1) Read the article and summarise each section in one sentence, starting with the section 'Who are you?'

The first section looks closely at how people see themselves differently from who they really are, we live in a society were media and role models shape that we are.

The next section focuses on how people are based on traditional values such as race and religion

The next section looks at the additional things that people need for survival, media makes people buy additional things that are not necessarily needed. The next section focuses on how we have brands now representing us. The next section looks at how people use the internet as the internet helps people remain anonymous and they can see anything through the internet that can’t be used against them.  Class, brand, religion and status does not affect anyone.

2) List five brands you are happy to be associated with and explain how they reflect your sense of identity.

New look- most of my clothes are from there and it represents me

Apple- ever since my first iphone, I’ve been buying their products.

Mac- I love their make up and I use it

Nike- I love their trainers and I used to purchase from them a lot

3) Do you agree with the view that modern media is all about 'style over substance'? What does this expression mean?

Post modern criticises it as they see the identity in the media as being shallow and not leading people’s culture to become ‘style over substance’ Furthermore, there is an addition to how dominant the mass media has become.

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 of placing high factors of physical higher than internal traits that are more important.

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?

I think that the pictures that I put on social media are a reflection of me. It is me in the pictures after all. But I think that through instagram one can show their appearance and also show a little message at the bottom of the picture which helps.

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 personally disagree with companies using our information. I do believe that this is a great invasion of privacy. I believe that they should try ask people if their information could be used because after all the information belongs to them and its not there for companies to misuse it and manipulate people into thinking that its customised.

Alvarado-

1.       Beyonce Partition video fits perfectly with Alavarado’s humorous category. Beyonce is a famous female artist who is known throughout most parts of the world.  One of the reasons to why this is categorised as an exotic video is due to her costume and her dance moves that she is presenting.  Her clothing that is demonstrated in the video happen to be very tight and very sexual. The dancing moves are also very sexual.

2.       Kevin heart is one of the top comedians and in the clip he is pretending to be a police offer as he tapes the area acting like a crime just took place in it. This is comic as the man standing in the middle insists that Kevin pays the fine as he is not aware that this is comedy.

3.       This clip originated from Kidulthood . It fits with the Alvarado theory of ‘dangerous’ section as there clips demonstrates two males fighting, one of the character is demonstrated to be kicking the other character as he is on the floor. The main character Sam beats up the boyfriends. This makes Sam appear to be dangerous and someone that people stay away from, this perfectly fits with Alvarado‘s category of danger.

Fanon-

1. This clip that originated from Bend it like Beckham demonstrates Jess placing the ‘white mask’ as she tries hard to fit in. Jess comes from what one argues to be a strict Indian family. Due to culture differences, her family does not allow her to participate in sports such as football. Jess goes against her family values and belief. She builds two lives, one where she plays football by telling her parents that she is going work. This represents how she goes against her family by doing something that her eastern cultures don’t allow to take place.

2.  The next clip is taken Goodness Gracious Me. It is a comedic version of Top gear. This fits in with Fanon’s theory as they are putting on the ‘white mask’ by trying to get the audience to find it comic and laugh it. This can show them trying to fit in with the British society.

The black president in 24 is also presented as someone who is putting on the white mask as he is taking the famous role of being a president which has been a dominant white role for many years. Furthermore, in  24 there are workers who aren’t white who have power and authority.

Said- 

Said- 

Django unchained shows how the breaks free of a black slave when a white man finds himself on a mission. The clip shows the reinforcement of Saids theory as the eastern society being uncivilised as he hurts people being killing them. Futhermore, the white man that happen to rescue Django has power and of course authority.  

Citizen Khan is comedic programme which shows the events that take place in a British family. It begins with Muslim men praying showing that they are committed to their religion, beliefs and values. Mr kahn is humorous but still goes the mosque and sticks to the religion.

12 years a slave demonstrates the western society was presented as powerful as they were in charge of the black slaves. The western society was society was presented as uncivilised for having slaves; the slaves were in the other hand was presented as civilised as they were not rebelling or doing anything, they were following orders. 

Post-colonialism

1.       Summarise the three theorists we have looked at:

Alvarado- ‘Four representations of black people’ these include dangerous, exotic, pitied and humorous.

Fanon- ‘Putting on the white mask’ Fanon said that non- white people try so hard to fit in with society by behaving how white people do by putting on a ‘white mask.’

Said- ‘East vs West’ this is the theory of orientalism that mentions how it is believed that the western society is more civilised than the eastern society.

2) Watch the opening of Yasmin (2004) again. Does it offer a positive or negative view of British Muslims? To what extent does it reinforce or challenge Edward Said's theory of Orientalism - that the west is superior to the exotic or uncivilised east?

The opening of Yasmin gives British Muslim both a negative as well as a positive view.  From one perspective, the opening demonstrates Muslim men praying which one could argue it is highlighting their values and beliefs as well their commitment to religion. This represents the Muslim in Britain as people who righteous and who have a great religious sense.  Furthermore, the clip demonstrates a boy who is studying about his religion which reinforces the idea of the Muslims in Britain being harshly committed to their religion.  In the On the other hand, however, one could argue that Yasmin does necessarily offer a positive representation of Muslims in Britain. One could argue that her representation in the clip of her living a two sided life doesn’t make Muslims appear positive. One could argue that this relates to Fanon theory of people trying to put on a ‘white mask’ in order to fit in with society as she leaves the house wearing traditional clothes and then shortly changes into casual jeans and a top which is a westernised outfit.  This perfectly fits with Fanon ‘s theory of putting the white mask on. Yasmin also gets rid of her ring before going to work so she can be friendly to her colleagues, this could also be interpreted as her trying to be fitting in.

Moreover, although one could argue that although Yasmin is presented as someone who’s trying hard to fit in, her husband is presented as someone who’s uncivilised as he puts his finger in the jar of peanut butter as he eats it and repeats the process which makes him look uncivilised and non-westernised. Another thing that one could argue that is not very westernised is his rudeness to the little boy who is staring at him. To conclude, I personally believe that Yasmin reinforces the theory of Orientalism.

3) Finally, choose THREE clips for EACH of the theorists and explain how you could apply that theory to the clip. Pick a selection of clips on YouTube from TV, film, music video or advertising and embed them in your blog before writing your analysis under each clip.

dentities and the Media: Reading the Riots

Media Magazine extended feature on the media coverage of the UK riots (MM38 page 5)

1)      How did the language and selection of images in the coverage create a particular representation of young people? 

The language and images that are used within the coverage that the riots received presented young people as being ‘out of control’ and ‘young thugs.’ This then resulted in young people having a negative representation, although the exams results that showed couple weeks later showed that GCSE and Alevel students showed ‘achieved record passes.’

2)      Why does David Buckingham mention Owen Jones and his work Chavs: the demonisation of the working class?

Buckingham mention how in one of Jones recent books, Chas as it looks how the working class became an object of ‘fear and ridicule.’ His point shows how certain stereotypes were created shortly after the rioters did what they did. One could argue that this stereotype was overly and harshly bias as it focused on what the rioters did which was only a small percentage of teenagers.

3)      What is the typical representation of young people – and teenage boys in particular? What did the 2005 IPSOS/MORI survey find?

The IPOS survey claimed that 40% of newspaper articles focused on youths having an anti-social behaviour, violent behaviour and a criminal behaviour and that 71% of them described youths negatively. In addition to this, stories described teenage boys as ‘yobs, thugs, sick, feral, hoodies, louts, heartless, frightening and scum.’ This shows how negatively youths are presented in the media and surely the media has its way of manipulating people.

4)      How can Stanley Cohen’s work on Moral Panic be linked to the coverage of the riots?

Moral Panic was invented during the London rioters were rioting as it caused ‘threats to societal values.’ People were generally panicking and didn’t want to be involved in this riot as it could’ve caused troubles. News industries also added to the effect of the moral panic by focusing on these stories and possibly exaggerating the situation to buy their audiences.

5)      What elements of the media and popular culture were blamed for the riots?

Elements that are included in popular culture such as rap music, computer games and reality television shows were blamed for encouraging this behaviour of the rioters, they were blamed them for encouraging this. Also, the use of BBM at the time was a major contribution as people were using as a source of information to know where and when to go riot.  

6)      How was social media blamed for the riots? What was interesting about the discussion of social media when compared to the Arab Spring in 2011?

Social media was also blamed for having contributions. Social network sites such Twitter, facebook and blackberries were blamed for encouraging this behaviour as they were a source of valuable information for these rioters. The police even threatened to turn the internet off so people wouldn’t be able to reach each other and contact.

7)      The riots generated a huge amount of comment and opinion - both in mainstream and social media. How can the two-step flow theory be linked to the coverage of the riots? 

Many people have made several comments about the riots and who they believe to have encouraged this behaviour specifically. The opinions of leaders was the one that was most likely to affect people as they were blaming youths and social networking sites for this riots as well as advanced phones which at the time, was the blackberries.

8)      Alternatively, how might media scholars like Henry Jenkins view the 'tsunami' of blogs, forums and social media comments? Do you agree that this shows the democratisation of the media?

Jenkins celebrated at how many people participated in blogs, forums and social networking sites. I personally think that it shows a major contribution of democratisation of how media affects people’s lives and not in all cases is an advantage.

9)      What were the right-wing responses to the causes of the riots?

The right wings responses to the rioters could be described as exaggerated as well as extreme. The Daily mail explained that young people were ‘wild breasts’ who responded according to animal impulses to do what they wish to do. In other words, they do whatever comes to mind rather than doing the best thing to do.

10)   What were the left-wing responses to the causes of the riots?

On the other hand, the left wing response was evidently opposite. They claimed to drive people to do what they did, there must be an evident reason. Rioters had all rights to do what they did and therefore they shouldn’t be insulted.

11)   What are your OWN views on the main causes of the riots?

In my personal view, there are many views to why the rioters did what they did. I think its too harsh to insult youths in general just because of what a small proportion of them did. I believe that the riots had reasons to do what they did but they didn’t necessarily have the right to do what they did. I absolutely do not believe that popular culture encouraged the youths who were involved to do what they did, if that was the case, everyone who has an popular culture would’ve been involved.

12)   How can capitalism be blamed for the riots? What media theory (from our new/digital media unit) can this be linked to?

       I think that capitalism can he harshly blamed for the rioters. Capitalism causes small elite to           have it all, luxuries and rights that other don’t have, such as not paying for taxes. Most people with power and possessions didn’t necessarily work for it, some of them just inherited. Rioters could feel that since they are unfairly   privileged than they cause earn those privileges by doing what they did.

13)   Were people involved in the riots given a voice in the media to explain their participation?

People who were involved in the rioters were obviously not given any voice. If they received the coverage that they fought for, people wouldn’t be blaming youths for what they did, rather they would come to have a mutual understanding

14)   In the Guardian website's investigation into the causes of the riots, they did interview rioters themselves. Read this Guardian article from their Reading the Riots academic research project - what causes are outlined by those involved in the disturbances?

The Guardian collected over 1.3 million words of first person accounts from the rioters. This could be seen as secondary data that was used to deduce about the rioters. Some of the reasons involved tuition fees, no luxuries, unemployment and the shooting of Mark Duggan and scrapping of the education maintenance allowance.

15)   What is your own opinion on the riots? Do you have sympathy with those involved or do you believe strong prison sentences are the right approach to prevent such events happening in future?

In my opinion, having sympathy for the rioters is only natural. Although what they did was wrong, people have had employment issues as well as having problems paying for things. I believe that far too many people were involved for the police to result in arresting them and giving them long sentences.  Things that could help is an increase of employment, make essential things cheaper as well as lowering the university fees.

The Sun’s Page 3 cynicism isn’t just about lust. It’s about resentment and power

What this article focuses on how page three will be soon extinct. It also mentions that if anyone thought that the sun has lost publicity, they are wrong, portraying William Hague as a dead parrot, sticking two fingers quite literally up to Jacques Delors advising the last person out of Britain to turn the lights off, and has proved them wrong. From rejoicing feminists to the embittered Twitter troglodytes calling them jealous old cows, we fell for it; from the BBC to the broadsheets. Gotcha, as the saying goes.

 I personally think that this demonstrates the power that organisation have over people. This goes to prove the Marxist theory correctly, there's a small amount of people in power who control our ideologies and in this example our success with our complaints. They try to make people feel as if they can make a change by letting complain as if it'll help but the final decision is not up to the public, it’s up to the small elite in power. Pluralists mention that the media owners are the ones to be held responsible in the way that they manage information as what they play on television or show in news papers is primarly based on what the audience want to see. This theory relates to this topic as if the audience don’t want to see boobs in page three, they don’t need to anymore. 

British jihadi who faked his own death to return to UK is jailed for 12 years

A British jihadi, has taken an appearance in 'horrific and deeply disturbing' propaganda video and he faked his own death to be able to successfully return to the Uk from a Syrian camp in which hes been jaileld for 12 years. Imran Khawaja, 27, nicknamed “Barbie”, posed with severed heads, dead fighters and child soldiers during a six-month stint with Rayat al-Tawheed (RAT) insurgents in Syria last year. He complained to some of his friends say he had 'enough' of the conditions of the lack of toiletries, cocoa butter, and condoms for the “war booty”.

My view on this is that what he did was on all grounds wrong. He went to Syria to be part of a terrorist group and thought it was acceptable to come into the uk without facing any troubles or charges. It is important that the authorities here dealt with him adequately as what he did was wrong and he could influence the people that live in the uk therefore its every essentially important that they deal with it. 

Snapchat helps Daily Mail and Vice Media get on message with youngster

The Daily Mail, Vice Media and Snap chat, the messaging app once mainly known for sexting, might seem unlikely allies in shaping the future of media distribution. But in the frenetic search for the next big social media platform, it seems media organisations are prepared to accept unlikely bedfellows in the name of necessity just in case. There was a case last week when Vice and Mail joined CCN, Comsopolitan, national Geographic and other media brands on Snap chat.  Media partners have created what snap chat calls editions, a bunch of stories that only stay up for 24 hours in which the Snapchat editorial team also help into providing the content, for instance, on Fridays they put up an extra edit called TGIF which means Thank God Its Friday.

I think that this is a good cause and that joining each other’s app together will improve their popularity and how well they are known, this is linked to them making more money as well as they are advertising other companies as everyone is currently on snap chat. I also think that making an edit for special days such as Fridays is very intelligent as if there a festive celebration in Italy but not here, we can be made aware and eventually learn more about everyone’s festive holidays around the world.