What do you think has been the biggest advancement in technology in your generation and why?

We think that the phone has become more than just a way of communication, it is basically carrying your life around in your pocket.
The first type of phones that we had were the Nokia 3310's. On these phones you could ring, text and play games such a 'snake'. There was a black and white screen and the phones had limited memory. Nowadays, everything is top of the range, touch screen and you can literally do everything you want, e.g. go on the internet, take photos/videos, download from the internet.

Henry Jenkins

• works as a lecturer in America
• has alot of media qualifications
• his theory is 'participatory culture'
• he thinks convergence is a cultural not technological thing
• he thinks teenagers want the media wherever and whenever they want and they are willing to watch it illegally if it inst available legally
• he thinks that we share what we make with each other which becomes rewarding
• people struggle with the limits of technology
• he believes nobody knows everything but everybody knows something so we all put our knowledge together to create new things
• he addresses the issue of collective intelligence and its role in media, cultural and business
• collective intelligence is based on a notion of liberation
• each of us make a decision and those decisions collected together by some anaomus technology result in a better search engine

Identity through modern technology.

What does film have to say about the ways we construct our identity through modern technology?
The film should that it is possible to create and change our identity  through modern technology such as facebook. The identities we create can be a release and escape from the real world and can be come a large part of somebodies life. It shows how it is possible to make ourselves into who ever we want due the barrier the computer creates. It also shows how we are too quick to trust people we don't know and too willing to create a relationship with out seeing someone in person.

How far does the representation of a particular social group change over time?

How far does the representation of a British family change over time?

Alfie
Inbetweeners


Past media representations of family (i.e. the film Alfie) show society striving for the 'nuclear family' ideal, shown through the characters of Gilda and Humphrey. Gilda gives up her love for Alfie to go and have a life with Humphrey, going along with the social 'norms' of the time, thus following Stryker's theory of social expectations.

An Education presents the nuclear family ideal at the beginning. However Jenny rebels against this norm and tries to further herself with her relationship with David, however her parents would have allowed her to give up all her education at the age of 17 to have a married life. This follows Althusser's theory as society has drummed the idea of marriage and Jenny's parents comply.

The characters in Inbetweeners are part of a younger age group, therefore their view of marriage and family is drastically different to one in the 1960s. They strive for sex, not marriage. This is shown by the constant sexual references throughout the show. Whereas Gilda in Alfie is seen to be wearing a false wedding ring in the hospital so as to hide the fact that she is an unmarried mother.




Improvements
1) Analyse the theories to show that you actually know what the theorists say and link it to your TV and film examples.
2) Analyse your points and examples more to explain how they intercept with each other and the theorists.

Paragraph from exam question

How far does the representation of a particular social group change over time?

The representation of family has changed between past and contemporary TV. Alfie shows expectations of family to inbetweeners, A key scene in Alfie which shows is when Gilda is in the hospital having her first baby, and she pretends that she is married to Alfie so that she does not get shunned by society for having a child before being married. This is Shown by marcuses theory of Mass media. He says that the  mass media carry with them prescribed attitudes and habits certain intellectual and emotional reactions which bind the consumer and reduce them to a mindless mass. this creates a passive audience. The attitudes form the 60s were reflected in alfie, and familys were reflected as wrong if they were not married before having children. Inbetweeners shows a more modern view on familys, there is less of an expectation to be married before having children and less expectation to stay married after you have a child. for example will mum is divorced and his father is never to be seen, there has been no problems occurring.

Red-Terminology
Blue- Example
Green- Analysis

Imprvements:
.Use more examples to back up points.
.Go into more depth.

James Seymour, Josh Nunn

Example exam question analysis.

In the example exam question the person uses a lot of examples and analysis thoroughly and clearly through out. They do use terminology but it gets fairly repetitive by the end of the question. Although they use a variety of example of TV shows and adverts they do not referee to the past, reflective and contemporary terminology. However overall answer creates an argument and flows clearly  

Our Marks Given:
T- 6
E-13
A-15

Planning an Exam Question

To what extent does your case study text represent your chosen collective identity in a positive way?

Introduction: Mention Britishness - some examples of case studies - say about the past, reflective and contemporary case studies. Family, gender, age and class.

Paragraph1: Past British movies and programs (corrie 1970's and Alfie) - use theorist. corrie (man in the navy talking to is old lady friend - this is positive as he is not rude to her but still is above her as he calls the shots and says when they should meet, so this is a true representation of England at that time) Alfie (the way he treats the different girls from different classes - this shows a negative side of Britain) Use the theorist Althusser.


Paragraph2: Reflective British movies and programs (An education and Upstairs downstairs) - use theorist

Paragraph3: Contemporary British movies and programs (kidluthood, Inbetweeners and Fish Tank) - use theorist.

Conclusion: say over all opinion on where the media represent Britishness in a negative or postive way, give brief examples, state your point of argument and a final summary.

Responses to 'Upstairs, Downstairs'

1. Is the representation of the chauffeur portrayed from a bias point of view? If so why?
The portrayal of the chauffeur is slightly bias because he was representing someone who followed the "black shirt" as this is a modern day representation of that time, we know the black shirts turned out to be wrong and the follewers gradually disappeared as Hitler began his rein. We see how he upsets his colleagues when he goes to sit at the dinner table in his black shirt uniform. He is presented as a minority as the majority is disagreeing with him, suggesting that his view is wrong. During the riot scene is his also ouot numbered and becomes injured in the protests. Also, he has a fling with his employee which could also been seen as wrong because in those days, this wasn't done.

2. In what ways could you say the upstairs family and downstairs staff are clinging to tradition in a changing world?
The rest of the staff think it is inappropriate that the eldest lady's servant is allowed to eat upstairs, they think that they should all eat together downstairs which is a tradition. he represents the changing world as in a normal circumstance all of the servants would have to eat together beneath the rich family. At the end of the episode the chauffeur stands up to his employee (the rich man) whilst he is being told off for his behaviour, this is not traditional behaviour as he is going against his morals and standing up for what he believes in to his employee, this means he is not clinging to to tradition compared to the other staff members. The rich family clings to traditions more than the servants do, for example, they are always having to look there best and show up to balls and posh parties. The ring the bell for the servants when they need them which is very traditional. The youngest daughter in the family is not a traditional rich English girl as she has a fling with the chauffeur and goes to the black coat protest with him, she ends up also getting hurt.

3. Why do you think Lady Persephone wants to join the black shirts?
She wants to break away from the norms of her life as she is probably getting bored with just sitting around all day, so she wanted to do something interesting for once. So it wasn't that she was really into the black coats, she just wanted to do something exciting. Also, because there was a male involved, this added to the excitement as she has someone to mess about with and share their common beliefs.

4. Can you find similarities between Lady Persephone and Jenny from An Education?
One similarity is that they both rebel their normal life for something that is more interesting and exciting, however Jenny is more intelligent and when it is all over, she realizes that she needs to go back to school and carry on with her normal life, whereas Lady Persephone still wants to be involved even when she gets into trouble and her family totally disagrees with her choice. Both of the girls have inappropriate relationships, and these relationships are what lead to there troubles and the bad situations that they get into. They both smoke.

5. Whose British identity do you think is the strongest and why?
The upstairs family has the strongest British identity because they try to carry on with traditions and they have the traditional British home, servants, accents and way of life. Also, their values are those of the most of Britain, so they are a stereotype higher class British family. If one of the family member were to break the collective identity, there would be major consequences and maybe even rejection. For example, if the family were to find out about Lady Persephone's affair with the chauffeur, she would have to face serious repercussions and she would also probably been sent away, rejected, or sent out on to the street.

Draw similarities and differences between the style/ use of humor in the "inbetweeners" and AYBS

Are jokes still being aimed at the same groups?

The older generation were the main audience for AYBS so the humor is aimed towards them. Where as in inbetweeners, the comedy side is aimed at the younger audience (late teens to late twenties) although, the parents in inbetweeners have the same sense of humor as parents today.

Are stereotypes still being used for non political correct comedy?

This type of comedy is still used today as although some things are still quite sensitive (homosexual), not all of them are an issue anymore (sex).

Has our sense of humor really advanced?

Our sense of humor has stayed the same over the years, it has just been desensitized, so the jokes are having to become more crud for it to shock and humor people. The humor is much less subtle, things are just said out right.

Are there any cutural or fashion movements taking place in britain now, that you think would be strong enough to form a collective identiy.
Indie movement
skinny jeans and plimpsoles
Gypsies



Argue ways that you could relate each theorist arguments to one of our case study texts.

Stryker

Copy the behaviour to be similar or the same as somewhere else this is shown in kidulthood in the scene where the boy pulls out a knife to defend himself , this has caused an increase in knife crime in london, and more teenage people living in London now carry a knife.


Althusser

Marcuse

Kidulthood is a film which reflects the way britain is 2005 onwards, in the scene where Trifes mate is trying to get a taxi to trifes house, every single taxi driver just drives past him , this is because of racism.
The papers portray the black population of london as being hoodies and youths and being part of gangs and being most commonly the reason for stabbings and street fights.

Fish Tank Analysis

Initially is Connor and father figure to Mia?

Connor acts as a father figure however she doesn't know how to react to a father figure and became attracted to him.
Mia never had a father figure growing up, so never knew what a father figure was like, Connor was very complimentary and supportive of Mia, Mia did not know what to do with Connor as she had never experienced a guy being like this to her without a sexual relationship outcome.

What does the film make you think about the current state of british families?

That they no longer follow the conventional values of having father and mother for the children and no sex before marriage. Mia's father is not mentioned throughout the whole film.
In Fishtank Mia's mother shows little concern for her well being and education. Its as if parents are letting their children run free with no boundaris and get away with what ever they feel like.
Due to the way a family is in the Fishtank, there is not much family bonding or connection, Mia is mostly out of the house and doesn't really talk to her mother. Mia seems to be closer to her mothers boyfriend then to her mother.

Now you have seen the film have your opinions of the characters changed?

Mia : Our views on Mia have not really changed after seeing the film, as we predicted there were reasons to why she acted so outrageously. She is quite a complex character, and perhaps has more odd behavious and sudden mood swings then we thought from reading about her before watching the film.
Mother : Her mother is perhaps worse then we originally thought she would be, she could be labeled as the main cause for the families dysfunctional behaviour.
Sister : At the beginning her sister appears to be a little brat, but towards the end of the film you realise how she is a little kid and doesn't want Mia to leave.

Fish Tank review

I can understand why some people might recoil at the thought of another British film set on a council estate. Is it worthy? Condescending? Grim? Is it more evidence of a young filmmaker awkwardly exercising their Mike Leigh/Ken Loach fetishes? Well, banish your fears: Andrea Arnold’s follow-up to ‘Red Road’ is a film that brilliantly and sensitively buzzes with life and offers its very own take on our world and our city. It delivers in spades attitude, humour, sadness, love, anger and hope – all wrapped up in a way of telling stories that is very much the director’s own. It’s realism, but it has an intimacy, an immediacy and a dash of poetry that offers a new spin on familiar territory.
Arnold has a keen eye for the border between danger and fulfilment when it comes to sexual feelings, and here she trains that eye on one vulnerable but strong adolescent teenage girl, Mia (Katie Jarvis), who you can’t help but feel for and understand – even after we watch her call a friend’s dad a ‘cunt’ and headbutt another girl so that the blood pours down her face. And that’s just the first five minutes.

Mia lives in a flat in Essex, near the Thames estuary, with her mum Joanne (Kierston Wareing) and her little sister Tyler (Rebecca Griffith). Mia calls her little sis ‘fuck face’ and little sis calls her ‘cunt face’ back. The TV blares out reality shows and makeover programmes. Outside, Arnold’s camera sucks up the territory on which she films; flats, busy roads, flyovers, scraps of land and suburban shop parades all lend a strong sense of place without any sense of gawking or romanticising. This is Mia’s world and there it is: it can sometimes look ugly, sometimes look beautiful. Arnold and DoP Robbie Ryan shoot in the unusual 1.33:1 aspect ratio, so the screen is almost square, but ‘Fish Tank’ feels more like a series of personal Polaroids than TV, the glare of the sun often dancing across the lens in the manner of home snapshots.

Nothing about all this feels miserable. It helps that Arnold tells her tale at the height of summer so that the sun is always shining. It also helps that Arnold’s way of presenting Mia to us is to stay close to her at all times, to show us her world from her point of view. Crucially, we’re there, alone with Mia, when she regularly decamps to an empty flat and practices her hip hop dance moves. We know there’s more to Mia than antagonism and kneejerk violence and we’re curious about what’s going on in this girl’s head.

We’re there, too, when her mum brings home a man, Connor (Michael Fassbender), who is soon living with them, doing the washing-up with his top off and taking them for a drive. Mia’s smiles show that she likes him, while he pays her more attention than anyone else in her life, praising her dance moves, giving her a piggyback, even tucking her up in bed when she pretends to be asleep. Their relationship takes unusual, even alarming turns, but always Arnold avoids obvious judgements, obvious explanations. Hers is an intimate drama of grey areas and all the better and more thoughtful – and thought-provoking – for it.

After reading this article we came to the conclusion that Mia is rude and could come across as negatively outgoing, however the artical also suggests that there are reasons behind her behaviour such as her environment and upbrining.

In the movie, we expect to see rude and abusive language and behaviour that is socially unacceptable. We also think we will find out the reasons behind her behaviour and why Mia has become the way she is.

Comparison of Alfie, An Education, and Kidulthood and Their Representations of British Values

Choose Key scenes from an Education/ Alfie/ Kidulthood
choose one which shows similarities in british Values
Choose different ones which show differences in British values.

Alfie
Key Scene 1
Gilda is pregnant and does not want to be shunned by society for having a child out of wedlock because this is what was expected in Britain at the time. No sex before marriage, and children should be born into a family.

Traditional family values conventional of britain in 1960s. Grow up > Marriage > Kids > Grow old 

Key scene 2
Alfie Goes over to ruby the Americans for sex, and find hers with a younger man in her bed. the only difference between the man in her bed and Alfie is that he is much younger then alfie.

Ruby is an unconventional women, this could be because she is American and  seems to be different from other women in the film, she has her own business and has business cards.

Key Scene 3


Kidulthood
Key Scene 1
Sam pushes over the girl who is being bullied as she walks out of school, and the helps her up as her dad comes along so he looks like a gentlemen, he then whispers in her ear to not say a word to her family.

Men still have control over women but only because they are much stronger then women although it is not socially acceptable to  hit women, Sam feels he is exempt fromt he rule as everyone is scared of him.

Key Scene 2
A 15 year old main character sleeps with her 17 year old boyfriend, she admits to him that she is 15 and he says he already knew and that he didnt care.

An Education
Key Scene 1
Jenny is Made to stay in the car while her boyfriend and another man go into a house to handle business.

This scene shows the power Men have over women and that women must obey, men have the control
 in relationships.

Key Scene 2
Jenny loses her virginity to a 30 year old man whilst off on one of her adventures with him.

Dating an older man is unconventional of the time, especially when she is still in school and he is almost twice her age, and the only people who show it is unconventional is the school, her parents only concern is the class of the man. In both Alfie and An education they show that value that people are more likely to settle down if they are with someone of a higher class.

Key Scene 3
Jenny Has dinner with her parents every evening until her BF comes along and she is in bed by 10 every night. Routine on school days and abides by parents ruling.

An Education Questions

1. How is Jenny typical of a British teenager?
She shows the typical conventions of a teenage school girl, she lives with her parents and goes to school.
like a typical teenager she shows love interests with a boy his age who is much less mentally able then she is. her and her parents show interest in her future talking about universities which too is typical for a girl of her age. She is Sarcastic to her parents. we see jenny hanging out with her friends a lot at the beginning of the film , and if she is not doing that she is studying at home or with the parents.
her educational school is very present through out the film for example showing her progress in tests and her struggles in latin.

2. Draw comparisons and similarities of the britain you see here and the representation in alfie?
In An /education we see Britain from the side of a young female whose focus is on school and university, where as in Alfie we see Britain through the eyes of an older male. In Alfie it is based in the capital so the representation is more from a city angle but an Education is more of out of the city and is more of a countryside angle.
Alfie's story is based after school where he is out in the working world as a handy man, he did not get grades and qualifications which is what jenny in an education is striving to achieve.
The family values of the time are the same, both expect no sex before marriage and no children out of marriage, the woman is very much the one who stays at home and keeps the house tidy does the cooking etc and the man is the working one. In an education Jenny's partner is much from the upper class, upper class go to concerts, and fancy restaurants with a classy singer, showing that they have a much more exciting life then people from the working class which is represented in Alfie where they go the pub or sit at home with the family.