This is England & Quadrophenia

Describe the representation of youth in the two posters. What are the connotations of the two texts?


The colour of the text on both posters is the same represnting the colour of the British flag showing that they are proud of where they come from and also giving you the hiint that this is where the story is based and this is what the story will be based around. In both posters there is a big group of people as numbers are stronger and can easily single out people on there own, stronger in a pack. The top image has colour but the main colour is blue, blue signifies peace and tranquility but in this case it is using a contrast as there is a large goup of youths stood in front of it all stood staring straight at you therefore trying to show that they are the upper class and that they are in charge by using fear. The quality of the picture in the second image is not very good and it is quite blurry whereas in the top one it is very clear the fact that one has a colour image and the other one doesnt also gives a feeling that the second image is much older than the top one as photographical developments are much further ahead. the sign of used inside the Q of quadrophenia is the sign that represent the mod in the 60s, this could also be the reason for these colours being used in both images to represent that they are all mods. In both images there is one man is white jeans, different to the blue ones all the other men are wearing, this could be to make him look different from his other friends and show his authority by being the only one allowed to wear them so that everyone knows he is in charge.




60s Mods









Attitudes:


 They had greater disposable income therefore they relished their leisure time,going to nightclubs,listening to music and collecting records. They hated  the gruelling 9-5 however all still did it and demanded more fun and more freedom.


Beliefs:


They thought that there was more to life than the way their parents had lived and that now that the war was over they needed to rebel so that society would change and grow and so that boring 9-5 jobs did not have to be the norm forever.


How they were identified:


The mod lifestyle revolved around clothes,clubs, music and scooters. They dabbled in drugs regularly and spent little time at home as they would much rather be out with friends.





What brands identified them:


green parka jackets

Tailor made suits and mopeds







What music they listened to:


mod was about modern jazz (listened to by the modernists), but as we entered the 1960s, it was R&B, soul and Jamaican ska - the music of choice for the clubs of the day, augmented by the beat bands of the day who often re-interpreted the imported soul grooves, creating the beat group sound of the mid-60s.


Quotes:

Mod terms

Faces were top Mods who were seen as taste makers in the Mod movement, the first to start a new trend.

Numbers were younger Mods. The term came from having t-shirts with numbers on. For a time The Who called themselves The High Numbers; the name was meant to appeal to the Mod market. Younger Mods were also called sixes and sevens because the t-shirts cost 7/6 from Woolworths.

Tickets could also mean the same as Numbers, or might have referred to people with no fashion sense. A First Class Ticket being the worst offender.

Mockers copied both Mods and Rockers, and mixed and matched from both.

Mids did the same, but by accident rather than design.

States were people who tried to be Mods, but could not get the look right. Alternatively this term was used to describe Rockers by Jimmy in Quadrophenia. It meant in a bit of a state.

How does contemporary representation compare to previous time periods?

What is youth sub-culture?

What are the values of a subculculture?

Jocks

Nerds

Skaters

Punks

Goths

Emo

Mods and rockers

New romantics

Chavs

Ideology: refers to the way in which people think about the world and their ideal concept of how to live in the world.

Nerds: there values and attitudes are to work hard and study at school to get good grades, they could possibly not be the most popular with the other sex therefore a girlfriend could be seen as an important aspect. There would rather be an individual than follow a crowd but they generally have the same interests and dress similar.They aren’t worried about brand names or fashion as a checked shirt and some smart trousers with a bow tie will never go out of fashion.

Link to values.. how the subculture view;


conformality and rebelion
Attitude to capitalismand consumerism
'Tirbal' riva;ry
Traditional or 'neophile'( a person who loves novelty one who likes trends person who can accept the futureenthusiastically qne enjoys changes and evolution.


Ieology in 1950s and 60s- peace rebellion against parents






Many goups are involved in protest and resistance against the mainstream...
Teens will often move between sub-cultures and older youths mix and match styles/values from a mix of subcultures.


Or that adults can appear to conform for the most of the working week, but re-enter the subculture at specific times(weekend,festivals,etc.)






In 21st century the dominant meaning systems( that define mainstream) are crumbling


'here is no mainstream now there are many streams'


if there is no mainstream there is nothing for teens to act against - instead they are driven by other motives; and these must be understood on their own terms, individual terms.








1950s Teddy boys:









1960s Mods:







1960s skinheads:

Early 1970s punks:

The cultural revolution 50s+60s

Just before the 50s was ww2

Scared

Poor

Time of survival

After war came a time of freedom and affluence

Antiauthoristarionism cultures.

Raioning came to an end

american life became the way of life aspirations to the british public

post war you could have more than what was essential, luxarys.

change in goverment created differnent social structure.

youth were given more freedom by parents.didnt live under constant guilt of what there parents where going through.

Amercicas influence

Cultural imperialism- the practice of promoting, distinguishing, separating or artificially injecting the culture of one society into another(America influence on Britain post-war)

cultural revolution

increases in the production and availability of consumer goods meant that people were expected to have good s such as tvs fridges music systems... befor ethe war these had been a luxary. Car ownership rose by 250% between 1951-61 and between 1955-60 average weekly earnings rose by 34%.

Less utilitarian more to do with status and comfort.

Teenagers become recognised as a social gorup (rather than seen and not heard) and in turn they became more affluent, demanded goods that could differenciate them from the adult world and express their group identity.

Could argue that orignially identity was created though rebranding, product choice.As youth culture became more dominsnt these attitudes rapidly sopread among other spcial groups and for many people their consumption choices began to underpin their personal iodentity.

state funded education>working class children could go to college/uni

Social mobility

affluence social mobility qnd the advent of the mass media, comibined with a government that placed individual freedom at the heart of its agenda, had transformed british society.

there was general feeling of optimism but also a sense of uncertainty. New freedoms and liberties had been gained, but as a result society had become more fragmented and less predictable.

Section B Question 6 Media and Collective Identity
For A2 I have studies the representation of women in both contemporary and historical media. As David Buckingham noted in 2008, “identity is fluid and changeable” – and arguably the identity of women in recent times has changed, some may argue it has become more mediated.

Identity itself refers to who we actually are, the construction of ourselves – perhaps even the representation of ourselves and our social groups that we as media consumers wish to have. While many such as Buckingham and Gauntlett champion the fact the create and construct our own identities; others such aa Theordore Adorno see identity as something pushed upon us by the mass media, that we have no alternative but to take the dominant identities we are exposed to “something is offered for all so that none may escape,” he writes in explanation of this fact. Adorno therefore argues that our identities are becoming increasingly mediated – that is, that they influenced by the mass media, inherent identifies are weak and influenced by the media around us.

‘Nuts’ magazine is a stereotypical ‘lad’s mag’, aimed at 18-24 year old males. In ana analysis of the 19-25th March 2010 issue I performed the content proves interesting with regards to representation of women. Images of semi-naked females in suggestive poses represent women as victims of symbiotic annihilation. They are portrayed as merely objects of sexual pleasure for men – the images have been constructed, Laure Mulvey would argue with her theory of the Male Gaze, solely with the male consumers in mind, who using the Uses and Gratifications Model are consuming the text for sexual pleasure. Most significant here, however, is the so-called Mirror Effect of Mulvey’s Male Gaze.

This states that women themselves consuming the images will apply the Male Gaze, and see the female in the image in a sense of what Baudrillard would call hyperreality, assuming the idea that this representation is ‘how women should be’ and in turn they should construct their identities similarly in order to appeal to males – after all women are the subdominant group in an apparent patriarchal society. Identity therefore has become mediated in this situation as Adorno says. The “culture industry” that is the mass media has imposed a dominant representation onto a collective group; who have felt pressured to adapt it as part of their collective identity.
oup;
In the 2001 film “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider”, Lara Croft, the main female character is represented as fairly masculine (stereotypically masculine) in terms of her choice of clothing, body language and manner. All of these micro-elements construct her identity. However, throughout the film, we also see Croft use what can be considered the concept of femininity to her advantage, flirting with male characters and wearing stereotypically feminine clothes towards the final scenes.

In terms of her character’s identity this supports Buckingham’s aforementioned assumption that “identity is fluid and changeable” but also conforms to Queer Theory. Queer Theory is widely recognized in Judith Butler’s 1990 book ‘Gender Trouble’ and states that the genders male and female are just as much the product of representation as the concepts of masculinity and femininity. She calls for a blurring of boundaries between genders and their stereotypical identities and calls for the media to celebrate such diversity. As a character, Croft arguably has blurred the boundaries displaying traits of both male and female behaviour.

If Adorno’s assertions are applied here it can be argued that again the dominant identity of women as sly, untrustworthy and in need of patriarchal dominance is being applied through Croft’s deviant use of fronting identity to her advantage.
However some could argue that the prominence of Queer Theory does not encourage the mediation of female identity instead it encourages dominant representations to be characterized and boundaries to be blurred – implying greater personal control over identity as advocated by John Fiske and David Buckingham rather than mediated identities.

Cosmopolitan is a magazine aimed at females around 30+. In all ways it can be said that pragmatically the magazine pushes femininity as an identity for itself, with stereotypically female colours and text styles. In turn, the feminine identity of the magazine is applied as a representation of the readers, further suggesting a mediation of women’s identity. The magazine focuses heavily on beauty and fitness, reinforcing the dominant ideology of the “ideal” women that women should aspire to a fixed concept of beauty.

As an example in the April 2010 issue a large image of Holly Willoughby (celebrity) features on the cover. Although unlike Nuts magazine, she is wearing fairly covering clothing and lacks cosmetic make-up, it is interesting to note that her clothing is white in colour – Ferdinand de Saussure would note that this has semiotic significance using his semiotic theory and Roland Barthe’s levels of signification, we can identify that white has connotations of innocence and weakness. Therefore this represents her as innocent and weak – reinforcing dominant patriarchal representations of women. Due to her status as a celebrity, her level of influence is great. In herself she is a semiotic symbol of success and affluence, so those who take inspiration from her will take this constructed innocence and weakness and apply it to their own identities. This is a clear example of the mediation of identity. It suggests a passive audience, influenced by the mass media as Adorno and other quasi-Marxists would suggest.

It can be seen therefore, that as post modernists say, we live in a media saturated society. We are surrounded by signs which cannot be ignored. Women in the media are often represented as varying, whether it be as sexual objects for the pleasure of males; or as innocent, as ‘stay at home’ housewives as suggested in 2008’s film Hancock. Here, despite possessing stereotypically male strength and ‘superpowers’, the lead female aspires to be a housewife – reinforcing the sub-dominant representation of women. Either way however women are often the victims of mediation. The theories of consumption and construction of identity from theorists such as Adorno and Mulvey clearly show that despite the specific representations, one common identity is ‘forced’ upon women in the media – a subdominant social group living in a patriarchal society. Identity is constructed using this as a basis; and even media texts which challenge this representation and encourage Queer Theory diversity are still arguably mediating identity with their influence. Identity is fluid and changeable and can be individually constructed as Gauntlett and Buckingham state. But arguable, the mass media are, and have, mediated the identity of women in contemporary society.

EAA 20/20
EG 18/20 T 10/10

Research

Theorists


Giroux 1997: youth as empty category


This is because media representations of young people are constructed by adults. Because of this they reflect adults concerns, anxieties, and needs. As a result of this media representations of young people do not necessarily reflect the reality of youth identity. When appling Giroux to media texts you need to think about who constructed the representation, who it is aimed at, and does the representation reflect adult anxieties or serve the purposes of adult society.
My example:


Harrys fear that all the young people are capable of killing someoone because of what happened to his friend.


Acland 1995:Ideology of protection; deviant youth and reproduction of social order


Media representations of youths out of control allows the state to have more control of them (media reports about deliquent youths led to ASBOs). The idea that young people need constant sureveillance and monitoring. This happens because youth is the time when young people learn about social roles and values, and allows the state to make sure they conform to hegemonic values.

My example:

In harry brown when the teens are fighting the police throwing fire bombs would meant that the police now think every teenager on that estate would need to be watched as they could be a risk.

Gramsci 1972 1929-1935): Cultutral hegemony

This is the idea that one social class(usually middle) is able to dominate a society by making  their way of life and values appear normal, natural, and common sense.  As a result other social classes accept these values as the normal way of life.  Gramsci does see hegemony as a site of constant struggle – societies are constantly debating what is and isn’t acceptable.  You could relate this to the more positive representations of working class youth in ‘Fish Tank’ and ‘Misfits’ as representations which challenge the perception of working class as thugs.

My example:



Cohen 1972: Moral panic

Cohen studied the media response to the mods and rockers riots in the 1960s.  He argued that from time to time ‘folk devils’ emerge in a society which reflect the anxieties of society at that time (e.g. mods and rockers reflect social anxiety about the emergence of youth culture, rock and roll, etc.).  A moral panic occurs when the media reports on these ‘folk devils’ in a sensationalised way which leads to intervention by politicians, and the police.  The effect of a moral panic is to reassert hegemony by allowing a society to make clear what values it does not accept.  The representation of working class youths suggest they have become a contemporary ‘folk devil’, perhaps tapping into economic anxieties, concern about a benefits culture, and long term unemployment.

My example:

At the end of Harry Brown when the media states that they have taken back control of the estate.
McRobbie 2004: Symbolic violence

Suggests that contemporary British TV often contains ‘symbolic violence’ against the working class, i.e. representations which emphasise middle class dominance and depict the working class in very negative ways (e.g. ‘Eden Lake’, ‘Harry Brown’.)
My example:

Eden lake the couple would not disrupt any other holidayers at the lake but as they are of a higher class than the children.
Gerbner 1986: Cultivation theory
 Gerbner studied the effect of television on people’s perception of crime.  He found
that people who watched a lot of television tended to overestimate the levels of crime.  He called this ‘mean world syndrome’.  Because news reports, TV dramas, films, contain lots of representations of crime over time this influenced people’s
perceptions of the world.  This is called ‘cultivation theory’.  You could apply this to media representations of young people.  The large numbers of representations of
young people as delinquents could, over time, influence how they are perceived by society.
My example:

In eden lake the couple think that all  the teenager who live in that area are dangerous and ask people in the restaurant what they think and pass on their opinion.

How do the contemporary media represent British youth and youth culture in different ways?

Harry Brown
2009
Daniel Barber




How does Harry Brown represent young people?
Iconic images
hoodies symbol associated with b.y.
dogs, pitbull staffs...
iconic symbols of violence
knifes guns
activities smashuing up cars
drugs is a theme
location, dodgy area hidden away
sexism male dominated film the boys are the gangsters/criminals
her character challenges gender stereotypes but the society ideologises women having less status than men being less intelligent...
revenge, friendship, fighting territory.
dialect is very colloquial
binary oppositions harry b vs gangs
police harry b vs gangs
all represent different age groups
young vs older
social class
enviroment territory is survival staying alive is a fight every day
children grow up surrounding by bad behaviour will make them think it is acceptable
genre horror/thriller
low key lighting lots of dark shadows
connotations of negativity suspense

Hoodies strike fear in British cinema

The Guardian

suggests teens as unemotional, enept to feelings, thugs

reflected as monsters reference to jaws terrifying characters or oposicions that challenge society/ equillibrim norms

fear of the unknown. vampires supernatural zombies aliens murderers

teens are now the monsters in the horror films and we are real. so what is more scary fiction or non fiction?

social class: reacting to the enviroment they are living in. No hope representation no oppportunitys to look to the future as survival is too difficult.

Binary opposotions: upper vs lower class

Hegemony : power of the ruling class, they want us to believe a certain thing ab0out other class as they are worried that their views will be wrong, distinction between different class systems.

Asbos would have never been accepted by british society if the media had no made b.y. out to be so bad. overexaggeration.

we were all made to believe that youth was out of control and asbos were the only way to control them, police were seen as heros...

fear creates>moral panic

self affiling provicy

if you give a dog a bad name it will start to behave like that.

Eden Lake

2008

James watkins

personal fears, night time, trapped,

• How are Jenny and steve (the main couple) represented?

Happily in love, normal, innocent holiday goers,mature, unrebelious, middle class, unaware, Defenseless, scared, injured,

• How is this contrasted with the representation of other characters?

Playful, unreasonable, badly behaved, lower class as carries knife which he progbably has uses for which upper class would not have, their clothing, gives them a chavy representation, they are there because they have nothing else to do so they just hang around and cause trouble, 'gang culture'.The other characters (the youths) think they know it all and can do whatever they want because they are better than the couple and outnumber them so they can use this to scare the couple.

• How important is the issue of social class?

• How are young people represented?

As bullies, children who dont know how to cope with a bad situation, immature, petty,




Theorist: Robin wood argues that te basic formula of a horror film is 'normality is threatened by the monster' I use 'normality' here to mean simply conformity to the dominant social norms.
Dominant ideologies.                       /\
                                                        /  \
Todorov equilibrium theory ______/     \_______




what is more scary than reality?


Attack the block
2011
Joe Cornish

• How are the main characters introduced?

stereotypical hoodie

• How does this representation change?

They change from being the baddies to being the heros

What is Britishness?

What is Britishness?

What does it mean to be British?

What do you associate with being british?

The english language
Sarcasm
Queen
Weather
Socks and sandals
big ben
Parliament
The Beatles
Mini's
Pubs
Paparazzi
The Only way is Essex
London
Council Estates and Benefits
NHS
Mr Bean
The London Bus
Postbox
Cornish Pasties
Etiquette
Oxford/Cambridge Uni
Riots
Ale/Cider/Bitter
Jeremy Kyle
Jeremy Clarkson
Tea and scones








What are our values?


Being respectful/ reserved
Hard Working live to work rather than work to live

What is identity?

What is identity?

Your identity is what makes you you.

It’s how you dress or act or talk and it’s what makes you different to other human beings.

1. The collective aspect of the set of characteristics by which a thing is definitively recognizable or known: "If the broadcast group is the financial guts of the company, the news division is its public identity" (Bill Powell).

2. The set of behavioural or personal characteristics by which an individual is recognizable as a member of a group.

3. The quality or condition of being the same as something else.

4. The distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity; individuality.

5. Information, such as an identification number, used to establish or prove a person's individuality, as in providing access to a credit account.

6. Mathematics

a. An equation that is satisfied by any number that replaces the letter for which the equation is defined.

b. Identity element.

How is your identity formed?

·         Environment

·          family

·         life

·         events

·         friends

·          social

·         origin education

·         beliefs and ideologies

·         religion

·         gender

·         the media

·         media consumption

·         social class

·         geography

Nature Vs Nurture?

Exam Outline

Exam outline G325

2 hours long

2 compulsory questions for section A  (50 marks)

 1A Theoretical evaluation of production

Magazine production at as

Preliminary magazine as

And A2 film trailer

How skill has been developed over the course of 2 years.

·         Digital technology

·         Creativity

·         Research and planning

·         Post production

·         Using conventions for real media texts

·        

1B theoretical evaluation of the production and evaluate it in relation to a media concept

B Contemporary media issues (50 marks)

How the media portrays the British youth negatively

·         Genre

·         Narrative

·         Representation Audience

·         Media language

1. How do the contemporary media represent british youth and youth culture in different ways?
2. How does contemporary representation compare to previous time periods?
3. What are the social implications of different media representations of british youth and youth culture?
4. To what extent is human identity uncreasingly mediated.

historical: dependent in the requirements of the topic candidates must summarise the development of the media forms in question in historicalk contents.

contemporary: exampoles from 5 years befgore the examination.

future: candidates must demonstrate personal engagement with debates about the future of the media forms/issues that the topic relates to.

 AO1: demonstrate knowledge and understanding of media concepts contexts and critical debates using terminology appropriatelt and with accurate and relevant written expression.

AO2:

Can lie within reason as examiners do not know what you have actually done for coursework.