Essay Plan

Intro- I will be using contemporary media forms (t.v and film) to show how particular social groups are represented in Britain today and with a retrospective view of tv and film from the past.

First Paragraph- Explain what collective identity is, using a quote then explaining, then use an example of a collective identity that links into a text used.

Second Paragraph- Talk about first text used what social group(s) it represents E.g This Is England, skins heads nationalists and racists (using Mise En Scene, cinematography, sound and editing)

Third Paragraph- Using Tv shows as the next text E.g Ashes To Ashes by comparing it to This Is England if they have any similar representations of social groups (both set in 80's)

Fourth Paragraph- Contemporary films set during today showing social groups of today, Hot Fuzz shows the difference in Police forces through attitudes towards how they control crime and the neighbourhood around them.

Fifth Paragraph- contemporary Tv shows such as Misfits, Skins, Shameless, picking out scenes that show social groups E.g Misfits with rebellious teenagers.

Essay Question Plan

Introduction:

1. Briefly explain what collective identity is and why it is complicated. Referring to a quote from a theorist, for example, David Gauntlett "identity is complicated".
2. References to texts we have studied, for example "This Is England" and "Hot Fuzz" for films and for TV programmes "The Inbetweeners" and "Misfits".
3. With youth chosen as our social group we must now comment on how youth is represented within these two examples.


Middle Sections:

1. In depth analysis of how youth is portrayed in each film or TV programme, one paragraph per text.
2. Youth - Clothing, Language, Stereotypes?
3. Mise en scene, Sound, Camerawork, Editing. Using these categories to back up our views on how youth is represented.

4. Middle 1- (This is england) scene- Hanging around under bridge!!
5. Middle 2- (Hot Fuzz) Scene- Kids attack shop!! (sign saying 2 school kids)!!
6. Middle 3- (The inbetweeners) Scene- caravan episode, focus on sex at the weekend!!

7. Middle 4-( Misfits) Scene-

Essay Plan

Essay Question
Using the texts you have studied, discuss the ways in which a particular social group is represented in contemporary media.

Plan
Social group - Youth.

1 -
Films  - This is England, An Education.
TV Shows - Misfits, The Inbetweeners.

2 -
Films.

This is England key scenes - When combo spat on the floor and drew a line. Manipulated Shaun into joining him to honour his dad.

An Education - After David and Danny stole the painting from that old woman David manipulated Jenny into staying with him after she was going to leave. He was trying to make it seem like her life before was unexciting and his life was glamourous.

TV Shows.

Misfits - Their powers could represent responsibility and how the youth of today may not be ready to accept that responsibility.

The Inbetweeners - The whole show is kind of a stereotype of youth today and how we are irresponsible. For example in series 2 when they're on the school trip they end up getting drunk and stealing a boat.

Both characters in both films show entrapment and through naivety and desperation to escape they make mistakes and choose the wrong people to escape with.

For instance, in An Education Jenny picks David to escape her life which seemed boring because she was constantly working. she would also ignore things he did because she was so desperate like from the point before about him stealing paintings

And in This is England Shaun joined Combos gang because Combo accepted him and and Combo used "shauns dad being proud for him" as a way to manipulate him.

Essay Question Plan - social groups represented in social media

'Using the texts you have studied, discuss the ways in which a particular social group is represented in contemporary media'

To start this essay off, I would consider the various 'texts' we have studied and consider which would be the most appropriate to refer to in this question. As both A Hard Day's Night and This is England are set in the past we can ignore them. This leaves us with Fish Tank and The Descent. Fish Tank provides plenty of opportunity for social analysis due to its setting and focus on an angry adolescent main character. The Descent is slightly harder to make comments about due to the horror film nature of everyone trying to avoid being killed horrifically leaves little to discuss about social groups.

I would mention the portrayal of Mia (the central character in Fish Tank) as a typical working-class GIRL RESIDING IN THE RUN DOWN AREAS OF ESSEX

'Using the texts you have studied...' Plan

'...discuss the ways in which particular social group is represented in contemporary media.'

Introduction - Quote from David Gauntlett 2007 "Identity is complicated. Everyone thinks they have one...", Opinion from me "in a way David is right in that anyone can, think and create an identity or identities this is aided and accelerated through the forum of the internet and other contemporary medias where people can create multiple identities.  Now i will be exploring this question of identity in the social group of Youth through Films and Television. 

The first text we explored in film was This Is England, Shane Meadows 2006, this film is retrospective of the 1980s focusing on the skinhead group culture that surfaced around that time period and how they influenced a young boy who's shown to be isolated from others. The key scene and technical element (mise en scene) that we will talk about to support this statement is when Shaun, the young boy, is at school and is being bullied for his clothing of flared trousers, is then taken on by a group of skinheads where his day to day clothing is transformed into a typical skinhead attire. This therefore shows how Shaun is now part of an identity and is no longer isolated.

essay plan.

Introduction

Explain collective identity, add a quote by David Gauntlett 2007 'identity is complicated...' explain this in full detail. You should have a discussion about what collective identity is.

Middle

After writing your introduction, to the essay you should start writing about the texts you have previously studied, or your own. You could do a paragraph on each text to make it clear. You could split these into minor paragraphs to explain key scenes in the texts. When making points and arguments make sure they're your own points. You should theorists to backup your opinions and arguments, or something that you can challenge. You should use examples from two different television programmes and then two films, for example:

• Waterloo Road- the scene where the dad of a boy founds out his sexuality and doesn't appprove. 
• Skins-
• This is England -
• The decent- the scene where she's fighting a crawler.

Conclusion

The conclusion depends on what information you put into your middle section of the essay but you can basically round up the textual evidence and your opinions of what you think.  

1. Analyse the opening montage of the film and identity how Britain in the early 80's is being represented. Does this support or challenge stereotypical notions of Britain?

2. Commenting on a key scene which involves Shaun, discuss how the experience of youth is represented through Shaun. Does this link to the collective experiences on your sheet?

1) The opening on the film shows Britain as a far less idyllic place than the stereotypes would have you believe. This in some sense is the first hint that the film is a British film; while other countries seem to still see the UK in a romantic light (namely the US, which a large percentage of our media comes from), we see it as a grey, rundown, bleak cesspit of the poor. All Americans see is Hugh Grant on a red bus riding through the village of Chisleton whilst sipping on tea with the Queen and her corgies.

Whilst reinforcing our own rather negative view of our country ( in particular the passionate anger our society felt as a whole in the early 80's), the film challenges the notion of sleepy contentedness a British setting would often harbour in a foreign film.

2.

Charlie and the chocolate factory review analysis.

To what extent would you say that online film reviews are postmodern?


(1) Are online reviews intertextual or bricolage? Why?
The film we decided to look at was Charlie and the chocolate factory. The film is intertextual, this is because it is based on Roald Dahl's book of the same name.

(2) How does online reviews relate to Baudrillards theory of simulacra?
Baudrillards theory is very similar too simulacra in that it is very modernistic. People think films are like real life.

(3) Is it a positive or negative review? How?
We believe the review to have good solid positive feedback for the readers of the article and presents them with good strong information upon it's qualities and cons of the filmed footage.


(4) How much of the review is reliable? Would you go see a filmed based on its review? Why?
A lot. No. cause i don't trust other peoples judgment.

'Neds' Review Analysis - To what extent would you agree that online film reviews are postmodern?

1. Are online reviews intertextual or bricolage?

Film reviews are all intertextual. The reason for this is that the review could not exist without the film being created. The creation of the film (one form of media) was the sole reason the review (another form of media) could be created.

2.

youth-collective identity

frustration can be shown in youth in the film Fish Tank. frustration is show in the character Mia where she storms off looking for Conor as he left the next day after having sex with her. You can see her frustration from some of camera angles in the scene.  the camera angles show the frustrated emotionthis is done by blocking the background as much out of the scene as possible

How is the collective identity you have studied represented in contemporary media?

The term 'Collective Identity' means a group of people such as British/Youth/Gender grouping together to share similar attributes.

The grouping i have been looking at is Youth, with many films such as 'Fishtank' or 'Mischief Night' showing very different views on today's youth.

In the film Fishtank 'Mia' is shown as a young rebellious teen using dancing to escape her current situation which is living in an unkempt estate with a emotional bitch of a mother and a little brat of a sister.
Youth is represented by the various teenagers that live on the estate, but is established by Mia. The scene showing the 5 young dancing girls uses provocative dancing which implies that they have very little or no morals. Although she doesn't go to school or have an education she is trying to increase her earning potential by applying for a job as a dancer but her naivety leads her to unforeseen circumstances within the dancing style. 

The film Mischief Night strongly shows youth as a multicultural society in Leeds. The parental influence is inflicted upon the children,  this makes the white ethnic proportion disrespectful towards everyone but more strongly at the Pakistani minority. The Pakistani individuals are shown to be. . . (To Be Continued)

How is the collective identity you have studied represented in contemporary media ?

Collective Identity is when a group of individuals have attributes that they all share, for example when a group all share the same taste in music or film, or what age group they are from.

The collective identity i have been looking at is youth, i have been looking at films that show very different views on teenager's and youth's life's and personality's in general.  

In the film "fishtank" the lead character "Mia" is a 15 year old girl living on an estate in a block of flats. She was kicked out of school as is stated by her mouther in a couple scenes. This sets up her character's represition of youth as an uneducated and misbehaving youth. The opening scene's of the film confirm this and that it applies to other youths in the area that there are other teenagers not at school. The rebellious and misbehaving attitude of the youth is shown when Mia starts a fight with a group of girls (one of which was a friend of Mia's) When the tension between the girls gets to it peek in the argument Mia with out a second thought head buts one of the girls this shows how spontaneously violent she can be. The film shows that the environment these teenagers are growing up in is what is making them the way they are, the film as a whole shows that where they live is a very poor and harsh environment where the adults are loud argumentative or selfish so this forces the youths to be the same just to survive and not become victims.

In the film "a room for romeo brass" shows the life's of two young teenage boys from the north. The two of them both attend school and are shown as innocent but tong in cheek pranksters. A scene that shows this is when one of the boys who has been asked to find out what a girl likes a man to be dressed in, so that the man who has asked him can go buy the clothes to impresses her, he returns and tells him the opposite of what she told him she likes so he would dress up in a rubbish pink track suit to try and impress her. It is shown that the boy never indented to hurt anyone in the situation but just to get a laugh from it. A scene that shows there innocents is the way they behave with pornographic magazines, they understand what they are but they find it funny that one of there dads has a giant pile of them in his room.  

The comparison between the two films and there depiction of youth is very different. "fishtank" shows teenagers who are forced to grow up quickly but cant handle it and end up becoming very emotional, as where the boys in "a room for romeo brass" still have there innocents.

Youth - Collective Identity

1. Youth are often represented in accordance with popular notions of adolescence:
Adolescence - physically and emotionally maturing. Fish Tank portrays adolescence through Mia, 15 year old girl

School/Education:
Fish Tank, Mia rebels against mainstream education. It shows that Mia is isolated from her peer group by not attending education. A scene which shows how Mia is different from other peers in terms of education is when a Social Worker visits her home and offers Mia a place at a Referral Unit School.
Son of Rambow, Will Proudfoot and Lee Carter in education are at complete opposites of the spectrum. Will is a quiet religious kid that is very conservative in school, not saying he is hard working or academic he is a day dreamer. In contrast Lee is a loud mouth bully that is confident and rebellious to authority. An example of this is then Will is day dreaming and doodling, then sent from the class to sit outside while they watch an educational video because of religion. Lee is also sitting outside after being kicked out for playing with a tennis ball and lying. this shows the contrast in character in education.

Finding work:
Fish Tank, Mia is unemployed and attempts to find a job as a dancer as that is the one thing that the film shows makes her happy. When turning up for the audition she realizes it wasn't the type of dancing that she does and leaves after feeling embarrassed.

Finding love/friendship/acceptance:
Fish Tank, Mia finds love in her mothers boyfriend, of which her mother does not get as emotionally attached to her boyfriends, as Mia did with Connor. In terms of friendship Mia becomes friends with Liam, a traveller, and them leaving together at the end is romanticized, therefore hints that they friendship could turn into more.

Creating an Identity that isn't created by school/parents/authority:
Son of Rambow, Will creates a new identity for himself away from his religious regime and his mother's  authority by using his imagination to create this 'son of rambow' persona.

Experimentation; drugs, culture, crime:
Fish Tank, Mia uses alcohol as an escape, which makes the audience feel that she has taken and followed in her mother's footsteps.

Leaving home:
Fish Tank, Mia concludes after everything that has happened throughout her life that she needs to escape from what has happened and decides to leave with Liam, to start a fresh life in Wales.

Essay Plan- Collective Identity

Using a quote such as ' A period of 'storm and stress' characterised by inter-generational conflicts, mood swings and an enthusiasm for risky behaviour' link this back to film which has been studied and link scenes of the film to this quote arguing whether you agree with the quote or not.

Use quotes through out the essay as long as it backs up your answer.

The question of
"How is the collective identity you have studied represented in contemporary media?" translates for us as "How is youth represented in the contemporary media studied?".

Introduction
Youth is represented mostly a negative way when shown through contemporary media, it normally is very stereotypical of the younger generation making the younger generation seem very powerless, unspoken which causes frustration which then leads to violence or bad behaviour. On the other hand there are some films which do not show so much violence but show how youth rebel when they believe they don't have a voice like in 'Bend It Like Beckham' when she isn't allowed to play football but goes behind her family's back and culture to play football.

1) Youth are often represented in accordance with popular nations of adolesence.
The scene in 'Fish Tank' when Mia shouts at her ex-friends dad, the diegetic sound of her bad language and throws stones at the flat which is located a few levels up, this agrees with the quote by G.Stanley Hall 'A period of 'storm and stress' characterised by inter-generational conflicts, mood swings and an enthusiasm for risky behaviour' showing inter-generational conflicts and mood swings. It shows frustration and stress because she may not feel her voice is being heard or finding acceptance with in the community, this is also shown by the language used and the way the setting is structured that Mia's ex-friends dad is placed higher than she is, which shows inter-generational conflict ( inequality between the two characters).

Location is another key way on how Media represents youth, most locations in the films are located in main cities such as London or the outskirts of a city where it is run down or shows the class of the youth. 'Fish Tank' and 'Kidulthood' use flats and run down areas which have been vandalised, this then leads to violence, drugs and crime. Media sets a line for which people believe that if you come from a place that isn't very well looked after you immediately will fall into the wrong crowd and rebel, which isn't always the case. which leads to media representing youth as experiemental and finding themselves.

Youth is represented in a experiemental way, by showing the characters in a way that they are introduced to drugs and crime within different cultures this is shown in Kidulthood when Sam beat up Trife at the end of the film, with a baseball bat 'true horrors we fear day to day are not supernatural bogeyman or monsters created by scientists. They're our own youth'. Most films include experiementation, even in 'Bend It Like Beckham' we still see different cultures and trying to find acceptance or give themselves freedom of speech which leads them to find there own identity.

Family is shown very differently if the film focuses on youth compared to family genred films. In 'Fish Tank' Mia and her mother do not really seem to get on. Mia's mother seems very young, uses bad diegetic language towards Mia and her other daughter, she uses physical violence such as in the scene when she pinches Mia and tells her to leave the house and also when she pulls the youngest daughter out of the kitchen by her hair so the Mother can continue dancing 'parents aren't always around to help socialize their children - or even just to show them affection. Compared to other cultures, British kids are less integrated into the adult world and spend more time with peers' . this quote agrees with the point made, Mia's dad may not be around but her Mother didnt make an effort to help her or gain an understanding in what Mia wanted.

essay plan.

How is the collective identity you have studied represented in comtemporary media?




Introduction
What collective identity is....

Paragraph One.
Start: conflict

Paragraph Two.

exam essay plan.

How is collective identity you have studied represented in contemporary media?

FIrst off I would make the question more easy to understand and basic as well as relating it straight to your specific media.

How is youth represented in British films and TV?

I would talk about the following things and how they are stereotyped in the real world,with examples from british films...

• youth culture - This is England - The youth in this film show there is a gang,underage drinking,aggressive actions toward each other and the public. They dont take each other seriously as potential to achieve bigger things in education etc. Always making jokes about each other for fun. All this is shown during a scene under the bridge when Shaun first meets woody and the gang.
• Location - Fish Tank - Its a ruin down area with the social lower class being seen as less important as there have a cramped area to live in. The location affects how youth is represented in this film because the fact that it is run down and grimy, the younger generation that are being brought up here are going to put that lifestyle into their personalities which can make them aggressive, argumentative, socially incapable and disrespectful. - Dance Scene.

• language - Swear words are used continually to enhance the lack of respect. swear words have been placed into their vocabulary as common language because it is so common in the run down areas. 
• class - There conditions and live ambitions show there as unable to change there future as there class in lower and the help is not there.
• religion -Religion is not really to relevant however race is a strong issue raised.
• race - T.I.E shows there can be strong views portrayed in Racist actions towards other races.
• sexuality etc. - In this is england sexuality is used as an insult when .. doesn't agree with a view.

 Then try and link each of these stereotypes to parts of films and TV which shows how youth is represented and over exaggerated.

I would then try and challenge these stereotypes by finding parts of the films and TV i have studied where they stereotypes of youth are not followed.

And finally i would conclude with my own personal opinion on how I think youth is represented in British films and TV.