Identities in Media

Active and Passive Audiences

Those are main differences between active and passive
audience. The active audience theory argues that
media audiences do not just receive information
passively but actively involved. It is often happened
when they are making sense of the message within their
personal and social contexts.
Can also look at demographic, psychographic and socioeconomic classes.

Pluralist versus Marxist ideas

What is Marxism? At the heart of Marxism is the belief that all capitalist societies function on the same
principles. Society is formed of the economic base and the superstructure. A capitalist society can
only work if the people within society accept that they need things. It is through the economic base
that production of these things occur. This is consumerism. In order to make people think they want
and need certain things you need the superstructure social and cultural institutions such as The Army,
Police, Legal System, Political System, Education, Religion, the notion of family and of course the
Media. These institutions control our cultural and social beliefs in a way that keep consumerism and
capitalism going. Within this you have the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. These are the people
themselves the bourgeoisie are the rich, powerful people who are in control. They want everything to
stay the same because if it does they continue to have power, control and money. The proletariat are
the workers, the people who form they economic base. They help the cycle of consumerism by
producing and consuming these things or ideas and beliefs.
What is Liberal Pluralism? Liberal Pluralism challenges the ideas put forward in Marxism but it is also
linked to us living in a capitalist world. At the heart of Liberal Pluralism is the belief that society is
made up of many different groups with competing interests whilst the media is subject to the wishes of
the consumer (supply & demand). Therefore the media present a range of ideologies, views and opinions
and the audience select and reject those ideologies offered to them depending on their interests. In
Liberal Pluralism the media can sometimes be considered an agent for democracy since it can allow a
range of different ideologies to be heard by lots of people. Breaking down Liberal Pluralism; Liberalism
is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights Pluralism is the acknowledgement of diversity
of interests and people (plural literally means many)

The role of Social Media

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Vine users create videos and other things to entertain others.
Marketing-Social media provides ample opportunities for marketing products and services. If you only
post advertisements, though, your audience may stop following you altogether. Rather than hitting
your customers over the head with advertising, give tips for how to use your product or service. If
youre a clothing retailer, for example, write a blog post on how to put together a business casual
look. Give your customers a reason to keep reading.
Real-time Updates-Social media allows you to communicate with your audience quickly. Food vending
trucks, for example, use Twitter to communicate where they are going to be that day and when, along
with any last-minute scheduling changes. You can have a last-minute sale or let your customers know
youve run out of a popular product. Consider providing other news your clients may find relevant; if
you hit a traffic jam on your way home, Tweet it to your followers using Twitter (when youre not
driving) to warn others to avoid the area.
Relationship Building-Social media can build relationships between your business and customers. Your
customers can comment on your posts and you can also give a glimpse (an appropriate one, of course)
into your personal life. A pet food store owner, for example, may post about his own pets and post
pictures of clients with their pets. This can help build your business into a community, increasing the
likelihood of repeat business.
Thermometer-Social media also helps you know what your customers think about your product or
service. Invite people to post reviews and resist the urge to be defensive if the posts are negative.
Apologize, post a brief response and improve. See whats hot with your customers and what isnt
drawing their attention. Ask your customers what they think of potential business ideas, perhaps
avoiding potential flops or missteps.

Postmodern Ideas about

fragmented Identities
A general and wide-ranging term which is applied to literature, art,
philosophy, architecture, fiction, and cultural and literary criticism,
among others. Postmodernism is largely a reaction to the assumed
certainty of scientific, or objective, efforts to explain reality. In
essence, it stems from a recognition that reality is not simply mirrored
in human understanding of it, but rather, is constructed as the mind
tries to understand its own particular and personal reality. For this
reason, postmodernism is highly skeptical of explanations which claim to
be valid for all groups, cultures, traditions, or races, and instead focuses
on the relative truths of each person. In the postmodern understanding,
interpretation is everything; reality only comes into being through our
interpretations of what the world means to us individually.
Postmodernism relies on concrete experience over abstract principles,
knowing always that the outcome of one's own experience will
necessarily be fallible and relative, rather than certain and universal.

Globalisation
GLOBALISATION Globalisation refers to the way in which, in contemporary
society, distant countries are inter-related and connected together by
trade communication and cultural experiences. The global sales of film, TV
and media products , along with the Internet bring people in developing
countries into direct contact with western media products. Consider the
global reach of companies such as Disney, News Corporation and Time
Warner. Their products can be seen globally facilitated by satellite and the
Internet. It has been argued that in an increasingly globalised world there
is a danger that local cultures become eroded and replaced with a single,
standard culture. - This is known as Cultural Homegenisation
Negative aspects There is no doubt that the USA (and to a lesser degree the
UK) export a large amount of film and television programming; however
many critics of cultural questions whether this really does have a
homogenising effect in other countries. India, Nigeria and Japan to name a
few all have thriving movie industries of their own.

Post-Colonial Theory and Cultural

Imperialism
Cultural Imperialism-An important function of the media is in winning the
support of people to the interests of the dominant classes . The media can
also be a potential tool for control: dominant Western cultures try to control
developing countries The Western way of life and its economic/political
systems can be imposed on other societies as its lifestyle is sold through
media products such as film and television. The most dominant culture
exporting media products is the USA . Eg Hollywood cinema. This is know as
CULTURAL IMPERIALISM.
Post-colonialism-These colonies eventually became independent and set up
their own governments. However, it can be argued that much of the culture
of the imperial countries (eg. Their language) still lingers on in the former
colonies as a reminder of colonial rule. Also, the process of decolonisation has
not prevented the Western powers from tightening their economic grip on the
rest of the world. The wealth of economically developed countries
increasingly depends on the cheap labour and raw materials supplied by the
Third World.

Feminism and Post-Feminism

Feminists believe that the media often presents women as
cleaners, housewives, domestic servants providing comfort and
support for men, a mans sex object to service mens sexual
needs, etc. Feminists believe that this gender representation is
an aspect of patriarchy. Feminists believe that the media
suggests these roles are natural and normal. Feminists see this as
an example of patriarchal ideology- a set of beliefs which distorts
reality and supports male dominance.
Post feminists believe that women are not forced to do any thing
in the media. In fact its by choice that women choose to flaunt
their bodies and act in a certain way. This is because they believe
that all sexism is eradicated and that women do it by choice. For
example page 3 girls, they do this by choice, they are not forced.

Queer Theory
Queer theory is a set of ideas based around the idea
that identities are not fixed and do not determine who
we are. It suggests that it is meaningless to talk in
general about 'women' or any other group, as identities
consist of so many elements that to assume that people
can be seen collectively on the basis of one shared
characteristic is wrong. Indeed, it proposes that we
deliberately challenge all notions of fixed identity, in
varied and non-predictable ways.

Celebrity and Fan Culture

Celebrity worship syndrome (CWS) is an obsessive
addictive disorder in which a person becomes overly
involved with the details of a celebrity's personal life.
Psychologists have indicated that though many people
obsess over film, television, sport and pop stars, the
only common factor between them is that they are all
figures in the public eye.