Thursday 15 March 2012

plan for essay

I want you to answer this question: Analyse the ways in which the media represent one group of people that you have studied (british youth culture

I would like to see planning for this essay as well as a complete essay by next Friday so I am expecting an incredibbly high level response:
1) I want to see a plan/mind map using this structure that encorporates the four guided questions:
a) (Historic) How does contemporary representation compare with that of the past?
b) (contemporary; main focus) How do contemporary media represent different collective groups in different ways?
c) What are the social implications of different media representations of groups of people?
d) To what extent is human identity increasingly ‘mediated’ ?
e) Conclusion; summary, the future and your own opinion
You must embed theory into this essay appropriately and refer to at least two different media 
All the support you need should be on my blog and/or Learnzone
*        Add your own personal opinion
*        What, in your opinion is the future of representations and what are you basing this on?
*        Connections must be made between the examples / contrasts are discussed.
*        You must embed the theory into what you are saying
*        Introduction – start with a quote, paraphrase it, and link to issues of identity, representation, and the media.  State your focus (social group and texts).
*        Historical example.
*        Contemporary examples.
*        Connect examples together.
*        Conclusion – return to start.  Prediction for the future.
*        Use referencing – name and year of publication given after first mention, e.g. (Giroux, 1997).
*        Quote – paraphrase – critique.
*        One text older then 5 years.
*        Other texts should be from within last 5 years.
*        Make a prediction for the future.
*       

a)   (Historic) How does contemporary representation compare with that of the past?
·         Use the rioters as examples.- age groups where most of it happened, where it happened
·         Use quadrafenia as an example of the youths backthen compare with harry brown
·         Use theories- giroux 1997,
McRobbie
2004
Gerbner
1986
 
·         Jane graham- guardian- Thursday 5th November 2010(that the smart money in British cinema is going on those films that prey on our fear of urban youths and show that fear back to us. These days, the scariest Britflick villain isn't a flesh-eating zombie, or an East End Mr Big with a sawn-off shooter and a tattooed sidekick. It is a teenage boy with a penchant for flammable casualwear- the teddy boys, the mods and rockers, the punks, the ravers have all had their day at the cinema – is that they don't have the pop-cultural weight of the other subcultures, whose members bonded through music, art and customised fashion. Instead, they're defined by their class Hoodies aren't "kids" or "youngsters" or even "rebels" – in fact, recent research by Women in Journalism on regional and national newspaper reporting of hoodies shows that the word is most commonly interchanged with (in order of popularity) "yob", "thug", "lout" and "scum".
·         - Examples needed for similarity and difference
·         Examples from the past – Quadrophenia – the film and the representations of Mods and Rockers
·         Have they changed? – Plato quote…..?
·        

b)   (contemporary; main focus) How do contemporary media represent different collective groups in different ways
·         This must be the main focus of your essay!
·         Diverse representations including fiction, non-fiction and self-representation:
·         Harry Brown, Fish Tank, The Inbetweeners, Attack the Block, The London Riots news coverage, The Internet and self mediation
·         Jane graham- guardian- Thursday 5th November 2010-Greg Philo, research director of Glasgow University Media Group and professor of sociology at the university, traces our attitudes to hoodies back to the middle classes' long-held fear of those who might undermine their security. That is what they see in what Philo describes as "a longterm excluded class, simply not needed, who often take control of their communities through aggression or running their alternative economy, based on things like drug-dealing or protection rackets”          If you go to these places, it's very grim," says Philo. "The culture of violence is real. But for the British media, it's simple – bad upbringing or just evil children. Their accounts of what happens are very partial and distorted, which pushes people towards much more rightwing positions. There's no proper social debate about what we can do about it. Obviously, not all young people in hoods are dangerous – most aren't – but the ones who are can be very dangerous, and writing about them sells papers because people are innately attracted to what's scary. That's how we survive as a species – our body and brain is attuned to focus on what is likely to kill us, because we're traditionally hunters and hunted”” I'm scared of these kids in gangs," says Barber. "They have no respect for any other part of society. It's all about me, me, me. Life is becoming cheaper and cheaper in this country." And from a director's point of view, hoodies are gold dust. "We're afraid of what we don't understand or know, and there's so much about these kids we just don't understand," he says. "That's a good starting point for any  film baddie”
c)  What are the social implications of different media representations of groups of people?
·         Stereotyping: what is its impact?
·         What power does the audience have to ‘resist’?
·         Propaganda, Moral panic, youth as empty categories, cultural hegemony, Stuart Hall and reading the texts and their messages
·         Statistics on result of these representations on attitudes and beliefs Vs the reality of the issues
·        
d)   To what extent is human identity increasingly ‘mediated’ ?
·         Increasing media = increasing mediation?
·         Re-presentation by others/by selves (Facebook/Youtube (Youthtube))
·         Be critical of who is offering the representations and for what purpose
·         Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live in It
·        
e)    Conclusion; summary, the future and your own opinion
·         Return to the start.
·         Summarise key idea.
·         Prediction for the future.
·         Mass media construct representations of youth from a middle class, adult perspective, for the ideological purpose of maintaining hegemony.
·         Impact of new media technologies/internet – more potential for self-representation;  limited impact compared to mass media.
·        

No comments:

Post a Comment