Section A: Question B Theoretical Evaluation of Production

G325 - Critical Perspectives in Media

Section A: Question B Theoretical Evaluation of Production
Worth 25 marks.

You will choose to evaluate one of your pieces of coursework in relation to a media concept.
In the exam one of the following areas will be selected for you to write about:

• Genre
• Narrative
• Representation
• Audience
• Media language

Genre

Genres are categories or types of media text.
Genres are recognisable through the repeated use of generic codes and conventions:

• Iconographies
• Narrative
• Representations
• Ideologies

Genre and Audience

• Genre offers audiences a structure or framework
• Audience gains enjoyment from "spotting the conventions" (repetitions) and making comparisons with other films of the same genre
• If a text deviates from the conventions it can confuse us, but at the same time we enjoy seeing rules broken
• Audiences like the anticipation of waiting for the predictable features

- would be better for A2 as I can talk about relation to horror

Narrative

Theorists:

• Propp - 8 character roles
• Todorov - equilibrium - disequilibrium - new equilibrium
• Barthes - 5 codes (action, enigma, cultural, symbolic, semic)
• Levi-Strauss - binary opposites

All media texts tell stories. The structure of these stories is called the narrative.
A story must have verisimilitude (area, lighting, props need to be realistic) in order to engage us - how does your c/w have verisimilitude?

- would be better for A2 as a film has a storyline

Representation

Everything in the media is a representation - everything we see is being represented e.g. regions/ locations, individuals, groups, places, nations, ideas

Questions we would ask when analysing representation:

• WHO or WHAT is being represented?
• HOW is the representation created?
• WHO has created the representation?
• WHY is the representation created in that way? What is the intention?
• WHAT is the effect of the representation?

To maintain a representation of reality, media language elements such as lighting, music, editing, camera work and mise-en-scene are used. How did you use these micro-aspects to create representations?
Sometimes, representations are seen to be a deliberate attempt to create associations and ideas for the audience - did you represent any characters in a certain way so as to remind your audience of someone/ something else

- could use either for this question but may be better for AS as in evaluation i have analysed how i represented certain social classes.

Audience

Consider: age, gender, demographic profile, socio-economic group, existing/ new, lifestyle, values, attitude
Categories: A, B, C1, C2, D, E
Is your audience mass or niche?
What would the three reactions to you c/w be?: (Stuart Hall)

1. A preferred reading (intended interpretation) - best to talk about
2. An oppositional reading (someone who didn't like it)
3. A negotiated reading (someone who isn't the target audience but might appreciate it for another reason)

Every media text is made with a view to pleasing an audience in some way - how did you try to please your audience.
Success is measured by the audience's responses to a media text and those that do not attract and maintain an audience do not survive.
At the heart of this is the fact that all media texts are created in order to make money.

- could use for either AS or A2 but AS may be better because evaluation has more detail into the demographics, socio-economic group

Media Language

You will need to write about:

• Denotations
• Connotations
• Anchorage - using anchor - music magazine you have a front cover of lady gaga and then have the title which is represented in the news.

You made lots of decisions regarding the following micro-aspects:

• Camera
• Editing
• Lighting
• Sound
• Mise-En-Scene
• Special Effects

choose 1 page or scene from your c/w and analyse the above aspects in as much detail as possible. analyse the effectiveness of each area as if you were analysing the unseen exam.

G325 Section A: Exemplar Essay

Digital Technology and Creativity

Changed

I think my skills have developed in creativity and use of digital technology in the from AS to A2 as I have learnt to use more of a range of software and features inside of the different software packages which helped me use more creativity in my work. We have had to produce a music magazine in the first year and a teaser trailer with a magazine front cover and also a film poster in the second year, both of these use a range of digital technology and helped develop my creativity. I am going to structure this essay so that I break it down into pre-production, production and then post-production.

In pre-production at AS I used digital technology for the research and developing ideas of what I wanted to include in my music magazine, this includes using Google for pre-existing music magazines which helped develop my ideas and creativity for my own music magazine. I also used Photoshop in my pre-production with my preliminary task of the college magazine and this was useful as it gave me a basic idea of the skills and features that I would be able to use in my main task. It helped me to see what I would be able to add to my raw images for my music magazine and features such as ‘sharpen’ and ‘blur’ to make some areas stand out more and I could test these on the preliminary task to find the best effect before I added it to my main task. At A2 pre-production in the planning for my teaser trailer I used a lot more links for the information that I have included in my work and this is useful as it can show where different websites gave influenced my final teaser trailer and how I have explored different areas of creativity. I also used Microsoft Word a lot more as it can automatically find any grammar& spelling mistakes which means that I save time and can spend more time on creating my teaser trailer, rather than worrying about going through and picking out all of the spelling mistakes. A third piece of digital technology I used at pre-production at A2 is the Canon camera which I used to take pictures of my actors, props, costumes and locations which meant that I was able to see exactly what everyone was going to wear, and how it would fit in with the rest of the scene. This meant that when it came to the actual production I had all the planning for the teaser trailer covered and I knew where everything was going to go, and how it would fit in with the horror genre, this helped my creativity as I could work around conventions to explore different areas of horror.

In the production stage at AS I used a range of different digital technologies which I was capturing my images and this includes the camera shots that I was using for my Canon camera as I stuck to mainly a mid-long shot whereas when this advanced to A2 it seems as though I was more able to look at a range of different camera shots, so that I could see what was the most effective for the clips that I wanted to shoot which helped my creativity. I also had a lot more practise of how to use the camera for A2 compared to AS as it seems that I was able to keep the clips a lot more precise to how I wanted it, and could change features on the actual camera, whereas at AS I just took the original photos and then left it to when I came to post-production to what I had to edit on each photo which took up more time. I think the reason I was more adventurous in A2 with the way that I filmed was because I had looked at other practitioners such as Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola as they had the same sort of ideas that I had for my teaser trailer, with there being lots of dark and mysterious ideas so looking at similar teaser trailer helped my creativity of my own trailer.

In post-production in the first year I used a range of different software to create my music magazine and these include Photoshop and In-design which advanced my creativity because of the range of features I had available. I used a range of effects on Photoshop such as ‘Sharpen’ and ‘Blur’ to make some areas of my photos stand out more than the rest to create a focus on the main image. These effects were useful on a music magazine as the focus would be on the main artist on the front page, rather than what is around them, I found this from conventions on an NME magazine which had the same layout which mine did. I also stuck to a mainly mid-long shot for my music magazine front cover as this is what I had seen from other music magazines such as Chronicle and MixMag. This changed in the second year as I started to look more deeply into what was being shown in a teaser trailer and I could test more of a range of features in my own film and Adobe Premiere contributed to this as it is a much more advanced program which uses features such as transitions, titles, brightness and exposure which when are set at the right level, create a very good horror effect. I also used much more creativity in my evaluation at A2 as I used a combination of windows movie maker with the pictures& videos and then added sound that I had recorded with audacity as I think that if people can hear what you are saying, it becomes a lot more effective and shows good use of digital technology, you can also put more creativity into videos and voice-overs as you can talk about separate topics which relate to your original point whereas when you just write out the evaluation you just write what the answer is.

In conclusion, I think the bigger range of digital technology that I used for A2 helped the amount of creativity I was able to express.

Original

In the first year I used a range of different software to create my music magazine and these include Photoshop and In-design which advanced my creativity because of the range of features I had available. I used a range of effects on Photoshop such as ‘Sharpen’ and ‘Blur’ to make some areas of my photos stand out more than the rest to create a focus on the main image. These effects were useful on a music magazine as the focus would be on the main artist on the front page, rather than what is around them, I found this from conventions on an NME magazine which had the same layout which mine did. I also stuck to a mainly mid-long shot for my music magazine front cover as this is what I had seen from other music magazines such as Chronicle and MixMag. This changed in the second year as I started to look more deeply into what was being shown in a teaser trailer and I could test more of a range of features in my own film and Adobe Premiere contributed to this as it is a much more advanced program which uses features such as transitions, titles, brightness and exposure which when are set at the right level, create a very good horror effect.

In the second year we were also freer on what we chose as in the first year we could only do a music magazine whereas in the second year we had more of a range of options for our teaser trailer as we could choose whatever genre we wanted, I chose a horror film as it meant that I would be able to explore more of the effects that can be used on premiere with our raw clips, whereas in something like a comedy, the raw clips do not change very much.

Throughout the two years I feel the main skills development that I have had is that of that I went from editing still images to moving image which is a big step forward and shows much more creativity in my work as you have a lot more options on how you edit so there is a larger chance of your trailer being a failure so you have to make sure that you apply the right effects in the best places. This is why in my teaser trailer I included titles in places where the tension needed to be built up and have used master volume to make the tension even more dramatic. The sound effects that I have used were overlapping and were in sequence with each other and this shows how I have developed the skill of being able to time exactly where each sound effect should go so that it sounds like one whole sequence, rather than lots of separate tracks.

Section B Guided Questions

How do contemporary media represent different collective groups in different ways?

• Main focus of the essay


• Diverse representations including fiction, non-fiction and self-representation


• Harry Brown, Fish Tank, The Inbetweeners, Attack the Block, The London Riots news coverage, The Internet& Self-Mediation

How does contemporary representation compare with that of the past?

• Examples needed for simularity and difference


• Examples from the past - Quadrophenia - the film and the representations of Mods and Rockers


• Have they changed? - Plate quote...

What are the social implications of different media representations of groups of people?

• Stereotyping: what is its impact?


• What power does the audience have to 'resist'?


• Propaganda, Moral Panic, youth and an empty category, cultural hegemony, Stuart Hall and reading the texts and their messages


• Statistics on results of these representations and attitudes and beliefs vs. the reality of the issues

To what extent is human identity increasingly 'mediated'?

• Increasing media = increasing mediation?


• Re-presentation by others/by selves (Facebook/ YouTube (YouthTube))


• Be critical of who is offering the representations and for what purpose


• Mediated: How the media shapes your world and the way you live in it

Guidance:

1. Add your own personal opinion


2. What, in your opinion is the future of representations and what are you basing this on?


3. Connections must be made between examples/ contrasts are discussed


4. You must ember the theory into what you are saying

Examiner Advice: Structure

1. Introduction - start with a quote, paraphrase it (write out in own words), and link to issues of identity, representation, and the media. State your focus (social group and texts)


2. Historical example.


3. Contemporary examples.


4. Connect examples together.


5. Conclusion - return to start. Prediction for the future.

• Use referencing - name and year of publication given after first mention , e.g. Giroux, 1997


• Quote - Paraphrase - Critique


• One text older than 5 years


• Other texts should be from within the last 5 years


• Make a prediction for the future


• Structure: 'Example - Significance - Theory - Critique'

Mind Map: 'Analyse the ways in which the media representon group of people that you have studied'

Representation of the Youth

Plato - 4th Century
"What is happening to our young people? They disrespect our elders; they dis-obey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets, inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?"

Stereotypes:
Stereotypes are social constructs:

• reflect the power relations


• marginalize people


• categorize people

Characteristics:

• categorical


• inflexible


• pre-judgements and not based on experience


• simplistic


• conscious or unconscious

'Paedophobia' - being scared of children

Young people are 10x more likely to do voluntary work

Propaganda is a form of communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position

Youth and Youth Culture:

• Gangs


• Rebels


• Failures


• Un-Disciplined


• YOBs


• Asbos


• Lazy


• Junkies


• Reckless


• Binger Drinkers


• Dogs (&Other animals)


• Only positive representations are in local papers

How we view the elderly:

• Wrinkled


• Old


• Can't Drive


• Narrow Minded


• Fragile


• Old Fashioned


• Smelly


• Rude


• 'Blow Dryed' Hair


• Grumpy


• Racist


• Sexist


• Ignorant


• Disrespectful


• Lazy

DVD - The Youth of today

• Disagree with Thames writer who says that the media are actually quite fair


• Agree that there has always been anti-social behaviour, can't assume that there is a new 'virus' that is affecting the youth


• You can't just move the problem on


• A lot more good in the youth than everyone thinks

‘How have British youth been represented through different media in the London riots’ Case Studies

Paper Representations

Channel 4: Teen Trouble: 26th November 2007

• 'The press calls them reckless, irresponsible members of society, but statistics tell quite a different story about British teens'


• "Crimes committed" - 12% Of Youths when adults thought it was 80%+


• "Kids out of control" news stories raise more interest


• News of the World provoking the situation


• Paranoid Adults


• Using a high pitch frequency to keep teenagers away from shops


• Generation Asbo


• Discriminating and Degrading


• Press used to pay 'Mods' to throw stones at people to start a news story


• Jamie Bulger case - Caused a change in the views of children from adults - Crime age changed From 14 to 10 - More CCTV - ASBO's


• Crimes of a minority are being used to demonise a whole class of people

The Hypodermic Syringe Theory - The media injects the information because of the proliferation of negative press
Can also link in the cultivation theory as it cultivates the adults mind and the more likely you are to see it on the media, the more likely you are to believe that it is happening in everyday life.
De-sensitisation theory - the more violence we we see in the media, the less likely we are to be upset by what we see. Because youth are demonised, they are then becoming self fulfilling prophesies.

Representing Youth

IPSOS MORI Survery 2005:

• 40% of articles focus on violence, crime anti-social behviour; 71% are negative

Brunel University:

• TV New: Violent crime or celebrities; young people are only 1% of sources

Women in Journalism:

• 72% of articles were negative; 3.4% positive



• 75% about crime, drugs, police



• Boys: yobs, thugs, sick, feral, hoodies, louts, scum



• Only positives stories are about boys who died young

Case Study

What role did new media technologies, particulary social networking sites play in the London riots?

Do media cause riots or revolutions?

Technology and Surveillance: mobile phones, CCTV, 24 hour news

Guardian Article http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/08/broken-britain-rhetoric-fuels-fear

How can you link cultural hegemony to this article?

The upper class seem to be looking down upon everyone else, as if everyone is the same 'trouble making people' the upper class now also think that they out-power everyone, and have the right to group people all into the same category. It will take both middle and lower class to work together to increase the representation to the upper class, it is then just their opinion to change what they think, which will be the hardest thing to do.

How does the article suggest moral panic is being caused?

"David Cameron comment in July that he was 'terrified' by the prospect of sending his children to a local state secondary school is proof of this, said Horton"

Can you link in McRobbies Symbolic violence theory? How?

"While thousands of pupils come from low-income families and attend schools in deprived neighbourhoods, just a small number behave anti-socially or commit crimes, the report argues"

How far do you agree with this article that governments decisions and policies are continuing to create a divide between the middle and working class? Discuss

Online Media

Connotations:
Facebook:

• Social network


• Freinds


• Photos


• Events


• Chat


• Frape


• Advertising


• Sharing Information


• Facebook Stalking


• 'Likes'

Impact of this kind of media on British youth and youth culture?

Positives:

• Staying in contact with people


• Sharing photos


• Create events


• Different cultures coming together


• Good place to market yourself


• Allows people to express them self

Negatives:

• Cyber Bullying


• Lose social skills in real situations

What new forms of social interactions have media technologies enabled?

• Globalisation


• Sharing of information


• Development of self-identity


• Self-realisation


• Collective Intelligence


• Reshaping media messages and their flow; reshape and recirculate messages


• Increased voice


• Consumer communication with business (greater influence)


• Awareness - Band/ Skills


• Communication has become interactive dialogue


• User Generated Content (UGC)


• Self-Presentation and Self-Disclosure


• Increasing diversity within cultures


• Online media focuses on some or all of the 7 functional building blocks - identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, and groups

Online media are especially suitable to construct and develop several identities of the self (Turkle, 1998)

Two levels of representation:

1. Personal events through 'own' specific language


2. Constructing own images

The Modern Identity Concept:

• Personal Identity - sense of being a unique individual


• Social Identity - results from being a member of a group


• In former times: nationality, race, gender, occupation, sport club


• Mediatization of the self - diversity of interest groups in online social networks


• Easy transition between those communities

Digital Identity:

• A person is not just one stable and homogeneous identity


• Identity consists of several fragments that permanently change


• Multiple, but coherent (Turkle, 1998)


• A live-long developing and new conceptualized path work (Doring, 1999)

Media Use in Identity Construction
Katherine Hamley

Young people are surrounded by influential imagery – popular media (Examples?)

• Models


• Celebrities - Lady Gaga, Marilyn Manson


• Movies


• News


• Peers on Social Networking


• Youtube


• Music


• Skins

Young people always have influential imagery around them and its just how they interpret the images as to how it affects their personality/ identity. It can either create ideas of what the young people want to aspire to such as celebrities or models which will change there identity to be more like these people, or they can see something which they want to avoid, which may show something on the news of the amount of un-employed/ people in gangs and then when they see the reasons why these people turned out the reason they did, they may try and stay clear of this area of life.

It is no longer possible for an identity to just be constructed in a small community and influenced by a family (Discuss)

Everything in our life is now saturated by the media, so there is no chance that it is our family controls who we are as they only contribute a small part to it as we will use media more than we normally see family. Media has opened you to everything in the world, you can see what is happening anywhere rather than just in your community.

Everything concerning our life is 'media saturated' (explain what this means)

Media Saturated is the media saturating into our lives and changing how we behave and our own identity.

"Identity is complicated, everybody thinks they've got one" David Gauntlet

Religious and national identites are at the heart of major international conflicts

The average teenager can create numerous identites in a short space of time (using internet, social network sites)

We like to think we are unique and gauntlett questions whether this is an illusion, and we are all much more similar than we think

David Gauntletts 5 key Themes:

1. Creativity as a process - about emotions and experiences


2. Making and sharing - to feel alive, to participate, in community


3. Happiness - through creativity and community


4. Creativity as social glue - a middle layer between individuals& society


5. Making your mark - making the world your own

Buckingham: "Identity is ambiguous and slippery"

• Shows relationship with a broader group


• Can change according to circumstances


• Identity is fluid and can be affected by broader changes


• Identity is more important to us if we feel it is threatened

Cultural Imperialism - the influence on one culture on another. e.g. the British have always been influenced by America

The Internet

'Gingers do have souls'

'Chalie bit me'

'Justin Bieber'

'Rebecca Black'

'Leave Britney alone'

'Star Wars Kid'

'Jessie J'

'RayWilliamJohnson'

Meme:"a catchphrase or concept that spreads quickly from perosn to person via the internet"

When was Youtube first released? April 21st 2005

According to Michael Wesch what does Web 2.0 allow people to do? It links people together.

When media changes what else changes? human relationships.

How are communities connected?

What influenced the loss of community? And what has now filled this void?

Explain what he means by voyeuristic capabilities?

Write 3 points about what he refers when he discusses playing with identity

What does the ‘Free hugs phenomenon’ suggest about people? People are trying to reconnect with humanity.

Representation in The Inbetweeners

The Inbetweeners (Ben Palmer, 2011)
Representation of:

• Age


• Ethnicity


• Gender

Age

• Youth Disrespectful towards parents, other adults


• Youth In-Experienced in what the modern world is like, un-prepared for what they are going to face after school


• Adults are shown through the extremes of caring a lot (Will's Mum) and not caring at all (Head of Sixth Form) & (Will's Dad)


• Centres around 17-18 old

Ethnicity

• Dominantly White British, this gives the stereotype that the inbetweeners are representing this whole class of people


• Relates to the audience as the boys (17-18, White, Middle Class) are the same type of people as the audience

Gender

• Young Women seemed to have matured quicker


• Young Men are at different stages of maturity, some have advanced ahead, while some are still lacking


• Young Men seem to be the dominant gender, even though they mature slower


• Women are just objects

Social Class& Status

• Middle class students who are shown as what most adults expect of the middle class youth


• Parents are shown as extremes as well

Reinforcing Cultural Hegemony/ Dominant Ideologies

- Working class British youths are generally represented as being violent, brutal, un apologetic, criminals, addictive personalities - Harry Brown, Kidulthood, Quadrophenia

vs

- Middle class British youths are generally represented as being more law abiding, conscience citizens - The Inbetweeners

On Top of this, the antagonists are always the working class youths and middle class adults are positioned to be the protagonists

Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, 2009)

Tries to break through the stereotype of youth

Ideas to introduce the main character:

• Deep and Emotional


• Hand held camera technique, give it a more 'Gritty' view


• Seems much more realistic


• Abusive Parents

Similarities and Differences: Opening Sequence:

Similar: Represents young people in Broken Britain

Difference: Behaviour of characters is less extreme

Difference: More of a social drama

Similar: She is the result of the environment around her

Almost all teenage characters are working class

Main adult characters are middle class

Representations may be said to reflect middle class anxiety at threat of working class to their hegemonic dominance

One of the functions may be to maintain hegemony

Media Effect - What are the social implications of different media representations of British youth and youth culture

What Effects to these Media Representations have?

41% of teenage boys sometimes feel wary when seeing other teenage boys

51% of these feel it is because of media stories they have heard about teenagers

If these questions were asked 10 years ago, results would be very different.

Hyperdermic Model - The media inject us with their ideas about British Youth, we have no power over the media. Whatever the media say, we agree with.

Cultivation Theory - The more violent behaviour you see on TV, the more likely you are to notice it in real life, the audiences ideas are 'Cultivated'

Copy Cat Theory - You copy what you see on TV

Moral Panic - Creating panic in Society. Therefore the more the media show the negative violence, it creates more and more panic.

Contemporary British Social Realism

- Social realist films attempt to portray issues facing ordinary people in their social situations

- Try to show that society and the capitalist system leads to the exploitation of the poor

- These groups are shown as victims of the system rather than being responsible for their own bad behaviour

Analysing Representation of Collective Identity

• When comparing how Britishness and our collective identity is represented in films, consider the following questions:


• Who is being represented?


• Who is representing them?


• How are the represented?


• What seems to be the intentions of the representations?


• What is the dominant discourse? (world view)


• What range of readings are there?

Collective Identity

1. The media contributes to our collective identity, but there any many different versions that change over time

• Representations can cause problems for the groups being represented as marginalized groups have little control over their representation/ stereotype


• The social context in which film/ TV programme is made influences the messages/ values/ dominant discourse

Theorist: Stuart Hall and Reading the Media

Encoding - Decoding: Active Audience Theory

Encoding: Where producers enter text to create certain codes

Decoding: Where the audience de-contrust the codes to understand the representations

Polysemic: The codes may be read differently by different people, depending on their identity, cultural knowledge and opinions

Preferred Reading

This is when the audience agrees with the owner/ institution of the representation (working together)

Negotiated Reading

When an audience comes to a conclusion which is simular to the one portrayed from the institution, they agree with some sections and disagree with some, so they only keep the sections which they agree with

Oppositional Reading

Understand the context of which the film is put in, although they will by no means agree with it

Any Representation is:

1. The thing itself


2. The opinions of the people doing the representation


3. The reaction of the individual to the representation


4. The context of the society in which the representation is taking place

Stereotyping

Implicit Personality Theory

'How are British youths represented in Quadrophenia and Harry Brown’

‘How are British youths represented in Quadrophenia and Harry Brown’:

Answer:

The main themes in Harry Brown is that of Cohens theory of moral panic, in Harry Brown it is the youth who are disrupting the 'normal balanced world' and the youths are therefore all represented in this way. When the youth start to expand they also become a threat to the rest of society which bring in Gramscis theory of Cultural hegemony as the youths start to out power the middle class citizens as they fear the youth.

When Harry Brown takes action this is when the order starts to be restored as thew youth keep gaining power until someone fights against them, in this case it was the police and Harry Brown who over-powered the main trouble makers and when the youths see that the 3 most powerful people are dead, they retreat back into being a normal lower class.

The main theme in Quadrophenia is a lot more centred around the theme of Gramscis Cultural hegemony, as they become more of a threat to the people around them as they slowly gain more and more power so they think that they start to do things more freely, this slowly comes back down as the British youth realise that they cannot take on the whole police force and eventually retreat, but its certain that this will keep happening, and they will keep building the power up until they have enough people to over-power the police.

The gang ideologies are similar in the theme that they both just want to rebel, which is also shown by Gerbner's Cultivation Theory where the media are always just showing the youth as being rebellious and not showing any promise/ praise at all, so the youths start to give up on doing well and fall into this rebellious lifestyle.

The gang ideologies shown in Harry Brown are mainly to do with rebelling against the government and middle class citizens, this links in with McRobbies theory of Symbolic Violence as once they attack the middle class they respond negatively, even though before attacking the middle class they have probably attack lots of youth before this but just because they are not the most dominant class, no-one has noticed. It shows how the middle class mainly think of themselves rather than other classes around them.

The gang ideologies shown in Quadrophenia are mainly linked to rebelling against each other, as different categories of youth and also to rebelling against the government but not knowing that they are doing it so dramatically. It links in with Gramscis Cultural Hegemony as there keeps being social groups which out power each other as new people join the groups and they become bigger and attack each other for the gain of power. After a while it takes the police to control all of the gangs because it gets out of hand when people start getting killed, although they can only take down a small group because of the pure amount of them.

The identity in both films is different because in Harry Brown the youth are coming together to rebel against everyone else, as they fear that if they do not go into this lifestyle then they will be attacked and will constantly be in danger. This can be shown by the fact that you do not see any of the youth who are no in this gang because they have all been forced into this lifestyle or have moved away because they decided to stand against this, and breakaway from it so that they do not fall into the same lifestyle as so many others have.

The identity in Quadrophenia is different as they have the option to go into these groups as these groups do not threaten the normal society, they just rebel against each other and this shows how the youth have an option in this, but the main character Jimmy decides that he wants to go into this lifestyle because he wants to fit in with everyone else. This shows how he wants to be included of having the identity of a 'Mod', rather than breaking away and having his own identity which seems to be a more popular trend in the modern world because everyone wants to be different.

The parents in Harry Brown seem to be the worst influence on the children as you see the mother of 'Noel' as being always completely destroyed by drugs, so she has no control at all on what Noel is doing, and he has obviously grown up with his mum always taking drugs and probably always bringing men back to the flat as her husband died which is shown through the fact that it is Noels uncle who looks after him, and he is also a major drug dealer and gang member, sop he has taken Noel into this life of crime& drugs.

The parents in Quadrophenia seemed to have lost control over what there kids are doing and this is shown through the fact that they don't know where he is going anymore, what he is doing, and what drugs he is taking. It seems as though it represents many of the parents just through what Jimmys do, as it seems that they just give up on him when they find out what he has been doing, they just kick him out of the house and lose all care of what he does. This is totally different in the modern world as parents have arguments with children but they will forgive them after a while, in the 1960's they would just kick them out. It shows how youth have the chance to out power their parents which relates to Cohens Moral panic as the youth just become a group which are a threat to the normal society so the parents just decide that it is not worth trying to change them.

The representation of the youth have changed in some aspects but not in others during the time period between these two films. the ones which have changed are the fact that parents are really trying to get their kids out of the lifestyle of gangs and drugs rather than just accepting it and then kicking them out. It shows Social development as parents realise that there kids can be very successful if they get out of this lifestyle. Another thing which has also changed is that of the fact that gangs seem to have a very structured code of entry as in Quadrophenia they just have to dress a bit like the other do, whereas in Harry Brown they have to go through a whole procedure to get into the gang, in the modern times it is like you are joining a religion and a way of like, rather than just a social group.

Some aspects which haven't changed are the fact that the youth still are represented as the people who are always to blame, even though in most cases they turn out this way because of the parents way of upbringing

Mark:
Explanation- 13
Use of Examples- 14
Use of terminology- 6
Mark: 33/50

Well done Will! :) Good range of theories used, however they don't go into much depth. limited but appropriate use of examples, which show good understand of the films mentioned. limited use of terminology, however some key theories and its terminology where mentioned and explained well. More of a debate and arguemnet is needed.

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

Posters:

Connotations:

The Quadrophenia film poster has a youth representation that they all belong to one category and people assume that if they wear the same clothes as the people in the poster then they are automatically in this group. It shows a range of people and this could have the connotation that the group has a wide range of people and they don't have certain requirements for people to be part of the group, which then means that the group becomes more popular. They clothes that they are all wearing are 'stylish' as the 'Mods' spent most of their disposable income on their clothes, peds and drugs.

The This Is England poster is very different as it shows the youths being in a lower social class because of the background, the background of the first poster looks as though they are outside a pub/club whereas the This is England poster seems to be set outside of a council state which immediately creates the impression that the people are of the 'lower class'. The people that are shown on these posters are in cheaper clothes than the group before but still have a similar style as most of them have branded clothes which makes you think that they also spend the majority of their disposable money on clothes, rather than living standards.

How does contemporary representation compare to previous time periods?

What is a youth sub-culture?

• A group of individuals who are united through a common value system and tastes (clothes, music, politics
• A group who are positioned outside of the mainstream. and who unify as a response to the main stream

Youth Sub-Cultures:

• Emos
• Chavs
• Indie
• Scene Kids
• Hipster
• Punks
• Skin Heads
• Hoodies
• Pikey
• Skaters
• Greasers
• Plastics

Chavs

• They think that they are better than everyone else, they usually are in large groups of people from the range of 10-20 and this seems the most popular category to be a 'chav'. The idea that they are better than everyone else. 'Talk the Talk' usually want to rebel but wouldn't act on it.
• Brand Names: Adidas, Umbro, Nike, Lonsdale, Kappa.
• 'Pimped-Up sports car' usually still a crap car.

What are the values of a sub-culture

• Conformity and rebellion
• Attitude to capitalism and consumerism
• 'Tribal' rivalry
• Traditional or 'neophile' (a person who loves novelty, one who likes trends; person who accepts the future enthusiastically and enjoys changes and evolution)
• Ideology in 1950's and 60's - peace, rebellion against parents, Radicalism - reactions against the post war

Many groups are involved in protest and resistance against the mainstream.

Teens will often move between sub-cultures and older youths mix& match styles/ values from a mix of sub-cultures.

Subculture

• In the 21st century that 'dominant meaning systems' (what defines mainstream) are crumbling
• "There is no mainstream. There are many streams."
• Mainstream is in perpetual flux, rapaciously absorbing alternative culture at such a fast rate that the notion of a mainstream becomes obsolete.
• So if there is no mainstream then there is nothing for teens to react against

1950's Teddies

• An Anti-Establishment, some were 'Juvenile Delinquents'
• Uniform: drainpipe trousers, drape Edwardian jackets with velvet collars
• Minority in Britain but they had a huge effect
• Music - introduction of rock and roll. "Rock around the clock" "Elvis Presley"

1960's Mods

• Modernist to describe modern jazz musicians and fans
• Uniform varied and they had continuous revitalisation
• As psychedelic rock and the hippie subculture grew more popular in the UK, many people drifted away from the mod scene. Bands such as The Who and Small Faces had changed their musical styles and no longer considered themselves mods.

1960's Skinheads

• A group which was formed from working class youths
• Named for their close-cropped or shaven heads
• Originally based on music, fashion or lifestyle and not on politics or race

1970's Punks

• Emerged from USA, UK and Australia
• Sub-culture based around punk rock
• Centred around listening to recording or live concerts of a loud, aggressive genre of rock music called punk rock, usually shortened to punk
• Common punk viewpoints include anti-authoritarianism, a DIY ethic, non-conformity, direct action and not selling out

WW2 happened before 1950's

• Britain was entering a period of increased freedom and affluence
• Many of the old social cultural structures began to be challenged, especially by the young

What Changed? Cultural Revolution

• Rationing was ending
• American way became key to British society
• Increased availability of cheap colour magazines
• A world wide economic booms
• Labour was defeated by the conservatives. This caused increased individual freedom.
• Youth were given more freedom through commercialism of society

Americas Influence

• London, Glasgow, Cardiff and Wolverhampton all had major America influence.
• Hollywood movies, commercial TV, glossy mags and consumer goods proved an instant hit with British consumers
• To the average Briton is offered a rich and desirable future

• Cultural Imperialism - it is the practise of promoting, distinguishing, separating or artificially injecting the culture of one society into another (America Influence on Britain Post War)

Cultural revolution

• Massive increase in the production and availability of consumer goods stimulated mass consumption
• Car ownership rose by 250% between 1951 and 1961, and between 1955 and 1960 average weekly earning rose by 34%, while the cost of technological consumer items fell in real terms.

Old Representations

Fonzie Scene, The Wild Ones

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 as 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 – aftr 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.

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
(48)

Harry Brown

Reviews
Guardian Review - Liberal - Highlights of Review

Michael Caine gets his tastiest, nastiest role since Get Carter in this vigilante-revenge thriller set in the badlands of south-east London. His Harry Brown is a widower in his 70s, living in a council flat on a rough estate, on medication for his emphysema.

Daniel Barber's film occupies an interesting position on a certain type of Britfilm continuum with Ken Loach at one end and Nick Love at the other; it starts quite near the former and ends very near the latter. Long, ­interestingly protracted scenes show Harry getting effortfully out of bed, ­eating a sad lonely breakfast, and dozing off in the sofa of an evening. But when he discovers the need for violence, things speed up.

For my money, Harry Brown is at its best at its midway point, the Loach/Love cusp – when Harry realises that he can and will do something about the yobs. What a tremendous role for Caine. I can't imagine anyone else carrying it off.

The Telegraph - Conservative - Highlights of Review

Michael Caine is the new, if pouchy, face of zero tolerance, as a pensioner on a housing estate riddled with drug-dealing, gun-toting feral youth. When they kill his friend (David Bradley) he steps up as a geriatric avenger. Daniel Barber’s luridly brutal debut goes quickly way over the top, dignifying Harry’s crowd-pleasing revenge spree largely by making the police (Emily Mortimer?!) look like total scaredy-cats.

Summary

It seems as though media newspapers have taken less on the focus of how teenagers are represented and focused on what Michael Caine is doing well, they seem to prefer to look at the acting rather than the representation of the youth.

Theories

Theorist: Giroux (1997) Youth as Empty Category

My Explanation:

The Youth is an 'Empty Category' where the adults create their own impressions of the youth, in relation to current social issues and that is why most impressions are not realistic.

Harry Brown - The youths only have the one impression and i think that one social group fills this impression so the whole youth are judged on this.
Eden Lake - The youths are imagined as people who at first are just there to annoy, but then they become evil
Attack the Block - The youths are given the immediate impression that they are all dangerous.

Theorist: Acland (1995) Ideology of Protection; Deviant Youth and Reproduction of Social Order

My Explanation:

The 'Deviant Youth' are vital to help protect the boundaries of the 'Normal Adult' and the 'Normal Youth' relationship

Harry Brown - The 'Deviant Youth' seems to have taken over the Normal Youth stereotype so that the Deviant Youth now becomes The Normal Youth, the police try to restore this by taking out the most Deviant.
Eden Lake - relates to this as at first the youth look like the 'Normal Youth' but they are really the 'Deviant Youth' it shows how the 'Deviant Youth' can really hide themselves well.
Attack The Block - relates to this as the 'Deviant Youth' group start to develop attributes of the 'Normal Youth' as the film continues which shows how people can change from one group to another.

Theorist: Gramsci (1971) Cultural hegemony

My Explanation:

Where it is normal for one social class to out-power the others.

Harry Brown - The Youth have out-powered the other classes including the police, it takes more than one class of people to combine to take them down
Eden Lake - shows how the youth out-power the middle-class adults and will use it to their advantage
Attack the Block - The Youth run the 'Block' and the only class of people that can out-power them is the police

Theorist: Cohen (1972) Moral Panic

My Explanation:

When one select group of people becomes a threat to the 'Normal Society', and then the media represents a whole category of people in that one way, just because what a select group of people did

Harry Brown - The youth become the threat to the rest of the society, everyone then becomes afraid of every youth they see because of the actions of a group of people.
Eden Lake - The youth become the threat to 'normal Society' as the threaten peoples holidays as after this people would fear about having a holiday in a deserted area.
Attack the Block - The youth threaten the rest of the people on the block, as soon as the police turn up they instantly arrest every youth they see because of the stereotype from the media.

Theorist: McRobbie (2004) Symbolic Violence

My Explanation:

Where violence against the middle class changes characteristics of a certain social class.

Harry Brown - The youth are violent against the middle class and then all youth are instantly thought of as dangerous.
Eden Lake - The youth are violent against the middle class and then anyone who See's a youth from that point on is instantly thought of as dangerous.
Attack The Block - The youth rob the middle class woman and from then on they are seen as people who are just there to ruin the life of anyone not in their social class

Theorist: Gerbner (1986) Cultivation Theory

My Explanation:

Where the media can influence peoples understanding of the world

Harry Brown - where the media have shown that the youth around this area are dangerous and from then anyone who sees youth from this area will be weary of them.
Eden Lake - where the media would show that it is now not safe to go to somewhere where the area is deserted.
Attack The Block - the media would show that the Youth are always the people who are committing the crimes and they are to be avoided

How do the Contemporary Media represent British Youth and Youth culture in different ways?

Opening Sequence of Harry Brown (2009)
Director: Daniel Barber:

How does it represent young people?
Young people are being represented as drug smoking, violent, gun carrying gang members. This is shown right from the beginning where there is a close up with three people taking drugs and then the camera zooms out and shows the whole gang down the alley. These representations create an image that all youths are like this and the fact that it is filmed using a handy-cam can also create the idea that this is what British youth are doing in real-life. The costumes which they are in are what most people expect teenagers to be wearing, baggy tracksuits with hoods up. When you create an image of the British youth i can imagine that over 80% will think of a young person with this exact outfit on, when only around 10% actually wear this. The editing in this trailer is very fast paced as it create tension as it builds up to the climax where they are hit by the lorry off of the moped, the camera then completely stops as the person is motionless.

Guardian Article: Hoods Strike Fear in British Cinema (November 2009)
http://henleycollegemediablog.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-do-contemporary-media-represent.html

• It suggests that young people can be represented in two totally different ways, one of these being that the youth are evil, and the film makers are just exploiting this fear for them. One of these examples is Harry Brown which shows the youth as being part of 'Broken Britain'. The other way is that they are trying to engage with the youth, where they show that they are real-people inside, they're not just all people who want to go around shooting and stabbing everyone

Representations of Youth in Harry Brown

• Miss-understood


• Breaking through the mediated representations


• Compared to monsters


• Comparison to vampires


• Me, me, me society - self motivated


• Lower-class (underclass)


• Primitive view


• Referred to lack of parenting, and physicality's of where they are living and how it affects their lives


• Fear-moral panic

Opening Trailer of Eden Lake (2008)

Director: James Watkins

How are Jenny and Steve represented

Innocent couple who are just wanting to go away for the weekend so that they can leave the city and just relax. When they arrive they are faced with a gang of youths who just want to ruin it for them , they then proceed to try and escape but can't when the youths take everything that they need to leave. The whole way through the trailer they are portrayed as the innocent people and the youth are always represented as being the trouble starters.

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

All of the youths are being represented as being trouble makers, who can't just leave two people to have a nice weekend away, they are also portrayed as pure evil as they stab the man when all he wanted was his possessions back so that he could leave. There is also the obvious gang-leader who stands out from the rest of them and he is being shown as being the 'ring leader' because he will always be the one to reply to the man, stab the man, steal his car, chase his wife, and just generally will not leave them alone.

How important is the issue of social class?

Social class is being shown through where the people are and what they are wearing as the man and woman obviously have quite a bit of money as they have a big car, a place to go away for the weekend and smart clothes, this shows how they are probably in the middle class. The youth are totally different which shows Binary Oppositions between them as the youths are represented wearing hoods, riding BMX's and smoking

Horror and the Representation of Youth

Film theorist Robin Wood argues that the basic formula of the horror film is 'normality is threatened by the monster. I use "normality" here to mean simply "conformity to the dominant social norms"

What is the significance of the emergence of a cycle of British films in which the 'monster' is young people?

People see British youth everyday and so they can relate what they see in the film to what they see everyday in the 'real world'. People are more likely to be scared of British youth when they are in gangs with weapons, compared to being scared of vampires/ zombies. The reason people find the youth more scary is because you can actually image what is happening in the film, happening in real life whereas vampires& zombies are a lot less likely to happen, compared to youth.

How do they threaten 'normality'?

One act of crime from a youth can totally disturb someones life whether that be from stealing to murder. It also affects everyone around them so 'normality' is totally destroyed, people can't do everything that they used to because of the fear of the youth. The 'normality' lifestyle cannot be lived.

What term could we use instead of normality?

'Common Life'

Attack The Block

How are the main characters introduced?

• Intimidating


• Fearless


• Dark/ Low Key Lighting


• Colloquial Language


• Nightime is when out


• Hoodies, Trackies


• Baseball Bats - no longer sports, now a weapon


• Villains

Representing young people initially as 'monsters' and then actually replace them with real monsters.

10/01/12 Exam Information

Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production (50 marks)

• 1a) Theoretical evaluation of skill development over the course of the two years (both AS and A2 c/w) (30 MINUTES)
  


• 1b) Theoretical evaluation of one production and evaluate it in relation to a media concept (30 MINUTES)

Section B: Contemporary Media Issues (50 marks)

• 2) Media and collective identity - the representation of British youth and youth culture (1 HOUR)

Section A: 1a)

Describe and evaluate your skills thorough any of these questions:

• Digital Technology


• Creativity


• Research and planning


• Post-production


• Using conventions from real media texts

Section A: 1b)

Select one production and evaluate it in relation to a media concept, the list of contexts which could appear are:

• Genre


• Narrative


• Representation


• Audience


• Media Language

Section B:

Identity Guided Questions:

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 on British youth and youth culture?


4. To what extent is human identity increasingly 'mediated'?

Material studied must cover these areas:

• Historical


• Contemporary


• Future