Which boxes below could you use for each of these questions?

1. To what extent do audiences use media to construct their own sense of collective identity?

2. “The media has replaced family, society and religion as the main source of collective identity.” Discuss.

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

1. Media texts such as ____ represent teens/ gender as homogenous, reinforcing a

sense of solidarity and collective identity

2. Media texts such as _____ acknowledge the plurality of

gender identities/ teen identities OR Media texts

represent gender in binary terms, refusing the plurality of

gender

3. Media texts offer audiences socialisation

4. Media texts offer audiences a constructed

certitude, a reassurance of their own identity, and a

reassurance of how to behave

5. Audiences construct their identity through tribes,

collecting around cultural/ media experiences

6. Michel Maffesoli argues that there is a ‘proliferation of

lifestyle cultures’, meaning that we define our identities through the lifestyle we lead

7. Young people’s identity is increasingly postmodern: it

is fragmented, pick’n’mix, hybrid and fluid, and media

texts such as ______ acknowledge and reflect this change in the construction of

identity

8. Media texts reflect young people as seeking their true

identity, struggling to discover who they are, and using grand narratives of religion/ society/ family/ history/ community/ nationality to find who they

are. For young people, finding your identity is like a journey,

and media texts such as ______ recognise and represent this.

9.“Identities are not ‘given’ but are constructed and

negotiated.” "These [male] magazines are all about the

social construction of masculinity. That is, if you like, their subject-matter." (David

Gauntlett)

10. “a kind of false sisterhood that assumes a common

definition of womanhood or girlhood” (Angela McRobbie)

11. Female lifestyle magazines construct “The cult of

femininity”; “consciously cultivated female bond”

(Marjorie Ferguson)

12. Identity is “the unfinalised self” – a person can never be

fully revealed, finalised, labelled or known. (Mikhail

Bakhtin)13. Gender is performance: our

gender exists only in the way we behave and in the way we perform. It is a social construct

that is always fluid and changing. Gender is what you do, not what you are. (Judith

Butler)

14. Dr Linda Papadopolous Media affects the

psychological development of young people and leads to the sexualisation of young people

and anti-social behaviour.

15. “A magazine is like a club. Its first function is to provide readers with a comfortable

sense of community and pride in their identity” Janice

Winship

16. Glee/ Skins/ 17. Cosmo/ Glamour/ female listyle magazines

18. Nuts/ FHM/ Male lifestyle magazines

19. My So Called Life 20. Gay magazines 21. Other media texts you have studied

Take three colours, and use one colour per question. Then go through each box and decide if you could use it in an answer for each question, and colour the box in according to which

questions it could be used for. Some boxes may fit all questions.

Then use these boxes and other ideas to create an essay plan for each question.