Media and collective identity theory revision

Media and collective identity theory revision from jphibbert1979

Theorists

Quote analysis

David Gaunlett (2007)
"Identity is complicated. Everybody thinks they've got one. Artists play with the ice of identity in modern society".

I think this quote means that people do not necessarily have a fixed identity therefore film makers and the people in the films experiment with the variants of identities that are seen in modern society. 'Everybody thinks they've got one' suggests that everybody may in fact be more similar than they know, the fact that everyone thinks they have an identity may be the very thing that makes them all the same.

This is represented in This is England. Combo tries to find his identity by being a racist skinhead and like wise Milky tries to find his identity as a British Jamaican and Shaun tries to find his identity by discovering a world he's never known before. They are all living the same journey in their own ways which makes them common. 'Artists play with the ice of identity' suggests that maybe a person has more than one identity for example Shuan first has this identity of a weak bullied kid but as he evolves, he gains a identity of a strong willed and quite tough guy. I think identities have a way of evolving and therefore artists play around and experiment with this to create a reflective view of society. Also 'identiy is complicated' could be something to do with the many overlapping identities such as Combo and Woody both being skinheads but Combo being a racist unlike Woody. Overall I think this quote is just saying that nobody really knows who they are and atleast go through phases where they feel this way and artists use this to create a form of reality in the entertainment world.

British Youth Culture timeline

Tucker's Luck

1. Tucker has just woken up with a hangover after a night out with his friends. His mum wakes him up and gets him out of bed when he then gets ready. He goes to his friends house first but he is not at home, he then goes to another friends house where he sits at the table reading a newspaper, drinking tea and talking about the events of the night before.

2. Representations of youth culture in this clip is shown as lady as Tucker had a hard time getting out of bed and when he said he is having a day off, his mum said he does that everyday. Another representation is that they party a lot as he was hungover and found his jacket covered on sick from the night before. This may represent drinking alcohol as a sign of rebellion.

3. Mise-en-scene elements used to communicate the representations from producers to audience was the bed to present the representation of laziness, breakfast table with tray full of breakfast and milk to create authentic feel. The sunglasses are used to represent the hangover Tucker was suffering.

4. "I'm never having another drink"
"The bed would have to be on fire to shift him"
"Get up you lazy swine"
"I am never going down that place again"
"God you look awful"
"Like where to be sick"

5. Close shots when mum is speaking to emphasise her point about Tucker being lazy. Mid shots used to present mise-en-scene. Close shot used to show facial expression of Tucker when he is told he's been left with some money, this shows it is the reason for the rest of the day (episode) happening. Long shot to show where the characters are, therefore create a realistic view of the mis-en-scene, also gives the feel of a real house rather than a piece of set. Zooming in and low angles of the face, this gives the effect of superiority to show that Tucker is the main focus of the show. Long shot of him walking out the house, to present the realness of the show by displaying more than one house. Camera Pans along with walking character creates authentic effect for audience who may feel like they are moving with the character.

6. Straight cuts and long scenes to represent the simplicity and honesty of characters lives.

7. The youth culture can be seen as positive as they aren't being harmful as they would be now and it also shows that despite their laziness they do eventually get out and do things for themselves for example, Tucker takes his jacket to get cleaned and his friend makes breakfast whilst Tucker gets the kettle on.

8. The youth culture can be seen as dangerous due to the partying habits of the guys as alcohol can be harmful and cause many accidents.

9. Hegemony is present in this representation as the producers are in charge of what they wish to display to the public. They may present the youth as something they may not be. Tucker and his friends are representing the lazy alcoholic youths when there could be more youths that are the opposite.

An education - Representation of youth culture

British youth culture in this 60's film is shown as very innocent and naive in contrast to what it is shown as nowadays. This is represented through the main character Jenny who is a promising student on her way to Oxford university. Jenny does as her parents say when it comes to her education but when she meets an older man David, she does start to rebel against her parents but by lying rather than openly expressing herself. The young girls that attend her school are also represented as innocent but more inexperienced as they are quite amazed at Jenny's interactions with David. This is due to the fact this film is set in the 60's when girls just started to become more sexually active as a notion of modernity. You also see that Jenny is not sexually active until her 17th birthday which shows that she is more of a free spirit but still she integrity. Although Jenny is  seen as innocent, she does smoke which can be a sign of rebellion  although with the context of this film being set in the 60's, in could be said that women smoking was more of a statement on their new found freedom.

The young boy shown in this film is an orchestra friend of Jenny's who is shown as quite shy and timid and less confident when it comes to impressing Jenny's parents. Although Jenny is innocent and naive at the start of the film she does become a bit more sceptical when she realises David has stolen an something but then again he convinces her to be okay with it therefore bringing out her naivety again and showing she can easily be manipulated. Also her decision to accept David's proposal was brought on by her parents open support and encouragement of the idea showing that not only did she obey her parents but also she let them do the once thing she spent so long avoiding and that was choosing her future.

Towards the end of the film, I believe due to the heartbreak and betrayal she had endured, she does become more aware of the bad things around her and does become stronger. This is shown through her strong will to educate herself and get into Oxford, which in the end she succeeds in. Representation of youth in this film is showing innocent being snatched away and replaced with suspicion. It is almost as if youth then is being built and shaped up to become what youth is now which is shown as quite the opposite. 

Quadrophenia

1. 1979, Franc Roddam, The Who Films

2. London, 1965: Like many other youths, Jimmy hates the philistine life, especially his parents and his job in a company's mailing division. Only when he's together with his friends, a 'Mod' clique, cruises London on his motor-scooter and hears music such as that of 'The Who' and 'The High Numbers', he feels free and accepted. However, it's a flight into an illusionary world.

3. Tommy, Trainspotting and Brighton Rock.

4. Media coverage of mods and rockers fighting in 1964 sparked a moral panic about British youths, and the two groups became labelled as folk devils.

Newspapers described the mod and rocker clashes as being of "disastrous proportions". Newspaper such as a Birmingham Post editorial in May 1964, which warned that mods and rockers were "internal enemies" in the UK who would "bring about disintegration of a nation's character". The magazine Police Review argued that the mods and rockers' purported lack of respect for law and order could cause violence to "surge and flame like a forest fire".

Eventually, when the media ran out of real fights to report, they would publish deceptive headlines, such as using a subheading "Violence", even when the article reported that there was no violence at all. Newspaper writers also began to associate mods and rockers with various social issues, such as teen pregnancy, contraceptives, amphetamines, and violence.

Tv show 'Please sir!' challenges this view - 'Weekly situation comedy about a hapless but caring teacher and his class of unruly kids. The teacher sees much good and potential in his pupils much to the dismay of his fellow teachers who have lost hope in these kids'.

5. Representations in the film of:

Young males - Are leaders of the pack and are shown as quite dominant as everything revolves around them. They are shown in a very negative way as they are violent and deviant. 

Young females - Are flirtatious and promiscuous and sexually active. Shown more as a sex symbol rather than meaningful characters. Also challenges stereotype of male superiority as it is the male with feelings and the female cheating instead.

Older characters - Such as the parents, are shown to be controlling as the main characters mum kicks him out after finding out he was involved in the riot and finds his stash of pills. The other older characters such as his work colleagues also seem to undermine and look down at him.

Figures of authority - Such as the police, are seen as powerful in numbers yet not respected. They are shown to fight back during the riots and do end up capturing many rioters. In court the judge is represented as powerful as he can punish whomever he wants and decides how. They are almost represented as the heroes as they try to stop and control the violence, 

Ethnicity - Mostly white males as it is 1979 Britain before it became multi-cultural. Only one black male is shown and he is portrayed as a drug dealer which conforms to the negative stereotype.

British Culture

Trainspotting

What are the main themes of the film and how does this represent British youth?
Drug addiction, poverty and society. This represents British youth as rebellious, quite misfortunate and with a form of unity through negative subcultures.

What ideologies are given?
A ideology shown is rebellion, this is represented through drug use, sexuality and theft. Rebellion includes seeking out options other than the norms and values of society.

What does this film say about society in the 1990's? (Consider the context of the film; what was going on in the 1990's and how realistic are the representations?)

This film shows the urban poverty of Scotland. This is shown through the mise en scene. The run down hotels and houses suggest they are economically underprivileged. The law is also represented as slightly more tolerant of drugs than they are now, showing that drug issues were taken more lightly maybe because they were more common when society was in unfortunate circumstances.

What stereotypes are present?

That the British youth culture indulge in drugs and sex. It also presents the stereotype of working class people being unstable and reckless.

This is a film that was meant "for the boys" - consider the representation of gender and gender-related behaviour and language in Trainspotting.

The males are represented as working class skinheads with foul language. They are often lazy yet dominant as the females are mainly portrayed as sexual objects with no status. Indiscretions represent the males as quite manly whilst the females may be represented as promiscuous.

What does it say about parenting?

This film shows parents not having any control over their children and it also suggests that not all of them care. Not many of the parents are shown until after the drugs have hurt them suggesting that they could not have done anything to stop this. Their carelessness may also be just they fact they are clueless.

Pick one of the quotes we looked at in class and write about how it is relevant in reference to representation of British Youth Culture in Trainspotting

Stereotype Theory

Medhurst (1955) - Stereotypes can be seen as a type of media shorthand that provides an easy pout of contact when the text needs to communicate quickly with the audience.

Richard Dyer - Suggests that stereotypes are always about power. By using stereotypes, we are expressing "an agreement about a social group, as if that agreement rose independently of the stereotype. Yet for the most part it is from the stereotype that we got our ideas about social groups". Stereotyping involves a number of processes.

Traditional stereotypes
Stereotype examples in TV: Skins
Stereotype examples in movie: Adulthood

Counter types
Traditional stereotypes challenged in TV: Buffy the vampire slayer
Traditional stereotypes challenged in movie: Kick Ass

Hybrids
Mixture of stereotypes and counter types in TV: Top boy
Mixture of stereotypes and counter types in movie: Bend it like Beckham

Inbetweeners clip

• This British sitcom is most likely to be written and produced by British men in their 30's/40's. I assume this mainly because the 4 main characters are guys and it is easier for people to write for their own gender. Another reason for this, is the show is based on a very male centered society and the explicit concepts represented stereo-typically are what males have more knowledge in. 
• English actors in their 20's are represented as young teenagers round about 17 years old that are in college. They are representing the British youth culture.
• They are represented through clothing, they wear a sixth form uniform and language, they use lots of bad and inappropriate language and the storyline is very teen centred as it is about underage drinking and bunking off college. These representations can vary on a particular person and where they are from. For example an american audience probably won't be able to relate to these since they don't always have uniform in schools.
• This particular representation was selected because from a stereotypical view, these are the things a British audience can mostly relate to on British show. An alternative representation of the British youth culture could have been the pompous posh boarding school view that the Americans would most likely expect. This shows that your nationality can influence your ideas of media representation.

Hegemony and Marxism

Marxism 

• Founded by two german theorists Marx and Engels, who developed a political theory arguing that dominant ideology of society was a problem
• Marxism is about battle of social classes
• Dominant ideology - a set of ideas accepted and agreed by most people in society
• In most European and Western countries dominant ideology is know as capitalism
• Marxist says the system works so the rich get richer whilst the poor get poorer. 
• Only ruling class gain from capitalist society.
• System cannot be changed, only destroyed (communism)
• Ruing class still dominate society, they profit from dominant ideology being capitalism.
• Countries that did break away from capitalism: China, Cuba, Russia, Vietnam, Laos

Hegemony

• Antonio Gramsci founded theory of Hegemony, the process by which the dominant ideology organises society and uses culture to do this
• Hegemony refers to leadership, dominance and influence ruling class has over others
• Gramsci believed that newspapers could be used to promote the viewpoints of the ruling class and middle class and that those perspective would all be read and accepted by society
• Hegemony is shown in media through language and representation e.g. references to 'our government' or 'our foreign policy' implies unity using personal pronouns
• Another example of hegemony - popular culture creates money for producers and nothing for consumers thus working class remain entertained whilst ruling classes grow even richer
• Control of the media can influenced things such as what shows get aired or canceled and the degree to which a television station covers or does not cover certain news stories

What does it mean to be british?

Stereotypes  

Scotland: They all have ginger hair, white skin and freckles.

               The men all wear skirts

               They hate the english 

               They all play bagpipes

               They're racist

Northern Ireland: Drink a lot

                           They're all farmers

                           Fight a lot

                           Have huge poor families 

Wales: They lay with sheep

           Brawn and aggressive

           Dislike being mistaken for english

           Wiccan

           Drink a lot

West country: Uneducated farmers

                       Green hills 

                       Inbred

                       Love cider

Home counties (including London): Middle class

                                                    Full of tourists

                                                    Rude snobs

                                                    Slutty girls 

                                                    

North east (Newcastle,Middleborough): Lots of bright orange makeup

                                                          Not intelligent 

                                                          Drink a lot

                                                               

North west (Liverpool,Manchester): Full of criminals

                                                     Racist

                                                     Football fans 

                                                     Good bands

Midlands (Nottingham,Birmingham): Dull and boring

                                                      A bit thick

                                                      Bad accents

                                                      Chavs

                                                      Youngsters are bad

Britain overall: Tea drinkers, Cultured, Posh, Fish&Chips, Curry, Multicultural, Royal family, Rain, Warm beer, Talk like the queen, Bad teeth, Love to queue