A2 Media Exam

Section B –
50 Marks –
1 Hour to answer the question

How do contemporary media represent different collective groups (British Youth and Youth Culture) in different ways?
• This must be the main focus of your essay
• Diverse representations including fiction, non-fiction and self-representation
• Harry Brown, Fish Tank, Attack the Block, The Inbetweeners, London Riots news coverage and internet and self-mediation (Facebook page/Twitter/Blogs)

How does contemporary representations compare with that of the past?
• Examples needed for similarity and difference
• Examples from the past – Quadrophenia – The film and the representations of Mods and Rockers
• Have they changed? – Plato quote (on Zoe’s learnzone blog)

What are the social implications of different media representations of groups of people?
• Stereotyping – what is its impact?
• What power does the audience have to ‘resist’?
• Propaganda, moral panic, youth as empty categories, cultural hegemony, Stuart hall and reading the texts and their messages
• Statistics on result of these representations on attitudes and beliefs Vs. the reality of the issues

To what extent is human identity increasingly ‘mediated’?
• Increasing media = increasing mediation?
• Re-presentation by others/by selves (Facebook/YouTube (Youthtube))
• Be critical of who is offering the representations and for what purpose
• Mediated: How The Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live in it

Guidance…
• Add your own personal opinion
• What, in your opinion is the future of representations and what are you basing this on?
• Connections must be made between the examples/contrasts are discussed
• You must embed the theory into what you are saying

MUST REFER TO MORE THAN ONE TYPE OF MEDIA (FILM, NEWSPAPER, INTERNET)

Examiner Advice – Structure
• Introduction – start with a quote; paraphrase it and link to issues of identity, representation and the media. State your focus (social group and texts)
• Historical examples
• Contemporary examples
• Connect examples together
• Conclusion – return to start (Summarise). Prediction for the future.
• Use referencing – name and year of publication given after first mention e.g. (Giroux, 1997).
• Quote – paraphrase – critique
• One text older than 5 years
• Other texts should be from within the last 5 years
• Make a prediction for the future

Historical Representations – Example – Significance – Theory – Critique

Contemporary Representations Newspapers – Example – Significance – Theory – Critique

Contemporary Examples Film – Example – Significance – Theory - Critique

Contemporary Examples TV – Example – Significance – Theory - Critique

Connections/Effects

Conclusion…
• Return to the start
• Summarise key idea
• Prediction for the future
• Mass media construct representations of youth from a middle class, adult perspective, for the ideological purpose of maintaining hegemony.
• Impact of new media technologies/internet – more potential for self-representation; limited impact compared to mass media.