Thursday, 26 April 2012
Friday, 24 February 2012
Representation Analysis of our media products
Product- Our production was a sterotypical 'urbanm drama' much like others such as Shank, Kidulthood we did this because these films and the media have already constructed a dominant hegamonic image. The film industry especially London based films have in my opinion become a marxist producer of centralized ideals often portraying the hegamonic view of young people who are involved in violent behavior and crime and whether this is is a posative or negative thing these images have become naturalised in the minds of adullts who have a constructed view of youths or young people who have become to accept internalised sterotypes and because it is so prolific is easy for us and the audience to consume for their own gratification of needs. And as such we chose to represent youth in this way; and although we challenged the usual racial sterotype of black youths being involved in gang violence as our protagonist was of south american origin, although we show through setting and costume that he is a part of this social group s he is shown to be living in a gritty urban environment whilst wearing sterotypical bandanas, hoodies, an d nike brand trainers reflecting young people from this social group.
Although using this dominant representation may have been a negative for our production because this representation is so prolific and young people are continously shown to be a part of this violent culture the image has become redundant and lost its power it could even be said to be annoying because it has become such a mainstream representation.
Although using this dominant representation may have been a negative for our production because this representation is so prolific and young people are continously shown to be a part of this violent culture the image has become redundant and lost its power it could even be said to be annoying because it has become such a mainstream representation.
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Analyse my product against narrative theory
My AS production was short intro to an an urban drama inspired by recent films such as Kidulthood, Adulthood and Shank. The opening follows the codes and conventions of urban london based films because we wanted to portray a narrative that our audiences could easily identify and respond to and as such we named the production 'Conflict' to highlight this; the protagonist is seen leaving his house when he is followed by a group of thugs from the local area who are from a rival gang he is chased and then beaten by them.
The opening was supposed to create enigma and generate audience interest in the narrative by establishing a character and presenting a confilct with other newly introduced characters using Propp's theories to clearly establish the protagonist as the 'hero' and the other youths as the 'villain' by conforming to the codes of Strauss' theory and using binary oppositions; using conceptual oppositions by showing the protagonist as passive and the other youths as aggressive and violent coupled with visual oppositions shooting the protagonist mostly in the light and the others in darkness. This makes the audience take the side of the protagonist which leads to greater level of involvement between film and audience. As well as hooking the audicene into wanting to know who these people are and how the situation is resolved; this structure pulls on Todorov's narrative theory that suggests that every narrative follows a three part structure the equilibrium, disruption and then a resolution however our product which is a film opening intentionally subverts this theory by leaving out the resolution and finishing with the disruption; Claude Levi-Strauss says that "narrative can only end on a resolution of conflict" and because it leaves the narrative without a resolution it is open ended and enigmatic; which is important because a film opening needs to hook an audience into the narrative and make them want to see the end. This is similar to Barthes enigma code which says that "narrative will establish enigmas or mysteries as it goes along. 'Essentially the narrative functions to establish and then solve these mysteries' our product establishes enigma by using time skips to leave out key pieces of narrative which leave it to the audience to unravel the text themselves.
My product follows the codes and conventions because it is based on well known stereotypes and allows the product to be easy recognised and identified with.
Thursday, 26 January 2012
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
Do Kidulthood and Fishtank provide an realistic representation of youth?
In a society where the media has the power to completely govern peoples opinions as it can be their only source of news and information, representations from the media can often be taken as fact. Issues of youth culture and behaviour are constantly the focus of the media's attention and are often at the forefront of social debate where the contemporary portrayal of young people in the media is negative, and it is this representation that is seen in the films 'Kidulthood' and 'Fishtank'.
The two films are both Y2K productions that portray a contemporary view of youth culture and are set in urban deprived areas of South London, areas that are associated with crime and anti social behaviour. Which are prominent features of both films; from the beginnings violence, drug use, bullying, anti-social and a disregard for social norms by young people are highlighted as the main themes and in these two films are for the most part shown to be the only way the characters know how to interact.Tim O'Sullivan's theory suggests that "the media produces a set of ideas which produces a partial and selective view of reality." this theory insinuates that the ideologies presented by the media in this case it is youth culture are distorted and are displaying an unrealistic version of young people that doesn't apply to the majority of young people but that becomes naturalised. For people from other social groups these representations are often the only experience of young people they get and this exposure to such negative portrayals can lead to moral panic, the Sun a newspaper backed campaigners who claimed 'Kidulthood' "glamorises violence" and the Times accused it of "indulging in middle class voyeurism" this often blows the representation out of proportion because people believe it is a threat further constructing a distorted but ideal of young people. I do agree that these films provide a negative portrayal that doesn't apply to a large portion of young people even in these areas however they are still accurate portrayals of a section of young people as the issues highlighted in the films are the same issues that are often reported on in real life. These films also show the positive side of young people in 'Kidulthood' through all the crime and violence we can see the emotional progression of the protagonist from a teenager to a responsible young man touching on real life issues of teen pregnancy and conversely in 'Fishtank' we see a young girl feels trapped who is taken advantage not making use of the opportunities she has an issue very close to home in the UK.
Noel Clarke said in an interview that "This film couldn't exist if these things weren't happening in society, I don't think it's controversial it's touching the nerve of a culture that's out there at the minute" Noel grew up in a similar environment to the one depicted in his film and is confident that it is hitting the centre of issues that are not only happening in real life but are very important and are in fact the reality that is not shown in the media and I agree with this opinion in that the images and ideologies from these two films are very realistic and mirror the actions of many young people in the real life I believe these films bring to the limelight issues that people try to push away from creative media and taboo. Stuart hall said " Identity is complex, not straightforward" this ideal is what we can see from these two films because of course the representation shown in the two films could said to be sensationalised or glamorising social issues however what they really portray is the complicated construction of identity in places where these are real issues it won't apply to every young person but it is definitely a real representation of youth.
The two films are both Y2K productions that portray a contemporary view of youth culture and are set in urban deprived areas of South London, areas that are associated with crime and anti social behaviour. Which are prominent features of both films; from the beginnings violence, drug use, bullying, anti-social and a disregard for social norms by young people are highlighted as the main themes and in these two films are for the most part shown to be the only way the characters know how to interact.Tim O'Sullivan's theory suggests that "the media produces a set of ideas which produces a partial and selective view of reality." this theory insinuates that the ideologies presented by the media in this case it is youth culture are distorted and are displaying an unrealistic version of young people that doesn't apply to the majority of young people but that becomes naturalised. For people from other social groups these representations are often the only experience of young people they get and this exposure to such negative portrayals can lead to moral panic, the Sun a newspaper backed campaigners who claimed 'Kidulthood' "glamorises violence" and the Times accused it of "indulging in middle class voyeurism" this often blows the representation out of proportion because people believe it is a threat further constructing a distorted but ideal of young people. I do agree that these films provide a negative portrayal that doesn't apply to a large portion of young people even in these areas however they are still accurate portrayals of a section of young people as the issues highlighted in the films are the same issues that are often reported on in real life. These films also show the positive side of young people in 'Kidulthood' through all the crime and violence we can see the emotional progression of the protagonist from a teenager to a responsible young man touching on real life issues of teen pregnancy and conversely in 'Fishtank' we see a young girl feels trapped who is taken advantage not making use of the opportunities she has an issue very close to home in the UK.
Noel Clarke said in an interview that "This film couldn't exist if these things weren't happening in society, I don't think it's controversial it's touching the nerve of a culture that's out there at the minute" Noel grew up in a similar environment to the one depicted in his film and is confident that it is hitting the centre of issues that are not only happening in real life but are very important and are in fact the reality that is not shown in the media and I agree with this opinion in that the images and ideologies from these two films are very realistic and mirror the actions of many young people in the real life I believe these films bring to the limelight issues that people try to push away from creative media and taboo. Stuart hall said " Identity is complex, not straightforward" this ideal is what we can see from these two films because of course the representation shown in the two films could said to be sensationalised or glamorising social issues however what they really portray is the complicated construction of identity in places where these are real issues it won't apply to every young person but it is definitely a real representation of youth.
Friday, 2 December 2011
GLOSSARY- Key Theorists & Terms
KEY TERMS
Hypodermic Needle Model – Media is like a drug, it’s all around us and we even take it in without trying. The Hypodermic Needle Model suggests that the information from a text passes into the mass consciousness of the audience unmediated; the experience, intelligence and opinion of an individual are not relevant to the reception of the text.
Negative Portayal- Where the media portrays a particular person or social group in a negative way.
Posative Portrayal- Where the media portrays a particular person or social group in a posative.
Binary Oppostitions- Where two subjects are the polar opposites of eachother.
Connotations- An idea or meaning suggested by media texts.
Identity Construction- Where idenitiy is formed.
Buzz Words- Phrases that trigger certain reactions.
Superimpositions- In media it is where an idelogy is impressed on a person.
Socio-economic factors- Social and economic factors that characterize the individual or group within the social structure.
Association- The links between to subjects.
Association- The links between to subjects.
Sub-Cullture- A collective of people with their own distinct interests, appearance, mindset etc
Direct Address- When a media text is directed at its audience directly.
Mise-en-scene- Literally what’s on the set (costume, props, backdrop)
Social Inclusion- Is a concept used in many parts of the world to characterise contemporary forms of social disadvantage.
Enigma- Mysterious or unknown.
Enigma- Mysterious or unknown.
Puffs- Is a short snippet of text to gain attention of audience e.g. 'free toast'
Audience- The subject if a media text.
Distorted- Where the view of a media message is changed to create a different false meaning.
Audience- The subject if a media text.
Distorted- Where the view of a media message is changed to create a different false meaning.
Mediated- A persons understanding of a media text.
Media Saturated- An environment where the media is prevelent in all areas of society.
Popular Culture- Popular culture is the accepted and favoured social order and interets.
Dominant- Most important, powerful, or influential.
Iconography – Visuals associated with a person, can be part of their persona.
Iconography – Visuals associated with a person, can be part of their persona.
Submissive- The weakest or passive.
Govern- To control and direct.
Hegemonic- The dominant viewpoint.
Ideology – A set of ideas
Ideology – A set of ideas
Moral Panic- A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order.
THEORIES
THEORIES
Henry Tajfels social identity theory states that assumes that indivduals strive to improve there self image by enhancing self-esteem. He argues that there are distinct in and out groups based on favourtism and discromination.
Stuart Halls theory on ideology states that ideolgical portrayals become naturalised which then mask themselves as common sense.
Henry Jenkins digital age theory states that teens are constantly updating and customising their online profiles. Adding photos, songs and posting on each others virtual walls where we use these mediums to build up a digital and social identity.
Merleau Ponty- We have an embodied experience and anything in which we use our bodies to create, we help builds our identity.
Althusser – Interpellation – We become bombarded with messaged, we become a subject rather than an individual as soon as we engage them, they control us (post modernism).
Hypodermic Needle Model – Media is like a drug, it’s all around us and we even take it in without trying. The Hypodermic Needle Model suggests that the information from a text passes into the mass consciousness of the audience unmediated; the experience, intelligence and opinion of an individual are not relevant to the reception of the text.
Michael Foucault – We are born with a basic identity. Our identity mediates as we get older and meet other people. We gain a collective identity by doing this and become part of a group. However, it can be seen as a negative to be part of a collective identity because this encourages stereotypes to be created. Once you are in a group, it’s hard to change and be seen as different
David Buckingham- Adolescence is a distinctive stage with a beginning and an end a gradual pregression to adulthood, the path is different for men and women. The progression is about 'becoming' rather then 'being' it is about what you will become.
Marxism- The theory by Karl Marx whihcb states that all members of society will be governed by work and in and in a class less system and will follow the same rules and hold similar beliefs.
Winship notion of complexity is about being prepared, in terms of an audience gratification to finally recognise an ideal version of ourselves. where a constructed audince is made.
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