Collective Identity Case Study Texts full names and dates

Name of media
text

Date of
publication

Representation of
youth

Theorists to discuss

The Evening
Argus: Battle of
Brighton

18th May 1964

Negative as wild,
violent, aggressive
and out of control

The Daily Mirror:

Wild Ones Beat Up
Margate

18th May 1964

Negative as wild,
violent, aggressive
and out of control

Hebdige sub-cultures youth form collective

groups to find a sense of belonging but the nature of
being young means they will always be seen in
opposition to adults & will therefore be seen as deviant.
Cohen folk devils and moral panic youth have
been represented as folk devils and represented in way
to create moral panic whereby they become a
scapegoat (reason) for societies problems and social
decline.
Hebdige sub-cultures
Cohen folk devils and moral panic

The Sun: Anarchy

9th August 2011 Negative as a

threat to the social
order aggressive,
violent and criminal
use of just one youth
to symbolize the
collective identity of
the group

Althusser - the Media works to reinforce dominant

ideology and repress individuals.
1. the media attaches an imagined relationship to a
real condition (youths are bad, youths are
responsible for the London riots)
2. the media gives ideology a material symbol (the
hoody is a symbol of the idea that all youths are
violent and aggressive)
3. the media interpellates individuals (through the
use of images of youth the media representations
invite audiences to recognize their social group
and learn how to act or behave).

could also make connections to Cohen

The Daily
Express: Thugs
use Twitter to call
for further riots
The Daily Star:
Riot Thugs Shot at
Police

The Sun: This is

Best Day Ever
BBC News at 10
(full programme)

8th August 2011 Negative as a

threat to the social
order aggressive,
violent and criminal
use of social media to
reinforce threat
th
14 August
Negative seen in
2011
binary opposition to
the police as the
heros and youth
represented as
criminal and deviant
they dont care about
the social order
th
12 August
Negative as a
2011
threat to social order
wild, deviant and
out of control
th
8 August 2011 Negative as a
threat to social order
wild, deviant and
out of control youth
as an intimidating
collective group

Althusser

could also make connections to Cohen

Althusser

could also make connections to Cohen

Althusser

could also make connections to Cohen

Fiske Looked at the way in which TV News uses

certain techniques in order to report certain stories
1. clawback a structure of reporting whereby
dominant ideology is clawed back to make
sense of an event that could be seen to pose a
threat to the dominant group (anchor in studio,
reporter at the scene, eye witnesses that support
the dominant group, back to the anchor in studio)
2. sub-ordinates as deviant any group identified as
sub-ordinate to the dominant group will be
represented negatively in the news
3. blurring fact and fiction although the news is
seen to be factual and based on the reporting of
truth the way representations are constructed

borrows from fictional TV and film e.g. use of

binary oppositions for characters (heros and
villains) and use of non-diegetic incidental sound
to create suspense and atmosphere.

BBC News
report: Scenes of
Looting and
Aftermath

ITN news
bulletin: PM Jets
Backif youre old
enough to commit
the crime

Shank
directed Mo Ali
produced by
Gunslinger Films
and distributed by
Revolver
Entertainment
Sequences to
discuss (pick 1 or 2
and analyse in
some detail):
1. Opening
2. Looting

th

9 August 2011 Negative as a

threat to social order
wild, deviant and
out of control youth
as feral and an
intimidating collective
force
th
10 August
Negative as a
2011
threat to social order
wild, deviant and
out of control use of
binary oppositions to
place youth and
police as villains and
heroes
March 2010
Negative youth as
roaming in gangs in a
lawless, criminal
society. Reinforces
wider social
stereotypes of
collective identity of
youth as aggressive,
violent and feral

could also mention Althusser

Fiske clawback, sub-ordinates as deviant and blurring
fact and fiction
could also mention Althusser

Fiske clawback, sub-ordinates as deviant and blurring

fact and fiction

could also mention Althusser

Adorno he argued that the products of the media are

presented to us as entertainment but they serve the
function to represss indivdiuals and reinforce ideology.
He argued that the role of the media is the work as the
culture industry and create money from these
representations and reinforcement of ideology. He
argues this is done in two ways:
1. representations are formulaic across all media so
assume all representations are real and life like this
creates false consciousness and we accept what we see
as real;
2. the goal of the director is for the illusion that fiction
is real life the director will aim to mirror the patterns

sequence
3. In the pub
with Beano &
dog fight
4. The Chicken
Shop
5. Gang fight
6. Closing
Sequence
The
Inbetweeners:
Bwark Productions,
E4
The Gig and the
Girlfriend series 3
episode 2

Blogs: your own

case study goes
here

of day to day life as much as possible to reinforce the

realism of the representation and so it reinforces false
consciousness (e.g. we assume all youth must be bad
because all media texts tell us they are)

20th September
2010

Negative & Positive

we see a group of 4
middle class white
teens getting up to
the stereotypical
things teens are
associated with doing
girlfriends, under
age drinking, going to
clubs, experimenting
with drugs etcBUT
each character
represents a different
type of teenager and
therefore a wider
representation of the
collective identity is
offered.

could also make connections with Adorno,

Cohen and Hebdige

Fiske TV Drama He argues that because TV

Dramas are series and require audiences to make
attachments with the characters in the program, TV
drama offers complex representations that present us
with stereotypical but complex characters who are
likely to appeal to us.
1. TV is focused on the representation of people;
2. representation of characters is complex to appeal
to a wide audience; character representations are
constructed in terms of their appearance,
performance and moral values they represent
3. audiences are polysemic and can have different
readings of the same characters depending on
their own preferences, experiences and tastes

could contrast with Adorno & Althusser

Buckingham new media enables youth to construct

their own representations so that they can challenge
the homogenous representations of youth as mostly
negative and offer more individual, personal accounts
of what it is like to be a teenager in our society. He

says that blogs allow youth producers to:

1. self express,
2. create a shiny new me or to
3. present an identity that they cant in real life

Vlogs:
Mandem on the
Wall The Riots
(episode 1)
1, 288,824 views
Diary of a
Badman My
Mother
4,769,172 views

24th September
2011
10th September
2010

Positive they pick

the Riots (or
relationships with
parents) and how it
was represented in
the news and make
fun of how youth were
represented. They
show that these
representations are
very restricting and
not accurate to how
youth really are.
Although they both
choose to offer
stereotyped
representations, they
have taken control of
these and are using
them to comment on
and challenge the
representations of
youth offered by the
Media.

could contrast with Adorno & Althusser

could offer a counter argument with Keen
Gauntlett argues that web 2.0 and its sharing
functions enables us to presume (produce and
consume) our own media texts and in doing so we can
construct our own representations and consume
representations not created by the dominant group,
therefore providing a greater range of media texts that
offer a representation of youth. Which ultimately
challenges the homogenous representations found in
traditional media texts. He argues that:
1. making and connecting with others makes us feel
alive,
2. constructing our own media texts works as social
glue so we feel we are contributing to the society
that we live in,
3. it gives us an opportunity to have a voice in
society
4. we can share our ideas with like minded people
and achieve a sense of belonging.

could contrast with Adorno & Althusser

could offer a counter argument with Keen