How does contemparory representation compare to previous time periods?

Youth Sub-culture

What is a youth sub-culture?

• A group of individuals who are united through a common values system and taste (clothes, music, politics etc)

• A group who are also positioned outside the mainstream, and who unify as a response to the mainstream

Sub-cultures

• Emo
• Chavs
• Indie
• Goths
• Geeks
• Skaters
• Punks
• Mods & Rockers
• New romantics
• Skin heads

Skin heads
A skin head is a member of a youth culture that originated among working class youths in the UK in the 1960's.
Some skin heads differed as some were part of a group, a racsist group, and ones were against racsism.
Skin heads generally all wore Dr Martens.
Skin heads also wore brands such as, Ben Sherman, the famous Harrignton jackets and Fred Perry and Brutus. They also wore polo tops from these brands.
The first skin heads were greatly influenced by West Indian, specifically Jamaican, rude boys and British mods, interms of fashion, music and lifestyle.


What are the values of Sub-culture?

Link to values... how the sub-culture view:

• Conformity and rebellion
• Attitude to capitalism and consumerism
• 'Tribal' rivalry
• Traditional or 'neophile' (a person who loves novelty, one who likes trends; person who accept the future enthusiastically and enjoys changes and evolutions)
• Ideology in 1950's and 1960'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 betweeen Sub-cultures, and older youths mix and match styles/values from a mix of Sub-cultures
• Or that adults can appear to conform for most of the working week, but re-enter the Sub-culture at specific time (weekend, festivals etc.)

Sub-culture

• In the 21st centuary the 'dominant meaning systems' (that define the 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 the teens to react against- instead they are driven by other motives; and these must be understood on their own terms, individual terms.

1950's Teddies (Teds/Teddy Boys)

• Anti-establishment, some of the original juvenile deliquants
• Their uniform - drainpipe trousers, drape edwardian jackets with velvet collars, string ties.

1960's Mods

• Mod (originally modernist to desccribe modern jazz musicians and fans) is a Sub-culture that orginiated in London in the late 1950's and peaked in the early to mid 1960's
• Uniform hard to describe as they were prone to contininous revitalisation

1960's Skinheads



Early 1970's Punk

• Emerged from the USA, UK and Australia
• Sub-culture based around punk rock
• The punk Sub-culture is centered around listening to recordings or live concerts of a loud, aggressive genre rock music called punk rock, usually shortened to punk

The cultural revoloution

• What had just happened before the 1950's?
• Britain was entering a period of increased freedom and affluence
• Many of the old social cultural structures began to be challened, especially by the young
• What do you think changed and how might this changed the way in which British lived?

• Rationing was coming to an end
• The American way of life had started to become key to aspirations of the British public (both culture and material goods) (deregulation of broadcasting in 1954 = introduction of commerical tv)
• Increased avaliability of cheap colour magazines brought a profilefation of advertising for luxary commodities, much of it originating in America
• A world wide economic boom (postwar regeneration schemes)
• Labour was defeated by the Consveratives at the 1951 General election . This change in government marked a shift from the state control increased indiviual freedom the Conservative election slogon promised to 'Set the people free'
• Youth given more freedom through the deregulation and commercialisation of society

America's Influence

• To the average Britain it offered a rich and desirable future
• Cultural imperialism - Culture imperialism is the practice of promoting, distigusishing, seperating, or artifically injecting the cutlure of one society into another (America influence on Britian post-war)

The cultural revoloution

• Massive increased in the production and avaliability of consumer good stimulated mass consumption
• People expected to have goods such as televisions, refrigirators, music systems and cars as a basic requirement. Before the war these had been luxary items avaliable only to the most priviledged sections of society

• By the 1960's consumption had become less connected with utiliarian needs, and more to do with status and comfort (Maslows Hierachy of Needs)
• The era of the 'lifestyle' had begun, and specailist retailiers began to spring up, providing outlets where people could buy into new identity based around design of fashion
• As youth culture became more dominant, these attitudes rapidly spread among other social groups, and for many people their consumption choices began to underpin their personal identity

Social mobility

• As a result of the state-funded education system, many children from working class families had gone to study at college and uni
• Higher education, together with increased affluence, helped to create an increase in social mobility, and with it a blurring of the old class basied disticntions between High culture and Mass culture

• Affluence, social mobility and the advent of the mass media, combined with a government that placed individual freedom at the heart of its agenda, had transformed British society
• There was a general feeling of optismism, but also a sense of uncertantity. New freedoms and liberties had been gained, but as a result society had become more fragmented and less predictable

example essay question

EAA (Example + Analysis) - RED
EG (Example) - YELLOW
T (Terminology) - BLUE

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.

Research

Applying theory

Applying Theory

Theorist	Year	Concepts	Your explanation	Application to film
Giroux	1997	Youth as empty category	This theory is where adults create their own impressions of youths which is why most impressions are not realistic. Youths are given an immediate impression and are widely stereotyped.	This theory applies to the film Harry Brown, as this film portrays all youths as violent, abusive, drug-taking thugs. This is a view of other people (the director/the media) and is an un-realistic portrayal of youths as a whole. This applies to the trailer we saw for Eden Lake in a similar way. The trailer groups all youths together as violent gang members being aggressive towards adults which show that this is how adults perceive all youths. This applies to Attack the Block differently, as this film shows the youths ending up to be the hero’s. This film puts the message across that not all youths are violent and if people didn’t stereotype them all the time then they could see how normal most youths are.
Acland	1995	Ideology of protection; deviant youth and reproduction of social order	Order has a key function: to reproduce itself.  Youth in crisis, youth gone wild, is a central site in which this activity of reproducing order takes place.  It involves the constitution of the normal, adult, the normal youth, and the relation between the two.  The deviant youth is thus a crucial trope of this relationship; it helps patrol the boundaries
Gramsci	1971 (1929-1935)	Cultural hegemony	Cultural hegemony is that a culturally diverse society can be dominated (ruled) by one social class, by manipulating the societal culture (beliefs, explanations, perceptions, values) so that its ruling-class worldview is imposed as the societal norm, which then is perceived as a universally valid ideology and status quo beneficial to all of society, whilst benefiting only the ruling class.	This theory is shown in Harry Brown, as in this film the lower class dominates in the specific location. The lower, non-working class rules the area of the council estate and if you are not a part of this class then your life becomes very difficult, if not impossible to live. The higher class characters in the film (the police) are shown as threatened by the lower class and are beaten and murdered by them, showing the power the lower class possess here.
Cohen	1972	Moral panic	Society is subjected to periods of moral panic every now and again. This is when an episode, person or group of people seems to become a ‘threat to normal society.’ (E.g. the London riots) This is then presented in a stereotypical and stylised fashion by the mass media. This groups whoever caused the disruption as a whole and gives a bad name to those people in general.	This theory applies to Harry Brown, as the group of youths in this film are seen taking drugs, abusing women and others, using weapons, fighting and rioting in London. They are shown as a big threat to the rest of the ‘normal society’ as they are not acting how a ‘normal’ person would be expected to behave. This groups all youths together in these situations and is picked up by the media and stereotypes all youths as thinking this behaviour is acceptable which is not the case.
McRobbie	2004	Symbolic Violence	Creating a symbolic link between the lower classes and violence, violence against the working class is a form of social reproduction.
Gerbner	1986	Cultivation Theory	Influencing society through mass media. Cultivating an attitude about youths and how they behave. If youths are shown as aggressive and violent enough in the media then this how the majority of youths will believe this is how they should act in reality.

How do contempory media represent British Youth = Youth culture in different ways?

Harry Brown 2009 Directed by Daniel Barber

How does Harry Brown represent young people?

- Pit bulls
- Drugs
- Guns
- Violence
- Hoodies
- Location
- Sexual confrontation
- Gender representation
- Gender stereotype
- Sexism
- Terroirty
- Colliqual language
- Revenge
- Binary oppostion (good vs. bad)
- Age
- Social class

Hoodies strike fear in British Cinema
Guardian 2009

How it suggests young people are represented
- Unnemotional
- Inact of feelings
- Reflect them being monsters
- Challenge equillibrium

The links to horror genre
- Sense of realism
- Non fiction is scarier


- Capitalism
- Hegemony - Ruling of the higher class wanting to make others believe the same
- Asbo's

The implications of the representations

Harry Brown 2009 Directed by Daniel Barber

-How are youths are being represented?
(specific examples)

• Drugs - Right at the start they are shown handling drugs
• Gangs - Right at the start they are shown hudled in a gang, representing they are in a gang
• Guns - You see the gang of youths handling a gun
• Murder -Two boys on a motocycle shoot a woman walking with her baby
• Drug dealing - Drugs are sold in the pub when Harry is in their with his friend
• Vandalising - Vandalising the car as Harry watches out of his window
• Fighting/attacking - As the gang attack another man, and a woman comes and shouts "get off him" as Harry is still watching out the window
• Fire - A fire is started in Harrys friend house, you dont see the gang do it, but just presume
• Police - Shows Noel and other members of the gang being arrested and interigated
• Growing of drugs - Harry goes to buy a gun, where they are growing drugs

-How are the audience being positioned?
(to identifiy with the characters)

• Harry - We like Harry as we see him as a lonely old man, who's lonely and is scared in his own home. We see him lose his wife and his only friend which makes us feel for him more. He starts killing members of the gang, but we still like him and have lots of sympathy for him. We dont start disliking him for this, we agree with him and like him even more for his bravery.
• Noel - We dont like Noel at all, he's shown badly and as a bully and a murderer. The audience are posititioned to depise him becuase of what he does and the way he treats Harry who is such a liked character. Hes evil and a horrible boy who looks up to his dad and is trying to be like, which shows how horrible his dad was also.

-What is the significance of social class?

• Lower class - They are all lower class because of where they live and the way they behave. The place they live is run down, vandalised and is made to look awful, showing there lower class. The youths dont have jobs, they gain money by selling drugs. It also makes the story more believable as they are all 'layabouts'.

What is Britishness?

What is Britishness?

• Fish and chips
• Tea
• The Monarchy
• Cold weather
• Full english

What does it mean to be British?

• Posh
• Pub
• Accent
• Richness
• Pale skin
• Football
• Old people
• bad teeth
• Chavs

EXAM

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 productions including prelimanry and anciliary tasks)

1b) Theorectical  evaluation of one production and evaluate it in relation to a media concept

Section B: Contempory media issues (50 marks)

2) Contempory media issues - media and collective identity - the representation of british youth and youth culture


Question 1a

Discuss skill development over the course of the project from portfolio and advanced portfolio.
The list of practicies to which the questions will relate is as follows:

• Digital technology
• Creativity
• Research and planning
• Post-production
• Using conventions from real media texts

Question 1b

Select one production and evaluate it in relation to a media concept.
The list of concepts to which questions relate is as follows:

• Genre
• Narrative
• Audience
• Media language

Section B: Media and collective identity guided questions

• How do the contempory media represent british youth and youth culutre in different ways?
• How does contempory representation compare to previous time periods?
• What are the social implications of different media representations of British youth and youth culutre?
• To what extent is human identity increasingly 'mediated'?

In order to be fully prepared for the specific requirements of the question, the material studied by candidates must cover these three elements:

• Historical - dependant on the requirements of the topic, candidates must summarise the development of the media forms in question in theorectical contexts
• Contempory - examples from five years before the examination
• Future - candidates musy demonstrate personal engagement with debates about future of the media forms/issues that the topic relates to

What is identity?

How is identity formed?

 

-enviroment

-friends

-family

-events

-social origin

-education

-religion

-beliefs and idealogies

-morals of your parents

-gender

-characteristics

-media

-media consumption

-music

-diet

-height

-age

-lifestyle

-social class

-where you come from

-expriences

 

the state or fact of remaining the same one or ones, as under varying aspects or conditions: The identity of the fingerprints on the gun with those on file provided evidence that he was the killer.

2.

the condition of being oneself or itself, and not another: He doubted his own identity.

3.

condition or character as to who a person or what a thing is: a case of mistaken identity.

4.

the state or fact of being the same one as described.

5.

the sense of self, providing sameness and continuity in personality over time and sometimes disturbed in mental illnesses, as schizophrenia.