Look forward to working with you this year - well of course I am going to say that!
Please make sure you join this site as a follower so I can access your work online, much easier that way.
Cheers
Saturday, 4 September 2010
Thursday, 13 May 2010
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Bonza interview with Shane Meadows about BBFC
http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/michaelwalford/entry/this_is_england/
Representation of Youth Culture in the media
Representation and Youth
The media cannot present the world to us, despite their assertions of truth, reality and verisimilitude. In practice the media offer us perspectives or selected views on our world. They re-present that world to us by constructing images and behaviours for lots of different groups within, and indeed outside, our own society. So we are aware of families represented in a range of television soaps. We have a knowledge of sportspeople through sports coverage in the press and on television programmes. We are dependent on the media for our insights into what it was like to live in a time before we were born. Our knowledge of other countries and lifestyles is usually based on media constructs. And so on.
The fact is that the media have the power through selection and reinforcement to give us very influential portrayals of a whole range of groups, situations and ideas. We make sense of these representations in different ways according to the values and assumptions we carry around in our own heads. So representation is not just about the way the world is presented to us but also about how we engage with media texts in order to interpret and assimilate such portrayals. This concept of representation is, therefore, just as much about audience interpretation as it is about the portrayals that are offered to us by the media.
Another key media term tied in to representation is institution, because we need to consider the reasons why someone or some institution is presenting these images to us. How representations change over time and which points of view are left out or privileged in these representations might also be worthy of consideration. Interestingly the advertising media often give us a kind of social barometer of changing representations of social groups and trends. Think of the 'new man' or 'the independent woman' popularised by the car advertisers in particular.
If we move on to look at this notion of representation in one particular area we can see that many organisations and groups are keen to portray youth for purposes of commerce or social comment. The problem with the youth market is that it is a very difficult one to address because youth's level of engagement with the mass media in general is less than the average with the exception of film and music. The youth market is one that is also characterised by continuous change. So we need to ask how accurately the issues and concerns of youth are shown by these media producers and ask if they are responsive and sensitive in reflecting the shifts in youth culture.
Let us look at the way we are presented with images of youth in some of the popular media forms.
In print it is evident that magazines are often split along gender lines and it is difficult to find any popular magazine that crosses the gender divide. Female gender representations for youth as developed by girls' magazines have been the subject of research by Gillian Murphy. She sees these representations as stereotypical and she is critical of magazines such as Jackie for their negative portrayals of young females. McRobbie, however, takes a different slant. Her interpretation suggests that young females are able to see themselves in privileged positions as opposed to the usual subservient roles developed in other media. So magazines that show young females in lead or dominant roles provide positive and enabling representations. Some moral watchdogs have criticised modern magazines for their content which they describe as unsuitable because the magazines are aimed at and purchased by a younger audience than the designated one (consider Just 17). Are representations in relation to young females changing or are we getting more of the same?
We should also note the rise in 'lads' magazines such as Loaded and FHM which stress other male lifestyle interests such as cars, sport, holidays and clothes - as well as females. These are a long way from the exploitation of females in the soft porn men's mags such as Playboy. Do these representations offer a changing perspective of the young male?
The press has little youth representation because it tends to sell to adults and when they target youth they see them as students, jobseekers or other consumerist categories. However many press stories do involve youth (yob culture, club scene, drug stories etc.) and the accuracy or otherwise of these portrayals needs to be addressed.
Film is not an easy area due to the high level of US material. We can note the popularity of films such as American Pie, but like the earlier Porkies films they depict teens as sex-obsessed, which is a rather limited portrayal. Some US material is more sensitive and sympathetic in discussing teen angst. For example John Hughes, director of Ferris Bueller's Day Off and The Breakfast Club offers quite sensitive portrayals of youth coping with relationships, authority and identity. More localised representations of youth in films such as The Commitments and Trainspotting tend to provide a more earthy analysis of youth issues. These do not pretend to be cinema verité but their 'authors' would claim that they reflect the youth experience more authentically than most U.S. film imports. Do you agree?
TV has a selection of youth representations but TV also has low viewing figures for the teen market. There is interesting TV-based research by Buckingham on definitions of masculinity among young males. This points to the constant negotiation of the meaning of masculinity which emphasises the struggle to refine this notion against what are perceived as feminine characteristics. Acceptance of male stereotypes is rejected in this research. For an older age group Hollyoaks and a teen-driven Neighbours are meant focus on relationships and issues that have a youth appeal. Occasionally youth programmes are deemed offensive by some adults: The Word was often seen as controversial because of its style of address. Programmes such as Top of the Pops reflect youth music but have a wider audience. Is TFI Friday a youth programme, given the age of the presenter and many of the guests? US imports such as Dawson's Creek and Buffy the Vampire Slayer offer interesting and very popular representations of youth. Both are glossy in production values, script and casting. Buffy probably has a more developed range of characters than Dawson's Creek. Neither of these are as dull and formulaic as Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Can Friends be considered a teen programme?
Radio has youth defined in terms of music - Radio 1 and many local wall-to-wall music stations tend to be based on a formula that encompasses popular music, presenter-led programmes, competitions and tabloid-style news and weather as necessary add-ons. Whatever way the media show images of youth it is important that young people themselves challenge stereotypes and question the representations they encounter. As society places ever more stress on a mediated culture the young must assert the importance of their situated culture and the individuality that is part of what it means to be a young person.
References
McRobbie, A, Feminism and Youth Culture, Macmillan, 1991
Murphy, G. Media Influence on the Socialisation ofTeenage Girls in Curran, J, Smith, A, and Wingate,P \(eds), Impacts and Influences, Metheun, 1987
Buckingham, D (ed), Reading Audiences, Manchester University Press, 1993
© 2001 Gerry Connor
The media cannot present the world to us, despite their assertions of truth, reality and verisimilitude. In practice the media offer us perspectives or selected views on our world. They re-present that world to us by constructing images and behaviours for lots of different groups within, and indeed outside, our own society. So we are aware of families represented in a range of television soaps. We have a knowledge of sportspeople through sports coverage in the press and on television programmes. We are dependent on the media for our insights into what it was like to live in a time before we were born. Our knowledge of other countries and lifestyles is usually based on media constructs. And so on.
The fact is that the media have the power through selection and reinforcement to give us very influential portrayals of a whole range of groups, situations and ideas. We make sense of these representations in different ways according to the values and assumptions we carry around in our own heads. So representation is not just about the way the world is presented to us but also about how we engage with media texts in order to interpret and assimilate such portrayals. This concept of representation is, therefore, just as much about audience interpretation as it is about the portrayals that are offered to us by the media.
Another key media term tied in to representation is institution, because we need to consider the reasons why someone or some institution is presenting these images to us. How representations change over time and which points of view are left out or privileged in these representations might also be worthy of consideration. Interestingly the advertising media often give us a kind of social barometer of changing representations of social groups and trends. Think of the 'new man' or 'the independent woman' popularised by the car advertisers in particular.
If we move on to look at this notion of representation in one particular area we can see that many organisations and groups are keen to portray youth for purposes of commerce or social comment. The problem with the youth market is that it is a very difficult one to address because youth's level of engagement with the mass media in general is less than the average with the exception of film and music. The youth market is one that is also characterised by continuous change. So we need to ask how accurately the issues and concerns of youth are shown by these media producers and ask if they are responsive and sensitive in reflecting the shifts in youth culture.
Let us look at the way we are presented with images of youth in some of the popular media forms.
In print it is evident that magazines are often split along gender lines and it is difficult to find any popular magazine that crosses the gender divide. Female gender representations for youth as developed by girls' magazines have been the subject of research by Gillian Murphy. She sees these representations as stereotypical and she is critical of magazines such as Jackie for their negative portrayals of young females. McRobbie, however, takes a different slant. Her interpretation suggests that young females are able to see themselves in privileged positions as opposed to the usual subservient roles developed in other media. So magazines that show young females in lead or dominant roles provide positive and enabling representations. Some moral watchdogs have criticised modern magazines for their content which they describe as unsuitable because the magazines are aimed at and purchased by a younger audience than the designated one (consider Just 17). Are representations in relation to young females changing or are we getting more of the same?
We should also note the rise in 'lads' magazines such as Loaded and FHM which stress other male lifestyle interests such as cars, sport, holidays and clothes - as well as females. These are a long way from the exploitation of females in the soft porn men's mags such as Playboy. Do these representations offer a changing perspective of the young male?
The press has little youth representation because it tends to sell to adults and when they target youth they see them as students, jobseekers or other consumerist categories. However many press stories do involve youth (yob culture, club scene, drug stories etc.) and the accuracy or otherwise of these portrayals needs to be addressed.
Film is not an easy area due to the high level of US material. We can note the popularity of films such as American Pie, but like the earlier Porkies films they depict teens as sex-obsessed, which is a rather limited portrayal. Some US material is more sensitive and sympathetic in discussing teen angst. For example John Hughes, director of Ferris Bueller's Day Off and The Breakfast Club offers quite sensitive portrayals of youth coping with relationships, authority and identity. More localised representations of youth in films such as The Commitments and Trainspotting tend to provide a more earthy analysis of youth issues. These do not pretend to be cinema verité but their 'authors' would claim that they reflect the youth experience more authentically than most U.S. film imports. Do you agree?
TV has a selection of youth representations but TV also has low viewing figures for the teen market. There is interesting TV-based research by Buckingham on definitions of masculinity among young males. This points to the constant negotiation of the meaning of masculinity which emphasises the struggle to refine this notion against what are perceived as feminine characteristics. Acceptance of male stereotypes is rejected in this research. For an older age group Hollyoaks and a teen-driven Neighbours are meant focus on relationships and issues that have a youth appeal. Occasionally youth programmes are deemed offensive by some adults: The Word was often seen as controversial because of its style of address. Programmes such as Top of the Pops reflect youth music but have a wider audience. Is TFI Friday a youth programme, given the age of the presenter and many of the guests? US imports such as Dawson's Creek and Buffy the Vampire Slayer offer interesting and very popular representations of youth. Both are glossy in production values, script and casting. Buffy probably has a more developed range of characters than Dawson's Creek. Neither of these are as dull and formulaic as Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Can Friends be considered a teen programme?
Radio has youth defined in terms of music - Radio 1 and many local wall-to-wall music stations tend to be based on a formula that encompasses popular music, presenter-led programmes, competitions and tabloid-style news and weather as necessary add-ons. Whatever way the media show images of youth it is important that young people themselves challenge stereotypes and question the representations they encounter. As society places ever more stress on a mediated culture the young must assert the importance of their situated culture and the individuality that is part of what it means to be a young person.
References
McRobbie, A, Feminism and Youth Culture, Macmillan, 1991
Murphy, G. Media Influence on the Socialisation ofTeenage Girls in Curran, J, Smith, A, and Wingate,P \(eds), Impacts and Influences, Metheun, 1987
Buckingham, D (ed), Reading Audiences, Manchester University Press, 1993
© 2001 Gerry Connor
Thursday, 22 April 2010
Sunday, 10 January 2010
TIP TOP WEBSITES FOR WHEN YOU ARE SNOWED IN
Media and Communications website
www.aber.ac.uk/media
Theory.org: www.theory.org.uk
David Gauntlett's research website. Check out the media studies 2.0 section
UK Film Council: Excellent for industry stats, funding and the Digital Shorts project
www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk
www.longroadmedia.com
Another school's work to look at plus resources teachers have put up to use!
www.aber.ac.uk/media
Theory.org: www.theory.org.uk
David Gauntlett's research website. Check out the media studies 2.0 section
UK Film Council: Excellent for industry stats, funding and the Digital Shorts project
www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk
www.longroadmedia.com
Another school's work to look at plus resources teachers have put up to use!
British Films - check these out if you can
Sexy Beast (2000, Jonathan Glazer)
Elizabeth (1998, Shekhar Kapur)
Bullet Boy (2004, Saul Dibb)
The Full Monty (1997, Peter Cattaneo)
A Room for Romeo Brass (1999, Shane Meadows)
Dead Man's Shoes (2004, Shane Meadows)
This is England (2006, Shane Meadows)
Shaun of the Dead (2004, Edgar Wright)
Hot Fuzz (2007, Edgar Wright)
Red Road (2006, Andrea Arnold)
The Last King of Scotland (2006, Kevin Macdonald)
The Queen (2006, Stephen Frears)
The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006, Ken Loach)
United 93 (2006, Paul Greengrass)
Elizabeth (1998, Shekhar Kapur)
Bullet Boy (2004, Saul Dibb)
The Full Monty (1997, Peter Cattaneo)
A Room for Romeo Brass (1999, Shane Meadows)
Dead Man's Shoes (2004, Shane Meadows)
This is England (2006, Shane Meadows)
Shaun of the Dead (2004, Edgar Wright)
Hot Fuzz (2007, Edgar Wright)
Red Road (2006, Andrea Arnold)
The Last King of Scotland (2006, Kevin Macdonald)
The Queen (2006, Stephen Frears)
The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006, Ken Loach)
United 93 (2006, Paul Greengrass)
BRITISH CINEMA
Just some of the terms you will become familiar with over the forthcoming weeks...
Working Title
Universal
FilmFour (both TV and production co)
BBC Films
Verve Pictures
UK Film Council
New Cinema
BFI
Screenonline
Sight and Sound
BBFC
Distribution (digital)
Licensing
Marketing (campaign)
Vertical integration
Theatrical release
DVD/Video rights TV rights
Blanket marketing
Staggered release
USP – unique selling point
Audience targeting
Multiplatform
Viral marketing
Social realism
Naturalistic
Super 16 / 35mm
Handheld/immediacy
Budget / production values
Semi-autobiographical
Fractured audiences
Niche / mainstream audience
‘Specialist’ – ‘independent’
Digital / online age
BAFTA / BIFADCMS
Bullet Boy (Dibb, 2004)
This Is England (Meadows, 2006)
Working Title
Universal
FilmFour (both TV and production co)
BBC Films
Verve Pictures
UK Film Council
New Cinema
BFI
Screenonline
Sight and Sound
BBFC
Distribution (digital)
Licensing
Marketing (campaign)
Vertical integration
Theatrical release
DVD/Video rights TV rights
Blanket marketing
Staggered release
USP – unique selling point
Audience targeting
Multiplatform
Viral marketing
Social realism
Naturalistic
Super 16 / 35mm
Handheld/immediacy
Budget / production values
Semi-autobiographical
Fractured audiences
Niche / mainstream audience
‘Specialist’ – ‘independent’
Digital / online age
BAFTA / BIFADCMS
Bullet Boy (Dibb, 2004)
This Is England (Meadows, 2006)
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