G325 lesson 1

G325: Critical Perspectives in Media

Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production

Section B: Contemporary Media Issues

G325: Critical Perspectives in Media

• The purpose of this unit is to assess candidates' knowledge and understanding of media concepts, contexts and critical debates, through their understanding of one contemporary media issue and their ability to evaluate their own practical work in reflective and theoretical ways.

• The examination is two hours. Candidates are required to answer two compulsory questions, on their own production work, and one question from a choice of six topic areas. The unit is marked out of a total of 100, with the two questions on production work marked out of 25 each, and the media theory question marked out of 50.

• There are two sections to this paper:• Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production (50 marks)• Section B: Contemporary Media Issues (50 marks)


• One question to be answered from a choice of six topic areas offered by OCR. There will be two questions from each topic area.

• The topic areas require understanding of contemporary media texts, industries, audiences and debates.

• Candidates must choose one of the following topic areas, in advance of the examination and, through specific case studies, texts, debates and research of the candidates' choice, prepare to demonstrate understanding of the contemporary issue. This understanding must combine knowledge of at least two media and a range of texts, industries, audiences and debates, but these are to be selected by the centre / candidate


• Contemporary Media Regulation

• Global Media

• Media and Collective Identity

• Media in the Online Age

• Post-mordern Media

• ‘We Media’ and Democracy


• Each topic is accompanied by four prompt questions, and candidates must be prepared to answer an exam question that relates to one or more of these four prompts. There should be emphasis on the historical, the contemporary and the future in relation to the chosen topic, with most attention on the present

Media and Collective Identity

• How do the contemporary media represent nations, regions and ethnic/ social/ collective groups of people in different ways?

• How does contemporary representation compare to previous time periods?

• What are the social implications of different media representations of groups of people?

• To what extent is human identity increasingly 'mediated'?• Candidates might explore combinations of any media

representation across two media, or two different representations across two media

Consider at a ‘macro’ level how ‘the media’ represent people and ideasBut more importantly discuss on a ‘micro’ level how people give meaning

To particular kinds of media in relation to their identity

Representations of Black Britain

• In order to be fully prepared for the specific requirements of the question, the material studied by candidates must cover these three elements:

• Historical - dependent on the requirements of the topic, candidates must summarise the development of the media forms in question in theoretical contexts.

• Contemporary - current issues within the topic area.• Future - candidates must demonstrate personal

engagement with debates about the future ofthe media forms / issues that the topic relates to.


• We will be focusing on film and music, and cover a little on television – the texts that we will be looking at are:

• Sapphire, Basil Dearden (1959)• Flame in the Streets, Roy Ward Baker (1962)• Pressure, Horace Ove (1976)• Kidulthood, Menhaj Huda (2006)• Adulthood, Noel Clarke (2008)• Freestyle, Kolton Lee (2010)• Shank, Mo Ali (2010)

• We will be focusing on film and music, and cover a little on television – the texts that we will be looking at are:

• 2 Tone and The Specials• Reggae and Smiley Culture• Grime & UK Hip Hop – Dizzie Rascal, Bashy, Skinny

Man, N-Dubz

• We will be considering the use of the term ‘Urban’• And music as a subculture – representative of something

much bigger


Theory & Cultural critics

Paul Gilroy

Antonio Gramsci

Dick Hebdige

David Gauntlett

Stuart Hall

David Buckingham

Let’s review

• What do you need for the exam?

• social group as a case study- examples

• at least two different media

• understanding of and reference to theory/cultural critics

• your own voice!

What is Identity?

What is Identity?

On the one hand, identity is something unique to each of us that we assume is more or less consistent (and hence the same) overtime..

our identity is something we uniquely possess: it is what distinguishes us from other people.

David Buckingham (2008).He argues that identity is complicated/complex.

What is Collective Identity?

What is Identity?

On the one hand, identity is something unique to each of us that we assume is more or less consistent (and hence the same) overtime..

our identity is something we uniquely possess: it is what distinguishes us from other people. Yet on the other hand, identity also implies a relationship with a broader collective or social group of some kind. When we talk about national identity, cultural identity, or gender identity, for example, we imply that our identity is partly a matter of what we share with other people. Here, identity is about identification with others whom we assume are similar to us (if not

exactly the same), at least in some significant ways.

David Buckingham (2008).He argues that identity is complicated/complex.

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Collective IdentityCollective Identity“…collective identity [is] an individual's cognitive, moral, and emotional

connection with a community, category, practice, or institution. It is a perception of a shared status or relation, which may be imagined rather than experienced directly, and it is distinct from personal

identities, although it may form part of a personal identity. A collective identity may have been first constructed by outsiders, who may still enforce it, but it depends on some acceptance by those to

whom it is applied. Collective identities are expressed in cultural materials -names, narratives, symbols, verbal styles, rituals,

clothing, and so on - but not all cultural materials express collective identities. Collective identity does not imply the rational calculus for

evaluating choices that "interest" does. And unlike ideology collective identity carries with it positive feelings for other members

of the group“

COLLECTIVE IDENTITY AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS.Annual Review of Sociology, January 01, 2001, Polletta, Francesca; Jasper, James M

Summary: what ‘Collective Identity’ can mean

• not just representations by mainstream media

• self-construction by users of the media

• communities formed from shared identity: age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, cultural values, political ideas etc

Education

G325 lesson 1