essay

Explain the role played by the media in the construction of collective identity

When discussing the role played by the media in the construction of collective identity youths are often represented in a negative light. In various forms of mass media youths are portrayed as almost deviants, which go against society causing a moral panic within communities. This links in with Stanley Cohen’s theory and also relates to both Antonio Gramsci who states that hegemony occurs in which the control of society is by one large group ie (the mass media) and David Gauntlett who states that 'Identities are not 'given' but are constructed and negotiated” within the media.

According to Stanley Cohen, author of Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972) a moral panic occurs when "condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests." People who supposedly threaten the social order have been described as "folk devils." Moral panic links in with the films "a clockwork orange" and “Quadraphinia” which both focus on the construction of youths and how this caused a stir among the public for the behaviour and content shown.

Conspiracy between the main characters "alex and his droogs" antics and how their actions effected and where mirrored by the public was a topic that the mass media grasp and shown within a very negetive light. The debate still stands today as to whether our society can be influenced by such inappropriate behaviour or if the deviants who commit the crimes will regardless of what they have viewed and the mass media played a massive part into the construction of youths and how they can be affected by social learning theory of imitating what they see. The youths related to the film in a way as similar to Alex and his droogs they wore similar clothing to each other and stuck together in gangs however when talking about the behaviour viewed youths stated that it was nothing in which they "had not seen before". This brings in the debate again as to whether the film does need a concern or whether as David Gauntlett states that the 'Identities" of the characters "are not constructed and negotiated” by the mass media and made out to be worse than they actually are as a treat to society.

In Quandrophinia the main point in the fact that Jimmy wants to be out of the ordinary is shown through dialog when stating to Kevin "I don't want to be the same as everyone else, thats why I'm a mod see" which is slightly ironic as though he is a mod they all show similar behaviour and wear similar clothing making them the same as each other rather than unique. This ideologie of wanting to be different but actually all being similar to each other could be done in order to show the impression which the young generation think they have by being different and the view of which the older generation have of them by all being the same. This is shown further by him and his dad being binary opposites and him stating Jimmy to be a "freak" asking "haven't you got a mind of your own." The mob mentality and sticking together is also an ideology in which is shown by them trashing the house and the streets of Brighton basically because they can and are in such a large crowd that they are not fearful of the consequences. Jimmy is shown to be centrally framed between the two older men at his work and is throwing up whilst they ignore him and chat amongst themselves which could be to show the intollerance the older generation has to the younger generation and the antics they get up to.

In Quadraphinia there is also various forms of mise en scene used in order to establish the youth culture such as the dark rock music, motorbikes, drugs, smoking, gambling, bars parties and riots. These are all things which show the young generation in a bad light and indicate that they are very image consious. The mise en scene is important in order to indicate the lifestyle of the mods and the outlets they use in order to supress their bordom and go against society. The mods are almost seen to take over society by their antics and are devients which rebel against the normal and try to almost destroy it. This rule breaking and conflicts between the younger and older generation may cause a moral panic within the media as its something which is generally feared by the older generation. Those who then see a mod in the street maythen be fearful that they will get into antics similar to those in the film purely because of the way they dress. The mob mentality is something of a moral panic as if big enough and wanting to rebel against society it is possible that the culture we live in could change, a fearful thought for the society at that time.

Similarly within society today the media has constructed an image for youths in which all people of that age who dress a certain way are given a certain constructed identity by the media. Moral panics towards youths are still evident today such as the London riots showing a key event in which the media portrayed a negative image about youths. On 4 August 2011, a police officer shot and killed 29-year-old Mark Duggan during an attempt to arrest him. On 6 August a protest was held, initially peacefully, beginning at Broadwater Farm and finishing at Tottenham police station in order to gain answers of his death. The protest began to escalate on a much larger scale in which a large amount of youths took part in the gathering. Rioting occurred shortly after about 120 people marched from the Broadwater Farm estate to Tottenham Police Station.The group of some 200 people demanded that a senior local police officer come out to speak to them. They stayed in front of the police station hours longer than they originally planned because they were not satisfied with the seniority of the officers available at the time. A younger and more aggressive crowd arrived at the scene around dusk, some carrying weapons. Further violence broke out based on an allegation that the police had done.

Within the mass media examples were shown in which youths are shown in a definite negative light. A specific example is of a news broadcast for BBC news in which the video is live during the riots focusing mainly on the present action of the riots in which the reporter is in the midst of it and showing actual occurrences as well as using negative language in order to show the riots in a negative light. Occurrences such as the smashing of a police car with bricks and stones at the side of the road with the reporter stating how quickly the mood of the crowd can change as they were thought to be surrounded by sight seeing’s and then the mood seemed to of erratically change to violent behaviour of youths out of control. This links in with Gramsci’s theory by the fact that the mass media are in control of society and selecting certain areas of that time which show particularly violent footage from youths constructing their identity as mindless and destructive. Being live various footage could of been shown but the media specifically selected that in order to continue their constructed representation of youths.

Some forms of media however helped show a positive representation of youths within the London riots and helped go against the mass medias typical representation. These examples include