Exam

Explain what is meant by 'collective identity' and the role of media in its construction?

Collective Identity is the individuals sense of belonging to a group, which forms part of their personal identity, and the idea is that through participating in social activities, in this case watching films and TV, that individuals can gain a sense of belonging and in essence an 'identity' that transcends the individual. Often, media representations of young people are negative and judgemental, conveyed in media products such as the historical films Bullet Boy, This is England and Quadrophenia and the London Riots on the news. The age range for people who are grouped in the category 'youth' are typically aged between 12-21 years old. The youth are often being presented as reckless and troublesome in contemporary media texts, with a rise in the creation of urban and underclass crime genre products being created to focus on those who live more of an unfortunate lifestyle in the poorer areas of the UK e.g. London. 

Firstly, not all youths out there mirror the image that is portrayed in films such as Bullet Boy, This is England and Quadrophenia as these are media products that resemble a dangerous and violent stereotype of young people. The youth aren't in control of the production of these movies, adults are, which supports the fact that representations of the youth have been altered to suit the fears and concerns that society has towards this group of people. George Gerbner came up with the Cultivation Theory, where he looked into people who watched a lot of TV specifically and said that these people over estimate the amount of crime in the real world. By consuming a lot of media products people will over estimate the violence in the world - one that we need protecting from. There has been an increase in the negative type of representation of the youth, perhaps supported by the devastating London Riots involving young people in 2011. Cohen's 'Deviancy Amplification Spiral' theory supports this, as he suggests that new media texts about troubled youths are being created due to a 'media hype phenomenon' as a cycle of increasing numbers of reports occur concerning youths, leading to moral panic. Anyone who consumes these type of news reports will eventually begin to believe everything they're watching, convinced that the youth are nothing but a rebellious and out of control group in society. However, it wasn't just young people who were involved in this horrific chain of events, as adults also immersed themselves in contributing to the riots, yet the young people were given the responsibility for these crimes because of

However, it is evident in these movies that the youth represented in a negative light are those who live in the unfortunate states of London. All of the characters vary from school drop outs and being unemployed, with no responsibilities or ambition to succeed in life. They are portrayed to be violent people where a fight or a shooting is the answer to a problem. They are drama's for a reason - to create drama. It isn't reality. Find a group of young people from a more wealthy area and they'll most likely be in education, having fun and enjoying life. Not all youth are the same, it is extremely dependent on their upbringing. But creating a film on the reckless youth is a lot more exciting for an audience because a lot of action and plot twists are involved, so the producers are able to exaggerate their worries and fears towards young people by making them even more criminal than they believe.

Gramsci quoted that "mass media construct representations of youth from a middle class, adult perspective, for the ideological purpose of maintaining hegemony." Hegemony is the geopolitical method of indirect imperial dominance, with which the leader state rules subordinate states, being the most dominant group.

David Gauntlett "identity is not 'given' but is constructed and negotiated"

Stan Cohen - Moral panic, deviance amplification by the media