Evaluation Q.4

How Did You Use Media Technologies In The Construction and Research, Planning and Evaluation Stages?

Media technologies allowed for alot of creativity when in the construction faze, for example using power points made case studies easier to condense and structure. Similarly the vast amount of information available to myself via the internet allowed me to find out interesting things about artists I'm personally interested in, my local community and intriguing political views that I was able to apply to my media products. The internet came in most useful in the planning stage for me personally. This was because I was able to plan out shots and narratives with technologies such as my IPhone and IMovie on my IMac at home, this allowed for a spark to begin with the eventual final product. Blogger was also useful for inspiration from fellow students and students from previous years allowed me to view their blogs and use some of their ideas to inspire my own, like many great minds of the past have used other people's ideals to base their own upon, for example Robert Merton took inspiration from Emile Durkheim, Max Weber from Karl Marx or Bill Gates from Alan Turing. Technologies such as webcam's and You Tube made the evaluation stage a lot less long-winded as it could have been with the ability to draft notes and read them in a TV style presentation, it also allowed me to forget about the worries of punctuation and written communication. Email was also extremely helpful and gateway logins during the evaluation faze as I could do some work at school, email it to myself or access it via the school gateway and then continue at home, allowing me more free time to do other subject matter, in Media and elsewhere.

Similarly technologies such as Blogger and You Tube allowed me to share my products with a worldwide audience and the tracking system on blogger in particular allowed me to view hits I received from different countries from across the globe adding to my ability to research the demographic I would ultimately use for the music package. Hits were registered in the UK but also 21 Russian, 2 from the US and 1 French page-view.

Following from this, Blogger and You Tube nut also social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook etc. or even web applications such as Survey Monkey were very useful in obtaining audience input and feedback that I  could tailer to my demographic as opposed to, class mates and family. I could receive comments from anyone worldwide, sometimes they would not be useful at all, however sometimes could be extremely useful.

Finally technology is bringing about a huge change in the relationships between producers and audience; because of social media, fan forums and chat sites; producers can contact fans and critics of their previous products with ease, anywhere at anytime, all that is required is a wi-fi connection or a data roaming signal (3G, gprs, E). Due to this the 21st century has seen a significant rise in the amount of video production that has been influenced and critiqued by members of the public. For example anyone from 1-100 can write a review of a film they've seen and post it for the world's eyes to see. The true power of these technologies is shown by the rise in "YouTubers" or "You-Tube/Facebook-Famous" people, who have achieved a substantial level of fame. For example Dapper Laughs made Vines that he uploaded to his Facebook and Twitter pages, he achieved great critical acclaim from people and from which he achieved his own TV show, which he pulled a prank deemed to controversial for BBC 3 and the show was gone before it started, but I digress. Similarly KSI (ksiolajidebt) is a YouTuber who began making videos of himself playing the popular video game franchise FIFA, by EA Sports. 5 years or so down the line, KSI has sponsorship deals with high label brands, his own clothing line, a group of YouTubers he now collaborates with "The Sidemen" and donates large amount of disposable income to charity. To put KSI's success into perspective, KSI currently has 1,753,106 Twitter followers; more than Noel Gallagher, David Cameron and Ring Starr. 

Evaluation Q.3

Evaluation Question 2

Poster

Panel 4

Digipak panel 2 and 3 version 2

Digipak panels 2 and 3 version 1

Digipak Panel 1

Evaluation Q.1 Part 2

Evaluation Q.1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (Applied to music video)

Firstly we used conventions from typically British film, This Is England, to create the sense of British identity for our media product. This can be seen from our eye catching opening of myself throwing the Union Jack flag out to an open field with the view of the Norwich city skyline. This was inspired by a very similar scene at the end of Shane Meadow's 2006 film 'This Is England". The reason for this was that the scene in This Is England displays the protagonist Shaun casting away the lifestyle he had involved himself in represented by the St. George's Cross.

The use of The St George Cross by English Nationalists is described as "the flag of England does not figure in any official legislation, and its use by English nationalists was for some time limited to the "far-right", notably the British National Party" [1]
The notion of far right prinicples being connoted to the English flag come around in the 70's and 80's when a large amount of migrants came to the British Isles. This was proceeded by 2 decades of anarchy and racially motivated attacks from white british nationalists and has symbolised the countrys change in demographic and evolution of the tolerance and social norms of the country itself.

The cross of St George is not the first flag to have it's representation change due to use in society however; a prime example of this is the Swastika, once used as a symbol of peace in Hinduism has now become the symbol of far right German nationalist party the Nazi party.

Nazi Swastika



Cross of St George

Hinduism Swastika

           











The reason Fred and I used this convention was to illustrate the protagonists branching away from the right wing beliefs of the current UK government under the coalition where the conservative party has a stronger say in the running of the country and to identify with what Barnaby Rein is saying in his speech that is then used in our track Fight Back.
We also used this convention to reach out to our target demographic of adolescnets aged between 17 and 20 who were effected by the student cuts, what our music video is mainly about.

The demographic I am aiming to appeal too is young (17-20), white-british, males. This is because I feel that our music video will relate to white males most as they can identify with the protagonist who is also a white british male. Therefore we used conventions that would appeal to this demographic; however, we also wanted to target a more niche audience who will be interested in the causes and concerns of young people today and more in particularly students. Examples of how I used and developed conventions to match this demographic can be seen in my digipack which I made using inspiration from artists such as John Lennon and The Arctic Monkeys to intertwine old and new to appeal to a niche audience of young, white, british, males.

We challenged conventions, however, via the locations we used. For most would expect a music video about demonstration and bringing down the man to be set in a bustling city centre, I feel we managed perfectly well with the locations used in our music video, given the local history. For example the use of Ketts Hill, otherwise known as St James' Hill or Mousehold Heath, for what looks like a peaceful spot with breath-taking views is actually the front garden of Norwich Prison what was used as a HQ for Robert Kett during the Kett revolution in medieval Norwich.

In contrast though, we have also supplemented generic conventions to show the demographic we are aiming to reach out too and the genre of the song, by using images and clips of "J-blocks" notorious around Norwich for being a dangerous place after dark; and Anglia Square, what was once Norwich's prime market square is now considered also a dangerous place, marked with history of violence and crime and painted from head to toe in graffiti, some of which is breath-taking. I feel that this was an effective use of location as it makes the music video all that more interesting. This is because the generic location for a genre such as ours would be in a tower block or council estate or outside a political building, rather than hills, parks and rural areas. For example in Plan B's "Ill Manors" music video.

Screen shot of Plan B's Ill Manors music video

Plan B on the cover of NME magazine

Applying Goodwin's Theory To My Media Product: 

"Music Videos demonstrate genre characteristics"

Our music video demonstrates a difficult genre to pin point into one category; however has a mixture of genres that inspired it. The music video genre has derived from my own personal tastes; Alternative, Britpop and Ska to name a few. I have tried to intertwine these genres to give the music video a heavy sense of "British-ness". The ideals of an Alternative Rock genre that can be seen in our music video are for example Alternative Rock music videos use rather abnormal locations for their music videos, this can be seen in Stereophonics' music video for Dakota or The Killers' Mr.Brightside music video. The videos are set in a deserted American road and a Victorian burlesque house respectively. Similarly our music video has some obscure locations for the genre, by this I am mainly identifying the park. The effect I feel using the park as an obscure location connotes to the viewer a place of isolation and tranquility as though it was another realm, it also allows the viewer to understand the Alternative Rock connotations to the music video.

Mr brightside 1

Mr brightside 2

dakota 1

dakota 2

mr brightside 3

 

 

Similarly I used different genres to my own tastes to help give our music video an identity. For example the music video to Ill Manors by rapper Plan B.

 

The effect this has upon the audience is that they can connote the two music videos; this then leads them to receive the same message from the videos, one of rebellion and protest.



* Barnaby Rain's speech at the Coalition of Resistance conference in 2010 that inspired the track Fight Back.

Inside left and right cover (panel)

The ideology behind this large "double panel" was to create an image of careless teens relaxing; yet to create the now standard epitome of troubled, dangerous and angry youths.

I feel this works rather well as the image is enigmatic and enchanting, the subtle filters create an ore of dynasty around the character's and the ambiance of the surrounding area make the park seem like something from a medieval fantasy film; for example "The Shire" in Lord of the Rings or "Field of Fire" from Game of Thrones.

Field of Fire "Game of Thrones" (2010's medieval fantasy TV drama)

The Shire, Lord Of The Rings

The inspiration for the use of this image was it's resemblance to the front cover of The Verve's 1997 album "Urban Hymns". The reason I wanted to replicate such an iconic album cover is because it is strikingly bold; allowing for a higher chance of an iconic status for our own album artwork, but also because the album was The Verve's real breakthrough into "the lime-light) of mainstream media with such hits on it as "Bittersweet Symphony" "Sonnet" and "The Drugs Don't Work". Therefore I wanted to use this image to connote such commercial success into Adolescent Manifesto and also the cult status The Verve then received from it, as it had been a long time coming. The Verve's story connotes well with the Marxist ideals of class struggle that have achieved the birth of such things as the NHS in Britain. Similarly The Verve had been signed to their record label and producing records and albums for over 5 years before the release of Urban Hymns yet only received the plaudits for being one of the great bands of the Britpop era of British music only a year before the bands ultimate demise and break up. Ironically enough Urban Hymns was the group's penultimate album before they released "Forth" 11 years later in 2008. This is discluding "This Is Music 92-98" the bands greatest hits album in 2004, 4 years after their split.

The way this connotes to Fight Back and Adolescent Manifesto is that it shows how greatness comes after years of effort, protest and struggle for what you believe in. This is why I wanted to connote such figures in the music industry as John Lennon who have done just that and Adolescent Manifesto's hidden message to let the fan know that they should stay true to themselves, stand by their beliefs and, to quote Gandhi, "Be the change they wish to see in the world."

The Verve, Urban Hymns (1997)

Fold//Fight Back Music Video Final Cut

For our music video we suffered terrible technical difficulties with the computer that we were working on; which is why the music video was completed and uploaded later than expected.

Front Cover (Panel) For Print Production

Print Screen of "The People Have Eyes" Original idea for 1st panel of print production

This image of myself is inspired by the album's Imagine and Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not by John Lennon and Arctic Monkeys respectively. We wanted to make the front cover striking yet simplistic at the same time as I feel that they are the most memorable and give the greatest interest into an album. 

 

The image of myself is similar to that of a wanted poster or a "mug shot". I feel this is a strong connotation as it shows rebellion against "the system" and creates an ore of danger around the character. The track, "Fight Back" is all about rebellion and fighting the system as a young person in today's world and was born of the back-lash toward young people after the London Riots of 2011 and the subsequent student cuts, that were unrelated, however struck the same culture hard. 

Billy The Kid "Dead or Alive" Wanted Poster roughly 1880

David Bowie mug shot for possession of pot 1976

Therefore I feel as though the track could be a poster song for the youth of today, particularly the grievances felt by us against the current coalition. Similarly John Lennon's Imagine was written about protesting for peace during the time of the Vietnam war. The track was released in 1971 and the Vietnam war ended in 1975, 5 years later, of course, Lennon was tragically assassinated. The 70's was a turbulent time for Lennon; after having split with the Beatles in 1970 after having claimed that "I (Lennon) got sick and tired of being Paul's (McCartney) back up band.[1]" This came from a row between the band over "I Am The Walrus" being made the B-side to McCartney's track "Hello, Goodbye" and is widely speculated to be one of the reasons the band ultimately split. 


Since then Lennon spent the next 5 years in the USA in-particularly New York where he staged many protests against the Vietnam war and was a spearhead in the "Give Peace a Chance" movement of the Hippies between 68 and 72. One famous protest was Lennon and Yoko Ono's "bed in" in which they stayed in bed together for two different two week periods in Amsterdam then Montreal. 

John Lennon New York City Picture 1971

It is widely considered that Lennon was such a power in the peace movement that the USA were desperate to get him out of their country and when he refused they ordered Mark David Chapman to assassinate him, however this is just a theory and the killer himself credited J.D. Salinger's novel "The Catcher In The Rye" as his motif for the killing. Ironically enough the book is considered to be a portrayal of teenage rebellion against the machine much of what Lennon himself stood for.


The single "Imagine" by John Lennon beautifully intertwines all of these ideals of rebellion and wanting for peace, fairness and love for your fellow man into one neat LP and hence is why the LP is now so recognizable world wide (that and it is, of course, John Lennon). 


Therefore I felt strongly that I wanted to connote such rebellion and protesting into the album artwork for an LP that is the single of a track all about rebellion and protest. This would then make the single marketable as the consumer would see it and instantly (hopefully) see that it very much resembles Lennon's legendary LP and would note that the title of the album and the A-side track would sound rebellious and important.


The idea behind the title "The People Have Eyes" was that it was a play on the terms "The Walls Have Ears" and "Power To The People". The idea behind this connotes to the neo-marxist perspective of the current capitalist system showing great social inequality and that also the ruling class under-estimate the power of the people (proletariat) and that the proletariat also under estimate the power they hold themselves.


This then instigates that the track will cause an uprising as the term "the walls have ears" was coined during WWII and essentially means be careful what you say as people can be eavesdropping or, similarly, the person you're telling something too could repeat it else where. The term is a basic form of intimidation and connotes to "The People Have Eyes" idea that the ruling class should feel intimidated.


Secondly "power to the people" has a wide variety of meanings determined by different contexts however it's first use was in 1960's America when youths of the time used it as a slogan to form rebellion against what they perceived to be the oppression of the youth by the ruling class i.e. "The Establishment". The Black Panther Party (a revolutionary black nationalist and socialist organization active in the United States from 1966 until 1982. [2]) used the phrase "All Power To The People" to protest the ruling class domination of society; and finally the term was used by anti-Vietnam pro-democracy students.Therefore the ideals link together to form "The People Have Eyes" a warning to the ruling class that they should always be 'looking over their shoulder' in fear of the proletariat who are in uproar of protest against the ruling class dominated society.

Adolescent Manifesto Cover (Idea 2)

The ideology behind this title "Adolescent Manifesto" was more to make the album look like a guide book too being young and rebellious, sort of a throw back too old school sex and drugs and rock and roll. The term "adolescent" is defined as "(of a young person) the process of turning from a child to an adult" [3] for obvious reasons the student cuts effected people of this age group, the people effected were "adolescents" and the target audience are adolescents (13-19 year olds). 

Similarly a manifesto is "a public declaration of policy and aims, especially one issued before an election by a political party or candidate." [4] Therefore, by linking the two meanings together, the adolescent manifesto idea simply markets the album as a guide for young people on how to be a young person and the content of the album states how the band want young people to act and who they want them to be; they want young people to follow the teachings of Barnaby Raine and "stand up and fight back".

 
 

The Bible, Mein Kampf (Adolf Hitler) and the Communist Manifesto (Frederick Engels, Karl Marx) All examples of Manifestos, good and bad.

References:

[1] http://ultimateclassicrock.com/b-sides/

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_Party

[3] Adolescent definition

[4] Manifesto Definition

The Kett Rebellion

The Kett rebellion was a momentus part of Norfolk's history. It began near what is modern day Whymondham in 1549 and was lead by Robert "Ben" Kett; who was originally a target of the Norwich rebels who inturn agreed to lead them instead of meeting his fate at their hands.

Kett's rebellion started in Whymondham as some rioters tore out fencing placed around some land by the lord of the manor, they thought what they were doing was legal however, as the King had issued a proclemation against illegal enclousures.

The locals of Whymondham then held a celebratory annual feast in honor of ST.Thomas Beckett, the co-patron of Whymondham Abbey, on the weekend of the 6th of July 1549. This, however, was illegal as Henry VIII decreed in 1538 that "the name of Thomas Becket should be removed from the church calendar". The following Monday groups of rebels set off to the villages of Hethersett and Morley St.Botolph to tear down more hedges and fences. One of the groups first targets for blood was Flowerdew, who was unpopular in the area for the part he played in the destruction of Whymondham Abbey during the dissolution of the monastries that took place under Henry VIII's reign. Flowerdew bribed the rebels and, inturn, told them to attack the enclosures of Robert Kett.

Album Art Research

The artwork of an LP or an album has evolved to the extent where what you see on the cover is almost as important as what is on the album itself. A good album cover can make the album go down in the history books when the tracks on said album may not be the artists most memorable. For example "Suck It and See" by Arctic Monkeys is commonly considered the bands weakest release, although I don't support this view, however the simple design of the album cover is elegant, simplistic and aesthetically pleasing that it could probably be considered the groups best album for the way it looks, the album also draws a similar sheek style to The Beatles' "The Beatles" commonly refered too as "The White Album". Similarly when the group first came onto the scene their album cover for "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" was another memorable one with similarities made to that of John Lennon's  "Imagine" LP.

The first album cover for a group to become memorable is always important as it is the first milestone a group has together and a good album cover is always the selling point of an un-heard of group as it's the first thing a buyer rates before they have even heard a track. Memorable first album covers include Oasis' "Definitely Maybe" and The Stone Roses debut album of the same name rated number's 5 and 6 on Q magazine's "100 greatest ever album covers" respectively.

For our album cover I feel as though we should follow in these greats footsteps by keeping a simplistic, sheek design that is aesthetically pleasing on the eye.

However we also need to intertwine such minimalism with the essence of rebellion that is the essence of Fight Back. Many album covers have managed this and as such, have gone down in history as some of the greatest album covers of all time; for example "London Calling" by The Clash.

To what extent do media texts represent adolescence as a period of identity formation, self-discovery and conflict? (Essay)

To what extent do media texts represent adolescence as a period of identity formation, self-discovery and conflict?

The journey a young person takes from the transition from child to adulthood is the subject of many media texts. The viewer enjoys viewing and reading about the struggles one faces, the hurdles they overcome and the lessons they learn as they are able to confide and identify with the protagonist as the journey from adolescent to adult is one that every person will take; no matter who they are or what their background may be.

Firstly a well displayed adaptation of the journey to maturity is shown in the 2006 film ‘This is England’. Here we see a young boy, Shaun, mourning the loss of his father, a member of the Great British military who has recently perished in the Falklands conflict of the early 1980’s; at the tender age of 13. Shaun comes from a low income, single earner, one parent, female headed household. The politics of the time show that this is a difficult household to belong too as it saw the birth of the New Right ideals headed by such politicians as Thatcher and Reagan. These ideals include the idolisation of the nuclear family as the best kind of household to belong too, as well as the crippling of the working class by the lack of empathy towards them and the drying funds received by the welfare state under Thatcher’s government.

While his home-life is in tatters Shaun is also struggling with a bullying problem at school, not helped by his recent loss and the lack of empathy received from his peers. Shaun is mourning and alone at the beginning of the film and it is clear to see he has hit rock bottom.

However one walk home for Shaun turned into one of those milestones that the viewer identifies with in these kinds of media texts. Shaun meets Woody; the leader of the local skinhead gang, as well as the rest of the gang and after a conversation with Woody, the lads pick on Shaun and he turns his back on them also. However they later invite him along with them and he becomes an integral part of the gang.

Trouble then brews when Combo, the ex-gang leader, returns to the lads after he is let out of prison. Combo then uses Shaun’s grieving for his father to manipulate him into joining his nationalist group with highly racist views. We then follow Shaun’s story with this alternative group of skinheads in which he ultimately turns his back on and carries of living his life alone.

The representation of adolescence in This is England is profound and moving. The audience identifies with Shaun in his struggle to fit in and his obvious wanting to live a life that he feels his father would be proud of. However in the bigger picture the film can be criticised as an over dramatization of the adolescent period for the sake of gaining more viewers and selling more cinema tickets. For example not many young people have the misfortune of meeting an ex-convict, using him as a father figure, then having to drag a man almost 10 years his older to the hospital after this ex-convict has beaten him half to death. Therefore This is England can be praised for its representation of the struggles of adolescence in the sense of fitting in, being a loner and the need all people of all ages have of needing someone to have in their life to be yourself with; however the themes can be criticised for being far-fetched and over-dramatized to maintain an audience.

The themes in This is England and the representation of adolescence would be discounted by Baudrillard as another example of the Hyper-Real. This is because although the film is said to be based upon the experiences of the director Shane Meadows, the viewer doesn’t realise while watching that it has been scripted and tampered with to create a better viewing experience to ultimately achieve the main goal of the production company and make money. Therefore people such as Baudrillard would say that there is no real representation of what it is to be an adolescent in any media text. Just, however, the over dramatized, glamorization of one director’s experience, stroke, dream.

Another media text that has received great criticism and acclaim for these ideas of over dramatization and unrealistic themes is the teen TV drama Skins. Skins ran 7 series from 2007-2014 including a spin off “where are they now” series of three of the show’s most popular characters (who aren’t already dead) and showed how they had unrealistically fallen on their feet after doing nothing but take drugs and sleep with each other through their sixth form years, doing little to no work in the process.

An example of this is Effy. Effy is the younger brother of the main protagonist from the preliminary series of Skins, Tony. Effy then becomes the main character of series 3-4 when her brother leaves to university. Effy indulges herself with drugs, alcohol, sex and partying for the next two years of her life from 16-18 years old.

Midway through series 4 Effy suffers from a mental disorder which includes self-harm and efforts of suicide. Through this period Effy is unable to sit her A-Level exam. However instead of resitting the year. The school offers her 3 A’s in her subjects to improve the schools image.

Thus the complaints for unrealism in Skins can be backed up with a large amount of evidence of over exaggeration and hyper realism.

Similarly Baudrillard’s ideas of simulcra can be seen from Skins. This is because Skin’s created the “my life’s so much like Skins” subculture. These teens believed that Skins created an almost identical representation of their lives as it depicted everything that they themselves do; i.e. take drugs, have sex, underage clubbing.

However these teens were snubbed by the hyper reality Baudrillard talks about as they grew up with skins between the years 08-14 and where they thought they themselves were being replicated; they were actually replicating Skins. Something they thought themselves to be fathomable and real, in reality was a large picture with a small frame that did not show the fact that skins was written by two 40 year olds, and the characters were depicted by actors whose lives are nothing like the characters they depict.

However, I feel that Effy’s “mid-teen crisis” is an accurate representation of youth. This is because the rise in cases of suicide and self-harm cases from young people aged between 13-18 has risen considerably over the past decade however is still a taboo subject for the older generation, of whom are the parents of these suicidal children.

I believe that these rises in suicidal cases from teens is partially media driven. With such shows as Geordie Shore and TOWIE showing a fast paced lifestyle of parties, booze and sex, theorists such as Hebdige have shown that subcultures can be persuaded massively by media; and as such, these are today’s subcultures.

However the young, innocent teens of today, especially girls, can’t keep up with such a fast paced, lonely lifestyle and therefore do not realise what dangers they face in this race to grow up teens find themselves in these days. Being a kid is no longer cool and the sooner you can act like a mid-20 year old the better if you want to be seen as cool.

In conclusion media texts can represent the struggle every young person in the 1^st world has today. However these texts are manipulated to make good viewing which in turn can create dangerous out comes for the teens that watch them. For example Call of Duty is a war based video game aimed at young males. The game is highly invigorating however it creates a very false and marginalised view of what life as a serviceman consists of. COD, as it is commonly called, can make young boys want to join the army as they complete the missions on the game and want to enhance the experience further by enjoying it in real life. However they do not realise that their vision is clouded by the smokescreen that Baudrillard described as simulcra.

Similarly shows such as Geordie Shore and Skins depict a fast paced party fuelled lifestyle of drugs and sex that young people wish to replicate as is the subcultures of present times. However these can come with dangerous consequences as it can show the ugly side of humanity as the clubs they find themselves illegally inside do not care if they are using said clubs illegally, so long as they have the money to spend, likewise, for girls, they are full of men nearly twice their age also trying to fit the “laddish” subcultures of today’s society who will seek out the most vulnerable young girl they can and try to have sex with them with or without consent in the hopes they can then gloat to their friends the next day in order to score more “lad points” and find recognition amongst their peers.

Therefore, to summarise, I do feel as though media texts can represent the development, conflict and self-discovery young people face in the modern world. However the gross over dramatization and heavy influence upon party culture and getting “notches on your belt” can have dangerous outcomes for young people who will develop drug addictions and will have close shaves (if they’re lucky) with date rape and sex abuse within the new party culture generated by television shows and the music industry simply for the benefit of being seen as “cool”. The media isn’t just to blame, but the representation of young people today can have dangerous consequences for people simply trying to impress a crowd of people, when these young people are simply trying to find love and happiness and instead are having to live with drug addiction, self-harm, suicidal thoughts and depression.

Luke Keeler

What Is Collective Identity And How Is It Mediated? (Essay)

What Is Collective Identity And How Is It Mediated?

Although there is no real definition for Collective Identity (CI) it is often described as a sense of one-ness or we-ness. In basic terms it is the traits and ideals shared by a culture and sub-culture. Examples of which are ‘British-ness’ or being a part of a group or gang such as an ‘Emo’.

 

In modern times CI has developed to a state where nothing is original anymore and that all things and ideals within the media are simply regenerations of past genres and identities. This is evident in modern day media where we see bands such as Arctic Monkeys who’s sound is similar to that of Brit Pop groups of the 1990’s and their image is also that of Rock and Roll greasers of the 1950’s that inspired individuals such as John Lennon who’s band the Beatles also adopted the CI of the 50’s greaser in their early stages of their career, for example their famous Hamburg performances between 1960 and 1962, which honed their performance skills and gained them wider recognition.

 

The ideals of nothing being ‘original’ anymore is commonly a Post-Modernist view. In sociology Post-Modernism (PM) “opposes each of the assumptions of modernist thinking: Relativism; there is no such thing as valid or invalid knowledge. Death of the subject; knowledge as control rather than liberation; Grand theories are inadmissible.” This is relative to Collective Identity and theories of Sub-Cultures as the members of a sub-culture wish to be considered different from everyone else. For example in This Is England (2006) the film follows a young boy protagonist and his journey to finding himself when he falls into a gang of ‘Skinheads’. The film represents the Skinhead community as a group of rejected members of society who decide to rebel against the conventions of 1980’s Britain and create their own subculture. However they are also shown as racists, drug takers and vandals and therefore are represented within a negative light.

 

This is relative of all sub-cultures within British society as many sub-cultures are shown to be young delinquents from the MODs and Rockers “battles” at Brighton in the 1960’s to the CHAVs of the modern day. Both are seen as violent, anti-establishment, wasters. The way this would mediate the CI of these groups is negative and thereby states that society is against collective identity and individuality. Another example of this negativity of CI within the media is Quadrophenia (1979). The film is about a young male protagonist who longs to be a MOD. The film shows MOD gangs and Rocker gangs fighting eachother, taking drugs and having sex. In one scene; the MOD’s are seen fighting the Rockers in Brighton, before trashing the town and rioting, fighting the police and eventually some MOD’s are arrested. Afterwards the protagonist, Jimmy, is kicked out of his house and finds that his friends and fellow MOD’s are growing up and moving on with their lives. This shows Jimmy’s dedication to his subculture to be much greater than his friends; he finds himself lost and alone and decides to take his own life by driving his Vespa over the white cliffs of Dover.

Quadrophenia, like “This is England”, is an excellent example of how sub-cultures and gang culture can consume individuals lives and how it can ruin them. Driving them to do scarring acts and deviant activities, as well as confusing the minds of these people and twisting their reality of what they see to be true and worthwhile.

The media mediates CI in films and music by showing protagonists losing their way and “finding” themselves via gangs and life changing experiences. However these can be glamourized and don’t show the true results of how people’s lives can be ruined by the things they involve themselves in or the views they internalise.

 

An example of this can be seen in the film “The World’s End”. The film portrays five friends who reunite to complete a pub crawl they began 20 years earlier at 16 when they left high school. The gang aimed to live their lives with freedom and flair and took inspiration from the quote at the beginning of the track “Loaded” by Primal Scream (A band of the Time). The quote goes as follows… “Just what is it that you want to do? We wanna be free, We wanna be free to do what we wanna do, And we wanna get loaded, And we wanna have a good time, That's what we're gonna do, No way baby let's go, We're gonna have a good time, We're gonna have a party.” However, typically, four of the five gang members grow out of the adolescent dreams of living fast, dying young, making alot of money from doing very little; all that is, bar one. The main protagonist, Gary King, fails to grow out of the views he had as a young man, he still owns the same car, wears the same clothes and has the same attitude as he did at 16, now 36 his friends are shocked to see him as the same Gary they left at high school.

 

This case study shows how people at a young age can have high ambitions of partying and being young forever, but how most grow out of this mold and mature into normal adults with average jobs, families and sub-urban houses. However some people never leave this longing to be young behind. And as they grow older, the less they do with their lives, the more they want to keep that young at heart state of mind. These are the types of people who would become innovators or retreatists according to Merton’s Strain Theory; meaning they would be the people who turn to crime to make money or drop out of society and take to heavy drinking or drug abuse. The media representation of these people however, always seems to result in a kind of hero label. The dropout protagonist, particularly in “The World’s End”, is made to be the coolest one of the gang and actually is the most appealing to young people. The ‘let’s get drunk and party attitude’ of someone like Gary King is extremely appealing to young people who, to quote Robbie Williams, don’t want to end up like their mum and dad. Therefore this over glamorization of people who over commit to their gangs and sub-cultures from a young age could have very serious consequences in reality for young people in the world today.

 

In contrast to this the media can show CI to be a good thing that we can all and should all share. For example the sense of “British-ness” we all felt in 2012 when the media was pumping patriotism into society like an engine with a millennium wheel for a cog, Big Ben’s for piston’s and oil leaking all over it bleeding red, white and blue; before being stamped with the monarch’s symbol and shipped too every house, flat and council estate in the country; 2012 was without doubt the most patriotic year this country’s seen since 1977, and the Sex Pistols weren’t around to steal the queen’s thunder. The media in 2012 had a field year, so to speak, the Olympics, Paralympics, Euro 2012, Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee and of course the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games was a showcase of how the British identity is rife amongst us all. Every house on every corner was draped in bunting like a British year round Christmas.

 

The media in 2012 was able to showcase true British CI. Union Jacks, Tea and Fish and Chips. The way the media went about this was plastering print production, internet newspapers and social media with “pride to be British”. The Diamond Jubilee concert featuring some of the best living acts Britain and the Commonwealth have known, such as the living Beatle Paul McCartney. The closing ceremony concert for the 2012 Olympic Games featuring a band for 2 generations, The Specials, New Order and, of course, saw the reformation of Blur.

 

The year 2012 serves as a prime example of how CI can be mediated in a positive way. It shows a large culture of people who all agree on being proud to be British, coming together and celebrating their country. However some would say this year posed as a distraction to focus the masses on waving union jack’s and getting behind their country to try and spearhead an economic recovery after the 2008 crash, re-kindle faith in the government after the London riots the previous year and to try and gain more support for the Monarchy of the United Kingdom. Neo-Marxists would believe the mass hysteria of 2012 was only serving as another way to repress the masses and make them get behind a system that was planning to abolish their NHS and was recovering from a government tax dodging scandal. Similar to the conspiracy theories of the September 11^th attacks of 2001 where some theorists believe that George W. Bush was able to use the mass patriotism to his advantage and manipulate the polls he was behind in before the strikes, to stay in office for another term and invade Iraq            which some believe to be a war for Oil as opposed to fighting terror.

 

In conclusion collective identity is the one-ness one can feel in a group or gang. It is the sense of belonging as well as being different and standing out, this can be seen specifically in sub-cultures throughout history like the MOD’s and Skinheads as mentioned, equally however can be seen in a wider sense like British-ness. It is mediated to mainly make people see into how people have lived and what can happen as a consequence of over committing one’s self to a gang or sub-culture and its views from such a young age and internalising these views later in life, which then leads to these rules being abided by for the rest of their lives. However it can also be mediated to perceive bad things as good and vice versa, this is seen in “The World’s End” with the glamorization of Gary; and also is seen in Channel 4’s ‘Benefit’s Street’. The media representation of people who live on benefits is that they are lazy, job-less, alcoholics or drug addicts; represented well in “Shameless” where on character, Frank Gallagher, lives on benefits and wonders around the estate drinking and getting into trouble with no interest of finding a job etc. However there were some who were thieves and the like, it showed that most of the people on the show were working one or two jobs with families and needed the benefits. The media can manipulate and influence public opinion and can be a base for people’s CI, the way they perceive things and the way they think. It is a very powerful mechanism and most people’s CI is born of the things they watch, listen and read in the media.

 

Luke Keeler