To what extent is human identity increasingly mediated?

Thomas De Zengotita says mediation is the process of us experiencing the world through the media, so the media must shape our identity. This means that the things we watch and read through the media inspires what we do; we can relate to it due to our similar interests. However, Stuart Hall argues that we interpret a media text based on ourselves and our own idea through negotiation in the media, rather then taking it in without a thought proses behind it. so it could be a matter using and being inspired by the media to create our identity's but not being controlled. Another argument is, Cohen says that if this group is not understood and badly represented by the media, they can be Demonised. This can create a moral panic against that group by the outside media.

Apply Narrative Theories to One of you Coursework Productions

For my AS Coursework I constructed the opening of a film using the genre, Drama. As a group we were inspired by films like 'The Kings of Summer' and 'The Way Way Back'; both the films consists of a main character that wants to find themselves after losing something important in their life. In my group and I's film, Chester Wallace, our main character, being Chester, looses his best friend in a cycling accident (cycling being a grate passion of his). Despite of what happens Chester carries on with his dream to compete in the Tour De France. Though out the film we find more obstacles and situations, that may teenage boy find themselves in, in which he must tackle.

My group decided that our pre-title sequence should hook the audience into the narrative of the film in a number of ways. Roland Barthes discusses narrative in terms of a number of codes that are used to help to unravel the text for the viewer. one of these is his Enigma code - the purpose of this to keep the audience questioning what will happen and why is something happening. For example, in our film Chester goes to the beach to morn for his friend that has just died. However, in the film this is not stated until later in the film, there for making the audience more attached to the film, to find our what is happening. In our film opening we used an action code. This was when he sat on the beach and took off his shoes intern making the audience assume that Chester in going in the sea. Our symbolic code was capturing our main character staring our to see, this usually mean that the character is contemplating and morning over life. We used the semantic code to help emphasis with our character through the used of the sound track. In our beach sequence we used a slow paced acoustic peace of music that we thought indicated the depressed atmosphere that we wanted to achieve. We also used long takes to capture and uncomfortable atmosphere, due to the fact it is a semantic code of the Drama genre.

Vladimir Propp is theorist who discusses narrative purely in terms of character and actions. I found that his theory did not apply to my title sequence. This is because we do not have an antagonist, donor or helper in the opening of our film; we wanted set up the idea that Chester is not a very conventional hero because it is an independent quite quirky and different film, unlike the stereotypical hero that is a skilled fighter and there to help others. However, later in our film Chester will meet more people along the way that represents the donor, helper, etc.

Todorov's theories of narrative discuss in terms of the arc of a storyline. His theory split stories into five clear steps: equilibrium, disruption of equilibrium, the recognition of the disruption, the repair of it and then the new equilibrium. our title sequence plays with these codes in the following way. In our film there is and equilibrium when our protagonist is having fun cycling with his friends. Very early in the film the equilibrium is disrupted by the death of his best friend. Seeing as Chester witnessed the death, the recognition of the disruption of the equilibrium was instantly after the disruption. The rest of the film is about Chester trying to find himself and repair the destruction of the equilibrium. The equilibrium is regained when Chester has achieved his dreams of becoming a pro cyclist.

Finally Claude Levi-Strauss defines narrative as requiring the constant creation of conflict and opposition. He summarised this in terms of visual opposition (such as light versus dark) of conceptual (e.g.. Love versus hate control versus panic). We include a number of binary oppositions in our opening sequence, such as

life and death levi st

Steve Neale Repetition and difference

Steve Neale said - "Genres are not 'systems', they are processes of systematisation" - They are dynamic and evolve over time.

An example of this is seen in the genre Indie Pop;
For Example, Florence + the Machine's music videos can be compared with that of Kate Bush's.

Introducing Identity

1) What or who does Buckingham say identity "implies a relationship with".

"Identity also implies a relationship with a broader collective or social group of some kind."


2) According to Buckingham Identity is also "about identification with others whom we assume are..."

'Identity is about identification with others whom we assume are similar to us, at least in some significant ways."


3) Why is Identity becoming more prominent (more important and visible) according to the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman?

"Zygmunt Bauman, the new prominence that is accorded to identity is a reflection of the fact it is becoming ever more problematic."


4) Also according to Bauman, "Identity is almost infinitely..." what?

"identitiy, seeing it as almost infinitely negotiable, and in the process perhaps underestimate the continuing importance of routine and stability."


Identity Formation: The Psychology of Adolescence

5) How does G. Stanley Hall define the period of Adolescence as?

"G. Stanley Hall's classic accounts of adolescence.... Hall is  often credited with introducing the popular notion of adolescence as a period of 'storm and stress'"


6) How does Erikson see Adolescence?

"In the case of adolesecnce, the conflict is between identity and 'role confusion'"


7) Also according to Erikson, what needs to happen for a young person "to arrive at an integrated, coherent sense of their identity"

"must undergo a 'crisis'... self-reflection and self-definition"


8) How does Susannah Stern (from the same book) suggest that the internet and online activities can help this process?

"Susannah Stern's discussion of youth people's online authorship of blogs and home pages suggest that this activity can provide important opportunities for self-reflection and self-realization"


Youth Culture and the Sociology of Youth

9) According to Buckingham when was the category of the Teenager invented?

"The category of the 'teenager', for example, was effectively brought into being in the 1950s through market research"


10) What other categories does he state that "crucially blur the distinctions between children, youth and adults" ?

"'tweens', 'middle youth', 'kidults' and 'adultescents'"

5 Questions

1. Can you personally relate to the idea of creating identity using the media? Are there any characters or media personalities who you feel represent you?
2. Can you think of any examples of Collective Identities being heavily influenced and define themselves by the media? Particularly youth sub-cultures that are often defined by the type of media they consume:
3. Are there identities that are often constructed then perpetuated by the media? Eg. 'the Chav' Or are there individuals? Eg. Amy Winehouse
4. How can these media identities influence others? Eg 'Skins parties
5. In an Internet ‘We Media’ world how can we use the media to create identities? Eg. Online Fandoms, YouTube, instergram

1. I don't not feel the media represent my personanity in any of their created identities, although I feel there are some smaller aspects of my personality that have been.

2. The Chav is often represented negatively; usually shown to be antisocial and commit vandalism. 'Lad' 'Bros'-Pewdiepie 

3. Media's inspiring people. Chav, GTA inspired teenage to kill two police officers. 

4. Well liked programmes like 'Skins' often influences that identities (in this case teenagers) due to the fact they can easily relate to the characters.

5. Pewdiepie - Bros, Justin Bieber - Bielebers 

Applying Media Theorists to Media Text

RollingStone Magazin

- The February 9th 2006 issue RollingStone magazine features Kanye West in a medium close up shot representing him as Jesus, complete with his crown of thorns and bloodied forehead.

- This edition of the magazine is aimed at two different audiences: the main audience is educated adult males interested in politics and current affairs; the secondary audience is young, predominantly male fans of Kanye West's music, who could buy this issue of the magazine as a one off. The traditional readers will be attracted to the font of the mast head(displayed in a rock genre font) and the gold has connotations of a quality magazine.  The articles also appeal to these readers as they are about "Inside the War Room of the Religious Right", this appeals the the main audiences; these are police and cultural stories.

- The preferred or dominant reading of the front cover (according to Stuart Hall's audience theories) is that Kanye is Kanye id a God in music terms. This appeals to young fans who enjoy and idolise him and his music.

- In contrast the oppositional reading is that Kanye is very offensive to the Christian faith.  This audience would think the cover was very blasphemous and would say that portraying Jesus as black is offensive.  This reading portrays Kanye as self obsessed and arrogant.

Two Step Flow Theory

-Bernard Berelson
-Hazel Gaudet
-Paul Lazarsfeld - 1944 The People's Choice.
-Mass media --> Opinion Leaders --> Individuals

George Gerbner - Cultivation Theory

-This theory was to do with television
-Effects gradually over time (unlike the Hypodermic Needle which doesn't really give any time period). It also needs a lot of viewers to have and effect.
-Reinforces Norm rather that changing it.
- Action Adventure movies makes you more fearful of life in the everyday world.
- E.G. Soap Opera audiences over estermate divorces more then people who don't, due to seeing it regularly on the TV show.

How has the way the media has represented and/or created collective identity changed over time?

Over time, the representation of youth culture has changed dramatically due to different medias. There are many differences between contemporary and historical representations of youth over the last centry. Youth have be negatively represent in the last couple of years whereas in the past much more positive representations are made. However, negative depiction have been legated toward youth in the past but not as consistently of darkly as it is in present day.

Two films that show opposing representations towards teenagers  from different time periods are, the  1986 - Ferris Bueller's Day Off and the 2011 - Attack the Block. Ferris Bueller's Day Off represents the life of a teenager in 1980s New York. This film shows youth to be both good and bad; they are considerate, accepting and free willed people, but also fight authority (Ferris skips school and regular defies the head master). The representation of this character is fictional but could be applied to real life individuals. This representation in almost the opposite of Attack the block, a film that takes place in a block of flats in which violent, anti-sociale teenagers fight off an alien invasion. The characters are also depicted as drug related people who aspire to run the block through a marijuana farm. This shows that over time the representation of youth has changed negatively over time. They have done this by stereotyping youth as reckless, anti-social people in the present media whereas in the 1980's youth where much more considerate towards others and were more low abiding then the present day representations. Saying this however, Ferris, in Ferris Bueller's Day Off drives a car that is not owned by hime and also breaks school rules. This is not as dramatic as the crimes that are committed by the characters from Attack the Block, who deal drugs and mug civilians.

The Breakfast Club, a 1985 coming of age film, represents youth differently. It shows youth to be influenced by their parents making them behave differently, in this case getting into trouble at school (one character tried to kill himself due to stress).

Dog Town - Youth are shown at law breaker, careless, trespassing, Skater dude.

Effect/Hypodermic Model

- The consumption of media text has an effect or influence upon the audience.

- It's normally considered that this effects is negative.

- Audiences are passive and powerless to prevent the influence.

- The power lies with the message of the text.

- The message in media text are injected into the audience by the powerful, syringe - like, media.

- The audience is powerless to resist.

-Therefore, the media works like a drug and the audience is drugged, addicted, doped or duped.

-The Frankfurt school - theorised in the 1920's and 30s that the mass media acted to restrict and control audiences to the benefit of corporate capitalism and governments.

Stuart Hall - Reception Theory 1973

-Suggested text were encoded by the producer of texts to contain meaning related to social and cultural background of the creator of the text. However, once the viewer of the text 'decoded' that text then the meaning intended by the producer may change.




Producer od text (intended meaning) - Dominant - Negotiated - oppositional (aberrant)




Dominant - audience reads text close to intended meaning




Negotiated - audience negotiates with themselves allow them to accept the way in which the text is presented




Oppositional - audience is in conflict with the text due to their beliefs and experience

Practical Work - Band Profile

Band Profile

There are three members of out band, a singer, drummer and guitarist.

We wanted our members/band to remain anemones to their audience. This meant our profiles had to give little evident as to who they are. We came up with the name Element Five because of the fact we wanted to stay with and unknown theme. We started with the name Fifth Element, not realising there was a famous film with this same name. Eliminate Five meant we could keep our concept but, without copying other names.

We have decided to have three members of the band.
Singer-
Name- Oscar Jonson
Born- 1993
Birth Place - Hereford - England
Education- London School of Economics and Political Science

Guitarist-
Name- Celestine Dubois
Born- 1994
Birth Place- Rouen - France
Education- London School of Economics and Political Science

Drummer-
Name- Elvar Kroon
Born- 1992
Birth Place- Sundsvall - Sweden
Education- London School of Economics and Political Science

How we want our band members to be recognised to their audience.

Singer-

Name- Unknown

Born- Unknown

Birth Place- England - City- Unknown

Education- London School of Economics and Political Science

Guitarist-

Name- Unknown

Born- Unknown

Birth Place- France - City- Unknown

Education- London School of Economics and Political Science

Drummer-

Name- Unknown

Born- Unknown

Birth Place- Sweden - City- Unknown

Education- London School of Economics and Political Science

Intertextuality

The referencing of one text in another.

John Stuarts:
Theory, music videos "incorporated, raiding and reconstructing".

Julie Kristeva
Theory, "any text is the absorption".

David Fincher is a film graduate and a great example of a direct that has used this. He was noticed by his music videos. These videos consistently use intertextual references for example in this music video, The Rolling Stones - Love Is Strong, it seem he has given a reference to 1954 Godzilla. This is because he has played with proportion/size and is shot in black and white. This is saying that the audience of The Rolling Stones are film lovers and are also male oriented due to the fact Godzilla is a male targeted film.

Another example of Fincher using this technique is in the music video, Oh Father by Madonna, a Hitchcock inspired shot is used by casting a shadow onto the face of the subject. This is used

Goodwin's Music Video Analysis

He wrote a book, "Dancing in the Distraction Factory", 1992.

His Theories
- Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g Stage performance in metal band, dance routine for boy/girl band).

Green Day - 21 Guns Music video





- There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

Keane - Somewhere Only We Know
The lyrics are, "I came across a fallen tree", while a car come across an array of trees (some fallen over)




- There is a relationship between music and visual ( either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

Supergrass - Alright
The music is very up beat while people are enjoying the sunny weather.




-  The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work. (a visual style).

Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out of My Head






- There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescope, etc) and particular voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

Green Day - American Idiot






-There is often intertextual reference (to film, TV programmes, other music videos etc).

Lily Allen - Alfie
Copy of the Looney Tunes title sequence

Analyse the ways in which the media represent groups of people.

Analyse the ways in which the media represent one group of people you have studied.
- The media have represented youth culture in many ways, for example they are demonised by the mass media.

Plan
Three quotes from theorists:
- "the true horrors we fear day to day are not supernatural bogeymen or monsters created by scientists. They're our own youth." 
Daily Mail review of Eden Lake
-
- 

Four media texts:
- This is a link to a 'dailmail' article reinforcing the fact youth are being demonised by media. 
"One in four adolescents is a criminal"
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-34916/One-adolescents-criminal.html-
- An example of a TV show that demises youth is 'The Inbetweeners'. A show that represents youth to be anti-social and very immature.


- A film that represents youth as being anti-social and mature is "The Kings of Summer".

Definition of Moral Panics

What is moral Panic?
- an instance of public anxiety or alarm in response to a problem regarded as threatening the moral standards of society.


The London Riots
This 2011 riot cased a huge moral panic because it started as a small protest that spread around London because people were abusing the reason behind the riots to go and rob shops, etc.

- This is a quote from the 'Dailmail'
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2023949/London-riots-2011-Hackney-Croydon-violence-shows-sign-abating.html

- This is a quote from the BBC website 'England rioters 'poorer, younger, less educated'
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15426720

Neck Nomination

Digital Technology

Using the Camera
- We used a focus pull to show protagonist in need of help. In this case we focused from a life ring, in to foreground of the shot, to our character, in the background of the shot framed to the right, gazing off into the distance.

Blogger
-Updating my blogger meant I could organise my research and planning. In particular deciding with my group the locations we wanted to film in.  Our final location was Hayling Island (a two hour drive away).  However we saved both money and time, in terms of a recce, by Ben's uncle emailing us shots of the location which we could look at online and discuss before deciding to commit to this location.

Final Cut Pro
This programme meant we could create a title sequence that looked professional, for example, we used a font called 'Type Writer' which was a sharp and similar to the codes and conventions of our film genre (coming of age drama).

Using Conventions from Real Media Texts

Post-production

Research and Planning

Creativity

Millennials

The Millennial are people that were/are born from 1980-2000s.

Claude Levi Strauss

The 8 Roles

•The Villain- struggles with the hero

•The Donor- prepares and/or provides the hero with magical agents

•The Helper- assists, rescues, solves and/or transfigures the hero

•The Princess- a sought for person, who exist as goal and often recognises and marries the hero and/or punishes the villain

•The Father- the Princess Guardian

•The Hero- Departs on a search, reacts to Donor and weds at the end

•The False Hero- Claims to be Hero, often Seeking to be the Real hero

Applying Barthes Theory to my Film

Roland Barthes 5 narrative Codes:

•Action code - applies to any action that implies a further narrative action. For example, a gunslinger draws his gun on an adversary and we wonder what the resolution of this action will be.

•Enigma/Hermeneutic code - refers to any element in a story that is not explained and, therefore, exists as an enigma for the audience, raising questions that demand explication.

•The semantic code - any element in a text that suggests a particular, often additional meaning by way of connotation.

•The symbolic – annoyingly difficult to explain. You will only understand it if first we look at binary opposites.

•The cultural code - any element in a narrative that refers "to a science or a body of knowledge". In other words, the cultural codes tend to point to our shared knowledge about the way the world works. 

Applying His codes to our film:

- One code that was in our film was the Enigma/Hermeneutic code. This is because tension is built in the lead up to the death of our main character's friend.  By cutting to black after the crash, we leave the audience wandering what has happened and why that person is so important to him? Also, the truth behind the crash is purposely avoided.

- Another code that was used in our film was, the semantic code. The fact our character is staring off into the horizon is a semantic code suggesting he is contemplating his future. This visual motif is often used in films to show a character contemplating what to do with his life - e.g. Submarine.

Binary Opposites

•Levi Straus believed that the world was split into a series of ‘binary opposites.’ Essentially one thing can only be defined in relation to something it isn’t. e.g. a hero is only a hero if there is a cowardly option.

Dave Harrison - 7 Representaions of Youth

1. Youth are often represented in accordance with popular or hegemonic notions of adolescence
- An example of this is the programme, 'Misfits', were we see youth represented as reckless criminals that curse and commit anti-sociable behaviour.

2. Youth are often ‘demonised’ by the mass media.
- 'Truth about Britain’s feral youth: Small core of youngsters commit staggering 86 crimes by age 16'
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2163979/Truth-Britain-s-feral-youth-Small-core-youngsters-commit-staggering-86-crimes-age-16.html

3.Youth are represented as being let down by adults
-This is an article by the 'Dailmail' about the blaming of adults for teenagers being selfish.
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2514694/So-young-adults-today-selfish-monsters--parents-blame-says-YASMIN-ALIBHAI-BROWN.html
- Another example of this is in the film 'Kings of Summer', were the teenage character's parents cause them to run away from home because they are annoying and do not look after them appropriately.
 
4. Youth are represented as part of a subculture
- 'Mean Girls' is a grate example of this because, although it is an American film, there are very clearly defined examples of group categorisation. For example, the plasics, Emos, nerds, etc. 

5. Alienation – youth are represented as being estranged from parts of society, particularly adult society.
- This article by the 'Dailymail' reinforces this representation because it states that youth have low moral standards and are outsiders of adult society.
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1214549/Feral-youths-How-generation-violent-illiterate-young-men-living-outside-boundaries-civilised-society.html

6. Youth are product of the society they were born into, and often embody the faults and fears of adult society.
- An example of this is in the film, 'Attack the Block', were a group of young teenagers at represented at violent and criminals. We also see that they are living in poor conditions in a housing estate, being brought up around dangerous people (for example, drug dealers). 


7. Representations of UK Youth are often nostalgic and romanticized
- An example of this is is the film, 'High School Musical', because it shows the enjoyment that people have in their teenage years although this is an american film so does not represent the UK youth society. 

Narrative vs Story

Story:
- All of the events in a narrative, those presented directly to an audience and those which might be inferred.

Narrative:
- A sequence of events organised into a story with a particular structure.


My G321 Film

Story:
- Following the death of his best friend in a cycle accident which he witnesses, a teenage boy has to re-build his life. Plunged into depression he is saved by a young girl who helps him to rediscover the value of life.

Narrative:
- We started off by showing the death of his friend in the first scene (a bike accident). We then employed a flash forward in time to show our protagonist on a beach, hopelessly contemplating his future.

Alternative narrative:
- Starts with our character meeting a girl, asking why he is in the depressed state that our protagonist is in. It then flashes back in time showing the bike accident, then the story is chronologically told up to the point where the boy meets the girl.

American Pie - Representation of Youth

This film represents young people as hormonal, reckless teenagers who priority in life is to loose their verginity. This is shown but the use of dialogue and Mise-en-scene.