Identity Construction Power Point

Identity construction power point

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

There are many different types of social groups and youths make up some of those social groups. Youths have their own identity and they go on to develop collective identites with others. Your identity includes aspects such as your personalities, interests and behaviours and your collective identity includes having these same aspects in common with others. Over time, this has changed for youths and to prove this Rebel Without A Cause (RWAC) will be juxtaposed along side Y2K film; Kidulthood.

Straight away the difference in youths is noticable when listening to the dialougue used in these films. James Dean, the star in RWAC, is well spoken and shows respect to who he is talking to. James Dean, although not requiring a uniform to go to school, dresses casually smart in and out of school. Only later on in the film does he wear a red jacket with the collar up as a result of his mediating collective identity. If we look at the dialogue used in Kidulthood, we can see that swearing and other taboo subjects are talked about openly with no respect to others around the youths. The youths in Kidulthood use colloquialism to communicate with one another which gives a sense of rebellion as others who don't often use the slang will not understand, mainly adults. The use of colloquialism is also used to give an accurate and realistic representation of youths so audiences can relate. The males dress is in hoodies, jeans and trainers and the females dress in low cut tops and other revealing clothing, all when not at school. Some of the youths wear a hoodie or hat over the uniform regardless, advertising their identity.

The difference in social class can be seen when looking at both films. James Dean and his family are of middle to upper class which explains why he is well spoken and dressed, opposed to the lower to working class characters who seem to be the rebels in Kidulthood. James Dean is also educated and doesn't see school and teachers as a bother. In the time this film was set, a sense of achievement was found when proving yourself good at something educational and/or achieveing an award for something related to education which will look good in the future. There is a scene where James Dean stands on the school's crest and is told by another student that he is being disrespectful and he is made to look like he is in the wrong. In this scenario, being disrespectful is seen as the 'out' group and being respectful is seen as the 'in' group. This can change depending on the perspective of the person as we see later on when James Dean joins the 'rebel' group.

Alternatively, when looking at the characters in Kidulthood while at school, they are all split up in the playground with their own groups and interaction bewteen groups is seen as awkward. There is a scene where a female student from one group looks at one the students in a hoodie from another group and he shouts obscenities at her. In this scanerio, the 'in' group is the rebellious and disrespectful group and the 'out' group is the students who are not willing to stand up for themselves. This creates a social heirarchy within Kidulthood as the recurring theme of standing up for yourself is used throughout. This means that a heirarchy of status is developed among youths. The consequence of this is that youths now feel a sense of achievement when passing someone on this heirarchy and thus promoting violence to out do the 'tougher' group above.

Henri Tajfel's theory can be applied here as both films have 'in' and 'out' groups that can be seen from different perspectives from different characters within the movie. When the audience sees things from other character's viewpoints, their opinions on other characters and groups within the film are swayed because of the way the films have been represented to us.

In RWAC, James Dean's parents are part of the story line showing that his mum and dad have some importance in his life. On the other hand, hardly any parents are seen in Kidulthood and the parents that are seen don't understand their children as well as they think because their children cannot tell them things in confidence, unlike James Dean and his parents. The rebels seen in Kidulthood don't seem to have both parents which could reflect today's reality of there being less couples that stay together when they have children. Unlike back when RWAC was set and staying together as a couple was taken more seriously.

The difference in what was considered 'rebellious' back then and nowadays has significantly changed. In RWAC, James Dean was considered a rebel for wearing a red jacket with the collar up and smoking a cigarette. His red jacket became iconic for being a rebel, having connotations of danger and risking taking. James Dean also tried to sort out his problems using words, but the rebel group wanted to solve their differences using violence. Compared to Kidulthood, socially unacceptable subjects are discussed such as drugs, alcohol, sex, underage pregnancies and violence and are common among youths and talked about explicitly. When a problem arises in Kidulthood, aggressive and quick physical action seems to be the solution to the youths instead of actually thinking about how they can sort out their problems in a clearer way. This change represents that the social group of rebel youths have made violence their primary source for getting things done. An example of this can be seen when a group of characters are discussing how to get their property back from another rebel youth. They take the physical action root and attempt to take it back.

Violence inyouths have become a popular subject for newspapers to talk about nowadays because it happens so often. This makes people fear youths and group them together in one big social group, with the one characteristic of them being dangerous. This is why perhaps youths don't stand up against each other when one group attacks another because of fear of this post modernistic view of youths. The rebels in RWAC didn't attempt to kill anyone, but just to rough people up until they gave them what they wanted. James Dean stood up to the rebels, which made the rebels feel like they were being challenged and James Dean ended up becoming a rebel via peer pressure.

Peer pressure is possibly the one similarity the films have in common, as youths are still peer pressured today. This supports Michael Foicault's theory of being born with a primary identity and it mediating when we meet new people, in which we develop a collective identity. Michael Foucault also said that developing a collective identity can be seen as negative, because once in a group, it's hard to change because of stereotyping. Examples of stereotyping can be seen in Kidulthood when the youths are followed around a clothes shop by the guard, or when one of the black youths attempted to hail a cab, the drivers ignored him.

Technology has also affected the way youths now interact as a social group. David Buckingham said that "A focus on identity requires us to pay closer attention to the ways in which media technologies are used in everyday life and their consequences for social groups".  In RWAC there were no mobile phones, only house phones, so youths would normally meet up with their friends and drive to a meeting point. Alternatively, in Kidulthood, we see the mobile phone used as a way to gain status for particular collective identities and for quick communication.

Identity is a complex thing and the youths in Kidulthood seem to want to express that openly, but face the consequences of being made fun of. This supports the theory of David Gauntlett who said "Identity is complicated and everybody thinks they have got one". Although, this is slightly exaggerated in Kidulthood to create drama and make the film more interesting.

To conclude, the representation of the rebel youth social group has changed significantly overtime by means of language, dress code and behaviours which are now more explicit and violent. Looking at this post modernistic view of youths we can see that the idea of a 'rebel' has changed from just popping your collar to beating someone to death.

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

From a young age we start to develop our own identity and as we grow older we then form our collective identities (our sense of belonging). Their are many way in which one can form their collective identity, either through music, hobbies and interest, style or even the same beliefs. Some however, develop their collective identities through reality television, which is what will be discussed further.

Reality television programmes within television show how youths develop their collective identity. Such shows as Made In Chelsea, The Only Way Is Essex and Geordie Shore are examples to use as they all include their own unique group of youths to have helped each other form their collective identity. Michael Foucalt said that you are born with a primary and basic identity that builds as they get older and meet new people. According to Michael Foucalt, your collective identity changes based on the people around you and their opinions too.

If we look at Made In Chelsea, who's group of youths are related by some sort of fame, they all have an upper class appearance and mind set. They wear expensive clothing and seem have materialistic values and care mostly about how they can spend their money than how they can actually use it wisely. As a group, they all have similar interests and in that respect, this is where they acquire their sense of belonging. Being around people with the same personality (and even lifestyle for this show) can help youths to connect and form their collective identity. With a sense of belonging, comes a social identity. Henri Tajfel 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.

When enhancing the status of our own group we tend to discriminate other groups according to Henri Tajfel. This then promotes the idea of having an 'in' group and an 'out' group. The 'in' group is seen as the 'right' group and the group we believe to be correct in some respects and the 'out' group is the group we believe to be wrong and the cause of a problem. For example, the 2011 London Riots was covered by the media. The media portrayed youths in a negative light and even caused youths to be feared by older members of the public. In this case, from the perspective of the youths, joining the riots were the 'in' group and the news was incorrect and from the perspective of the people watching the news, the media was correct and therefore the 'in' group. If we look at the behaviours of the cast from Made In Chelsea, they would never mix with the cast from Geordie Shore.

The group from Geordie Shore has their own collective identity, which is different to the sense of belonging one may feel with the group from Made In Chelsea. The group from Geordie Shore all have an interest in dressing up, going out and partying all night and having sexual encounters along the way. The element that brings this group together isn't their fame or values for materialistic things but that they are trying to promote themselves and improve the status of their group by being popular.

Having many different collective identities is what contributes to the social identities of the world but it can be hard to change groups once you are in one. This will create stereotypes. These stereotypes come from the people watching the show and how the media portrays the cast from Made In Chelsea or Geordie Shore. People who watch the show may think many people from Chelsea act in the same way or even upper class youths act the same way as observed in the programme for example. Michael Foucalt also said that forming a collective identity can be seen as negative in some respects because when you become part of a group, you stand for something as a group which creates stereotypes of others who are related to that group. This makes it difficult to 'change' groups and show your uniqueness and own social identity. In Made In Chelsea, some of the cast members use colloquialism even though raised by upper class parents. This can be seen as the cast members trying to break their stereotype and an attempt to subvert from being classed as posh.

To conclude, young people form their collective identity through reality television such as the cast of Made In Chelsea and Geordie Shore by having similar personalities, values, behaviours, interests and dress style as each other. This all comes together to give each of them a sense of belonging and collective identity.

How does a narrative help construct a brand/star persona?

Choice of artist: Eminem

A pop performer and a pop star is something that should be differentiated. A pop performer is their identity for their musicianship or what they are well known for performing in. A pop star is someone that has an identity outside of their main role also. Some so-called pop stars today according to Richard Dyer don’t actually have a sociological impact on society or cover a wider market because their ‘brand awareness’ isn’t that big. Richard Dyer (1979) also said that “A star is an image constructed from a range of materials”. These materials he is talking about are things such as a pop star’s songs, album art work (their representations), media coverage (such as interviews and gossip), live performances and their music videos. A star persona is effectively the image of the famous person given by all the ‘materials’ listed above.

One of Eminem’s first music videos was called ‘My Name Is’ where he appears on the television set of a stereotypical American couple eating dinner and watching television. At a young age to present he has mostly appeared as being very comical when rapping and you can see this in his first songs. His first music video doesn’t seem to have any big budget aspects such as special effects. The editing is pretty basic with a few sped up clips and other editing techniques.

Eminem, since he started has always been on the music scene up to present date. Along the way he has made music videos with other artists, some featuring Eminem and the rest featuring other artists. These collaborative music videos help Eminem’s and the other artist’s popularity and keeps them in the public eye. Eminem has made many songs and we can see that compared to his first music videos he has adopted a big budget and is able to make more music videos with more creative ideas and locations. In the past he has made music videos with many rappers but recently has been with other artists such as Rihanna. This shows that he isn’t stuck to one genre of music.

At the time when Eminem was growing up, the genre of rap seemed predominantly an African-American ruled genre in America. With Eminem’s songs continuously being rated high on the charts he made it slightly more acceptable to see white people rapping on television. Eminem also made a movie called 8 Mile in which he stars as a new rapper trying to make it big in Detroit. This was seen to have aspects of Marshall Mather's life.

Eminem seems to have 3 personas however, one being Eminem, another being Slim Shady and another being Marshall Mathers. Slim Shady seems to be very comical, Eminem seems to be serious and Marshall Mathers is a representation of his own personality.

Slim Shady: 

Eminem: 

Marshall Mathers: 

Eminem’s physical image has changed slightly from 1999 – 2011. He still has the same hair style and maybe now has a few more tattoos but he has changed the way he dresses. In some pictures when he was younger, you can see him with t-shirts with rude words on it or hoodies and bandanas. Nowadays he dresses a bit more stylish and has the money to afford to dress this way. His identity however has gone from a rebellious rapper who poked fun at institutions and made it seem like the world was against him to someone who is seen to be lyrically intelligent.

<<< Past

<<< Present               

To what extent does social/digital media give us a sense of belonging – a collective identity

Social and digital media give us a sense of belonging or collective identity through things such as social networking and other mediums where we can create our own identity.

If we look at Facebook as not just a social networking site but as a chance to give someone the means to create their own identity, we can see this website gives users the option to create their own profile and show their interests. Henry Jenkins explains that teens use this to construct and experiment with their identities which help us to create our sense of belonging. The idea of Facebook is to allow users to be whoever they please without restrictions thus subverting to the idea of Marxism.

The creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has also benefitted from having a sense of belonging. This is because he is now very popular and has become iconic for Facebook and no doubt has had an increase in ego. Merlau Ponty says that we have an embodied experience and anything in which we use our bodies to create new things and build our identity. This applies here as Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook using his own hands and shared it with others to be accepted, enjoyed and ultimately a sense of belonging is made.

So users of social networking sites and even the makers form their own identities and when others accept your ideas you form a collective identity and a sense of one-ness with these people because you all have things in common. On Facebook the ability to ‘like’ or comment on something or someone else’s status is another way in which we express our opinions to help form our own identities. The whole idea of involving yourself with some sort of social or digital media that involves other people supports the idea of people wanting a sense of belonging. Nobody wants to be ‘left out’ and so they will join the crowd so as not to feel alone. Many people are part of different online communities such as Youtube and other sorts of forums, where they can create their own identity and talk about their interests.

Although the idea of collective identity may seem positive, it can have a negative side. Recently, people used social networking websites to plan and get together thousands of other youths to riot in London leading to the London 2011 riots. In this sense, social and digital media can be seen as destructive. The collective identity in the case of the young rioters seemed to all be linked by way of a poor educational background, money problems and no future job prospects. You could say many youths joined in the riots as they felt a sense of belonging with the others involved and helped to fight the cause. 

This leads onto another negative aspect of social media and collective identities is the idea of it being obtrusive. Michael Foucault said that surveillance in society could be intrusive in society. There are many different people in society and not everyone has the same views and interests which results in many different collective identities being formed. If there are so many collective identities then there are likely to be destructive ideas going around some groups and in order to prevent this they may need to be monitored but this will upset others.

In conclusion, social and/or digital media does help us to create our own identities, help us form collective identities and ultimately give us a sense of belonging whether it is with people we know in life or a community or social networking website on the Internet. These are place where we feel we belong and feel accepted within social media.