To What Extent Do Audiences Use Media To Construct Their Own Sense Of Collective Identity?

“Identity is complicated” said David Gauntlett. There has been a dramatic change in the media in recent years including the Internet and how youths have utilised this to construct their identity. By considering Gauntlett's theory, we can see how youths have developed their identities.

In the early stages of life Lacan’s concept said that by the age of 6 months, we recognise ourselves in the mirror and Wallon said that it helps us get a sense of self-identity. However, Tallis critiqued this by saying that “blind indiv­iduals would lack selfhood and be unable to enter language, society or the world at large”.

There are many ways in which youths can develop their collective identities, one of which is through social networking websites, such as Facebook and Twitter. With the ability to share information, pictures and update statuses, youths tend to use these features to begin to develop their collective identities. As Henri Jenkins said, teens are constantly updating and customising their profiles online to construct and experiment with their identities. Using these social networking sites also gives us a sense of belonging as Merlau Ponty said, we have an embodied experience when we create something using our hands (i.e. a Facebook profile) and we like it when other people interact with our profiles because it creates a sense of belonging for us and helps to construct our collective identities.

Facebook and Twitter are part of the Web 2.0, along with Youtube and other websites that are considered ‘user-centred information sharing sites’, are classed as Web 2.0. The Web 2.0 is the shift from simply receiving information to creating and sharing information. This has been used by youths as a form of rebellion against the regulated society created by the media and generally older people. Regulators cannot censor constantly updating websites such as Facebook or Youtube so youths use this to their advantage, to spread their opinions. The Web 2.0 has clearly evolved and we can see this by looking at the comparison between the Brixton Riots 1981 and the London 2011 Riots.

The London 2011 Riots were planned over social networking sites and Blackberry Messenger. The rioters used these tools to communicate with each other and even posted statuses and pictures of themselves with stolen goods as a ‘trophy’. The communication between rioters in London was much quicker which made it harder for regulators to stop them. Twitter was even asked to be shut down because it was being used as a catalyst to plan riots and Blackberry Messenger was taken down for a few days. These things were not around when the Brixton riots happened so it was harder for youths to riot in massive groups.

After the London 2011 Riots, tabloids generated moral panic which created a sense of fear around youths and readers adopted this biased opinion. However, it wasn’t just teenagers alone rioting and looting, but also some adults. This already negative view of youths had now been reinforced to the public because of the London 2011 Riots, and inevitably, the tabloids. By persuading people to believe that youths, as one big collective identity, were destructive, the print media had thus contributed to postmodernism and constructed our reality. They have done this by blurring the boundaries between reality and representation. These are the negative aspects of being in a collective identity; you are grouped into things automatically, just like all youths were grouped in with, and associated with rioting and violent behaviour. As Michael Foucault said, being in a collective identity introduces the creation of stereotypes, and once you are stereotyped, it’s hard to be seen differently from then on.

Many youths cannot find their identity so easily and may depend on celebrities, new trends and magazines to create their own. When youths attempt to find their identity within another source, they tend to think that what they see is a perfect representation of that particular trend or ‘look’. Winship’s notion of complexity is about being prepared, in terms of audience gratification, to finally recognise the ideal version of ourselves. By doing this, a constructed audience is ‘made’. So when youths are represented with a picture of a celebrity on the front of a fashion magazine, they are more likely to believe that what they see is the ideal ‘look’. Youth looking for their identity can often follow fashion trends which may lead them to become part of a sub-culture, like being ‘Emo’. An article published in The Sun (08 May 2008) explained that a young teenager was obsessed with the Emo band ‘My Chemical Romance’ and eventually hung herself. In this way, some youths take the media to construct, not just their identity, but their lives.

All youths construct their identities differently by choosing what they think to be fit for themselves in terms of media texts. As Stuart Halls encoding and decoding model shows, media texts are written with encoded messages and we decode it in the way we feel is most suitable to us. During the London 2011 Riots, many people will read the tabloids articles and decode the messages within the texts to side against the youths because of their history of negativity. Alternatively, youths will read the same articles and decode the messages within the texts to argue against stories being written. This is supported by The Women In Journalism (WiJ), who wrote an article called ‘Hoodies or Altar Boys’. This showed that 85% of teen boys said that newspapers portrayed them in a bad light and that only 24% of stories about teen boys were positive and 16% of that was within entertainment.

To conclude, audiences, mainly youths, use media to a great extent to form their collective identities and then develop it even further by using the Web 2.0. Although, with such different views on collective identities, it’s hard for youth to construct their identities using media because of the media has such diverse views on everything. This is what makes identity complicated as David Gauntlett said. We are in a world where reality is built by the powerful force of the media, only to be given an ideology which resembles Karl Marx’s theory of Marxism in society. If the media have us all believe the same thing then there is no democracy within the social order. While youths may stand up to the portrayals of the media, the fact that we look to the media to form our identities just goes to show that we let the media run our lives and construct our reality. It’s possible that a future outcome will see youth construct their identities entirely on the Web 2.0 to further rebel against the Marxist ideologies of the mass media.

We use web 2.0 to read, watch, listen and play…

How does the internet provide an enormous challenge for regulators?

Youths are being regulated and censorships have been put in place to protect youths from finding ‘incorrect’ information and restricting youths in this way can affect their opinions on reality. This form of Marxism has lead youths to share their opinions on the Web 2.0 because they can’t voice their opinions as freely and easily as others. The use of Web 2.0 is a free and accessible way to share information effectively, even influencing others to form a rebellion. The Web 2.0 includes websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube and these websites allow users to upload information instantly, easily and in mass amounts that regulators can’t keep up. An example of this would be the London 2011 Riots. The rioters, majority of which were youths, said that they were being ignored in society and not being given jobs. The youths then voiced their opinions online through Facebook and Twitter and started the physical rebellion of rioting soon after.

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

The Internet provides a post-modern vision of identity by allowing people to create the notion of identity in different forms. People can create profiles online on such social networking websites as Facebook and Twitter. You can upload photos, give your opinions and ‘like’ something to show your interests. All of this comes together to give an embodied experience as Merlau Ponty’s theory explain and as a result, gives us a sense of belonging. We can create our collective identities in reality and online.

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

The Web 2.0 allows people to access instant messages and status updates to keep them in the know of current information. The youths were using the Web 2.0 as way to rebel and used Facebook and Twitter to message others about when and where to riot. Pictures and videos were also uploaded to Facebook showing the youths achievements during the riots with them posing next to their stolen goods or videos of them rioting.

How has online press affected us in today’s society and how does it present an area of control for today’s society?

The online press has become an increasingly stronger force of persuasion. Being able to access newspapers via the Internet has allowed tabloids to spread moral panic even quicker than before. When readers go online, they will be able to see these articles and are able to post comments, voicing their opinions. However, the majority of their opinions are likely to be one-sided because tabloids are constructing our view of reality through exaggeration and choice of words and pictures. According to figures from 2010, The Sun is the most popular newspaper and with over 7 million readers, they will generate large amounts of shock among the public. The Sun’s article about the London 2012 Riot in October states that there is “fear of black youths” and gave statistics on the rioters. Such numbers were possibly made up and exaggerated as the real estimations are probably lower. Creating moral panic online, allows a massive buzz on their website, attracting people to read more. They can then use hyperlinks and pictures to other articles to continue to distract people. Producing moral panic contributes to post modernism and thus results in the construction of our reality by the media.

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

Being regulated as youths has pushed them to use the Web 2.0 to their advantages, to rebel against the regulation and censorship. Youth have now optimised Facebook, Twitter and Youtube to voice their opinions to their friends and acquire their sense of belonging online. Merlau Ponty’s theory of having an embodied experience explains that we like creating things and sharing it with people. Regulations can take the forms of blocked Internet at school to the ASA. Youth have to be careful exactly what they post and share online, as companies

NOTES:

Rebel but also proving the media’s point and opinion of regulators….stereotypes, aggressive yobs ironic

Case studies:

London rots

Brixton riots

Happy slapping

Tuition fees

Evolution of youth identity

The Media Do Not Construct Collective Identity; They Merely Reflect It

Youths seem to be portrayed constantly as a negative in society, especially in print media such as tabloids and broadsheets. However, there is a slight difference.

David Gauntlett explains that identity is complex and everybody has one. This is further backed up by Michael Foucault’s theory that we each have our own identity and this mediates when we meet new people and changes as we grow older, which is what makes identity complex. We all have interests and influences and some of them may be the same as others. This is known as a collective identity, something that many people share in common with each other, whether it is favourite activities or having the same aspirations as someone. Michael Foucault also said that being part of a collective identity can be negative in some respects as this influences the creation of stereotypes. These stereotypes are then taken by the tabloids and broadsheets and exaggerated in their articles.

When looking at tabloids such as The Sun and The Daily Mirror, we read articles that make us think in new ways. This persuasion of our minds has got to do with something called moral panic. This is where the media exaggerates certain aspects of the people involved or the event itself, which in turn allows their readers to develop a certain opinion about those involved and the begin to mould their lives around what they have just read. Moral panic can then be said to contribute towards post modernism and the construction of our view on youths.

The Sun had an article about a girl gang (ages 14 – 16) who had been continuously causing havoc at a bus shelter in the evenings. They have been described as “louts”, “animals” and “…worse than guys”. The Sun have shown these youths in a negative light through the words used by the reporter, which may now have an effect on the public as the article could have now caused moral panic within the area of Oldham, Greater Manchester. Members of the public may have acquired a fear of female youths and thus the media has created a feared collective identity and has shaped their view of reality, showing that the modern press can govern our social order. This all contributes to post modernism of the modern press, which have shown youths as violent and to be feared.

Unlike the girl gang article, the London 2011 Riots are in favour of print media’s opinion on youth. The moral panic used by the tabloids made it even worse by exaggerating the actions committed and created a sense of fear within their readers through their choice of words and pictures. Here, the media has created another collective identity to be feared but in this case, it’s all youth on the streets. The Sun often refer to youths as “yobs” and “thugs” which emphasised that youths are one of the biggest problems to society and the more shocking they can make their articles, the more they sell. Tabloids have become less about the factual information of the news and more about exaggerated descriptions and celebrity gossip. Tabloids have been a major influence on the hegemonic view of youths but broadsheets seem to reflect what is being presented to us by tabloids.

Broadsheets tend to give a more factual and realistic overall view on youths. This could be a result to their type of target audience being middle to upper class, whereas tabloids tend to have a target audience of working class. Broadsheets do not have pages dedicated to celebrity gossip and “tips on how to lose weight” articles are written without the inclusion of moral panic. An article in the Daily Telegraph was informing readers about the increase of youth crime by a third. They didn’t refer to youths by another name or even try to exaggerate and did not refer to anyone involved in particularly, therefore, not attempting to form any sort of feared collective identity. The article also included the adult conviction rate which would make people think about the difference between the two instead of just seeing that youths commit crime. Broadsheets reflect the idea of youth by being realistic and fair. They do not generate moral panic to change readers’ opinions and alter their view of reality.

If we look at Stuart Halls encoding and decoding theory, it explains the media encodes messages in their texts for us to decode into our own ideas and opinion. However, this is different for broadsheets and tabloids. Tabloids construct our view of youths by using moral panic and thus we are more likely to think negatively of youths. Alternatively, broadsheets reflect the view of youth that the tabloids provide and we are more likely to think less negative about youths. We also decode things within the media and relate it to our lives. Strinati describes post modernism as the power of the mass media shaping our reality, which includes social order and relationships. Using these messages to understand the world around us is another example of how media controls our reality hence, supporting his theory.

In conclusion, the media does both construct and reflect collective identity’s such as youth. Tabloids like to produce moral panic to help sales and contribute to post modernism whilst promoting their view as the correct view and ultimately leading social order. On the other hand, broadsheets reflect this view and offer more realistic and fair observations to cause discussions amongst people without holding a biased opinion on youth. The more the force of media dominates society’s views, the more Karl Marx’s Marxist theory becomes true; if we are all fed the same information to believe, we would all eventually have the same view about types of people, behaviour, activities and interests leading everyone to have very similar views on reality. In the future, this will possibly end with people attempting to break the newly formed views and this will result in newly formed collective identities which will reject the post modernistic view the media is trying to force upon us. 

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.

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