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.

How Theories Relate To The London 2011 Riots

The London Riots have been an awful event in which teenagers started looting shops and damaging property. This all started because a police officer in Tottenham shot and killed a man and some people made it out to be a racial hate crime. So in an uproar, the people of Tottenham stared rioting. The riots spread south all the way to Croydon.

Henri Tajfel's social identity theory assumes that individuals strive to improve their self image by trying to enhance their self-esteem, based on their personal identity or various social identities. Henri Tajfel's theory releates to the London Riots because this could be a reason for so many people joining in the riots. By fighting against the police, the people involved in the riots may have believed they were sticking up for what they thought was right and wanted to out the message that they will not stop unless the police apologise or something to that effect. The looter's self-esteem may have gone up as they looted with many others with the same idea in mind leading them into a false sense of what is 'right'.

Stuart Hall proposes that the media, as a principal form of ideological dissemination, produces representations of the social world via images and portrayals. Stuart Hall asserts that ideological things become 'naturalised'. Here Stuart Hall's theory could explain how and what the media portrayed the rioters to the public watching the news or reading a newspaper. They did represent the teenagers in a negative light and managed to make some people afraid of going outside. The media can determine most of the public views about the rioters. We can then think about whether the media is in the 'in-group' or the 'out-group'. I would say they are in the 'in-group' as they get to choose what to show and how they show it, leaving us very convinced that what they say is the truth.

Caroline Howarth is a social psychologist and has experience about writing about the Brixton Riots. The publication is called 'So, you're from Brixton?': the struggle for recognition and esteem in a multicultural community' and this article examines how the struggle for recognition and esteem among youths growing up in Brixton and how it invades their everyday experiences. Her theory could be used to explain the excessive amounts of other teenagers who joined it. According to her theory, it could be that because the youth of today struggle seen as 'different' by others and especially the media. Usually, when the media portrays a group of teenagers in an unattractive way, people seem to think all teenagers are like that. With teenagers struggling for esteem and to be seen in a positive light, they may group together to overcome this, like in the London Riots. This is also known as 'collective identity'. Caroline Howarth also writes about how youths reveal the importance in racial representation.

Unfinished essay

How do young people create their own representations? How are these different to those created and aimed at adults?

Everyone is different, including teenagers. However, the media seems to have the effect on people that teenagers are one big group this isn’t true. Teenagers have their own collective identities and are quite different to adults.

Teenagers have their own sub-cultures which they cannot helped being grouped into such as ‘nerds’, ‘goths’ ‘chavs’ and others. When represented in the media, some television shows do portray this such as The Inbetweeners. The main characters are portrayed as nerds trying to break into the ‘popular club’ and always failing. The main characters are portrayed as being friends with each other because of their similarities thus having a collective identity. In reality teenagers are under all sorts of peer pressure to do things that others are doing and The Inbetweeners represents this in each episode. Peer pressure can have a big impact on teenagers, especially if a teenager is seen as ‘different’. They will make the effort to change their image just to fit in.

It is possible for what is ‘cool’ currently to change instantly if popular labelled teenagers change their appearance or style of doing something, it may become a trend and other teenagers may follow.

When a teenager has a collective identity they feel more confident in what they do because others in their group are doing it to. A collective identity can sometimes be viewed as negative as seen in the London 2011 riots. Thousands of teenagers teamed together in order to loot stores, damage property and ignore police along the way. The media portrayed these teenagers as disrespectful and selfish. Judging by an interview, Sky News talked to some of the teenagers involved in the riots. They explained that they didn’t have a good social background and that they were struggling to earn money. One of them (ages about 16) even said he had to support his son.

Henri Tajfel explained that social identity assumes that individuals strive to improve their self image by trying to enhance their self-esteem, based on their personal identity or various social identities.

Adults are almost the complete opposite to teenagers when it comes to representation. This is because most adults have a very mature view on things and will not give in to pressures so easily.

Analysing the Different Types of Sounds

When analysing sound you have to take into account the different types of sound which are:
Diegetic
Non-deigetic
Contrupuntal
Pleonastic

Here is a clip from Misfits Season 1 - Episode 6 - The Gear Up Scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vzv50hxtt3k

In this clip the sounds heard all represent something with teenagers:

Pleonastic:

The sound of the ipod music is exaggerated here to show that they are typical teenagers who like their music loud and the choice of music is a popular genre with teenagers. The fact that the song is fairly new and in the charts shows that they keep up-to-date with their music as regular teenagers do. The fact that they each have an ipod of some sort shows that they are all into music. In this scene they are listening to music to get them pumped for what they are about to do. The sound of the rubber gloves being pulled and let go and the sound of the zip being pulled up are all pleonastic. This shows that they are getting prepared for something and that everything has to go right. They then put another song on and this song is more upbeat and more adrenalin pumping which relates to teenagers' spontaneous and impulsive nature.

Diegetic:

The ipod changes from pleonastic sound to diegetic sound when the characters out their ipod earphones in their ears. Again, this shows they are trying to get pumped for what they are about to do. The dialogue used is straight forward, aggressive and slang is used. This again represents teenagers because they like things done quick.

Non-diegteic:

The second sound track chosen by the character in the middle (Nathan) is then used as the sound track for when all three of them start walking in slow motion. The slow motion and sound track go well together showing that teenagers live in the moment.

Analysing A Period Drama - Little Dorrit

A sub-genre of drama is period drama. In period dramas we always see a social group presented and this is usually juxtaposed with another social group. Some examples of period dramas are:
Pride and Prejudice
Forsythe Saga
Ashes to Ashes

When analysing period dramas you should always look at:
Sound
Camera movement
Shot types
Colloquialism
Mise en Scene
Camera angles

Another period drama is Little Dorrit. Little Dorrit was a British period drama series on BBC ONE and set in 1805 - 1826.

Analysing this clip of Little Dorrit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkbIHqwQbHU
(00:00 - 1:30)

Immediately at the start you can tell that Little Dorrit is set in the 1800s because of the Mise en Scene showing old, wooden houses and the style of dress the first character is wearing. The first character we see is called Arthur Clennam spotting a lady in the distance, crying. As soon as he spots her and the camera looks at her, non-diegetic background piano music starts playing in a sad tone. This suggests that something is bad has happened to this lady. We then see Arthur walk fast up to her. Just before he reaches the lady, the camera shows a long shot. This long shot shows Arthur running past a few hanging weaved baskets. This shot helps show part of the Mise en Scene because only in a poor area would a stall like that be on th street.

As Arthur reaches the lady he says "Excu...It's you!" and she replies "Mr Clennam". This language and formality shown here suggests that he is more relaxed although looks well educated and also suggests that she is of lower class and shows respect. We find out that this lady is actually Little Dorrit. Arthur realises that she is mourning the death of somebody and says "Oh, you're in mourning". This language shows further that this period drama is set in the 1880s when they spoke differently to how we speak now. Arthur still calls her "Little Dorrit" even after being friends in the past, this shows that he still thinks of her the same way and hasn't changed. However, Little Dorrit feels differently and tells him to stop it because she isn't a kid anymore.

When they get talking Little Dorrit says "I am a lady now and it is my business to do nothing". Here we can see that the stereotype of women is being shown. The stereotype that women must stay at home. The camera angles here are from the 180 degree rule, using over the shoulder shots. When the camera is looking at Little Dorrit, the camera is looking down and when it is looking at Arthur Clennam, the camera is angling up. This is obvious due to the height difference but at the same time represents the emotional state that they are both in. Arthur Clennam is apparently happy with the way things are going, as we see at the beginning when he uses his arm to swing around a pole to walk up some stairs, and that he has found an old friend. In contrast, Little Dorrit is in mourning because of the death of her brother and father in Venice.

The BFI

The BFI is the British Film Institute. They hold world-renowned archives, cinemas, festivals, films, publications and learning resources and promote understanding and appreciation of film and television heritage and culture.

On the official BFI website says that:
"The history of the bfi can be seen as a succession of great achievements and innovation intermingled with periods of crises and criticism. The issue of who controls the bfi has seldom gone away with the government, the film trade, the 'educationalists' and other cultural pressure groups all expressing their opinions at one time or another."

British TV Dramas

There are many British TV Dramas which are popular but why are they so popular? What makes an audience want to continue to watch it?

There are many types of drama like:
Series
Soap Opera
Serial
Drama trilogies
Single dramas
Partners

Goodnight Mister Tom
Goodnight Mister Tom is a single drama. The common themes are discipline, reality, cruelty and relationships. Many people find this drama very interesting and attention grabbing because maybe some people can relate to how the protagonist is treated.


Sherlock
Sherlock is a three part series crime drama. The common themes are death, crime, mystery, suspects, evidence and solutions. The fact that it is a crime drama promotes enigma which proves suspenseful to it's audience which hook them to keep watching it.

Dr Who

Dr Who is a series drama. The common themes in Dr Who are time travel, companionship, good and bad guys, death and suspense. All of these are put together well to make an excellent and popular drama series that has many fans. Everybody views Dr Who as the true hero and he is shown as a character to be liked by the audience as well as his partner.




Spooks
Spooks is a British spy serial drama. It's themes are crime, spies, murder and mystery. Many people find it entertaining because it's all to do with secrecy and mystery just like Sherlock. The element of suspense is also what attracts the audience to watch it again. Spooks also has major twists where even main characters are killed off.


Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a soap opera. The common themes are relationships, reality, friends and enemies, problems and conflicts. Many people find Coronation Street very interesting because there is suspense between episodes because of the problems and conflicts going on between many characters with multiple story lines. Also people can identify with other characters and feel happy and/or sympathy for them when an event happens to that character.

Holby City & Casualty
Holby City and Casualty are drama partners. They both have common themes such as relationships, problems and conflicts and real life emergency situations. Again just like coronation street, people are entertained by the characters and their problems and conflicts.