Tuesday, 25 November 2014

LESSON 18 : IDENTITIES -WHO I AM


What is the most important part of your identity?

Is it your sex, your race or ethnicity, your sexual orientation, your class status, your nationality, your religious affiliation, your age, your political beliefs?

Is there one part of your identity that stands out from the rest, or does your identity change depending on who you’re with, what you’re involved in, where you are in your life?

Key concepts

Identity is a socially and historically constructed concept. We learn about our own identity and the identity of others through interactions with family, peers, organizations, institutions, media and other connections we make in our everyday life.
Key facets of identity—like gender, social class, age, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity—play significant roles in determining how we understand and experience the world, as well as shaping the types of opportunities and challenges we face.
Social and cultural identity is inextricably linked to issues of power, value systems, and ideology.
The media uses representations—images, words, and characters or personae—to convey specific ideas and values related to culture and identity in society.


social construction, ideology, and identity

The answers such questions clearly depend on many factors. They define identities in singular terms (I am female), but also as multiple and intersecting parts (I am an African-Caribbean girl from Birmingham). Such questions lead us to consider the meaning of identity. Beyond “who am I?” these questions frame our individual identities in a broader social historical context and in relation to other groups. Part of understanding our identity means understanding how we fit in (or don’t) with other groups of people. It also means being aware of the fact that some groups have more social, political and economic power than others.

When we think about identity, we may too often focus on external markers (what we can see), on our biology or physiology, or how we were born. It is important as a student of the media to understand that our identities are comprised of ideas, ideologies, and ways of seeing the world around us. Our identities, therefore, are socially constructed, and the way we were born is only part of who we are.

As media students we need to ask where do these values or ideologies originate? The answer is not clear-cut. We learn and internalise these values over the course of our lives from family, peers, role models, organizations, government, etc. Our concern is to investigate and explore more fully the role that the media also plays in creating meaning, shaping our values, and defining who we are. These values at times seem to assume far greater power in our development. Possibly this is because they come from places of power, but also because we internalize them and take them for granted, because they seem natural and the way things should be, and further because they can shape the way we see and understand the people, objects, practices, and institutions in our lives.

Given the role our identity plays in the way we experience and accrue power, it’s important to understand the potential obstacles, discrimination and oppression that some groups experience over others. For some, the experience of being a particular sex or sexual orientation, from a particular racial or ethnic group or socio-economic class, involves recurring and even systematic or institutional prejudice. This prejudice can manifest in unequal opportunities, rights, or wages, as well as being stereotyped, marginalized or persecuted.

Identity and the media

The media can be both a platform of change, but also fundamentally a device that perpetuates ideologies and norms. In our study in AS we saw how the media uses representations—images, words, and characters or personae—to convey ideas and values. Media representations, therefore, are not neutral or objective. They are constructed and play an important role in imparting ideology.

One question we might ask, then, is whether media produce ideologies or simply reflect them, mirroring what’s already happening in society. The line between mirroring reality and producing reality is difficult to discern.

Regardless of where ideologies originate, the media plays a key role in conveying ideas and giving them weight. With the media, we tend to see the same images and representations over and over again. Media rely heavily on genres, conventions and stereotypes. As certain images and representations are repeated, they become familiar and natural. But are these representations really “natural”?

Screenwriters, directors, casting agents, set and costume designers all make choices that help audiences understand who a character is and what they care about. They use clothing, hair and makeup, the way characters speak, and how they move as shorthand in their storytelling. It’s important to look at these elements of the story, rather than take them for granted. Think about the choices made in creating characters and telling stories (even in non-fiction news, documentary, and advertising). It’s also important to consider whether or not a character is round and whole or more of a caricature and stereotype.

If our identities are socially constructed, then they are not neutral. In fact, our gender, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation and class can play a significant role in determining whether we have social, political and economic power, how we get that power, and how we use it. Our identity can fundamentally shape our life experience, how we’re treated, whom we meet and become friends with, what kind of education and jobs we get, where we live, what opportunities we’re afforded, and what kind of inequities we may face.


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