Collective identity and representing ourselves: blog tasks

Collective identity and representing ourselves: blog tasks

Task 1: Media Magazine article

Read the Media Magazine article on collective identity: Self-image and the Media (MM41 - page 6). Our Media Magazine archive is here.

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?'

Who Are You?

The media has influence over identity as it can convince us to conform to a collective.

I Think, Therefore I am

Our identities were once based on external factors such as race, class, gender and success was seen as meeting the expectations set by each collective group you were in.

From Citizen to Consumer

People were encouraged to have identities based not on behaving as ‘active citizens but as passive consumers’.

The Rise of The Individual
People increasingly wanted to express their individualism between the 1960s and 1970s and philosophers such as Freud (discredited) and Lacan thought cleverly over what it means to have 'self'.

Branding And Life Style 

Brands sell the personality linked to the product.

Who Will We Be

We now make our own identity thanks to social media.

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

CASSART because I like drawing and it's a store for slightly more intermediate artists.

Milka because it's a European chocolate and my sense of identity is European.

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

I disagree because often more successful brands are stylish because they promote the audience's individuality and very explicitly want the audience to feel like they have substance through buying the products. 

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

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?

I'm actively as vague about my real life and personality in profiles as I can be. I don't like the idea of random people seeing real things about me and making assumptions. 

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 feel like it's an invasion of privacy but ultimately it's a natural progression for brands to abuse technology in order to stay on top.

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.

-wider range in media offers more diverse representation

-Audiences are active as opposed to passive

-Audiences recognise the problematic representations while still consuming the media for entertainment value

-Identity today is more fluid and transformable than ever before

-He also draws attention to generational differences as attitudes created when young will cross over into adulthood

Task 3: Representation & Identity: Factsheet blog task

Finally, use our brilliant Media Factsheet archive on the M: drive Media Shared (M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets) to find Media Factsheet #72 on Collective Identity. Save it to USB or email it to yourself so you have access to the reading for homework. Read the whole of Factsheet and answer the following questions to complete our introductory work on collective identity:

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

Collective identity is the state of having the same shared beliefs, values and traditions as a group of people, making a large group of people connected.

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

-tea

-biscuits

-church of england

-Posh accent

-Royalists

-polite

-colonisation

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

It goes over the past's most popular toys and goes in depth into their history as opposed to a superficial pander to nostalgia.

4) How has new technology changed collective identity?

Thanks to social media, it is easier for people to find each other and so fandoms and such have become more rampant. Collective identity can be made much easier as you can now belong to any group you wish to.

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

‘Identity is complicated; everyone

thinks they have got one.’

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

‘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’.