With reference to youth, discuss how the identity of youths has been mediated

Foucalt said that our identity is mediated through other people and we then form a collective identity. By looking at the music video 'S&M' by Rihanna, we can see that she conforms to the stereotypical views of which adults have of teenage youths. Young girls will watch this video and see what she is doing and singing about as acceptable. They will then base their identity around the image which she is giving off in the video. This image of Rihanna is constructed, however teenagers will still follow this (Richard Dyer's Star Theory). This is just one example of how the identity of youths have been mediated as these videos are shown on the television often, not restricting explicit content within them, making this content acceptable in everyday lives.

The song S&M by Rihanna has many sexual connotations and implications. In the music video Rihanna is seen to be in control and to have power over the men, having men tied up or on a dog leash. This is a sexual implication and matches the lyrics of the song 'Sex in the air, I don't care, I love the smell of it'. These lyrics do not only influence defiance ('I don't care') for youths, females in particular, but it also implants the idea that sex is good and acceptable. This video will influence young girls to be like Rihanna, forming a 'collective identity'and continuing the hegemonic view that all youth are like this.

Winships notion of complexity is about being prepared, in terms of gratification, to finally recognise the ideal version of ourselves. Rihanna represents a glamorous, popular, ideal image for young girls and this may influence the way in which the youths identity develop Rihanna is portraying the image that this is how young females should be, sexual, permiscuous and careless. As youths already hate constraints and rules, the idea of being like Rihanna, granting them freedom will have a huge influence on their identity. This would then create a collective identity which will then be seen as the 'in-group' (Henri Tajfel social identity theory), mediating the image for the youths which Rihanna has portrayed.

However if you look at an older video released by Rihanna called 'If Its Loving That You Want' you will see that the artist has changed her image and appearance over time to sexualisation and promiscuity. Not only the the artists image changed, but so have her lyrics as they do not have sexual connotations behind them and are not explicit. An example is 'If its loving that you want, you should make me your girl' in comparison to 'Sex is in the air, I don't care I love the smell of it.' The clothing which she is wearing in the video is also appropriate as they do not reveal much of Rihanna's body. The mise-en-scene of the video is also very innocent and natural with people having fun and being happy. As these changes in the artist happened over time, us as an audience have grown to accept it and have become desensitised to the images and lyrics of these songs as they are fairly normal for us.

Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding theory uses the idea that the media encode a text with messages and as an audience it is for us to decode the text and take the message how we believe suits us best. By watching videos such as S&M, youths may take the negative, sexual, promiscuous images as positive. As these negatives are pushing the boundaries of regulations set, this will attract more attention from youths as the more a media text pushes the boundaries, the more attention it collects.

In conclusion, youths identities are being mediated through the development of music videos, which push the boundaries of regulations, as the stars change their image. Youths, who are still developing will then see these music videos and decode the texts in the way which they believe applies to them. As Jacques Lacan's Mirror Stage theory says; 'The media is the mirror. Youths look at the media and reflect the behaviour and trends as youths are still developing.'

Theories and Definitons

Apathy – Not caring

Associations – When things are linked together

Binary Oppositions – Class/race/gender/age/disability

Brand – The company or name that gets popular, attached to the person or product

Buzz Words – Words that have certain triggers

Collective Identity – Sense of belonging, sharing same interests as others

Connotations – The implied messages within media texts

Construction – The way something is put together

Counter Culture – A culture that goes against the mainstream

Democracy – The choice of voting for what you want

Direct Address – When a product or person is made to be reaching out to you personally

Enigma - Mysterious

Global media – The media worldwide

Hegemony – Dominant view

Iconography – Visuals associated with a person, can be part of their collective identity

Identity – Your characteristics and personality

Identity Construction – The creation of an identity

Ideology – A set of ideas

Intertextuality – Referencing other films

Marketing – The way something is advertised to the public

Marxism – Communism, one way of thinking and living

Media Saturated – Media is inescapable, we see it everywhere

Mediated – Changed, adapted

Mise en Scene – Literally what’s on the set (costume, props, backdrop)

Moral Panic – A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order.

Narrative – Story line

Neo Marxism – Modern Communism

Perspective – The viewpoint of someone or something

Post Modernism – Our reality is constructed

Regulation – Censorship, blocking of content

Representation – The way something is portrayed. (editing, camera, colours, mise en scene etc.)

Social inclusion – The breakup of groups

Social Order – Stance and status (hierarchy)

Star – The popular figure

Subculture – A group with their own separate beliefs to society

Subservient – Doing something without question

Subversion – Going against the stereotype or social norm

The Feminine Mystique – Women are capable of what men are doing

The Male Gaze – Women objectified by male media

Web 2.0 – Websites that allow users to create and share content rather than

David Buckingham “A focus on identity requires us to pay closer attention to the ways in which media and technologies are used in everyday life and their consequences for social groups”.

David Gauntlett – “Identity is complicated – everybody thinks they’ve got one”.

Henri Jenkins – Teens are constantly updating and customising their profiles online adding photos and songs and posting to each other’s virtual ‘walls’. While this could be interpreted as just playing around, these activities could also be a means to construct an experiment with their identity. In particular, it can be a space for exploring one’s gender identification and sexuality.

Henri Tajfel – Individuals strive to improve their self-image by trying to enhance their self-esteem, based on their personal identity or various social identities - ‘in’ group, ‘out’ group.

Hypodermic Needle Model – Media is like a drug, it’s all around us and we even take it in without trying. The Hypodermic Needle Model suggests that the information from a text passes into the mass consciousness of the audience unmediated; the experience, intelligence and opinion of an individual are not relevant to the reception of the text.

Jaques Lacan - Theory of mirroring behaviour

Karl Marx - Marxism theory

 Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs – A pyramid of needs:

Biological and Physiological > Safety > Belongingness and Love > Esteem > Self actualisation

Merlau Ponty – We have an embodied experience and anything in which we use our bodies to create, we help builds our identity.

 Michael Foucault – We are born with a basic identity. Our identity mediates as we get older and meet other people. We gain a collective identity by doing this and become part of a group. However, it can be seen as a negative to be part of a collective identity because this encourages stereotypes to be created. Once you are in a group, it’s hard to change and be seen as different.

Stuart Hall – Proposes that the media, as a principle from of ideological spreading, produces representations of the social world via images and portrayals. Hall asserts that ideological things become ‘naturalised’.

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

I disagree with this statement as the media consistently portray youths in a negative light, particularly in news papers and online news sites which use biased words when describing an event or incident to make the audience see this group in a negative way.

Michael Foucault's theory on collective identity says that being part of a collective identity can be negative in some respects as this influences the creation of stereotypes. The media then takes these stereotypes and portrays all youths to be of the group which is behaving negatively. The media uses negative words to describe these events such as 'brazen', 'criminals', thugs and many more. It also generalises when describing these groups, using words such as 'youths', which creates a moral panic in society as they will then see all youths as dangerous or as a threat when really not all youths are how the media described this small group.

Stuart Halls encoding and decoding theory explains that the media encodes messages in their texts for us to decode into our own ideas and opinion, however by using biased words it sways the decision which the audience makes, creating a reality in their mind which doesn't really exist. An example of this is the London Riots. The media exaggerated the actions committed and created fear in society, blaming the entire event on youths. They did this through the use of pictures, video footage and biased words such as 'yobs', 'animals' and 'thugs' which categorises youths and controls the mind of the audience, telling people in society how to think instead of letting them decided for themselve.

This is a form of post modernisation, where the media controls the mind of the audience and constructs a reality for them in their mind which they will base their life around. If the media merely reflected on collective identity, they would not use biased words or construct any type of view in the audiences head but would instead just describe or explain an incident and allow the audience to make their own judgement. This point is backed up by Strinati's theory on post modernism. Stranati says; post modernism is said to describe the emergence of a social order in which the importance and power of the mass media and popular culture means that they govern and shape all other forms of social relationships.

In conclusion, I believe that the media constructs collective identity’s such as youth. Post modernism is used to control the way by which the audience thinks so that the view of which the media is constructing will be seen as the correct view and allow them to control the way people live their lives. The more the force of the media dominates society’s views, the more the Marxist theory becomes true; if we are all persaded to think the same way, we will all eventually have the same view about the collective identities of people, their behaviour, activities which they take part in and their interests.In the future, this will possibly lead to people realising the truth behind the media and that the media is constructing views rather than reflecting them which could possibly result in people not listening to what the media has to say or take notice of the points which they are trying to put across, resulting in the media losing its power in society.

Web 2.0

How does the internet provide an enormous challenge for regulators?

Those who set regulations will not be able to keep up with the rate by which we can spread information. An example of this is the London Riots and the use of Blackberry Messenger (BBM) which people used in order to send viral messages (Broadcasts) to spread the details of the time and place of a riot. Regulators could not keep up with this information as by the time that they had blocked the BBM Service, many riots had taken place and a lot of damage had been caused. This service was also encoded so authorities could not track the origin of these messages which created a challenge for them.

How does the internet provide a post-modern vision of identity?

The internet has become a dominant factor in youth’s lives and is inescapable. The internet constructs a reality and controls the mind of those who use it.  Through this mind control and construction of reality, the post-modern vision can create moral panic in society. An example of this is the way in which youths are represented by the media, using negative, biased words to describe them, creating moral panic in society that youths are out of control and dangerous.

‘This brazen Facebook user posted a picture of himself with suspected stolen goods’

o   Brazen –Describes user with biased word

o   Use of Facebook- Careless

o   Viral

‘The Tottenham riots were a grim, reminder, if any were needed, of the level of anarchy that exists barely below the surface in same of our worst urban estates.’

o   Warning: Young People

o   Categorises those from estates

o   Lower Class

This quote is creating moral panic within society by basically telling people that even when things are going well and nice, underneath there is always anarchy which can break out at any time. This creates fear for them even if nothing is wrong. It also directs the blame for this anarchy at those of the lower-working class who live on estates in particular.

How does wed 2.0 present a change for rioters since the Brixton Riots?

The riots in Brixton began with the Police not helping a young black male quick enough and the public intervened and began to riot. This was then spread through word of mouth and more people then joined in. However with the London Riots, web 2.0 allowed the information of the riots to be spread virally, meaning that they spread a lot quicker and across a much bigger distance. There weren’t riots just in one area like with the Brixton riots but instead they were spread across the whole of London and in some cases outside of London. Both of these events have the fact that it was a black male dying which caused them in common.

How has online press affected us in today’s society?

The online press has created a lot of prejudice in society. As a result of this prejudice, moral panic has been generated.

How does it present an area of control for today’s society?

How must we regulate ourselves as young people due to web 2.0? How is it a form of taking our identity back?

Magazine Annotations

How far do you agree with this statement? 'Identity is complicated, everybody's got one'- Gauntlett

From the day that we are born, we begin to form our own identity. Our identity is formed by our surroundings, the events we take part in and the company which we keep. This is why I agree with the point that identity is complicated, because it is influenced by so many factors. As no two people live the same lives, each of these three influences are different for everybody. No two people know all of the exact same people or have the same relationship with them, nor do they have the exact same background or partake in the exact same event. Our identity makes us unique and differentiates us from others. As we grow our identity is constantly changing. One of the main influential things on children's lives nowadays is the Internet. The Internet contains many social networking sites where individuals are able to create their own profile (Ponty). They can also socialise with others as well as join groups which they feel relate to them. This will allow them to communicate with others who have something in common with them, forming a collective identity and in some cases, even a culture (Gauntlett). Social networking sites also allow people to see what is popular at any time, giving people the chance to be part of the 'in-group' and join in with what is generally seen as 'cool' at the time (Henri Tajfel).

In conclusion I agree strongly with the above statement as there are many influences which affect an individuals identity, making it completely different to any other persons identity. This shows how complicated identity is as it can not be duplicated. I also agree with the part of the statement which says that everybody has an identity as people begin to form their identity from the moment that they are born. This makes it impossible for any person to not have an identity. Apart from the environment which we grow up in and our background, the main influence on our identity is the media, the Internet in specific. It allows us to be creative when creating our profiles. It also allows us to meet others who have similar interests to us and form a collective identity, joining groups which are seen as popular and avoiding those which are seen as unpopular. Videos can also be viewed on the Internet as well as play games which also influence identity. The television also affects the make up of a persons identity.

How far does the representation of a particular social group change over time?

Over time the representation of youths has changed. This change can be quite clearly be seen through the comparison of movies such as Rebel Without A Cause and Y2K films such as Kidulthood. In these films, the Rebel culture is the culture which is being shown as having changed. Instantly the differences are very clear through both mise-en-scene and dialogue. James Dean, in Rebel Without A Cause, is well spoken and shows respect to who he is talking to. He also dresses quite smart in and out of school. James Dean even hangs around with the character who is not seen to be 'cool' or in the in-group. Only later on in the film does he wear a red jacket with the collar up which was in those times seen as a rebels style of clothing. Females are seen as part of the group in Rebel Without A Cause but are not seen as rebels themselves. However in Kidulthood the females have a group of their own, not hanging around with the male rebels but instead creating their own female rebel group. The clothing also differs in the Y2K film. The clothing which the 'rebels' wear are hoodies, jeans and trainers for the males and low cut tops, short skirts and other revealing styles of clothing. Even when in school uniform, instead of dressing smart, the rebels would wear hoodies or hats over their school uniform to show that they are a part of this culture. The dialogue also differs from that of Rebel Without A Cause. While James Dean and the other rebels spoke quite respectfully and formally, the youths in Kidulthood use alot of colloquialism in their speech when communicating as well as alot of swearing. The topics of which they speak are also quite adult and permiscuous usually including sex. If not sex then violence. This shows their rebellious culture through their speech as well as their actions where as in Rebel Without A Cause all of the trouble which they got up to was a lot more playful and troublesome.

The social class differs between the rebels in RWAC and the rebels in Kidulthood also. In RWAC James Dean is of the middle to upper class which explains why he is well spoken and dressed, where as in Kidulthood all of the characters are of the lower to working class, living in flats and on estates. In RWAC education and going to school is seen as a positive and more of an achievement as the rebels wanted to go somewhere in life. In Kidulthood school and education is more seen as hastle to the rebels and none of them really care for their future, getting pregnant at young ages and getting involved with criminal activities such as guns and drugs. The more disrespectful the characters are in Kidulthood, the more respect they gained from their peers putting them in the in-group, while those who tried to not be disrespectful or keep 'bad company' was part of the 'out-group' and were generally picked on or bullied. In RWAC those who wished to just keep their business to themselves were left alone and went by unnoticed. In RWAC, when James Deane was alone with the girl, the most that they done was hug one another and go to sleep in one anothers arms, in Kidulthood the youths were having sex and getting pregnant.

To conclude, the representation of the rebel social group has changed significantly overtime. These changes include dress sense, their behaviour and the way in which they communicate. Instead of just raising their collar, rebels now use hoodies or bandanas with trainers, usually concealing their identity. Their behaviour is a lot more serious now than it was back in the times of RWAC also as the events which take part in the rebels lives are alot more serious than they were. In the times of RWAC the biggest fear on a parents mind was their child being arrested or being escorted home by the police while in Kidulthood the streets and lifestyles of the rebels are alot more serious and dangerous. Also explicit topics are alot more openly spoken about as well as actions such as sex. All of the actions which were seen as rebellious in RWAC were taken in Kidulthood and were seen as acceptable such as smoking, carrying weapons and so on, while other actions which are alot more serious were committed also. The idea of the 'in-group' and 'out-group' was seen in both films however which backs up Henri Tajfel's social identity theory. When the audience sees one group from another character's viewpoint, their opinions on other characters and groups within the film are swayed because of the way the groups have been represented to us.

How do young people form their own 'Collective Identity' through reality TV?

From the day that we are born we begin to create our own collective identity. Our collective identity then gives us a sense of belonging. We find our collective identity through many different things in life which we can have in common with others. These things include music, hobbies, fashion, religious beliefs, interests and so much more. Pretty much every aspect of our life could possibly be an aspect of another persons life, there by making us feel as if we are in the in-group and gives us a sense of belonging.

Reality TV shows such as 'Geordie Shore', 'The Only Way is Essex' and 'Made in Chelsea' each have a group of youths who have similar interests, hobbies and lifestyles. Although they are not all exactly the same they help one another to form a 'collective identity' by making each other feel like they fit in and have a purpose. Each of this shows are set in different locations. Each of these locations are of a different social class and the characters within each of these shows conform to that class. An example of this is 'Made in Chelsea'. The area of Chelsea is an upper class area full of wealthy people. This will affect the identity of those who live there, therefore creating a different lifestyle. In each of the shows stated above, the characters are in the popular group of that area, generally doing what is seen as 'cool' in their social class. This is why in 'The Only Way Is Essex' their actions completely differ from that of the actions of the characters in 'Made In Chelsea' although both groups of youths are seen as popular by their peers. This backs up Henri Tajfel's social identity theory that a person’s sense of who they are is based on their group membership. Michael Foucalt's theory is also backed up as he says that when are born you have a primary and basic identity that builds as you get older and meet new people. According to Michael Foucalt's theory, your collective identity will change based on the people around you and their characteristics too.

In 'Made In Chelsea' all of the youths can relate to one another through social class and  wealth. They all wear expensive clothing and seem to have materialistic values and care mainly about spending money than how they can actually use it wisely. Because of all of these factors which they have in common, it influences their interests. This is where the youths gain their sense of belonging as they can go about their daily hobbies together as a group and enjoy themselves. Being around people with the same personality (and even lifestyle for this show) can help youths to connect and form their collective identity. Once again this backs up Henri Tajfel's theory as he said ''the groups we are part of become an important part of our lives and transform into a source of pride and self-esteem and in order to increase our social identity, we enhance the status of the group.'' It also backs up Richard Jenkins' theory which says ''You need to interact in order to form our identity and  partake in events with people we are affiliated with.''

However, some of the collective identities which are shown on reality TV can generate a prejudice view of certain groups in society making other assume that all people of that group are similar. An example of this is the show 'The Only Way Is Essex'. All of the youths in this show live a 'Glamerous' lifestyle and all of the females act like 'Blonde Bimbos' and 'Barbie Dolls'. The reality TV show has recieved many complaints from others who live in Essex as they believe that the show is causing a stereotypical view for them and that not all people from Essex do not live their lives like this. This shows that Henri Tajfel was correct when he said that there is an 'In-group' and an 'Out-group'. This also backs up the theory of Stuart Hall as his theory says that the media creates an ideological and politically constructed representation. This theory is backed up as it is the use of media which is generating this stereotypical representation of Essex people.

Stuart Hall's theory can also be applied to the London Riots. The media portrayed youths in a negative light and even caused youths to be feared by older members of the public. This is a stereotypical view of the youths generated by the media.

In conclusion young people form their collective identity through reality television by making shows such as 'Made In Chelsea' and 'The Only Way Is Essex', 'Geordie Shore' and having similar personalities, values, hobbies, interests and dress style as each other. This gives them their collective identity

How are Teenagers and Young People in the media portayed?

How are Teenagers and Young People in the Media portrayed?

The media generally portrays teenagers and young people negatively. They do this by making the majority of teenage and young characters fit a typical stereotype based on the actions of a small minority of teens in society. This makes all teens and young people look bad. The typical stereotypes which are used to portray teenagers and young people to make these characters into criminals, ill mannered youths, trouble makers, vandals, promiscuous party animals and so on. A recent example of youths being portrayed negatively in the media is the London riots. Although there was a large variety of age groups rioting and not all teenagers and young people were involved in the rioting, many headlines were labelled 'Teenage Riots' and so on. Camera shots of the riots shown on the news were close ups of youths and all interviews shown with the rioters were of youths, however when wideshots were shown of a larger crowd many adults could be seen amongst the rioters. This will affect the way in whch teenagers and young people will be seen in society. This backs up Henri Tajfel's social identity theory, making the 'Teenage' rioters seem like the in-group for other potential rioters which could be the reason for why the riots spread from Tottenham to the surrounding areas so quickly. This also backs up Stuart Hall's theory that the media creates an ideological and politically contstructed represantion about specific demographics, in this case age.

Not only are teenagers and young people portrayed negatively in the news and in reality but they are also portrayed negatively in fiction television programs. An example of a program in which there is a negative portrayal of young people and teens is Misfits. Each of the main characters are young people who are criminals doing community service. None of them have manners or respect for each other or anybody else other than themselves. They insult others without any care for their feelings, the character Nathan in particular. Early on in the series, the youths also gain supernatural powers which they do not use