsteps as he rebels at school and also accidentally shoots his friends whilst playing with a firearm. The film concludes with the main character accompanying his friend with attempted murder, ultimately resulting in him being killed himself due to his association. The activities presented in the film reinforce the negative representations of youth and to a spectatorial audience these stereotypes could be deemed to be correct, and further enhancing their fears. This can be related to Gerbner's 'Cultivation Theory' which believes. "The primary proposition of cultivation theory states that the more time people spend 'living' in the television world, the more likely they are to believe social reality portrayed on television"
In opposition to this, The Young ones (1961) illustrates a very positive representation of youth. Youth are mainly presented as happy, respectable, friendly, community activists and standing up for what they want in a responsible manner. Activism is generally associated with some public action designed to raise awareness around an issue usually related to matters of social, political or economic importance. This is particularly shown through their attempts to save their youth club from closure. The characters are also shown to be dressed in much more formal and smart clothing than modern day which provides a sense of higher class. Their etiquette and the dialects is also considerably better than today's youth, once again presenting them in a very positive perspective. Their passion seems to be singing and dancing which enhances the difference in normalities between 1961 and 2011 as the youth are seen to be running around the streets performing. Between then and now it is evident that structuration has taken place, a theory suggested by Anthony Giddens where social systems change and transform and an overall shift occurs in the normality.Ill Manors
Young ones
structuration - Giddens
Attack the Block
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