Collective identity and representing ourselves: blog tasks

 Task 1: Media Magazine article

Read the Media Magazine article on collective identity: Self-image and the Media (MM41 - page 6). Our Media Magazine archive is here.

Complete the following tasks on your blog:

1) Read the article and summarise each section in one sentence, starting with the section 'Who are you?'

Who are you? - We have complex ideas about ourselves; there is a difference between the person we think we are, the person we want to be and the person we want to be seen to be.

I think, therefore I am - Our identity would have been based around aspects of our lives that were constructed outside of our selves; class, religion, gender and the predetermined roles that were part of the accident of the family we were born into.

The rise of the individual - Dominant values help shape how we see ourselves; and by the late 1960's and 1970's the notion of individualism began to take hold. During the second half of the 20th century, people began defining themselves as individuals, and so wanted to express their ‘difference’ and ‘uniqueness’; they were empowered by being encouraged to ‘be themselves’.

From citizen to consumer - The idea that identity could be constructed in terms of an externalised image came in the post-industrial consumer boom of the early 20th century where there was a deliberate move to encourage people to adopt an identity. 

Branding and lifestyle - The 70s and 80s saw the rise of lifestyle marketing and the importance of brands. Branding is the association of a ‘personality’ with a product. Advertisers sell the personality rather than the product, so that people will choose products that match their own self-image.

2) List three brands you are happy to be associated with and explain how they reflect your sense of identity.

Nike - I am comfortable to associate myself with this brand as it's a well known brand that everyone owns a pair of and wears so I feel comfortable wearing it outside. This helps reflect a sense of my identity as one of Nike's connotations of owning one of their brands is adventurous which I am.

Adidas - Again another well known brand that everyone wears that I feel comfortable owning and wearing outside. This helps reflect a sense of my identity as one of Adidas's connotations of owning their brands is competitive and sporty which I am. 

PS3 - Something that me and my friends own and I am happy to be associated with the console as it shows a sense of my identity of being a gamer as I love to play games with my friends be it cooperative or solos.

3) Do you agree with the view that modern media is all about 'style over substance'? What does this expression mean?

Yes as they care about how someone looks rather than getting whatever is the message across to the audience. 'Style over Substance' means although someone looks immaculately dressed or styled, behind the facade, there is no substance or content.

4) Explain Baudrillard's theory of 'media saturation' in one paragraph. You may need to research it online to find out more.

Baudrillard calls ‘media saturation’ results in high cultural value being placed on external factors such as physical beauty and fashion sense over internal traits such as intelligence or compassion. The influence of the media in providing the images, the products, the role models and the ideas that we use to help construct an idea of identity and image has been tackled widely in film. Fight Club (1999) is direct in its exploration of the construction of self-image and the de-centred self; more recently films such as Shutter Island (2010), Ghost Writer (2010) and Inception (2010) have played with similar ideas. Issues around image and identity are central to many media genres and forms, indicating the importance of these ideas to the contemporary culture. Superhero films, for example, frequently deal with the idea of the ‘fragmented self’ and perhaps it is no surprise that this is one of the most dominant film genres at the moment. 

5) Is your presence on social media an accurate reflection of who you are? Have you ever added or removed a picture from a social media site purely because of what it says about the type of person you are?

I feel like the section of 'I think, therefore I am' heavily relates to me as it talks about class, religion, gender and roles that were part of my family that I was born into as I am my religion is Islam and as being a Muslim I should respect and be kind and considerate to the people around me even if I am not getting the same treatment back which does a little describe about the personality I have of myself. I have never removed a picture from social media once I have added it onto the platform I am using mainly because I don't care about how others or people around me would view me from a certain image I've posted online as I feel like the image I have posted brings joy to me and I would want to share it to others to try get similar reactions out of them too. 

6) What is your opinion on 'data mining'? Are you happy for companies to sell you products based on your social media presence and online search terms? Is this an invasion of privacy?

Data mining - allows corporations to create products designed to meet the needs we reveal in our personal information.

I am not happy that this could be our next step for social media as this is a major invasion of privacy as complanies are going into and looking at our persoanl informations just to give us better and appealing products for us to look at which I feel is wrong on so many levels and I feel is just disturbing. Why should companies feel like they should have a need to do that when they could just produce certain type of producsts for everyone to look at instead of creating products specifically specialised for only a collected few of us that have similar tastes on a thing. Companis should focus on products to create that is appealing for all instead of creating products targeted at individuals separately. 

Task 2: Media Magazine cartoon

Now read the cartoon in MM62 (p36) that summarises David Gauntlett’s theories of identity. Write five simple bullet points summarising what you have learned from the cartoon about Gauntlett's theories of identity.

1.  Argues that mass media text offers us a more diverse range of representations enabling modern audiences to "Pick And Mix"

2. Draws attention to generational differences but accepts that it is an assumption that more liberal "Attitudes established in the younf will be carried into later life".

3. Questions the popular idea that masculinity is "in crisis" and that while women are told by mainstream media they can be anything they want to be "identities promoted to men are relatively constrained".

4. Considers  Michel Foucault's ideas of regarding "technologies of the self" as Gauntlett puts it, these refer to the (internal and external) practice of our (internal) ethics. 

5. Concludes that we use narratives to frame our experiences and to bring order to the stream of 'stuff' that goes on in our lives. 

Task 3: Representation & Identity: Factsheet blog task

Finally, use our brilliant Media Factsheet archive on the M: drive Media Shared (M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets) to find Media Factsheet #72 on Collective Identity. The Factsheet archive is available online here - you'll need your Greenford Google login to access. Read the whole of Factsheet and answer the following questions to complete our introductory work on collective identity:

1) What is collective identity? Write your own definition in as close to 50 words as possible.

Collective identity is how individuals define themselves as belonging to a group based on markers such as race, ethnicity, culture, gender, socio-economic class, religion, disability etc. Examples of this are characteristic or combination of characteristics, such as race, economic status, class, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or religion.

2) Complete the task on the factsheet (page 1) - write a list of as many things as you can think of that represent Britain. What do they have in common? Have you represented the whole of Britain or just one aspect/viewpoint?

The Crown (drama series) - Reflects the whole of Britain as it talks about the Royal family and what happened in their family. 

The inbetweeners (Comedy Sitcom) - Reflects a certain part of Britain of how young UK sixth former students act and how their lives in the UK are at home and school. 

3) How does James May's Top Toys offer a nostalgic representation of Britain?

The presenter is 48 year old James May and, as such, the programme attracts an older demographic of people. This is reflected in the choice of toys which James May examines. Airfix, Meccano, Plasticine, Lego, Scalextric and Hornby are all toys of his youth and that of the targeted demographic of 30+ males. Being targeted at a slightly older audience means that the toys also become metaphors for the sense of Britishness that May explores, that of ‘nostalgia’ or a feeling / longing for the past where life was perceived to be simpler. This can be also described as a mythic England that resides in the minds of many older people in this country: warm beer, cricket on the green and cups of tea. The nostalgia dwells on what Britain has lost in the modern world, such as a community spirit, and the subtle indication is that today’s modern computer games, and people’s apparent failure to use toys as a source of individual imagination, are to blame.

4) How has new technology changed collective identity?

Technology has enabled people to actively engage with the content of the culture around them and then go on to use it as resources for their own cultural productions. The creation of such video hosting websites such as YouTube means the traditional passive audience can now write original stories or songs about the shows they view, make art or costumes based on the films they watch, edit videos or produce film parodies or do podcasts, develop websites or engage in a broad range of other expressive practices.

5) What phrase does David Gauntlett (2008) use to describe this new focus on identity? 

David Gauntlett (2008) states that ‘Identity is complicated; everyone thinks they have got one.’

6) How does the Shaun of the Dead Facebook group provide an example of Henry Jenkins' theory of interpretive communities online?

A fan has created this group in support of the fact that he has ‘learnt’ a new word from the film. The recognition of ‘Hey, I also learnt that word!’ means fans from around the world can then share their experience of watching the film and supporting the identity created within it. This relates well to Henry Jenkins' theory of interpretive communities online as fan bases taking advantage of the film and making and creating their own meanings of how they look at the film such as this particular fan learning a new word from the Shaun of the Dead film which then shows that if you watch certain films like Shaun of the Dead you'll learn new bad words which will ruin the experience of the whole film and then maybe give the director of the film a bad name when entirely it wasn't their intention to do so.  

The creation of this group conforms to the following ‘repeated’ view from Henry Jenkins: ‘fan genres grew out of openings or excesses within the text that were built on and stretched, and that it was not as if fans and texts were autonomous from each another; fans created their own, new texts, but elements within the originating text defined, to some degree, what they could do’.