Collective identity and representing ourselves: blog tasks

 Task 1: Media Magazine article

Complete the following tasks on your blog:

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

• Fashion, make-up, hairstyles are all used to construct an image of us, that we want to be seen as.
• Our identity would have been based around aspects of our lives that were constructed outside of our selves; class, religion, gender and the predetermined roles.
• During the second half of the 20th century, people began defining themselves as individuals, and so wanted to express their ‘difference’ and ‘uniqueness’ they were empowered by being encouraged to ‘be themselves’.
•  Advertising and marketing was persuading people to consider what they wanted – a radically different way of thinking. Consumer goods were about creating and then satisfying desires.
• 70/80s -  Advertisers sell the personality rather than the product, so that people will choose products that match their own self- image.
•  Participants in the former are forced to construct their identity within the confines of the template provided. Nevertheless, despite this corporate control of what Chandler calls ‘materials’, social networking sites allow participants to create a public image of themselves to be consumed as a media product by others – and this is part of the appeal. Another technical development – data mining.

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

Yes I think what matters to people today is the presentation of their platforms, if it is appealing or aesthetic to attract followers, rather than the content they put out and if it's beneficial. This means prioritising the technical/artistic aspects of the accounts visual appearance, rather than the content it is providing.

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

The phenomenon of being exposed to too many ads, messages, and information from various sources, which can reduce their effectiveness and impact.

4) 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?

Mostly no, because it is portraying the preferred interpretation of them, which makes the public take on a specific perspective, and all of this was constructed by the account. 

5) 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 understand why they do it, because I can get the best recommendations of things this way but after all it is an invasion of privacy. Instead, they should just track what is being searched on their shopping/website by people and create people's shopping feed.


Task 2: Media Magazine cartoon

• There are key theories influencing representation in the media that audiences use to construct their identities
• The media is diverse, allowing audiences to "pick and mix"
• Audiences actively process media messages and respond accordingly
• Generational differences affect the way audiences respond to the media 
• Identities promoted to men are relatively constrained

Task 3: Representation & Identity: Factsheet blog task

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

Collective identity 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. Any consideration of a ‘collective identity’ must take into account the role that representation, and by extension ‘re-presentation’ plays

within the context of the construction of a media text.

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

Being targeted at a slightly older audience means that the toys also become metaphors for the sense of Britishness that May explores, that of ‘nostalgia’ or a feeling / longing for the past where life was perceived to be simpler.

3) 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. The creation of such video hosting websites such as YouTube means the traditional passive audience can now write original stories or songs about the shows they view, make art or costumes based on the films they watch, edit videos or produce film parodies or do podcasts, develop websites or engage in a broad range of other expressive practices.

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

That people need to ‘pay closer attention to the ways in which media and technologies are

used in everyday life’.

5) 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.