ANSWERING G325 REP of BRIT’ness

The Jan 2010 MEDIA & COLLECTIVE IDENTITY questions:

Q6 Analyse the ways in which the media represent one group of people
you have studied. [50]
Q7 "The media do not construct collective identity; they merely reflect it".
Discuss. [50]
Remember, you answer ONE question in this section! You have 1 hour for this, and
must address TWO different media when doing so (film and newspapers)
The marking is fundamentally broken down as:
Explanation/analysis/argument 20
Use of examples 20
Use of terminology 10
Its easy to overlook the ‘use of examples’ – this means you must give some specific
detail of some specific texts, although you can limit this to as little as two particular
examples per media, backing this up with additional examples where you’re more
focussed on supporting lines of ‘explanation/analysis/argument’ rather than precise
textual detail. I’ll illustrate how to get into specifics with TisEng below.
WT forms a neat binary opposite with Warp; it should be helpful to frame your
preparation for this around these two companies; 2 of their films, drawing upon
additional examples eg from Hammer; Scottish cinema; a 60s movie – all of the earlier
tasks for G325. WT as a powerful company able to fund large budgets relative to the UK
through their status as a subsidiary of a (big 6) conglomerate, NBC-Universal, but
compelled to create representations commercially acceptable to a US/foreign audience;
Warp as an Indie working on budgets as low as £48,000 (Le Donk and Scor-Zay-see),
though backed by important UK institutions such as Film4 and the UK Film Council, can
prioritise the supposed realism directors such as Shane Meadows typically strive for
(specifically, social realism, a genre with roots in Britain stretching all the way back to
John Grierson’s 1920s-1940s British Documentary Movement).
It may seem that films like TisEng and BJD have little in common, one so subjectively
political, the other seemingly apolitical and not concerned with ideology. Yet both, for
different audiences, and by different routes, can claim to be highly influential in the
shaping of our British identity – and (for BJD) how ‘we’ are perceived abroad … and
both are highly ideological.
Key components to include in most typical answers:
 What specific group/identity have you studied
 Which TWO media have you looked at for this [film + newspapers]
 Are there particular issues with addressing this as a coherent, homogenous
group [definitely! So discuss!]
 Are there particular texts you will look at in detail (I suggest TisEng + BJD –
though you will need further supporting examples + should feel free to choose

Answering G325 ‘Media & Collective identity’ Q: structure, approach + examplesMedia Studies @ IGS 1
 your own texts – and The S*n, Daily Mail and Mirror for newspapers, which
you’ll say less on overall)
 With these texts you need to home in on some micro details (eg use of flags in
TisEng; how editing of news footage signifies an anti-nationalist/anti-Thatcher
preferred reading etc) to illustrate how Britain/Britishness is conveyed or
represented [ie, you do need, as with Q1b, to be thinking about Media
Language]
 You also need to consider macro details: what factors have gone into shaping
the text/s you’re analysing? You’re thinking about aspects such as:
o Genre (and conventions of media language, of typical target audience,
track record of box office success)
o Finance (ownership, the Hollywood factor; the economy in general – it is
more difficult to get financing [or distribution!!!] for films during a
recession, and budgets will tighten; the trend towards big 6 dominance and
their tentpole strategy [see points on new media later for opposite of this];
newspapers struggling to survive with lower ad revenues – espec local
press)
 The national press have an economic reason to push a collective
British identity: they exist to serve a national market.
 Through the UK Film Council and its regional arms (EM Media, Screen
Yorkshire etc), the government also accepts the importance of
supporting a national film industry creating movies for the domestic
market [UKFC was main funder of Warp X] – again, a national
government has a clear vested interest in encouraging a national
identity through such cultural tools (although you could argue the
regional nature of the UKFC works against this)
 At various points in time, there have been limits on American access
to our cinemas, or quotas of British films that must be screened –
though such policies were killed off by the 80s Thatcher government
as an expression of its free market ideology [state finance is seen as
socialist, or left-wing, politics]
 Just as WT is an example of the dominance of foreign (American)
ownership in our film industry, the national press is increasingly
foreign-owned too, from Murdoch to the Russian, ex-KGB owner of
The Independent
o Coming back towards Media Language perhaps: auteurism? Does the
individual vision of film-makers (Meadows, Curtis – tho as rom-com man,
he’s not seen as auteur) trump all these other factors? In a newspaper
context, most editors, let alone journalists, have very little actual
independence: every paper has a clear editorial line (an identifiable
ideology, or set of views and beliefs), and so its workforce mostly have to
reflect this in their output.
 Its important to raise the question – even if you say little on it – IS
Meadows’ work and representation any more authentic for being
social realist, focussed on working-class, lower budget, and clearly
political? You can argue not; isn’t Curtis (remember the actual
Answering G325 ‘Media & Collective identity’ Q: structure, approach + examplesMedia Studies @ IGS 2
 director of BJD was Sharon Maguire) simply reflecting a different
reality, through a different set of bias and opinion?
o Culture? Curtis is associated with the mid-90s ‘cool Britannia’ movement,
when the wave of optimism created by a first Labour government since
1979 allied with Euro 96 (football comp held in England) saw the national
flag ‘reclaimed’ from nationalist extremists (National Front; BNP) and made
socially acceptable again. In music and film we saw a backwards-looking,
nostalgic period, with the 60s to the fore (though it took Curtis until 2009 to
make The Boat That Rocked, set in the 60s)
o Politics – much of our cinema, certainly the dramas, has been in reaction to
Thatcherism (excepting the brief cool Britannia phase), including Meadows
recent TisEng – though Ken Loach argues his generation did not do enough
to scrutinise this time or those politics on screen
o Technology – discussed with reference to ‘the future’, below
 Make sure your key examples are contemporary, BUT do try and provide some
historical context
 There are two further broad areas, which you can prepare as a fairly generic
paragraph or two for most questions:
 The question of the future
o This is really quite straightforward!!! Honestly!!!
o You can bring in theories around postmodernism and globalisation (most
postmodernists see globalisation as a characteristic of a postmodern world)
– see last main point [key to this is that globalisation is usually seen as
undermining, even destroying national identities or any form of localism,
local identity – though some argue this is too pessimistic. Will a globalised
world will lead to ever smaller communities, ever more micro-level,
fragmented identities? Fragmented is in opposition to collective]
o You’re not expected to invent hypothetical future texts; this is only one or
two paragraphs
o What you’re addressing is the likely shape or direction of the future as
regards the media and its interaction with the idea of collective identity
o This WILL be shaped (in the short-term) by new media; digitisation;
convergence; web 2.0 etc
o Currently, ‘mass media’ remains the default model – and mass media help
to reinforce large-scale ‘collective identities’ … such as national identities
 This isn’t raising the issue of positive or negative representations,
more the very existence of macro-level collective identities
o There is greatly conflicting evidence over the future direction of the media,
and what this might mean:
 In film, the Big 6 continue to increase their grip on all levels of the
film business (production, distribution, exhibition), attempting now to
deter any potential new rivals through their ‘tentpole strategy’

Answering G325 ‘Media & Collective identity’ Q: structure, approach + examplesMedia Studies @ IGS 3
 (focussing on fewer mega-budget releases, visual spectaculars, that
nobody else can currently finance
 We see this with the dominant position of WT [various bits of
evidence you can draw upon from AS here], who are directly tied into
one of the Big 6
 In theory the likes of Warp can’t compete with WT … BUT digital
technology means Meadows could produce Le Donk and Scor-Zay-
See for just £48,000!!! Digitisation also means that the high current
cost of distribution (including marketing, with smart enough web-
based viral campaigns) could effectively disappear – no need for
prints (Four Lions had only 105 prints in circulation when it
remarkably got to no.1 in May – the financial risk of producing a full
300-450, as with the blockbusters, was just too great for Warp’s
distributor Optimum Releasing {ironically, they’re now owned by
Studio-Canal, another subsidiary of NBC-Universal!}
• If there is scope for many more films to be produced and
released, doesn’t this mean greater pluralism (more variety) of
representations in the future? Or will the many micro-budget
movies continue to co-exist with the multi-million WT and
Hollywood productions, but individually have very limited
influence compared to a BJD?
 There are similar forces at work within the press:
• All newspapers are losing circulation and advertising revenue,
as readers and advertisers turn to the web for cheaper or free
alternatives – and an entire generation has not gotten into the
habit of buying newspapers (in general, most teens won’t go
further than a quick browse of the Metro. Does that describe
you?) Powerful institutions such as the Daily Telegraph (its
nickname, The Torygraph, clearly reflectings its ideological
position) are seeing its once million-plus readerships quite
literally die off!
• But it’s the local and regional press, from The Scotsman to The
Ilkley Gazette that are losing out most, with many shutting
down in recent years (many more will as the recession means
there’s less advertising money to go round)
• We can expect to quickly see many fewer local and regional
newspapers, and even some closures of national daily papers
too. Experiments with publishing on the web only don’t seem a
likely solution, though Murdoch’s experiment with pay-walls
could work
• So … are we going to see bloggers, groups on social networks
such as Facebook, and websites rise up to replace the press?
Possibly … which would take us back to the argument around
pluralism; many small, minor voices leading to a fragmented
(not collective) identity in place of powerful institutions such as
the Sun (which of course boasted in 1992, “IT WAS THE SUN
WOT WON IT”) and Daily Mail?
Answering G325 ‘Media & Collective identity’ Q: structure, approach + examplesMedia Studies @ IGS 4
 • Without films watched by large proportions of ‘our’ nation;
without truly national newspapers reporting on ‘our’ nation,
won’t the concept of Britishness slowly but inevitably decline?
 The issue of what validity there is in making generalisations about identities
based on texts
o Isn’t there a risk of implicitly accepting the passive audience model;
assuming texts have the power to influence without gathering clear,
objective evidence?
 Are the historic roots of many of these assumptions an issue?
German Jews such as Adorno fled Nazi Germany for the USA [the
‘Frankfurt school’, 1920s-40s], creating theories such as the
hypodermic syringe model, which simplistically (if understandably
in the context of living under a totalitarian government) argue that
the values within texts directly and without problem influence and
shape our thinking
 …then again, aren’t theories such as the agenda-setting theory and
work done on source strategies within the news media, as well as
Chomsky and Herman’s propaganda model, actually quite
convincing? (These are collectively known as ‘political economy’
approaches)
o You need to consider – even if all of this is in one paragraph – the case for
the active audience model; which argue that actually, it’s the audience
who have the power, not the media – meaning is created at the point of
reception or consumption, rather than necessarily existing within the text.
 Stuart Hall’s theory of there being 3 levels of reading (preferred,
negotiated, oppositional) is a mild version of this; the Uses and
Gratifications theory (Blumler and Katz, though also taken up by
McQuail) is a more extreme version, arguing that we select and use
media for our own ends rather than being used by it
o And then there’s the postmodern argument
 if we do accept arguments such as Baudrillard’s simulacrum
theory (he famously argued “the Gulf War did not happen” – there
was no such tangible reality, just a haze of TV footage of smart
bombs giving the impression of a video game) is Meadows referring
to anything much with his Falklands War coverage in TisEng? Is this
any more real than Curtis’ much-criticised picture postcard
London/England, a very Caucasian place for one thing! (As brilliantly
lampooned in the BBC cartoon satire, Monkey Dust [the “Curtisland”
sketch] – which of course potentially transforms the ‘reading’ or
response of anyone who then views his films (so: is it useful to
consider texts in isolation???) [you can leave many of these questions
open; you will gain credit nfor having the insight to raise them!!!]
 Again, we get postmodern arguments that ‘metanarratives’ (grand
ideas or ideologies, such as capitalism, religion, socialism,
environmentalism) have ceased to exist (eg Lyotard) – so, again,
does it matter that Meadows’ is clearly pushing a left-wing, counter-
Answering G325 ‘Media & Collective identity’ Q: structure, approach + examplesMedia Studies @ IGS 5
 hegemonic, anti-nationalist ideology? These are all examples of
metanarratives! [even if you don’t quite get the idea of
metanarratives, you can use the point given here about TisEng!]
• Hennebelle, with the ‘Z movies’ theory (not to be confused
with zero-budget films!), of course, argues that even the most
openly political movies actually function in a hegemonic
fashion: they are ultimately slaves to the requirements of
narrative, to create interesting characters and storylines to
inspire an audience to watch (and thus generate profit). Hidden
Agenda, as an example, presented by Ken Loach as not just a
social realist film but actually a docudrama reflecting real
events and extensive research, seems to radically attack the
very basis of our British state … but ultimately its narrative has
a hero and villains, and the moral that if we just root out the
bad apples within our elites we’ll be fine!
 Anthony Giddens, though, argues that we are not yet at a
postmodern stage, but rather a ‘post-traditional’ era. His
structuration theory (somewhat like Foucault’s discourse model)
argues that meaning, what we can still consider as reality, is shaped
in an interaction between powerful forces (such as governments and
the media) and individuals and society itself
 Most postmodern thinkers argue that we live in an era of
globalisation, and that this is transforming reality – indeed, the very
idea of a single reality has gone altogether. [This issue might be best
raised when considering the future] Even if you don’t accept this
radical idea, the argument that globalisation is leading to a crushing
of national identities is a compelling one. Isn’t even Meadows, never
mind Curtis, actually making movies whose media language,
narrative style, is centred in a fairly standard global model?
We’ll start to tackle the press, as our 2nd media, as we progress through the remaining
lessons.
Note that the questions do NOT ask about specific case studies; the wording is for ‘one
group of people you have studied’, and ‘collective identity’ – in our case,
Britain/Britishness. Note: this is not Great Britain, which is England, Scotland, Wales
only – the UK = the United Kingdom of GB + Northern Ireland.

There’s a lot there; start to work your way through mapping out particular points you want to focus on, and
including particular examples to illustrate these where appropriate. I’ll look to rewrite and distribute further
examples of how specifically to write up such points before the revision classes, having now lost a nearly
complete version of this (thanks Microsoft). Some quick examples follow:

Warp Films/Warp X is an example of an Indie film production company – it is not owned by any larger
company (although it is heavily reliant on funding from the UK Film Council and its regional arms, such as
Screen Yorkshire and EM Media, plus its distributor, Optimum as well as its regular TV partner [exhibition],
Film4). It is literally ‘independent’; does not have to answer to a larger corporation. Indie companies typically
work on low-budget productions, which takes some pressure off to appease American investors (required once
budgets rise above a few £million) and compromise the representation of Britain and British characters with
Answering G325 ‘Media & Collective identity’ Q: structure, approach + examplesMedia Studies @ IGS 6
stereotypes familiar to an American audience. A prime example of this is the film This is England (Shane
Meadows, 2006 – budget £1.5m).
It quite consciously tackles the issue of ‘Britishness’, depicting nationalism as a tool of hegemony, in this case
wielded by Mrs Thatcher through the Falklands War (we see the iconic shots of her sat atop a tank) to help
gain support from a previously hostile working class. (Grafitti on a mobile church is seen to read ‘Maggie is a
twat’, just in case we were in any doubt over the director’s preferred reading!) In a climactic scene, the young
central protagonist takes the flag he has proudly hung from his window (purloined from a National Front
meeting) and throws it in the sea, symbolically rejecting the national identity.
The association made in the film between the flag and racist nationalism (the NF, today the BNP) grew from
the 1970s, though was dramatically undermined by Euro 96, held in England, when it became socially
acceptable once more to fly the Union Jack or English flag. Not long after we had ‘Cool Britannia’, the risible
cultural moment when, boosted by Tony Blair’s high profile party inside Number 10 for such movers and
shakers as Oasis (and the general mood of optimism created by New Labour’s coming to power) in 1997,
music and film were briefly dominated by bands and directors who painted a cosy picture of Britain, often
based on nostalgia for the 60s. Writer and director Richard Curtis was very much associated with this, though
his most explicitly nostalgic work, The Boat That Rocked, wasn’t shot until 2009.

Answering G325 ‘Media & Collective identity’ Q: structure, approach + examplesMedia Studies @ IGS 7