Collective identity and representing ourselves

 Task 1: Media Magazine article

1) Read the article and summarise each section in one sentence, starting with the section 'Who are you?'

Things we are all involved in constructing an image to communicate our identity. We have complex ideas about our selves; there is a difference between the person we think we are, the person we want to be and the person we want to be seen to be. The idea that identity could be constructed in terms of an externalised image came in the post-industrial consumer boom of the early 20th century where there was a deliberate move to encourage people to adopt an identity that Edward Bernays propaganda) said was based not on behaving as ‘active citizens but as passive consumers’. Branding is the association of a ‘personality’ with a product. Advertisers sell the personality rather than the product, so that people will choose products that match their own self-image.

2) List three brands you are happy to be associated with and explain how they reflect your sense of identity.

Apple, Nike, Shein. Both Shein and Nike reflect my style as i like to dress well and match my outfits. Apple it's kind of something most people have and i like it's features. Apple has hooked me in just like you Sir. 

3) Do you agree with the view that modern media is all about 'style over substance'? What does this expression mean?

I agree with the fact that modern media is about style due to the fact that everyone follows trends when it comes to clothes and phones. Everyone is too focused on how they look, this also includes me cause i like to match colours in my outfits as it looks good. 

4) Explain Baudrillard's theory of 'media saturation' in one paragraph. You may need to research it online to find out more.

Baudrillard believed that society had become so saturated with these simulacra and our lives so saturated with the constructs of society that all meaning was becoming meaningless by being infinitely mutable; he called this phenomenon the "precession of simulacra".

5) Is your presence on social media an accurate reflection of who you are? Have you ever added or removed a picture from a social media site purely because of what it says about the type of person you are?

Before i have removed certain pictures because i didn't like what it portrayed but i no longer take other people's opinions to heart and i do what i feel is right. Social media is an accurate reflection of me. 

6) What is your opinion on 'data mining'? Are you happy for companies to sell you products based on your social media presence and online search terms? Is this an invasion of privacy?

I believe that this is an invasion of privacy as i may not want people to be watching me and noting down everything i do however on the other hand it's quite convenient as it's suggesting me products that they think i'd like without me necessarily knowing that they even exist.  

Task 2: Media Magazine cartoon

Now read the cartoon in MM62 (p36) that summarises David Gauntlett’s theories of identity. Write five simple bullet points summarising what you have learned from the cartoon about Gauntlett's theories of identity.

• British media theorist who describes his field of study as self initiated everyday creativity and cultures of making and exchanging. 
• Audiences use the media to construct their own identities. 
• Uses critical theory to suggest that identity is today seen as more fluid and transformable than ever before. 
• Questions the idea that masculinity is in crisis. 
• Draws attention to generational differences but accepts that it's an assumption that more liberal attitudes established in the young will be carried into later life. 

Task 3: Representation & Identity: Factsheet blog task

 1) What is collective identity? Write your own definition in as close to 50 words as possible

A ‘collective’ identity is one that is primarily based around a collection of individuals who share a set of traditions, values and a similar understanding of the world that surrounds them. In the example of the British people, this could suggest that the majority of the population believe in democracy and freedom of the press, ideals which have traditionally been woven into the history of the British people.

2) Complete the task on the factsheet (page 1) - write a list of as many things as you can think of that represent Britain. What do they have in common? Have you represented the whole of Britain or just one aspect/viewpoint?

Fish and chips, cold weather, grumpy people, arguments, stereotypes, racism, sexism. 

3) How does James May's Top Toys offer a nostalgic representation of Britain?

This specific context means that the programme is not only ‘fun’ (i.e. seeing a 2 mile Scalextric circuit actually being built) but the programme also dwells upon and explores aspects of British history: the history of the race track, the history of Scalextric and wider British issues such as the decline of manufacturing jobs in northern Britain and a sense of regret that many of these toys are now manufactured abroad, such as Meccano in France, for instance. The nostalgia dwells on what Britan has lost in the modern world, such as a community spirit, and the subtle indication is that today’s modern computer games, and people’s apparent failure to use toys as a source of individual imagination, are to blame.

4) How has new technology changed collective identity?

technology has enabled people to actively engage with the content of the culture around them and then go on to use it as resources for their own cultural productions.

5) What phrase does David Gauntlett (2008) use to describe this new focus on identity? 

This new focus on identity is supported by Gauntlett (2008) who, in 2008, proposed the ‘Make and Connect Agenda’. This is an attempt to rethink audience studies in the context of media users as producers as well as consumers of media material.

6) How does the Shaun of the Dead Facebook group provide an example of Henry Jenkins' theory of interpretive communities online?

The key aspect of this group is the fact that the collective identity created is one which has no national barriers to the understanding of the cultural identity created. The British identity of the film thus becomes one that is recognized and supported by a global institution, namely Facebook. film. The creation of this group conforms to the following ‘repeated’ view from Henry Jenkins: ‘fan genres grew out of openings or excesses within the text that were built on and stretched, and that it was not as if fans and texts were autonomous from each another; fans created their own, new texts, but elements within the originating text defined, to some degree, what they could do’.