A2 MEDIA STUDIES -

G325

Section B: COLLECTIVE

IDENTITYLesson 1

Starter

• What does the following word mean?

Ephebiphobia

Sound familiar?

• They wore peaked caps, neck scarves, bell-bottom trousers, and a hairstyle cropped close to the scalp, with a "donkey fringe" over the forehead.

• There were pitched battles between rival gangs, armed with iron bars, knives, powerful catapults, and even guns. They patrolled their neighbourhoods shouting obscenities and pushing people down.

• The first ‘hooligans’ riots in Aug 1898

Report: ‘The Needs of Youth’

• "Relaxation of parental control, decline of religious influence, and the movement of masses of young people to housing estates where there is little scope for recreation and plenty for trouble ... The problem is a serious challenge, the difficulty of which is intensified by the extension of freedom which, for better or worse, has been given to youth in the last generation."

• 1939

"We will call young any individual, no matter what his age, who does not yet coincide with the function which has been planned for him... The young, who have nothing to lose, are the attack. They are the adventure!”

» Isidore Isou, 1949

Stanley CohenConcepts• Moral panic

Explanation• He argues that occasionally what he calls "folk devils" emerge within

society, reflecting the anxieties and fears of adult culture. "Moral Panic" emerges when exaggerated media coverage appears of these "folk devils" leading to politicians and police to act. When this occurs, the aim is to return the social values of hegemony, clearly stating what is not a socially acceptable way to behave.

• Cohen's theory suggest that youths have become a cultural "folk devil" leading media to exaggerate their behaviour.

Representations of Youth• Watch the Following examples

• How do they represent a current Moral Panic?

• Harry Brown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVOSfHFNlcI

• Eden Lake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9kuMFPW0YI

• Attack the Block: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD0gm7dHKKc

• Skins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho69_sCkwyI

Contemporary moral panics

• can you think of more recent examples?

Contemporary moral panics

• the hoodie and youth as threat• hip hop/gangsta rap• Islamic ‘terrorists’• videogame violence• sexualisation of children

Youth as ‘scapegoat’

• In the discussion surrounding youth, ‘childhood and youth are socially produced categories, projection screens upon which the fears and longings of the adult world are projected. Through this process the role of young people as an enduring scapegoat for the collective neurosis of society is ensured”

• (Brown 1998:12).

Date Term ?, Lesson ? 11

Charles R AclandConcepts• Ideology of protection; deviant youth and reproduction of social order

Explanation• Acland argues in his theory that the representation of deviant youths

reinforces hegemony, the idea that a culture is ruled by one social class. Media creates the image of "normal" youth and adults, then contrasting this with behaviour that contrasts against what we deem to be socially acceptable. This is what the audience finds entertaining and interesting, as it is going against these "normal" views of society. Acland also makes the point that by the media representing youths in such a way, it allows the state to have more control over them.

Charles R AclandConcepts• Ideology of protection; deviant youth and reproduction of social order

Explanation• For example, the mass of media reports about negative youth

behaviour led to the introduction of ASBO's, which then led to even more media coverage. Acland calls this "ideology of protection" which is the idea that youths need this constant surveillance and monitoring in order to "protect" them. Similar to Giroux's theory, youths are impressionable it is a time in their life when they learn about roles and values from adult culture. Media coverage of negative behaviour allows the state to reinforce hegemonic values and tell youths what is wrong and socially unacceptable.

Charles R Acland

Concepts• Ideology of protection; deviant youth and

reproduction of social order

Explanation• For example, the idea in "hoodie horrors" that youths

are like monsters often included in horror themes leads some youths to relate these representations to things they fear, such as demons, which moves them in the opposite direction of this sort of behaviour.

Representations of Young people - News•

• News coverage and moral panics: dual concerns:

• youth as ‘deviant threat’• childhood ‘innocence destroyed’ by

media

George Gerbner• ConceptsCultivation Theory

• ExplanationGerbner studies the effect of television on the audience's perception of crime. His theory suggests that people who watch a large amount of television have an over exaggerated opinion on crime and how much it occurs as well as how severe the crimes actually are. He called this "mean world syndrome". His theory states that because media forms such as news reports, television programmes and films contain over exaggerated representations of crimes, mostly negative, people's perceptions are dramatically influenced. The term used by Gerbner to describe this is "cultivation theory".

George Gerbner• ConceptsCultivation Theory

• QuotesFearful people are more dependent, more easily manipulated and controlled, more susceptible to deceptively simple, strong, tough measures and hard-line postures... They may accept and even welcome repression if it promises to relieve their insecurities. (Gerbner)

Who tells the stories of a culture really governs human behavior. It used to be the parent, the school, the church, the community. Now it’s a handful of global conglomerates that have nothing to tell, but a great deal to sell. (Gerbner)

Galtung & Ruge

Concept• Information is filtered by those who deem it worthy

Explanation• Selective Gatekeeping. • Galtung and Ruge selective gatekeeping theory

suggests that news from around the world are evaluated using news values to determine their newsworthiness.

Martin Barker

• work on history of moral panics• challenges news coverage’s

simplistic view

A Haunt of Fears

• 18th Century theatre• 19th century ‘penny dreadfuls’• Music Halls 1890s• Silent movie crime films• Horror Comics 1950s• Rock and Roll• Video Nasties 1980s