"Media representations are complex not simple and straightforward" how far do you agree with this statement in relation to youth?

Modern day media is creating a more complex representation of people, images and messages being sent to the public. Richard Jenkins said "we need to interact in order to form our identity with other people or the media, partaking in events helps to form our collective identity". In relation to the question this refers to the idea of the representations we are given are not easy to decode and we have to form an identity with others and take part in events to perhaps discover what the messages we are given.  

The hegemonic view in society of youths is a bad one, as they are constantly portrayed negatively. In the recent London Riots the main focus was on the involvement of youth and what impact they had. A headline from the Daily Mail read "Teenage looters arrested", the word that your are immediately drawn too is teenage. An older reader would choose to believe this and think that this is how every teenage was acting although this was not true, this relates to the idea of Postmodernism as they believe the media somewhat create a new reality in which we live and believe. The student protest over university fees earlier this year also showed a bad press when representing youth. Images of young hooded boys smashing police cars and swearing at the cameras were on the front of newspapers which again automatically makes people think all youths are like this and behave in the same way. Although the idea of construction and reflection can be seen when looking at the tabloids headlines compared to the broadsheets. The Sun used words such as 'yobs, thugs and hoodies' in articles about youth whilst broadsheet papers such as The Guardian simply used the words youths or students showing that the representations we see aren't always clear.

Newspapers alone are not the only source of complex and perhaps false representations. Mainstream music videos are becoming increasingly explicit and shocking. The messages portrayed through these videos can have a profound affect on youth, their behavior and attitudes. Stars such as Lady Gaga and Rihanna all send out messages to young girls that it is acceptable to wear promiscuous clothing and flaunt their sexuality. Richard Dyer's star theory relates to how the star is constructed in order to sell an image to the target audience and give them what they want, the conflicting images given out  by stars such as Rihanna with her image. She made a statement by dying her hair bright red and wearing little clothing which when young girls are watching will follow this because they think this behavior is right. Although stars such as Nicki Minaj and Beyonce are binary oppositions because although they wear little clothing and have a strong sexual image they are also presented as dominant women. In Nicki Minaj's video 'Super Bass' she makes reference to herself as a barbie throughout with pink hair and girly clothing but on the other hand she is portrayed as a dominant woman who is in charge over the men in the video who instead of her are scantily clad. This again gives a complex representation to both young girls and boys.

In conclusion the mixed and complex representations young people receive in today's media all contribute to how they build on their identity as well as their collective identity. Different messages coming from various types of media means that there are unclear messages. Negative portrayals of youth and the representation of gender are also sending out mixed messages, if stars such as Rihanna are representing it to be acceptable to wear little clothing and use swear words but then there are stars such as Beyonce showing you should also be dominant. Overall on the whole the hegemonic view of youth in modern society is negative and this without doubt is having a profound affect on the youth of today.

Key Term Glossary

Collective identity- a sense of 'one-ness'. A membership in a social group that is collective and has a sense of togetherness.
Hegemony- the dominant ideology in society.
Subculture- a group of people who subvert the norm and cultural beliefs in society e.g Punks, mods
Counter culture- a group that runs a counter culture to subvert oppression.
Subvert- to go against something, in terms of this study to go against the norms and values of society.
Ideology- a set of ideas set by the dominant class in society.
Archetypal- a generic version of a person, similar to a stereotype.
Subservient- to obey others and listen to their demands, not go against.
Obtrusive- unwanted imposing ideas on something.
Enigmatic- difficult to interpret, creates a sense of mystery.
Binary opposites- a pair of related terms used in the opposite context.
Connotations- what you see, the associations with this.
Denotations- exactly what you see.
Male gaze- idea that certain shots and perspectives are from a males perspective, for male audiences for example in a music video a woman's legs being shown frequently.
Construction- the activity of creating something or someone through various means e.g. star construction
Ideology- a set of  ideas or beliefs in society
Intertextuality- the shaping of a texts meaning by other texts.
Web 2.0- the idea of the internet allowing us to communicate with others and we have a wider access to materials.
Heirachy- a heirarchy is a way of representing the dominance in society in terms of authority.
Verisimilitude- the quality of realism in a media text e.g. film
Superimposition- the placement of an image or video on top of an already exsisting image to add effect.
Distorted- alteration of something exsisting to give effect.
Mediated- the concept of adapting or changing something
Govern- to have some control over society by some sort of authority e.g. Primeminister
Emergence- the idea of something new coming out into society
Social order- heirarchy of people in society
Media saturated- the idea of media controlling everything

Key Theorist Glossary

Henry Tajfel- theory assumes that individuals strive to improve their self image by trying to enhance self-esteem based on either personal identity or various social identities.
Richard Jenkins- we need to interact to form our identity with other people or the media e.g. partaking in social activities/events.
Marxism- Started by Karl Marx, a communist theory which determines that all members of society will be governed by work and in a classless society.
Neo-Marxism- view class divisions under capitalism as more important than gender/sex divisions. Newer form of Marxism.
Merleau Ponti- we have an embodied experience and anything in which we use our bodies to create new things.
Henry Jenkins- teenagers constantly build their identity through the internet for example Facebook, updating profiles constantly, a form of experimenting with our identity.
Michael Foullcault- 1)surveillance in society, a source of constant surveillance is internalized, used as a form of social organisation.
2) We are born with a basic identity, develop our collective identity with who we meet. Although we can't break out of our original identity, it is limited. We then develop stereotypes.
David Gauntlett- 'identity is complicated' adolescence is a distinctive stage with a beginning and ending, a gradual progression into adulthood, adolescence about becoming rather than being. 
Winship 'the ideal version'- Winship notion of complexity is about being prepared in terms of audience gratification to finally recognise the ideal version of ourselves.
Postmodernism- said to describe the emergence of a social order in which the importance and power of mass media and popular culture means they govern and shape all other forms of social relationships, constructs our reality.
David Buckingham- new modes of regulation, a focus on identity requires us to pay close attention to the diverse ways in which media and technology are used in everyday lives and their consequences for both individuals and society groups.
Jacques Lacan- Mirror stage, suggested that a stage where a child begins to develop an identity and recognise themselves, media seen as a mirror reflecting behavior and appearance.
Althusser's Interpellation- the process where a human subject is constructed by a pre-given structure. Imposing ideology, bombarded by messages from the media make us have certain assumptions. Marxist viewpoint.
Audience Gratification theory- 
Diversion: escape from everyday problems and routine.
Personal relationships: using the media for emotional and other interactions.
Personal Identity: finding yourself reflected in texts learning behavior and values from text.
Surveillance: information which could be useful for living e.g weather.
The Hypodermic needle model- the idea that the media is like a needle injected drug and the audience are passive and accept these messages.
Two-step flow- Created by Katz and Lazarsfeld. Information is given out by a higher power and is then mediated by the audience who then pass it on to other people.
Encoding Decoding Theory- Developed by Stuart Hall. Argued that the dominant ideology in media texts is an interpreted reading and the audience are active and receive messages, the readings are negotiated.
Maslows heirachy of needs- portrayed in a pyramid of what humans need. Self actualization, esteem, love/belonging, safety and physiological.

"The media has replaced family, society and religion as the main source of collective identity" Discuss

A focus on identity requires us to pay close attention to the diverse ways in which media and technologies used in everday life and their consequences both for individuals and social groups- David Buckingham

With the introduction of new media into our lives, Facebook and Twitter has slowly dominated our lives replacing somewhat human interaction especially when it comes to the family especially children. The Times headline in April 2011 read "Almost half of UK children break Facebook under age limit" which suggests that children are wanting more and more to join Facebook because it is a growing trend but also going behind their families backs to create an account. This gives us a sense of the collective idenity of youth as they want to keep up with modern trends even at a very young age. In relation to the question this shows a breakdown in 'old fashioned' communication in the fact we want to speak to our family and friends online through chat rather than talking face to face. On social networking sites such as Facebook we can also build our own family tree but add who we like not just our family, for example you could add your best friend but as your sister. The idea of having our immediate family listed is no longer perhaps desired but to think of our friends as family also showing that anyone can be our family on these sites. This relates somewhat to the idea of Ponti, having an embodied experience when adding your friends to your family tree as you feel a sense of happiness as if you are actually building your own family of choice. The idea of youth creating a collective identity through using the internet is this exact reason in the fact we can create our idea of a family and express ourselves through our profile.

Religion has always been an important factor in people’s lives, determining how they act and what they do. Although the internet has had a profound affect on religion. An article in The Guardian dated 17 April 2011 read “Online, God has been released from traditional doctrine to become everything to everybody”. This suggests the idea that instead of God been solely in the bible and for religious followers to go to church and pray in a traditional manner you can now find out everything you need online. There is access to online bibles and you can even write prayers and receive them through email! This takes away the tradition values of religion somewhat as we can now sit on our computer and find everything we need. Also through search engines there is so much information on different religions and many people are reading up on these and consequently joining and following these religions which there are no restriction on. George Barna who is an American religion researcher stated that he believes young people who attend church regularly would leave their congregation and rely on the internet for their spiritual needs. Youth and their collective identity could be created as they could leave their churches and join online chat forums or prayer groups via email instead of physically going to church, emphasising how the modern day technologies have had an effect on religion and its practises.

Society had been affected enormously by the media. The media can influence people’s opinions and views on any topic through newspapers, television and the internet. We have access to many forms of media and all with different and conflicting information. The theory of post modernism can be related to how new media has affected our daily lives as we now are bombarded with different messages and the media becomes our reality. Social networking allows us to communicate with our family and friends without having to pick up the phone; the online press allows us to read about what we are interested in and base our decisions on this. For example the recent London Riots and the Medias portrayal of it, The Sun headline read “British youths are the most unpleasant and violent in the world” dated in August 2011. The words used in this headline are damming and to an older generation this would frighten them greatly as they have seen on the news, this would only add to their fears. When reading these headlines or watching the news a Marxist view would see us as being a passive audience accepting all the messages we receive which reflects the impact modern day media is having on our lives. All these means allow us to create a collective identity by reading the same things, having the same opinions or using social networking to form an identity with others.

The media has a had a profound affect on our family life, society and religion in the view we have to it compared to in the past, the way we act towards it now and the amount of access we have to things in relation to it.

"The media do not construct collective identity; they merely reflect it" Discuss.

The idea of reflecting collective identity suggests the media give us, as the audience the 'bare facts' which in most cases especially when it comes to the representation of Youth is not being seen. The modern view on youth is that of 'thuggish, animalistic and violent' because of the media 'reflecting' their collective identity?

Reflecting also known as 'bare facts' and Construction can be seen as exaggerating the truth. When it comes to youth representation the media do not reflect yet construct their idea of what the youth of today are. Tabloid papers are famous for their headlines, in the recent London Riots headlines such as 'Riot yobs can't hide' shows they are constructing what they think and therefore want us to think. In broadsheets they are seen to reflect the news more than tabloids, there headlines are less extreme such as they will simply say what is happening , in the telegraph a headline on the news of the tuition fees was ‘Students protest over tuition fees’ and they tend to focus on what has happened in the articles.

Although, in all its different forms whether it being a tabloid newspaper or a broadsheet their job is too sell news and bad news sells. The idea of media constructing collective identity relates to the idea of moral panics. The media are said to create a moral panic, which is defined as a feeling expressed in a population about an issue reported by news which threatens society. A recent example of the media creating a moral panic about youth was the recent London Riots where the newspapers had headlines such as “British youths are the most unpleasant and violent in the world” the use of the words and the phrase ‘in the world’ is an exaggeration as they are talking in global terms, with the images alongside the headlines used of shops on fire and being looted by hooded youths further emphasis this message of ‘yobs and thugs’ therefore creating a moral panic as people reading and seeing these images especially of an older generation will feel scared and worry that all teenagers are involved in the riots and are violent when this isn’t the case. In a majority of the articles about the riots no other groups were mentioned expect youth or if they were it was brief which suggests that the sole focus was on the negative representation.

The Postmodernist theory can be related to the construction of collective identity because the idea of the emergence of new media and its connection with youth. Throughout the riots black berry messenger and Facebook were used constantly to relay messages to other rioters and pictures of stolen goods and the damage caused were posted. The idea of a social order being the media governs our society and by it creating these moral panics and relaying news to us 24/7 we will believe what they tell us. They create a construction of reality which we live in and accept. The media is inescapable and to an older generation reading about these ‘yobs’ and ‘thugs’ it would scare them and their overall view would be that of youth. This is also similar to the Marxist view on the media as they believe it is the hegemony and what the media tells us we believe because it is the dominant force in society.

Although there is the idea that we as an audience aren’t passive but active and interpret what the media say and make our own minds up. This relates to Stuart Hall’s encoding and decoding theory, he believes that the message is not transparent and the audience are not a passive participant. We can make up our own minds about what we think. For example with the recent tuition fee’s protests people certain footage and words in headlines were chosen for effect and to sell but as an active audience we could determine whether we believed all youths were like this and able to see past it.

In conclusion, the media does not reflect a constructive identity of youth in any form it merely constructs it for the purpose to sell. The words chosen in headlines and the images are to portray the dominant ideology in society of a negative portrayal of youth in today’s society and to create a sense of fear and moral panics to make society feel threatened. The hegemony is that of a negative image of youth, whether it is a tabloid paper or a broadsheet there purpose is too sell and bad news sells. Although also to be taken into consideration not all members of an audience are passive, many are active and will interpret messages for themselves. The media is inescapable and creates a sense of reality which we accept and live in. Everything in news is constructed because it has to be considered newsworthy and chosen which further emphasises the idea of the media constructing a collective identity. 

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How far does the representation of a particular social group change over time? Refer to at least two media texts: Kidulthood and Rebel without a cause

Over the years subcultures and groups have evolved from the Teddie boys in the 50's to the rave scene in the 90's. This is seen through representation, especially in film. Kidulthood (2006) and Rebel without a cause (1955) demonstrate this change through the two social groups.

Kidulthood which is a Y2K film follows the issues that can be faced in teenage life, including bullying and teenage pregnancy. There are a mixture of boys and girls in the social group and they all conform to the stereotype of the 'chav' subculture, this can be seen through their image. The girls wear gold jewelry and the boys were tracksuits and caps. They also speak in slang and use swear words, what they say is also vulgar language which also conforms the stereotype of chav. This is very different to James Dean and the group in Rebel without a cause as they are from a middle class background whereas in Kidulthood many of them live in council estates. The group James Dean tries to fit in mainly dress in leather jackets and jeans and Judy who is his love interest wears a red top and pretty dresses, in much contrast to Becky in Kidulthood who wears little clothing. Although at the time Rebel without a cause was released, Judy's top caused some controversy as it was red which denotes danger and lust, but this is interesting as in today's society this would be overlooked as in films we see a lot more explicit content. Another obvious difference in both films is the mix of races. In RWAC there were predominately white characters but in Kidulthood there were many races but predominately black characters which represents a more modern society. Their image can be related to the ideas of Henry Tajfel as the two different groups build their image around each other especially seen in RWAC as he wears a leather jacket with the collar up to give off a rebellious feel .

Another change in the representation of social groups is the violence shown in the films. In RWAC the only scene that is somewhat violent is when Buzz and his gang pull out a pen knife of some sort but in Kidulthood there is scenes involving guns and in the end scene Sam beats Trife to death with a baseball bat which is explicit violence. This shows how society has changed in the way of what we are allowed to see as in the 1950's violence of that level would be censored, as well as the language and scenes of a sexual nature.
The ideas of Foucault can also be related to both films as James Dean is from a middle class background and from what we see in the film so is Becky as she lives in a house that is decorated to quite a high standard with white sofas and glass cabinets yet they both want to rebel and try to hang around with the wrong people, more in Becky's case as she takes class A drugs and sells her body.

There is a major difference in the education of the students, in Kidulthood we rarely see them learning as in the class scene Katie is being badly beaten up by a group of girls but just in their overall personalities it is clear to see they are not well educated whereas in RWAC Dean first meets Judy in a class where they are learning about science of some sort, and in their speech we can tell they are educated to a higher standard. This could also reflect the change in society as education was very important in the 1950's and men especially were seen to have to get good jobs and provide for their families but in today's society there a high statistics of truancy in schools and children have a lower expectation of school.

In conclusion the representation of social groups in Rebel without a cause and Kidulthood is very different but goes accordingly with modern society as the times have changed and so have what we expect and accept in modern day society, overall the idea of what a rebel is has greatly changed from James Dean to Kidulthood.

How do young people form their 'collective identity' through reality TV?

In today's society there are now many reality TV shows focusing on young people and their lifestyles such as Made in Chelsea and Geordie Shore. These programs show us as the audience how these people live their everyday lives which therefore giving us in opinion of these groups.

Young people as a whole can now watch a reality TV show and feel gratification from it as they may be able to relate to these people therefore showing a way of them forming an identity of some sort. In the series Made in Chelsea, it focuses on the lives of a group of affulent young friends. As an audience watching this we may feel like we can relate to them if we were from a similar background or were going through the same things as they were. Their collective identity is created through their class as they are all from wealthy families for example Jamie Laing who is the heir to the Mcvitie fortune. Due to their class this brings them together and forms a collective identity becuase they would have been brought up in similar ways and used to a wealthly background. Due to the creation of this collective identity by audiences we therefore label them in perhaps a negative way because they are 'snobs' and 'stuck up. Them trying to break out of this label relates to Michael Foucault's theory as we can see them as trying to break out of their boundaries as in one of the episode, a boy refers to a girl as a 'bird' which is typically associated with the lower class. They also form their collective identity through their sexuality as they date each other and are romantically interested in eachother and a lot of the show revolves around their relationships.

In contrast to Made in Chelsea, the program Geordie Shore shows a completely opposite group of people. It focuses on a group of boys and girls from newcastle living in a house together. From first viewing we see them as coming from a lower class background as the boys are all topless and have tattoos which could be related to lower class and the girls are dressed in cheaper looking clothes. When watching Geordie Shore we see how different they are as they are portrayed as party animals, crude, loud and promisciuous. They create their collective identity through again class as they are all from a lower class, but also gender as the boys see the girls as 'objects' and want to be with as many as they can whilst the girls comply with this. Although like Made in Chelsea the characters in Geordie Shore can be seen to try to break out of their boundaries by wanting to have more money and trying to fit into a higher class society by the way they dress and through their image.

Having a collective identity can be seen as somewhat oppressive because according to Michael Foucault we cannot break out of these boundaries which means we are always labelled as that. For example if a girl who was a typical 'chav' wanted to become a goth she would struggle as she already has created her identity as a 'chav'. The Bolton News wrote:
Gary, for instance, says: “I have a degree in pulling women,” while Sophie adds: “I’m going to be a complete slut and put out. Her proud mum adds that she has a fantastic figure" this relays the idea of Foucaults theory as by reading this and then watching the program the audience would therefore stereotype and believe they were like this. The idea of reading and believing everything we read relates to the Marxist theory in the fact that they believe the media is an ideological tool and we take what the media give us.

In conclusion, through the use of reality TV many young people create their collective identity through various means but especially through their class, gender and sexuality. Although it can be seen as opressive these people can try to break out of any boundaries they are given but when the media has labelled you as something, its hard to ever subvert that as the media is a powerful tool!

Video Analysis of Judas- Lady Gaga

In this video Lady Gaga is portraying Mary Magdalene, who is a biblical character and her torn love between Jesus and Judas who betrayed Jesus. Although she has done this with a modern twist as the costumes she wears have a 20th century twist with the leather jacket and bandannas which relates to the idea of Lady Gaga being a modern pop star. Also the outfit in the end scene shows her unique style which she is most known for therefore conforming to her stereotypical image. The whole ideas in the song also relate to herself as she is a devout catholic yet she breaks this mold as we see her as extrovert and not a stereotypical Catholic which all adds to how she as a star is constructed as we know for being unique. There are lots of closeups in the video and she is the main focus therefore putting emphasis the fact she is the star. Although there are similar connotations with Madonna and Lady Gaga has been compared to her, as they both were religious but tried to break the boundaries as such and caused controversy, she has also been said to build her image and persona on Madonna. In the dance scenes Lady Gaga is at the front at all the times and the main focus, showing she is the star again. The idea of her being torn between her God and Judas who is a 'bad boy' which reiterates the fact she is a modern day star.   

How are teenagers and young people in the media portrayed?

The Inbetweeners, follows the story of four teenage boys and the difficulties of teenage life. In the series we see Will who comes into the school as the new boy and immediately stereotyped a nerd as he carries a briefcase and wears a suit. The three other boys Simon, Jay and Neil consider themselves as 'cool' and popular yet their schoolmates disagree, we see throughout that they are the unpopular group. We see Neil and especially Jay fit the stereotype of a typical teenage boy in the sense that they are obsessed with getting girls and trying to impress. Jay especially shows off and talks about all the girls he has been with but we as an audience see he is lying to impress his friends and seem 'cool' which could relate to teenagers especially boys. Jacques Lacan's theory of the mirror stage can be seen in the epsiode 'Will's Birthday' as they pick going to a school house party where the popular kids will be over their friends birthday dinner. This relates to the theory because the boys are showing a change in identity as they perhaps are trying to fit in with the popular crowd. With a film released in 2011 showing a typical lads holiday to Malia where they do everything you'd expect a group of teenage boys to do but with an inbetweeners twist. The theory from Richard Jenkins can be seen in the film as they talk about going on a boys holiday because 'its the time to go' as everyone is doing it and Malia is a known popular teenage holiday destination and  is renowned for its club and partying scene. 

Theorist Research Homework

Stuart Hall:
-Stuart Hall is a cultural theorist who mainly focuses on ideas of hegemony and cultural studies.
-He also looks at the way race is presented in the mass media which could relate to the London Riots as some news stations when showing the coverage could be seen to have been presenting one race as the dominant individuals committing the crimes.
-He believes 'moral panics' which the media created over the riots are created to gain public support and police the crisis which was seen during the riots as groups were seen banding together to try and help the forces.
-Hall's theory of encoding/decoding (1973) could relate to the riots as he believes the message the media gives is never transparent and the audience is not passive. As when people were watching the coverage, some people could be horrified yet others could think its right and join in.
-Hall has published many books but the ones that could perhaps relate to the riots are, 'Policing the crisis' (1978) as as said above this relates to the ideas of 'moral panics'. 'Law, class and control' (1981) as there was a lot in the news focused on the class and status of the rioters as it was portrayed as the lower classes and people on benefits.

Henry Tajfel:
-Henry Tajfel was a British social psychologist who focused on prejudice and social identity.
-His most famous theory was the Social Identity Theory:
Social Identity is described as 'social identity is a person's sense of who they are based on their groups memberships. Tajfel described this theory as the people in these groups e.g. football team have a sense of pride and self esteem and they feel they belong in the social world. He also said in order to increase our self image we boost our group and can discriminate and be prejudice against other groups to make our group look better. Then there is categorization where we are classed as 'us' and other groups are 'them'.
This relates to the London riots as the rioters themselves would perhaps have felt as sense of unity and one-ness as they were all banding together for what they thought were the right reasons, in terms of having to boost their self image the rioters were coming together to go against authority so in this situation the police and government were 'them' and the rioters were 'us'.
-Tajfel published a range of books, some relating to the London riots could be:
Journey of Social issues and Social categorization and intergroup behavior. These books could perhaps be related as they both look at the theory of social identity.

Caroline Howarth:
-Caroline Howarth is a Dr who lived in South Africa for her early life and began teaching there where she saw discrimination and terrible racism which shaped her views for the future.
-Howarth focuses mainly on race and two of her research projects were:
'Contesting representations of race in predominately white schools'- This revolved around Howarth working in a mainly white school and assessing how the looked at race, she looked at this through drawings and stories to see how the children portrayed race.
-Another project was 'Asserting identity in a stigmatized multicultural community' which was where she studied the relationship between identity, community and representation in Brixton. She worked within secondary schools in the area and studied how poverty and various factors affected them.
These projects could relate to the riots because race was a big thing in media coverage and there was a big focus on the communities where rioting was taking place and they were stereotyped as 'poverty stricken'.