The representation of youth in the two posters. The connotations of the two texts

This Is England

They are represented as a very confident group of youths because they have each other. They seem they are proud of what they want to represent themselves to other people emphasized by their serious expressions and clear lighting of the photograph. This is also shown by the text 'a time to stand out from the crowd'. This connotes that they want change and be different from the rest by their choice of clothes and becoming rebellious; a strong way of showing this is to create a large group. Everyone is looking straight at the audience apart from the black man which connotes that perhaps he doesn't feel as comfortable to be part of this group as everyone else. The boy seems slightly sad emphasized by his face positioned slightly away from the audience making him seem isolated. But he is represented as the main character because he is placed at the centre of the group. The rest of the gang seem to be represented as his bodygaurd as the boy's body is slightly covered in front of the people which connotes that the gang respect him as they are protecting him.

Quadrophenia

The text 'A way of life' connotes a different style and approach to life. It suggests that they won't have a normal attidude towards the society. It again has this rebelllious feel to it, as if they are not obeying the rules.The black man on the left hand side is represented as the outcast of the gang, showing that he is not an important figure within the group. The lighting is very grey giving a lot of contrast, showing a slightly unclear vision of them which creates a suspicious appeal to the gang. 

How does contemporary representation compare to previous time periods?

Youth SubCulture:
A group of individuals who are intitled through a common value system and tastes (clothes, music, politics)
A group positioned outside the mainstream, who unify as a response to mainstream.

Values of subculture:
 Emo, Indie, punk, chavs, goffs, geeks, skaters, mods and rockers

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

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

Indie: Being individual, not known brand names, or no logos or brands shown. Fashion different to the norm. Listen to Indie music (alternative guitar). Quite relaxed and simple. Different style of hair.

Many groups protest and resist against the mainstream..
Teens will often move between subcultures, older youths mix and match styles/values from a mix of subcultures.
Or that adults can appear to conform for most of the working week, but re-enter the subculture at specific time ( festivals, weekends)

Subculture:

In the 21st century the 'dominant meaning systems' (mainstream) are crumbling.

'There is no mainstream. There are many streams'

Mainstream is in perpetual flux, constantly absorbing alternative cutlure at such a fast rare that the notion of a mainstream becomes obsolete.

no maintream, nothing for teens to react- instead driven by other motives.

1950s Teddies (Teds/ Teddy boys)

A minority in Britian but the effect they had was huge. (especially for clothing) 

1960s Mods

Mod (originally modernist to describe modern jazz musicians and fans) originated in London.

1960s Skinheads

Working class youths.Named for their shaven heads influenced by west Indian rude boys and british mods in fashion music and lifestyle. However attitudes toward race and politics have become main factors.

Early 1970s Punks

Came from USA, Uk and australia. Based around punk rock. Centred around listening to recordings or live concerts of a loud, aggressive genre of rock music called punk rock.Concerned with inidividual freedom and anti establishment views.

The cultural revolution.

Before the 1950s the world war happened.

Britian was entering a period of increased freedom and affluence

many of the old social cultural structures began to be challenged, by the young.

Rationing was coming to an end.

American way of life started to become key aspirations of the british public post war.

Increased availability of cheap colour magazines brought advertising for luxury commodities from america.

A world wide economic boom.

Labour was defeated by the conservatives at the 1951 general election. This change in goverment marked a shift from state control to increased individual freedom with slogon ' set the people free'.

Youth given mopre freedom through deregulation and commercialisation of society.

Americas Influence:

*Cultural imperialism- is the practice of promoting, distinguishing, seperating or articially injecting the culture of one society into another ( america influence on Britain post war) * use in exam

Massive increase in the production and availability of consumer goods stimulated mass consumption.

People expected to have goods such as tv, refrigerators, music systems and cars as basic requirements. before war these where luxury items only available to piviliged sections of society.

Cars rose by 250% between 1951 and 1961

The era of the 'lifestyle had begun, and specialist retailers began to spring up, providing outlets where people could buy into a new identitiy based around design or fashion

Teenagers became a recognised social group. They could differentiate them from adults.

The, branding and music spread all over to diffrent social groups.

Social Mobility:

many youths went to college and uni. evolution of trends, where as you get older you reflect back to see how things have changed .

There was a general feeling of optimism, but also a sense of uncerainty in the the future. New freedoms and liberties had been gained, but as a result society had become more fragmentes 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 – 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. Terminology
EG
EAA

Diagram

Media theories about youth culture

Theorist	Year	Concepts	Your explanation	How it fits into the films we have studied.
Giroux	1997	Youth as empty category	Adults give their own meaning to youth and create their own fear. The category is filled with the interests of the adult world.	In Attack the Block, the youths are actually heroic and kind and regret their actions.
Acland	1995	Ideology of protection; deviant youth and reproduction of social order	Plays on the comparisons between a normal adult and a normal youth and their relationships. Adults want to protect youths. Acts like a boundry	In Eden Lake, the adults are an average happy couple and the youths are totally opposite. the use as an example of how not to behave.
Gramsci	1971 (1929-1935)	Cultural hegemony	One class is in charge and presents the ideologies that everyone else should live by.	In Harry Brown, the policemen and investigators are all of a higher class than the youths.
Cohen	1972	Moral panic	Every so often, a certain category of people is perceived by the media as a threat and creates a panic among moral beliefs.	This is present in all three films, as the youth are all perceived as threats and act without morals.
McRobbie	2004	Symbolic Violence	Symbolic violence among the working class is part of social reproduction helping to redefine their identity. creating a sense of violence with a particular lower male class. Helps to define a boundary between the lower class and the middle class	In Harry Brown, the youths are often seen fighting with each other, often for their survival.
Gerbner	1986	Cultivation Theory	The repetitiveness of the media’s text and images influence public understanding. Influencing society through media repetition cultivating this idea about how the youth are.	All films show quite an over exaggerated view of youth and don’t represent the silent majority.

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

Harry Brown (2009) Director: Daniel Barber

How does Harry Brown represent young people?

The use of hoodies is an iconic symbol for gangs.
The dogs, knives guns.
Drugs, sexual abuse/confrontation
Location- environment for the gangs is a survival place, and shows who you are.
Male dominance
Policewoman comes out stronger even when she had less status where nobody believed her
criminal behaviour
revenge
territory
Dialogue (colloquial)
Binoray opposition- Harry brown/gangs(lower class)   gangs/police(middle class)   Harry Brown/Police age difference creates this opposition aswell as social class
Dark lighting-negativity, shadows, evil, threatening
crime drama thriller genre

'Hoodies Strike Fear in British Cinema'
Guardian,2009

unemotional inactive fealings
thugs
Reflect them being monsters (Jaws)
It becomes scary on films because there is this sense of realism, that it could happen.
The hoodie hides their character and we don't understand them which makes them scary.
Non fiction is scarier.

reacting to the environment in which they are living in
it's harder to survive
upper/middle class vs working/lower class

right wing politics- hegemony they want us to belive about a particular thing about eg lower class. giving a clear distinction between them. the media emphasizes this. prior to the asbos being intriduced ..
police seen as heroes.

implications of the representations:

Fear
moral panic by making us believe a particular thing
influence us they way we think about youth culture

Eden Lake (2008) Director: James Watkins

How are Jenny and Steve (the main couple) represented?

• average happy couple
• middle class
• mature
• Innocent
• Vulnerable
• Defenseless
• Outnumbered 
• Steve is shown as the dominant one facing up to the gangs instead of Jenny at the beginning. However we see more scenes of Jenny trying to get out of this horrible situation where Steve becomes the weaker one.

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

• Kids powerful over Adults
• Careless
• Evil
• Ruthless
• Brutal
• The gang stay the same throughout the trailer, as they are the bad guys in the film so don't need to change.

How important is the issue of social class?

• Not that important, though an expensive car is taken
• Accents
• clothes (not blazers)
• Dominant Ideologies 'Normal people who are accepted in society' 
• or Todorov narrative theory where there is a disruption to the equilibium
• youths seem like monsters as they are a real fear

How are young people represented?

• Rude
• Agressive
• Find somoene and cause pain
• scene as an entertainment, nothing to do
• binary oppositions of youths where couple comes into their territory.
• like monsters, hunt in packs, always outnumber their prey (couple)
• meeting a pack of youths at night creates a scary feel.

Attack The Block (2011) Director: Joe Cornish

Youths packing in numbers at night.

hoodies,bandaders, baseball hats iconic props used

A bit of a pathetic group as they only gang up on one girl, quite jokey attitude

We don't take them seriously

Harry Brown (2009)

Dir: Daniel Barber

• How are youths being represented? (specific examples)

On the very first scene, a high angle shot was used on a group of youths. This is to emphasize their power. The mise-en-scene, suggests that they are under a tunnel of a road bridge, shown by the shape and the bright lighting during the night. This is representing the youths as a stereotype as we tend to think that youths hang around in this sort of environment and at this time.

The next scene with youths is again very stereotypical as this time they are in a park scenery. A couple of youths use a moped and start shooting around what seems to be innocent women with a pram, until eventually shooting her. They are being represented as horrible senseless people.

They are represented very stereotypical again in a scene where a gang of youths are hanging around the roads at night, creating a lot of noise, making an unpleasant sight for habitants around. They make noise by making the sirens of a car go off and start beating up a person, giving a sense that youths don’t care about the people around them.

• How are the audience being positioned? (do we like them/not?) (to identify with the characters)

During the beginning of the film, in many scenes of the presence of youth, we don’t get to see a clear, visible image of one of their faces, often shown in a long shot. In contrast to the old man, where we get to understand and see his emotions, the camera has close up shots of him. The audience immediately identifies that he is the main character, (as he has more screen time) and the audience get to like him. This is helped in the scene in the hospital, where someone close to him has died, and we feel sorry for him, the camera has a close up shot of his face, where he is clearly distraught. Shortly after, another of his close friend dies. In the scene with the police coming into his house to tell the bad news; once they went away the man burst out into tears. He became very isolated and lonely at this stage; again the audience feel for him and are on his side. We then see many scenes of him being alone such as in the pub or on his bed.

The scene in the interrogation room, we see a clear contrast between the youths and the policeman. The lighting was dimmer on the potential killers (youths) whereas the policemen where clear and visible, as they had a brighter lighting on them. This creates an evil, creepy feel to the youths towards the audience.

The man goes to his friend’s house that has died, and see’s the youth by looking down, out of the window where they are gathered near a bridge in a long shot. The camera is closer to the man rather than the youths which further suggest the audience are on his side.

In the scene where he is trying to get hold of a gun from some strange drugged people; he ends up saving an innocent girl who was in bad health which further makes the audience on his side. However he had to kill the two people in order to save her, which shows that he has no problem of killing people. Though there was a purpose for it, in contrast to the youths as they are represented to the audience that they kill for no reason.

• What is the significance of social class?

In this film, the significance of social class is clearly important and has had a major impact on the each individual character.

One key scene showing the impact of social class was when the man was coming out of the pub and previously a youth saw a lot of cash from his wallet and followed him outside. The youth threatened him under a bridge at night with a knife, but the man stabbed the youth instead which the audience might have not expected. This is because genuinely the youth turn out more powerful in these circumstances and would normally get the money he wanted. This film shows that the old middle class man gets the better of the youths and he gets his revenge.

The youths seem very much contrasted to anyone else no matter what class, intimidating people around them. From the lady in the park, to the policemen, the youth are not scared of anyone; until the main character goes toe to toe with them and plays them at their own game! This shows that social class doesn’t automatically determine who kills people.

What is Britishness?

What is Britishness?


What does it mean to be British?

• Included within the society

What do you associate with being British?

• Takeaways ( Fish and chips)
• Obese
• Beer
• Football
• Rugby
• Cricket
• The Queen
• Big ben
• London eye
• Tea
• Royal Family
• Pub
• Posh
• Tube
• Rich little kids
• Posh kids/accents
• Bad weather
• Rain
• Full english breakfast
• Socks with sandals
• Red faced in the sun
• Going to France or Spain
• Pale skin
• Bad teeth
• BBC
• Moaners
• Complaining
• Queing
• Wimbledon
• Wembley
• The Beatles
• The mini
• Parliament
• Intrusion of the media-scandals/paparazzi
• Comedy
• Mr Bean
• NHS
• Roast Dinners
• Phone Box
• Post box
• London Bus
• Teenage Pregnancy

Attitudes:

Curtosy
Respectful
Reserved

Section B

• How do the contemporay media represent British youth and youth culture in different ways? (Film, TV, Internet, Newspapers)
• How does contemporay representation compare to previous time periods?
• What are the social implications of different media representations of British youth and youth culture? (Old people comparing)
• To what extent is human identity increasingly 'mediated'?

Material to cover are 3 elements:

• Historical- dependent on the requirements of the topics, candidates must summarise the development of the media forms in question in theoretical contexts.
• Contemporay- examples from five years before the examination.
• Future- must demonstrate personal engagement with debates about the future of the media forms/issues that the topics relate to.

Must talk about all of this in order to achieve high marks.
offer a balanced argument.

Section A, question 1b

Question 1b requires candidates to select one production and evaluate it in relation to a media concept.

List of concepts (Macro areas):

• Genre
• Narrative
• Representation
• Audience
• Media Language

Section A, question 1a

Answer 2 questions.

Requires candidates to describe and evaluate their skills development over the course of their production work. The focus on this evaluation must be on skill development on one or two specific production practices:

• Digital Technology
• Creativity
• Research and Planning
• Post Production
• Using conventions from real media texts

More detail about the exam

Exam is two hours long.

Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production (50 marks)

• 1a) Theoretical evaluation of skill development over the course of the two years ( AS and A2 cw productions including preliminary and ancillary tasks) 30 mins
• 1b) Theoretical evaluation of one production and evaluate it in relation to a media concept. 30 mins

Section B: Contemporary Issues (50 marks)

• 2) Contemporay Media Issues- Media and collective Identity- The representation of British youth and youth culture. 1 hour

Identity?

What is it?

My definition:
Who someone is, being yourself.

Definition:
the condition of being oneself or itself, and not another or

the state or fact of remaining the same one or ones, as under varying aspects or conditions

How is Identity formed?

• Environment
• Friend
• Family
• Events
• Social origin
• Education
• Beliefs and Ideologies
• Religion
• Morals of Parents
• Gender
• Characteristics
• Media consumption
• Music
• Diet
• Height
• Age
• Lifestyle
• Social Class
• Geography
• Experiences
• Stereotypes

Nature VS Nurture?
25%         75%