Important points and quotes on collective identity

Important points and Quotes

In essay must cover three elements:

1.     Historical

2.     Contemporary

3.     Future

Media representation of gender

·       Almy et al 1984- argue media representations of gender are important because they enter the collective social conscience and reinforce culturally dominant ideas about gender which represent males as dominant and females as subordinate. Sociologists argue media representations not only stereotype masculinity and femininity into fairly limited forms of behaviour, but also provide gender role models that males and females are encouraged to spire to.

Traditional media representations

·       Tunstall (2000) argues media representations emphasise women’s domestic, sexual, consumer and marital activities to the exclusion of all else. The media ignore the fact that the majority of British women goo out to work. 

·       Working women- unfulfilled, unattractive and unable to sustain relationships.

·       Tushman- used term symbolic annihilation to describe way women’s achievements not reported or even condemned by mass media- achievements presented less important than looks and sex appeal.

·       Women’s magazines- women strongly conform to ideological patriarchal ideals that conform to their subordinate position in comparison to men.

·        Wolf- media presents women as ‘sex objects’ to be consumed by what Mulvey calls the male gaze.

·       Analysis on British teenagers indicates 70% of the content in magazines focus on beauty and fashion.

Media empowering women

·       Sociologists noted the increasing number of positive female roles emerging. Argued these reflect the social and cultural changes that females have experienced.

·       Gill (2008)- argues the depiction of women in advertising has changed from women as passive objects of the male gaze to active, independent and sexually powerful agents.

Key theorists

1.     David Gauntlett- “Identity is complicated- everybody thinks they’ve got one”

2.     David Gauntlett- “Femininity is not typically a core value for women today. Instead being ‘feminine’ is just one of the performances that women choose to employ in everyday life”

3.     David Buckingham- “Identity is an ambiguous and slippery term”

Representation Theory

·       This theory challenged the authenticity of images we receive through the media. It particularly focuses on presentations of individuals and social groups.

·       The ways the media represents nationality can be indicative of the way we see ourselves, as well as others.

·       A dominant culture sees people who are different as the idea of the ‘other’.  

·       The ways women are represented in films have changed. Although they may not be regarded as accurate representations, they exist as a product of there time.

·       The male gaze- this concept stems from 1970s when Laura Mulvey concluded that the camera focuses on women voyeuristically, in order to please the male audience. Alfred Hitchock in particular has been criticised for objectifying women in his films.

·       Barthes- semiotics- A French theorist 1950s to 10970s developed the theory of semiotics. He stated any text has a complex meaning that can be unravelled to create a whole range of different meaning. He even suggest ‘steak and chips’ show the national identity of the French.  

Audience theory

·       Blumer and Katz uses and gratifications theory- put forward the idea that audiences put media texts to their own use:

1.     Reinforce personal identity

2.     Finding companionship and meaning by being part of a group

3.     Current affairs

4.     Communicate with others

Narrative theory

·       This is the main way in which characters and their characteristics are relayed to the viewer.

·       Levi-Strauss and Binary opposition- he identified a narrative system of ‘binary opposites’ where symbols and ideas exists in relation to their opposite- conflict. Examples: good & evil, men & women.

Genre theory

·       Genre focuses on where certain codes and conventions have been identified

·       Ideology- this is the basis behind a media text. In sociological terms, ideology is a set of beliefs that underpins a process and leads to social relations. These beliefs are held by groups in society and the prevalent ones are held by the dominant groups

·       Hegemony (leadership/dominion)- in any society the accepted and agreed beliefs are those of the ruling class.