Notes

MS1 Exam
Print Media
Magazine front covers
Print Advertisements
Film Posters
Web pages
Newspapers
CD Covers
Computers Games Covers
Representation Q2c. Or Q3
Gender (Blog)
Ethnicity (Blog)
Age (Blog)
Issues
Events
Regional and National Identities
AIM Provide overview and explore 3 contrasting
examples from a range of media forms.
Rich texts
Texts that you can use for more than one area of
the specification
E.g Slumdog Millionaire
- National identity
- age
- gender
- Issue of poverty
London Riots age, ethnicity, gender, events
.As well as audience responses and targeting
Regional and National Identity
Starter
What area do you belong to?

Wales? Britain? Europe? Town? Village?
Region?

Or do you define yourself (your identity) by
age, sex, gender, race, family, friends or
religion?
National and Regional Identity


National identity is a complex issue people may
disagree about what makes a national identity or
that it exists at all!
Other factors may also be related to identity
Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Religion, Class and
Sexuality. These make the concept of a national
identity even more complicated.
This is also complicated by the idea of Regional
Identity as well.

What is Britishness?

Do Britons share

One language?
One region?
One religion?
One race?

White English is the dominant language, people in Britain also
speak Welsh, Hindi, Punjabi, Arabic, Gaelic, etc.
In addition to the Churches of England, Scotland and Wales and the
Catholic Church, Buddism, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Sikh are also
represented in Britain.
Many people have no beliefs Atheists
Britain is a multicultural and multiracial society
Can still be undermined by regional identities, gender, sexuality,
race etc

National Identity is constructed a representation
based on a particular view of what is means to be
British
An imagined community
Carrying distinctive characteristics of their
nation
Shared national values can be shown in the
media though sporting events rugby world
cup or national events royal wedding etc
Can also be shown in newspapers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4-S8n8-
9RU#t=52

Understanding regional identity
Pick 3 of the following regions and stereotype
their regional identity:
Northerners
Southerners
Essex
Scottish
Welsh
Scousers
Geordies
Yorkshire
Mancs
Brummies
Londoners

Northerners
Stereotype= Northern
Monkeys, Loud rude,
drink a lot and of a
lower status
Costume= Track suit or
cheap/casual clothes
Dialogue/dialect=
Vowel sounds over-
pronounced
Make up= Over the top
or minimal
Class/Status= Low

Southerners
Stereotype= Poncy Southerners
arrogant and posh
- Dialogue/dialect= Well spoken
the rain in Spain falls mainly on the
plain
-Costume= Suit and tie, tailored
clothing and dresses
-Props= Brief case
-Make up= Classy and to a
minimum
-Class/Status= Middle/Upper

Essex
Stereotype= Image conscious,
unintelligent, love to shop and
party
Stereotype coined by TOWIE (The
Only Way is Essex)
Dialogue/dialect= 'Shut up' 'Oh
my God' = common phrases
Costume: Girls= Revealing/OTT
Boys: Fashionable
Location= Clubs and boutiques
Props: G Expensive, flashy, tacky
handbags, up to date mobile
phone
Make up= Fake tan, fake
eyelashes and hair extensions
Class/Status= Lower Middle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vTzuZk1O
HA
Scottish
Stereotype= Humourless, hate
other nations,alcoholic and violent
Dialogue/dialect= Strong accent
'och' 'wee'
Costume= Kilt, tartan, Tam o'
Shanter
Location= Highlands, cold and vast
open spaces
Props= Bagpipes, haggis, whisky
Make up= Ginger hair and freckles
Class/Status= Lower class (farmers)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
fp-jVwBGUsI
Welsh
Stereotype= Small ,dark
haired people who play all
rugby, sing in choirs, herd
sheep or mine coal
Dialogue/dialect= Very song-
like and melodic, slow and
exaggerated pronunciation
Costume= Rugby shirts
Location= Rugby pitch, church,
pub, fields with sheep
Props= Sheep
Make up= Minimal
Class/Status= Middle/Lower

Scousers
Stereotype= Dangerous ;
Why does the river Mersey
run through Liverpool? If it
walked it would get mugged
- Dialogue/dialect= Flemmy,
difficult to understand; 'like'
prominent k's
-Costume= Tracksuits, very
casual cheap looking clothing
-Location= Pub/home
-Props= Cheap looking
jewellery
-Make up= Minimal, or OTT
-Class/Status= Low

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=STIvNjWobzA
Yorkshire
- Dialogue/dialect= 'Ey up,
An' Ah'll tell thi that fer
nowt, dont pronounce ts
Costume= Flat caps, tweed
jackets
Location= Open fields,
country pubs, Local shops
Props= Whippets/Yorksire
terrier and Yorkshire
puddings
Make up= Minimal/pale
Class/Status= Low (farmers)

http://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=jzAD2GLfaNU
Geordies
Stereotype= Loud, swear a lot,
party animals and binge drinkers
(help coined by Geordie Shore)
Dialogue/dialect= way eye
man, difficult to understand
Costume= Revealing, tight
clothing
Location= Busy town centres,
clubs, urban areas
Make up= Over the top, fake
tan, dark hair
Class/Status= Lower middle/
middle

http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=6PVQbnvv79I
Mancs
Stereotype= Loud, rude, funny and fond of
fighting (Helped coined by Oasis)
Dialogue/dialect= Oh, aye Nowt
Costume= Manchester United
Shirt
Location= Busy town centres
Class/Status= Low/lower
middle

Brummies
Stereotype= Unintelligent and
unfriendly
Dialogue/dialect= 'Yow' heavily
pronunciation the 'ow' of 'You'
Costume= Casual/ Cheao
Location= Busy, industrialised
centres
Make up= Greasy hair
Class/Status= Low

Londoners (Northern/ more posh
boroughs)

- Dialogue/dialect= Well spoken, range of
vocabulary
-Costume= Cashmere jumpers/sweaters and
suits
-Location= Skyscrapers, swanky bars, posh
homes
-Props= Briefcase
-Class/Status= Middle/upper

Londoners (Cockney/ South London)
- Dialogue/dialect= Gorblimey, Rhyming slang
apples and pairs = stairs,dropping ts
-Costume= Flat caps
-Location= Busy streets, market stalls
-Make up= Minimal
-Class/Status= Low

Identity can however be unclear.

You could have such a strong regional identity
that you do not see yourself as having a
national one.

Or it could be that the sub-culture you belong to does not carry the
same values as your nation
Are you British if you dont care about the
queen? Considering the national anthem is
dedicated to her?
Are you Welsh if you dont like Rugby? Or if you
prefer another nations national sport? Such as
football?
The anonymous group are seen as a terrorist
organisation by the British Government So are
they British still? Despite being an enemy of the
state?
Do they identify with a different Britain? With
different values?

Now think about programs/films set in the following
locations, do they reinforce these stereotypes through
mise-en-scene (location, setting, actors, props, costumes
etc), camera work, sound (include dialect that could be
colloquial) and editing?

EastEnders
Shameless
TrainSpotting/Braveheart/Monarch of the Glen
Doc Martin
Emmerdale

The satellite map shows us a city sprawl
so we know that the programme is set
in an urban area. However it is the
River Thames than reveals the specific
location as being London.
Regional Identity can be seen
by the views we see in the
picture. We can see the
countryside in the distance
and we can also see an old
vehicle of which is only used in
the countryside.
You can tell that this is
set in the country also
because the
background of the first
picture is the country
and in the second
picture the house is
styled as a country
house. Also, what the
characters are wearing
symbolises the
country
You can tell that this is set in an estate as
there are flats in the background and the
people look like they aren't of a high class
because of the clothes they are wearing
therefore we would expect them to live
there and if there is a show about them
then it would be set here.
Manchester - Mancunians, or Mancs
Liverpool Scousers
Task: As you watch, write notes and then write
one P.E.E for each of the following clips
As you watch, consider:
Setting
Accents
Dialogue
Props
Make up
Class of characters
Costumes




As you watch, consider:
Setting
Accents
Dialogue
Props
Make up
Class of characters
Costumes

For Regional Identity in Emmer dale we shall look at this clip for examples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01QQB_nrOtU
Views at 0.30 show that the setting is in the country and we see straight away that all
the views we see are all of this manor also/
We see that the clothes and possessions (van) show low class as the clothes look old
and used as the van that the women is driving does too.

We know that they either run or live on a barn as when they open the barn we see a lot
of sheep , which can only really be in the country which backs up our other beliefs.

We then see people decorating a house which we can see was very old by the dcor for
example the curtains are very countrified which means that if the house was oringinally
decorated as if it was in the country it is probably in the country.

We then see the sheep again and the farm surroundings which is repeated throughout
which only drums in the fact that they are in the country and that that is their regional
identity.

Good example clips to look at during revision
if you want to practice note taking include;
Vicar of Dibley or Doc Martin (middle
class/upper class characters do not have
regional accents and are presented as
intelligent while the locals are ridiculed this
obviously links to Marxism).


Homework (Blog)
Using your own detailed examples explore the representations of.in the
media today
How does Essex Boys represent Essex residents?
How does Essex Life represent Essex residents?
Add another Medium TOWIE? Educating Essex?
Write at least 500 words
Start with Intro - concept of representation
Overview of regional and national identities
P.E.E Purpose and Effect
(Print Layout and design, Language and mode of address,
Camera Shots and angles- Moving image C, Ed, Audio)
Include theories (Blog) and Debatesperpetuate
stereotypes?
Conclusion


Key Theorists
Theorist Andrew Higson (1998) writes; Identity is
generally understood to be the shared identity of
naturalized inhabitants of a particular political-geographic
space this can be a particular nation or region.


Benedict Anderson (1983) maintains that the media play a
vital role in constructing a national/regional identity as in
reality the nation is too big for everyone to know each
other yet they often have shared values ; The unification
of people in the modern world is achieved not by military
but by cultural means, in particular the media system
enables people (of a nation or region) to feel part of a
coherent, meaningful and homogenous community.

Higson (1998) claims that many TV dramas (such as
Eastenders, Corrie etc) demonstrate the importance
of community and patriarchal values; Social and
cultural differences seem less significant when
shared. The common purpose pulls the individual
characters of the drama together, forges them into
an organic, self-functioning community and
ensures that each person has a clear role in the
community. This small, self-contained functional
community can then be read as standing for the
nation, which is thereby imagined as a consensual
gathering together of the diverse interests of
individuals who make up that community.

Higson (1998) and Corrigan (1992) argues that TV
drama does not always present communities like
this, Identity is fluid, unstable and contingent on
circumstances (Corrigan 1992) Allegiances are
forever being made, unmade and remade;
community cannot be taken for granted; they are
insecure and often self-destructiveTension of
race, gender, sexuality, the family and generations
represent not simply as multicultural but in
disarray(Higson 1998).

In short, as Higson summarised; Images of social
and cultural disturbance and fragmentation are
more prominent than images of consensual
community this obviously paints a slightly
negative image of multicultural Britain.
Higson goes onto argue that TV drama has to find
ways of representing hybrid identities in
multicultural Britain; As Britain becomes visibly
multicultural, so the makers of media texts have
attempted to deal with plurality, to find space in
representation for cultural minorities, ethnic or
otherwise. In doing so, the cultural boundaries
of the nation have been redefined, and a wider,
more extended and hybrid national community
imagined.

Constructing images of
regional/national identity:
According to Higson (1989) there are two
ways in which the process of constructing
images of national/regional identity should be
understood; The first involves an inward
looking process, defining the nation in terms
of its own cultural history. The second is a
more outward-looking process, defining the
nation in terms of its difference from others.

In other words, stereotypes play a large role in
constructing images of identity and these can either
reaffirm notions of a nation (historic/culture) or
contradict them.
For example, as Higson (1998) states; Film like
Trainspotting (1995) deal with quite specific cultural
traditions, including working class traditions, youth
traditions, all of which can be subsumed under the
umbrella term Britishness.
In other words, Trainspotting taps into traditional
stereotypes of Scotland while illustrating what these
stereotypes mean to working class youths (social-realist
interpretation).
Interestingly, this film changed the way this film
represented Scotland changed outward perceptions of
the nations (negatively).

Higson also argues that;
Representations of national/regional identity
are constructed as the narrative of the text
unfolds, as characters are pitted against one
another, so a sense of identity emergesbut at
the same time producers often resort to
stereotyping as a means of establishing
character and identity.

Higson goes on to say; Stereotyping is a form of
shorthand, a way of establishing character by adopting
recognisable and well established conventions of
representationthe stereotype reduces characters to
the most basic form and attempts to naturalise them
and the more widely recognisable they become the
more readily they are accepted. Except that if a
stereotype becomes more widely recognisable it
becomes comic.
Higson adds; No wonder then that a particular
characterization may be critised for being stereotypical,
meaning it lacks a realistic dimension, it fails to match
up to the reality of identity.

As Higson points out, it is always important to
analyse: Identities and alliances, in
particular relating to class, ethnicity, religion,
class and gender. In other words, how does a
certain region seem to view these things and
what does it imply the producer wants you to
think about this region and its views.

In terms of regional identity, it is again
important to remember who the dominant
producers are because it is often the case they
stereotype those not like them (working class
Cornish Carrot Crunchers etc). Also, it is worth
noting that if middle class white men appear in
regional TV dramas (e.g. Dr Martin/Vicar of
Dibley) they are usually made out to be
educated and reasonable unlike the locals.