Introduction to Media and Collective Identity

Representations of youth and youth culture

Starter

Label your posit note side A and answer the following question:

• Why is the representation of youth not simple?

Task 1

Write down the first 5 words that you think of when asked:

‘how is youth culture represented in the media?’

Task 2

• 5 words describing:

‘How youth culture is represented in TV programs?’

Task 3

• 5 words describing:

‘how is youth culture represented in the news?’

Task 4

• 5 words describing:

‘how youth culture is represented in films?’

Task 5

• 5 words describing:

‘How youth culture is represented in social media?’

Task 6

• Do young people perceive representations of youth in the same ways as parents and adults?

Explain your answer.

Aims

• To understand what the ‘Media and Collective Identity’ module consists of and the areas you must cover in your exam.

• To understand what ‘youth culture’ means and over a number of weeks understand how youth culture is represented in the media.

What will we be studying?• Media and collective identity is one out of 2 questions that you will

be able to answer in your exam. When you enter your exam you will see 6 different topic areas these include

• Contemporary Media regulation• Global Media• Media and Collective Identity – Me • Media in the Online Age• Postmodern Media- Tim• ‘We Media’ and DemocracyYou choose to answer ONE question. You are being taught Media and Collective Identity and Post modern Media. You select the topic you feel most comfortable with and answer ONE of the [50] mark questions DO NOT ANSWER 2 QUESTIONS only one question from one topic.

Over view • The main area of focus will be:• Representations of youth and youth culture in the media• We will study relevant theorists and apply their theories to the

texts studied.• It is vital we consider the following 4 areas:• How do the contemporary media represent nations, regions and

ethnic / social / collective groups of people in different ways? • How does contemporary representation compare to previous

time periods? • What are the social implications of different media

representations of groups of people? • To what extent is human identity increasingly ‘mediated’?

IMPORTANT EXAM RULE

You MUST refer to the following areas throughout your essay

HISTORICAL representations |

CONTEMPORARY (main focus area)|

FUTURE representations

A contemporary media text is classified 5 years from the exam date.

IMPORTANT EXAM RULE• You MUST refer to AT LEAST 2 different media

texts/forms in your essay.• Media texts we will look at include:• Film – good for historical/contemporary reference • TV • Press• TV news • Social media – good for future/contemporary reference The more forms you refer to in your exam demonstrates a wider knowledge and understanding of the topic area you are discussing/debating/arguing.

Good for historical and contemporary

Representations of youth in the media

• Our focus and argument:‘The representation of youth in the media is complex and repetitive, depending on who and how the media is re-presented to the audience depends on how consumers perceive youths of society.’

How to validate our argument we must consider the following

1) Who produces the representation

2) The media form used for the representation (TV, film, social media, TV News, Press)

3) The target audience for the representation: young, actual, parent, older non parent, OAPs

Case studies you will refer to as evidence in your essay

• Press: London riots 2011 (classed as contemporary) Brighton beach riots Mods V Rockers 1964 (historical)

• TV news: current affairs and Anne Maguire murdered by Will Cornick stabbing in the classroom.

• Films: Fish tank 2009, Quadrophenia (1979)• TV Geordieshore, Inbetweeners, MIC

(contemporary)• Social media: face book and blogs (future)• Possibly a few more if we have time

IMPORTANT EXAM RULE

• You MUST refer to theory and theorists that relate to and back up your points and argument.

• You are not only getting assessed on the strength and validity of your argument but how you can back it up with relevant theory.

• Some theory we have already covered when looking are representation and audience theory however we will cover more theorists that link directly to the media texts we will be studying.

Previous exam questions

• Analyse the ways in which the media represent any one group of people that you have studied.

• With reference to any one group of people that you have studied, discuss how their identity has been ‘mediated’.

• Analyse the ways in which the media represent groups of people.

• “The media do not construct collective identity; they merely reflect it”. Discuss.

• “Media representations are complex, not simple and straightforward”. How far do you agree with this statement in relation to any one group of people that you have studied?

• What is collective identity and how is it mediated?

How you will achieve marks in the exam

• EAA- Explanation, analysis and argument [20]

• EG- Examples [20]

• Term- Terminology [10]

• Overall mark [50]

How to hit the criteria when writing an essay

• EAA- Adapt learning to the specific requirements of the chosen question in an excellent fashion. The argument needs to have connections to the question in hand to make it valid and believable. The answer offers a clear fluent balance of media theories and shows understanding of the theory and how it applies to the argument. Knowledge of industries and forms of media is shown with a personal engagement with the issues and debates discussed.

Hitting the criteria

• Use of examples: Examples of theories, texts and industry knowledge are clearly connected together in the answer. History and the future are integrated into the discussion with conviction and seamlessly back up the point made by the individual. Showing that development of a representation has remained the same or adapted from a historical representation. Theory is applied while these points are made.

Hitting the criteria

• Use of terminology: Throughout the answer material presented is informed by contemporary media theory and the command of the appropriate conceptual and theoretical language is excellent. If theory is not relevant to the question and referred to in the incorrect manor it will illustrate the individual is lacking in media understanding. References to past, contemporary and future are evident in the argument throughout.

lead examiner tip

Triangulation method

Argument

Case study

Question

Theory

Remember • This exam is personal to you, it is your own argument you

construct it based on the media theory and texts we will study in lesson, and your own experience of the media.

• There is no right or wrong answer.• The examiner is looking for how well you construct an argument

based on the representation of youth in the media and how the past, present and future media texts have had an impact on this.

• You will show you understand that different audiences of different ages perceive identity in different ways and how historical references have influenced our opinions on todays representations, and how the internet may change future perceptions.

• You will also show you understand how the form of media itself determines an opinion.

Task

Turn over your posit note and write side B

Answer the same question again:

Why is the representation of youth not simple?