Identities and the Media How do the contemporary media represent the identities of different groups

How do the contemporary media represent the identities of different groups in society - and how have those identities changed over time? How far is identity being mediated by contemporary technologies and practices - and what are the social implications of this? Media teacher Jacqui Shirley explores the debates you'll be addressing in your A2 course.

The OCR A2 exam Critical Perspectives in Media addresses the issue in one of its pre-set topics, Media and Collective Identity. This should be studied through at least two media, and a range of texts, industries, audiences and debates.

Identity is the way we see ourselves, and the way different groups in society see us. It's the story we tell about ourselves, and we constantly update and change it. Identity isn't fixed, but changes over time and in different situations, and we can have multiple identities. For example: our online identity can be very different from the identity we have at college or at home. Would you really want your mum to see all of your online identities?

Individuals can use a range of media with which to identify, and to conceive versions of themselves; so the media can be seen as a set of resources or tools to inform personal identity and also to represent or display it. The way in which people use and respond to the media can become part of the way they construct their individual identity.

Identity issues

There are debates about the power relationship between the media and individuals. Some conventional identities are more acceptable than others, and conforming to a socially acceptable identity can allow people to 'fit in' to society. In this case, it could be argued that audiences passively accept media representations and ideologies, and use them to construct their identity.
There are many arguments about the influence of the media on young men and women's sexuality in an increasingly sexualised culture. Has this led to more liberal and open attitudes to sex and sexuality, or has it been a step backwards in terms of male and female sexuality and sexual identity?

Post-feminist theory has explored this issue and discussed the influence of the media on sexual identity. Many post-feminists argue that in contemporary media gender roles are less rigid, and women can more easily define their own identity. Through the interactivity of digital media, audiences can increasingly select, manipulate or reject media representations, and thus can create their own identities. Do you think audiences accept media ideologies without question, or do they select and adapt them to construct their own identity?

There have been many high-profile feminist campaigns in recent years, such as the website everydaysexism.com which provides a space for women to record sexist harassment they experience day to day, or the fantastically-named Twitter Youth Feminist Army. These examples suggest that individuals are actively responding to and manipulating the media to create their own voices and, in this case, challenging more mainstream representations and ideologies about gender.

Blurred lines?

The media are now more varied and diverse. People no longer define themselves as having a single identity - if they ever did - and today our stories and identities are complex and often contradictory. Audiences recognise that there is a wide range of resources to use in constructing their own identity; they are no longer restricted to a single stereotype, archetype or persona with which to identify.

Multichannel TV now offers us access to a huge choice of TV viewing and formats from across the world that we can watch on our TVs, tablets and phones, plus huge amounts of user-generated content online. But does 'lots' mean variety - or more of the same? How do different audiences use and respond to this choice? For example, Black British actors still say they have to travel to the US to get the serious or lead roles that UK TV and film doesn't offer them. How do Black and ethnic minority audiences use non-UK drama to construct their identity in the absence of representations in mainstream UK TV and film? It could also be argued, despite our apparent diversity, that there are still only a relatively narrow set of representations in the media, which circulate repeated ideas about, for example, sexuality and ethnicity. Do you think the media offers only a limited range of identities? Do some identities dominate, and are some marginalised?

Queer theory explores alternative representations that challenge dominant ideologies about sexual identity. For example, theorist Judith Butler argued that individuals can create, 'gender trouble' where they challenge existing dominant gender identities. The music industry is a good example of this. Macklemore had mainstream success with his song 'Same Love' that celebrated gay relationships in romantic soft focus, and supported the campaign for Washington Referendum 74 to legalise same-sex marriage. Music artists have a long history of exploring gender and sexual identities, including punk in the 1970s, the Riot Grrrl Manifesto in the 1990s and the recent emergence of Frank Ocean as an openly gay rapper.

Digital differences

Digital media and the internet play an important role in forming identity because they have changed the roles and relationships between audience and producer. Online technologies have enabled audiences to participate more actively, to play a bigger role in constructing their identity, exercise more choice in the media they use, and also find new ways to display their public identity.

Web 2.0 has enabled active audiences to interact with and comment on the media and to become producers themselves. New Media theorist David Gauntlett argues that Web 2.0 platforms enable audiences to represent themselves. So rather than providing access to a narrow range of institutions, the media landscape is now a criss-crossing web of different connections in which audiences can choose to participate.

The media now also enable audiences to share their identities online, for example, by setting up their own profiles and home pages, and participating online in many different friendship, social or interest groups. Online technology can also contribute to the construction and display of collective identities. It enables individuals to form communities that have a shared identity, for example, based on political values or ethnicity. Social media has a particularly important role in this respect, and there are many recent examples of people using the media to create collective identities and organise campaigns. To take one notable example: 17-year-old Fahma Mohamed's hugely influential online petition which led Michael Gove to invite all schools in the UK to take action to educate girls against female genital mutilation.

Such campaigns have the potential to exist 'outside' mainstream mass media, and to offer the tools for alternative or challenging identities. The Guardian newspaper became involved in Fahma's campaign. This could suggest that social media can empower individuals and groups and give them access to more powerful mainstream media. Or it could indicate that social media still need established mainstream media to really access power. Do you think technology is a threat to the construction of identities, particularly for younger age groups - or has it had a positive influence?

Repetition or challenge?

Finally we need to consider the values and ideologies that are communicated by these identities. Some will reinforce dominant ideologies in society and the media, others will challenge. Indeed, one question might be whether a single ideology does in fact dominate. Do you think the media are a progressive force, communicating new ideas - as seen with Oscars this year for 12 Years a Slave and the female-led Gravity? Or are they still dominated by traditional, more conservative values? Only one female director has ever won an Oscar, and Lupita Nyong'o is only the sixth African American woman to win an Academy Award.

The topic of Identities and the Media gives you ample opportunity to explore the important issues and debates current in the media today, and to think about your own relationship with the media. It explores the role of, and relationship between, the media and audience, power and resistance, dominant and marginalised identities, fluid and queer identities and the important role of social media. What story do you tell about yourself in the media you consume and produce, and in the way you use and respond to them?

Follow it up

Post-feminist theory
Post-feminism argues that feminism has now achieved its goals of combating sexism and inequality, and is now surplus to requirements. Arising out of a backlash against feminism, it has been defined in many different ways, from a return to more conventional gender roles, to an attack on extreme forms of feminist thought; in its crudest form, it suggests that the role of women is no longer a cause for concern, and that political change is no longer required. In terms of popular culture, characters such as Bridget Jones, Carrie Bradshaw, Rihanna or Lady Gaga have been described as post-feminist.

Judith Butler and gender trouble
Butler argues that ideas about gender - what it is to be a man or woman - are socially constructed; they are created by society. They are not natural or fixed and gender is a learned role that people choose to play of perform. This means that people can experiment with and challenge traditional gender roles and create what Butler called 'gender trouble'. The media often communicates dominant gender roles but can also be a place where audiences and producers can create gender trouble. Judith Butler, Gender Trouble, Routledge, New York 1990

David Gauntlett on Web 2.0
Web 2.0 has enabled active audiences to interact with and comment on the media and to become producers, as well as consumers. Gauntlett argues that Web 2.0 platforms enable audiences to represent themselves. This gives audiences an active role in creating their own identity. www.theory.org.uk