1. REVISION
PART 1
G325: Critical Perspectives
in Media
1

2. Media and Collective Identity
• 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’?
BLACK BRITISH COLLECTIVE IDENTITYKEY QUESTIONS
WHAT DO YOU NEED FOR
THE EXAM?
• social group as a case study
• at least two different media
• understanding of and
reference to theory/cultural
critics
• your own voice!
2

3. "Identity is complicated. Everyone thinks
they've got one…”
David Gauntlett (2007).
“…collective identity *is+ an individual's
cognitive, moral, and emotional connection
with a community… It is a perception of a
shared status or relation, which may be
imagined rather than experienced directly, and
it is distinct from personal identities, although
it may form part of a personal identity.
COLLECTIVE IDENTITY AND SOCIAL
MOVEMENTS. Annual Review of
Sociology, January
01, 2001, Polletta, Francesca; Jasper, James M
DESCRIBE OUR COLLECTIVE
GROUP Who
are
they?

4. DESCRIBE OUR COLLECTIVE
GROUP

5. • When referring to black Britain, in contemporary terms, we’re
referring to a subcultural youth movement, which in its present
state can be seen as a post-modern version of the collective
group black British. Originally black British referred to those
immigrants (with Caribbean and African heritage) who came
from the Commonwealth countries to settle in Britain.
• Due to syncretic processes the make-up of what is described as
black Britain has changed and evolved and therefore this
description can be challenged. What we now have is a post-
modern subcultural youth movement – any young person who
is part of this post-modern collective identity can be from
various ethnic backgrounds but the cultural materials - names,
narratives, symbols, verbal styles, rituals, clothing, and so on
that they associate themselves with are strongly grounded in
black culture. This evolution in the first instance was instigated
by young white people and first generation born black British,
but its continual evolution, and the way in which this group are
represented could be said to have significant media influence.
DESCRIBE OUR COLLECTIVE
GROUP

6. • When referring to black Britain, in contemporary terms, we’re
referring to a subcultural youth movement, which in its present
state can be seen as a post-modern version of the collective
group black British. Originally black British referred to those
immigrants (with Caribbean and African heritage) who came
from the Commonwealth countries to settle in Britain.
• Due to syncretic processes the make-up of what is described as
black Britain has changed and evolved and therefore this
description can be challenged. What we now have is a post-
modern subcultural youth movement – any young person who
is part of this post-modern collective identity can be from
various ethnic backgrounds but the cultural materials - names,
narratives, symbols, verbal styles, rituals, clothing, and so on
that they associate themselves with are strongly grounded in
black culture. This evolution in the first instance was instigated
by young white people and first generation born black British,
but its continual evolution, and the way in which this group are
represented could be said to have significant media influence.
(Could we just call this group ‘Urban Youth’?)
DESCRIBE OUR COLLECTIVE
GROUP

7. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO DESCRIBE
OUR COLLECTIVE GROUP

8. Breaking the questions down
• 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’?
BLACK BRITISH COLLECTIVE IDENTITYKEY QUESTIONS
WHAT DO YOU NEED FOR
THE EXAM?
• social group as a case study
• at least two different media
• understanding of and
reference to theory/cultural
critics
• your own voice!
8

9. 1. How do the
contemporary
media represent
nations, regions
and ethnic/
social/ collective
groups of people
in different ways?
Breaking the questions down

10. 1. How do the
contemporary
media represent
nations, regions
and ethnic/
social/ collective
groups of people
in different ways?
• The question is essentially asking
you to compare how different
contemporary media construct
(represent) your collective group
in different ways
• Representation is an construction
• So refer to your media forms; film
and music and compare how they
construct (put across a
representation of your collective
group) – you should be able to
comment on differences in their
construction of the representation
of your group and why that may
exist.
Breaking the questions down
ESSAY STRUCTURE

11. What can you say about the
media?
• Describe the media and support what you say
with a quote

12. What can you say about the
media?
• The media are in the business of describing things
to us. They represent people and types of people
to us so that we end up feeling that we know
what they are like. We are often so used to this,
that we take these kinds of representations for
granted. ‘…a significant body of research suggests
that the media, as a key transmitter of
representations and as a major source of
information within society, has the power to
control and shape attitudes and beliefs held in
the popular imagination.’ (Fatimah Awan)

13. Introduce your collective group

14. • This is something to take into consideration when
entering into a debate on how contemporary media
choose to represent a collective group. The collective
group that I will be discussing is that of ‘black Britain’
but the black Britain that I am going to discuss is a post
modern youth subculture. A collective of young people
from different ethnic backgrounds who perceive
themselves to have a shared status in society. Their
identity is expressed in cultural materials, symbols and
verbal styles that are heavily rooted in black culture.
When referring to ‘urban youth’ or ‘black Britian’
throughout the essay this definition that I will be going
by.
Introduce your collective group

15. Introduce your media forms

16. • Through film texts it’s quiet obvious to see how
this group of people have been stereotypically
represented. This is seen thorough a saturation of
‘urban youth films’ such as Kidulthood (Huda,
2006), Adulthood (Clarke, 2008), Shank (Ali,
2010) and Attack the Block (Cornish, 2011). All of
these films portray a negative representation of
‘urban youth’. All of the characters talk with a
vernacular that mixes patios with English and all
but one of the films are accompanied by a grime
musical soundtrack.
Introduce your media forms

17. • Provide textual examples that will back up
what you have just said.
• Making sure to link it back to ‘media
construction’ and the portrayal of your
collective group
• If you can use quotes
• Throw in an argument – why are these films
popular over other films such as Freestyle
(Lee, 2010)?
Provide textual examples

18. • Film texts and the proliferation of negative
images that we seem to see of ‘urban youth’ can
be said to be under the hegemonic control of the
media. This means that in the case of ‘urban
youth’ they are represented as feral, rebellious
criminals. ‘The hegemonic model acknowledges
that much of the media is controlled by a
relatively small group of people (who are
generally male, middle class and white) and that
the viewpoints associated with these groups
inevitably become embedded in the products
themselves.’ (Baker et, al)
My mini argument

19. Introduce your media forms

20. • Music can be said to sometimes be anti-
hegemonic. The music genre heavily
associated with ‘urban youth’ is that of grime.
‘Stylistically, grime takes from many genres
including UK Garage, dancehall and hip-hop…
lyrics of the songs incorporate not only
biographical but socio- and political
commentary.’ The lyrics are delivered using a
cross between British slang and Jamaican
patois.
Introduce your media forms

21. • Grime music can be seen as a way of ‘urban
youth’ taking back the power from the music
industry. The meaning of grime to young people
today can be compared to the meaning of Ska to
young people in the late 1970s. Both genres have
links to reggae music and both genres have fans
and producers from different ethnicities. But
rather than focusing on Bob Marley’s imperatives
of black liberation they centre instead on the
‘possibility that black and white young people
might discover common or parallel meanings’
(Gilroy) in their predicament.
Introduce your media forms

22. • The ideologies of grime music remains intact
when it remains in it’s organic form, but when
marketed by the music industry it can begin to
loose its meaning. Thus begin to represent ‘urban
youth’ in a totally different way. The same thing
happened with reggae music in the early 1970s
‘The gradual involvement of large corporations…
in the selling of reggae stimulated important
changes reflecting a conscious attempt to
separate the product from its producers and from
its roots in black life’ (Gilroy)
Introduce your media forms

23. • Provide textual examples that will back up
what you have just said.
• Discuss artists and their songs (Devlin, Prof.
Green, Dizzee Rascal and Nu Dubz)
• How do they represent ‘urban youth’ or not?
• Has music industry got something to do with
the way they are represented?
Provide textual examples

24. • How do the contemporary media represent
collective groups of people in different ways?
• Film vs Music
• Fair portrayals or not
• How does this affect the way the world sees
them/ they see themselves
• Throw in some personal commentary
Conclude

25. • Define the media and their role – use quotes
• Introduce your collective group
• Introduce your media form/s
• Provide textual examples that address the
question – use quotes
• Introduce your media form/s
• Provide textual examples that address the
question – use quotes
• If you can provide some argument
• Conclude
Rough Structure