Collective identity and representing ourselves
Collective identity and representing ourselves: blog tasks
Read the Media Magazine article on collective identity: Self-image and the Media (MM41 - page 6). Our Media Magazine archive is here.
Complete the following tasks on your blog:
1) Read the article and summarise each section in one sentence, starting with the section 'Who are you?'
-Who are you-
2) List three brands you are happy to be associated with and explain how they reflect your sense of identity.
Whether we use fashion statements, hairstyles,make-up or indeed make an active decision not
to do any of those things, we are all involved in constructing an image to communicate our identity. We have complex ideas about our selves; there is a difference between the person we think we are, the person we want to be and the person we want to be seen to be.
2) List three brands you are happy to be associated with and explain how they reflect your sense of identity.
Netflix: I watch shows and enjoy watching movies whenever I can.
Apple: I've had an iPhone or a long time and instead of having an android that is disliked by many people.
-I strongly agree that cultures now value style over substance, because people are always following trends set by influencers and famous, rich people.
4) Explain Baudrillard's theory of 'media saturation' in one paragraph. You may need to research it online to find out more.
-Baudrillard calls ‘media saturation’ results in high cultural value being placed on external factors such as physical beauty and fashion sense over internal traits such as intelligence or compassion. One of the important elements which Baudrillard deals with it is the sign value. No matter how much valuable the item is or what material is used to produce it, sign value is attached to as a matter of prestige in a capitalist society.
5) Is your presence on social media an accurate reflection of who you are? Have you ever added or removed a picture from a social media site purely because of what it says about the type of person you are?
5) Is your presence on social media an accurate reflection of who you are? Have you ever added or removed a picture from a social media site purely because of what it says about the type of person you are?
-No, I think that my social media presence is not a true and accurate representation of who I am as a person because people are not having true face to face conversations with me to find out who I am.
6) What is your opinion on 'data mining'? Are you happy for companies to sell you products based on your social media presence and online search terms? Is this an invasion of privacy?
6) What is your opinion on 'data mining'? Are you happy for companies to sell you products based on your social media presence and online search terms? Is this an invasion of privacy?
-I think it is a both a good and bad thing because it is truly invasion of privacy as companies can see what I do in private, but they can also use this to recommend good products and services that are of need to me.
Task 2: Representation & Identity: Factsheet blog task
Finally, use our brilliant Media Factsheet archive on the M: drive Media Shared (M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets) to find Media Factsheet #72 on Collective Identity. The Factsheet archive is available online here - you'll need your Greenford Google login to access. Read the whole of Factsheet and answer the following questions to complete our introductory work on collective identity:
1) What is collective identity? Write your own definition in as close to 50 words as possible.
3) How does James May's Top Toys offer a nostalgic representation of Britain?
-collective identity is when an individual has the shared sense of belonging in a group, and shares interests and views about certain things that others agree on. In addition, individuals recognize that they share certain orientations in common and on that basis decide to act together.
2) Complete the task on the factsheet (page 1) - write a list of as many things as you can think of that represent Britain. What do they have in common? Have you represented the whole of Britain or just one aspect/viewpoint?
2) Complete the task on the factsheet (page 1) - write a list of as many things as you can think of that represent Britain. What do they have in common? Have you represented the whole of Britain or just one aspect/viewpoint?
-The Royal Family, Royal Guards, Fish and Chips, Roast Beef, Tea, Crown, Double Decker Bus, London , Biscuits, Football, Train, Red Buses.
3) How does James May's Top Toys offer a nostalgic representation of Britain?
-His toys are targeted to an older demographic, and being targeted to a slightly older audience means the toys also become metaphors for the sense of Britishness that May explores, that of ‘nostalgia’ or a feeling / longing for the past where life was perceived to be simpler.
4) How has new technology changed collective identity?
4) How has new technology changed collective identity?
-The impact of social networking has changed collective identity where technology has evolved the way we view traditions and values due to newer generations and no longer being an active audience.
5) What phrase does David Gauntlett (2008) use to describe this new focus on identity?
5) What phrase does David Gauntlett (2008) use to describe this new focus on identity?
-‘Identity is complicated; everyone thinks they have got one.’
6) How does the Shaun of the Dead Facebook group provide an example of Henry Jenkins' theory of interpretive communities online?
6) How does the Shaun of the Dead Facebook group provide an example of Henry Jenkins' theory of interpretive communities online?
-The creation of this group conforms to the following ‘repeated’ view from Henry Jenkins: ‘fan genres grew out of openings or excesses within the text that were built on and stretched, and that it was not as if fans and texts were autonomous from each another; fans created their own, new texts, but elements within the originating text defined, to some degree, what they could do’.
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