Timeline

https://time.graphics/line/205398

Steve Neale believes genre are instances of repetition and differences.

Grunge is the music genre formed from the fusion of punk rock and heavy metal.

Although they both follow the same genre of music, grunge and have have some similarities such as having a depressing tone overall as well as as a need for just instrumentals to a dreary Gothic sense to their songs.However even though it's like that their are clear differences such as the pace in the beginning and the overwhelmingly closer feeling of  rock in one of the music videos.

Feminisim

Discussing feminism and learning a range of feminist theories is an essential part of A Level Media Studies.

Are we living in a post-feminist state? Do you agree there is still a need for feminism? To what extent does the media contribute to the identity created for women in popular culture? These are some of the questions we need to consider when studying representation in A Level Media.

There is a current debate regarding whether feminism is still required in the 21st century (the idea that we are now in a 'post-feminist' state) against the view that the use of new and digital media to further feminist campaigns constitutes a new fourth wave of feminism.

Key notes

Waves of feminism

First wave: early 20th century, suffragette movement (right to vote).

Second wave: 1960s – 1990s, reproductive rights (pill), abortion, equal pay.

Third wave: 1990s – present, empowerment, reclaiming of femininity (high heels, sexuality etc. See Angela McRobbie's work on women's magazines).

Fourth wave? 2010 – ongoing, use of new technology and digital media (e.g. Twitter) for activism.

Fourth wave?

Many commentators argue that the internet itself has enabled a shift from ‘third-wave’ to ‘fourth-wave’ feminism. What is certain is that the internet has created a ‘call-out’ culture, in which sexism or misogyny can be ‘called out’ and challenged.

This culture is indicative of the continuing influence of the third wave, with its focus on challenging sexism and misogyny in advertising, film, television and the media.

Key quote: “power users of social media”

The internet has facilitated the creation of a global community of feminists who use the internet both for discussion and activism.

According to #FemFuture: Online Feminism, a report recently published by Columbia University’s Barnard Center for Research on Women, females aged between 18 and 29 are the ‘power users of social networking’.

(Source: Political Studies Association. Read more about this: http://www.psa.ac.uk/insight-plus/feminism-fourth-wave)

Critics of online feminism

Critics of online feminist movements suggest that petitions and pressure from Twitter campaigns is simply a witchhunt orchestrated by privileged middle-class white women.

They ask: are ‘trolls’ the danger they are portrayed to be?

Introduction to feminism: blog tasks

Case study: Everyday Sexism

Watch the TEDx talk by Everyday Sexism founder Laura Bates:

1) Why did Laura Bates start the Everyday Sexism project?

• So that people became aware of the everyday occurrences that happen to females all over the UK.

2) How does the Everyday Sexism project link to the concept of post-feminism? Is feminism still required in western societies?

• It relates to the concept of post feminism because it talks about how expansion of feminism is over because it feels accomplished in a sense, but it really is't and it wants to carry on with women rights to further empower women. Feminism is still required by western societies.

3) Why was new technology essential to the success of the Everyday Sexism project?

• Due to the fact that it can help empower women who feels oppressed and connect these women worldwide. 

4) Will there be a point in the future when the Everyday Sexism project is not required? What is YOUR view on the future of feminism?

• No I don't believe there will ever not be a need for the Everyday Sexism project to not be required, however I believe in the future that feminism will still be around and far more accepted. 

Media Magazine: The fourth wave?

Read the article: The Fourth Wave? Feminism in the Digital Age in MM55 (p64). You'll find the article in our Media Magazine archive here.

1) Summarise the questions in the first two sub-headings: What is networked feminism? Why is it a problem?

• The new fourth wave of feminism is also known as ‘networked feminism’. it aims to tackle social equality issues found both on, and using, modern technology.It's a problem because the difference in today’s society is that in the fast-paced world of technological development, feminism can be left behind.

2) What are the four waves of feminism? Do you agree that we are in a fourth wave ‘networked feminism’?

• The first wave refers the movement to obtain the right to vote which lasted 72 years. The women's movement of the 1960s and 1970s is generally referred to as the second wave. The more recent efforts led by women in their 20s and 30s is generally called the third wave.Also the 4th wave is basically modern day feminism with tech.

3) What is your opinion with regards to feminism and new/digital media? Do you agree with the concept of a 'fourth wave' of feminism post-2010 or are recent developments like the Everyday Sexism project merely an extension of the third wave of feminism from the 1990s?

• Technology and digital media is deeply integrated into our society and because of this I believe that more can be done about feminism through these media platforms available to the public. I do believe int he fourth wave and don't merely believe it to be an extension of the 3rd.

Music Video Theory

Music Video: theory

There are a range of important theories we need to learn as part of our Music Video unit.

Both our Music Video Close-Study Products contain representations of black Americans. We therefore need to study a range of theories that address the representation of black or minority ethnic people in the media.

Notes from the lesson

Paul Gilroy: The Black Atlantic

Paul Gilroy is a key theorist in A Level Media and has written about race in both the UK and USA.

In The Black Atlantic (1993), Gilroy explores influences on black culture. One review states: “Gilroy’s ‘black Atlantic’ delineates a distinctively modern, cultural-political space that is not specifically African, American, Caribbean, or British, but is, rather, a hybrid mix of all of these at once.”

Gilroy is particularly interested in the idea of black diasporic identity – the feeling of never quite belonging or being accepted in western societies even to this day.

For example, Gilroy points to the slave trade as having a huge cultural influence on modern America – as highlighted by Common’s Letter to the Free.

Diaspora: A term that originates from the Greek word meaning “dispersion,” diaspora refers to the community of people that migrated from their homeland. [Source: facinghistory.org]

Gilroy on black music

Gilroy suggests that black music articulates diasporic experiences of resistance to white capitalist culture. 

When writing about British diasporic identities, Gilroy discusses how many black Britons do not feel like they totally belong in Britain but are regarded as ‘English’ when they return to the country of their parents’ birth e.g. the Caribbean or Africa. This can create a sense of never truly belonging anywhere.

Additional theories on race representations and music

Stuart Hall: race representations in media

Stuart Hall suggests that audiences often blur race and class which leads to people associating particular races with certain social classes.

He suggests that western cultures are still white dominated and that ethnic minorities in the media are misinterpreted due to underlying racist tendencies. BAME people are often represented as ‘the other’.

Hall outlined three black characterisations in American media:

·               The Slave figure: “the faithful fieldhand… attached and devoted to ‘his’ master.” (Hall 1995)

·               The Native: primitive, cheating, savage, barbarian, criminal.

·               The Clown/Entertainer: a performer – “implying an ‘innate’ humour in the black man.” (Hall 1995)

https://youtu.be/Ouhdtrmzenw

Tricia Rose: Black Noise (1994)

 

Tricia Rose was one of the first academics to study the cultural impact of the hip hop genre in her influential book Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America (1994).

Rose suggested that hip hop initially gave audiences an insight into the lives of young, black, urban Americans and also gave them a voice (including empowering female artists). However, Rose has since criticised commercial hip hop and suggests black culture has been appropriated and exploited by capitalism.

Michael Eric Dyson: Know What I Mean (2007)

Georgetown University Professor of Sociology Michael Eric Dyson has passionately defended both hip hop and black culture – Jay-Z describes him as “the hip hop intellectual”.

 https://youtu.be/q6rBbT2UktU

Dyson suggests that political hip hop in the 1990s didn’t get the credit (or commercial success) it deserved and this led to the rap music of today – which can be flashy, sexualised and glamorising criminal behaviour.

Dyson states: “Hip hop music is important precisely because it sheds light on contemporary politics, history and race. At its best, hip hop gives voice to marginal black youth we are not used to hearing from on such critics. Sadly, the enlightened aspects of hip hop are overlooked by critics who are out to satisfy a grudge against black youth culture…” Michael Eric Dyson, Know What I Mean (2007)


Hip hop debate - full video
This appears to be the full Google debate on hip hop if you want to watch more from where those extracts came from.


Music Video theory - blog tasks

https://youtu.be/q6rBbT2UktU

Childish Gambino, the musical stage name of writer and performer Donald Glover, has just released a critique of American culture and Donald Trump with This Is America.

Racking up 10m views in 24 hours and already dubbed ‘genius’ and ‘a masterpiece’, the music video is a satirical comment on American culture, racism and gun violence.

Create a blogpost called 'Music video: theory', watch the video again then answer the questions below:


1) How does the This Is America video meet the key conventions of a music video?

• The style (performance, concept, narrative).
• The camera.
• The editing techniques (transitions, fast, slow).
• The sound effects (non diegetic, diegetic).
• Mise-en-scene (props, lighting, costume, hair, makeup, locations, setting, colours).

2) What comment is the video making on American culture, racism and gun violence?

• The video is showing how America allows for public brutality as well as racism and actually promotes in their media.

3) Write an analysis of the video applying the theories we have learned: Gilroy, Hall, Rose and Dyson. 

• The music video This is America by Childish Gambino clearly applies Gilroy's theory when see the Jim Crow position of his body in the beginning of the video.
• The way that Staurt Hall’s theory applies to the video is through the use of the “clown/entertainer”  being himself.
• Rose theory early theory on hip hop applies to this music videos due to the fact that the video contains explicit and implicit meaning about race and violence to educate the public .

Read this Guardian feature on This Is America - including the comments below.
4) What are the three interpretations suggested in the article?

• Glover uses grotesque smiles and exaggerated poses, with some on Twitter suggesting this is an invocation of the racial caricature Jim Crow.
• Glover was accusing black performers – even himself – of “coonery”, or saying they are still made to feel like minstrels when they go out to perform their “black” music.
• Without music life would be a mistake, as Nietzsche once said. He also said "...it's principal task is to lead our thoughts to higher things, to elevate, even to make us tremble…" This certainly is the case here, it's outstanding to me. People tend to make decisions based on emotions not fact so music is the perfect medium to highlight the wrongs in society.

5) What alternative interpretations of the video are offered in the comments 'below the line’

• "The Artist’s Sense of Truth. With regard to recognition of truths, the artist has a weaker morality than the thinker; he will on no account let himself be deprived of brilliant and profound interpretations of life, and defends himself against temperate and simple methods and results. He is apparently fighting for the higher worthiness and meaning of mankind; in reality he will not renounce the most effective suppository for his art, the fantastical, mythical, uncertain, extreme, the sense of the symbolic, the over-valuation of personality, the belief that genius is something miraculous; he considers, therefore, the continuance of his art of creation as more important than the scientific devotion to truth in every shape, however simple this may appear." Human All Too Human, 146.

13th

13^th

What is the likelihood of a black male being incarcerated in America?  1 in 3

History is not just stuff that happens by accident. We are the products of history that our ancestors choose, if we’re white. If we are black, we are the products of the history that our ancestors most likely did not choose. Yet here we are all together, the products of that set of choices. And we have to understand that in order to escape from it. — Kevin Gannon, 13th

What are your thoughts on this quote? Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not?

Agree because not everyone has been able to have a choice or a voice and theses people were mainly the people of colour not white people, which is why agree with this quote.

President Lyndon B. Johnson ushered in the War on Crime; Nixon began a figurative War on Drugs that became a literal War on Drugs in the Reagan era.

Were you surprised to learn about the racial underpinnings of these legislative policies, and the active role of the state in criminalising and targeting communities of color? Discuss using the quotation below.

 ‘The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalising both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did. – John Ehrlichman, Nixon Administration Advisor.’

Super predator. Criminal.

Think about the power of media and the power of words.

 Discuss media and how words impact the perception and criminalization of people of colour, both in the past and the present (animalistic, violent, to be feared, threat to white people, criminals, etc.).

Give 2x modern-day examples.

•         Media portrays black communities as violent and drug addicted.
•          They also portrayed people of colour as rapist and paedophiles e.g. Uncle Remus.

PRISONERS FOR PROFIT.

Were you aware of the Prison Industrial Complex and how corporations are profiting from incarceration?

•        Yes.

 What are the dangers surrounding ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council—a committee of politicians and corporations influencing laws that benefit its corporate founders and pushing forth policies to increase the number of people in prison and increase sentences)?

•        America has 5 percent of the world’s population but, 25 percent of the world’s prisoners, why because of Alec a money-profiting organisation without any morals and these statistics will only increase with ALEC.

 What is the impact of CCA?  (Corrections Corporations of America, leader in private prisons that is required to keep prison beds filled—the leading corporation responsible for the rapid increase in criminalization) and how that impacts our communities. The film argues that there is a direct link between American slavery and the modern American prison system. What is your take on this argument?

•          My take is, how our that how people meant to get by if they are already classed as criminals, used to make profit. The things can lead to their being no point for justice if there is none and therefore civil unrest and panic for safety for peoples own concern.

People say all the time, ‘Well, I don’t understand how people could have tolerated slavery. How could they have made peace with that? How could people have gone to a lynching and participated in that? That’s so crazy. If I was living at that time I would never have tolerated anything like that.’ And the truth is we are living in this time, and we are tolerating it.” -Bryan Stevenson

What is the power of media representations and how does this relate to cultivation theory?

• Media representations are the ways in which the media portrays particular groups, communities, experiences, ideas, or topics from a particular ideological or value perspective.This relates to cultivation theory because media representation cultivates the perspective/view that we have on certain groups or people.

Raising Awareness - 13th

N.S.

Find some examples of music, musicians and music videos serving successfully to raise awareness to political issues. Post them to your blog.

• Wyclef Returns Home - Wyclef Jean has long been actively involved in supporting Haiti.
•  Brother Ali Occupies Homes - Brother Ali is kind of like a brother to all, which is why he volunteered to help impede officials in evicting the Cruz family, a family that he didn't even know, earlier this year. 
• Joan Baez Protests Vietnam - Joan Baez has a long history of activism, and like many others, she voiced her opposition to the Vietnam War in her music. But unlike many others, she also sacrificed her freedom in protest. 

DOCUMENTARIES + BOOKS + WEBSITES

 • The House I Live In—www.TheHouseILiveIn.org 

• Broken on All Sides: Race, Mass Incarceration and New Visions for Criminal Justice—www.brokenonallsides.com 

• Rikers: An American Jail—rikersfilm.org YOUTH FOCUS:

 • TIME: The Kalief Browder Story—series on Netflix • Young Kids, Hard Time (45 min.)—www.msnbc.com

 • Children Behind Bars: American Youth Violence (46 min.)—www.msnbc.com 

• Children in Prison: Locked Up for Life (55 min.)—www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLrlajvhUaQ 

• Alone: Teens in Solitary Confinement (22 min.)—www.csgjuscecenter.org/youth/publications/alone-teens-in-solitaryconfinement WOMEN FOCUS: 

• “A Nation of Women Behind Bars” 20/20 (30 min.)—http://abc.go.com/shows/2020/listing/2015-02/27-2020-022715-a-nationof-women-behind-bars-a-dianesawyer-hidden-america-special

 • Women Behind Bars (30 min.)—www.aljazeera.com/programmes/faultlines/2013/09/women-behind-bars201393010326721994.html

• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness—Alexander, Michelle. 2012. 

• Just Mercy—Stevenson, Bryan. 2014 

• Are Prisons Obsolete?—Davis, Angela Y. New York: Seven Stories, 2003.

 • The Growth of Incarceration in the United States—Committee on Causes and Consequences of High Rates of Incarceration, et al. National Academic Press, 2014. 

• The Collapse of American Criminal Justice—Stuntz, William J. 2013

. • Arrested Justice Black Women, Violence, and America's Prison Nation—Richie, Beth. 2012. 

• The Justice Imperative: How Hyper-incarceration Has Hijacked the American Dream: A Collaborative Examination of Connecticut's Criminal Justice and Corrections System—Moran, Brian E, 2014.

 • Building a Movement to End the New Jim Crow: An Organizing Guide—Hunter, Daniel, and Michelle Alexander, Veterans of Hope Project, 2015.

 • Monster—Myers, Walter Dean. 1999. (Juvenile Fiction novel) 

• Campaign for Youth Justice: www.campaignforyouthjustice.org

 • The Sentencing Project: www.sentencingproject.org

• Juvenile Justice Information Exchange: www.jjie.org

 • Free America (John Legend’s Org): www.letsfreeamerica.org

 • Just Leadership USA: www.justleadershipusa.org

Public service broadcasting

Industries - Public service broadcasting

The British television industry is largely driven by public service broadcasting - the traditional TV channels that still account for the majority of TV viewing in this country.

These channels are regulated by Ofcom and have to deliver a certain amount of specific content in order to fulfil the terms of their license.


Public service broadcasting: notes

Public service broadcasting refers to broadcasting intended for public benefit rather than to serve commercial interests.

The media regulator Ofcom requires certain TV and radio broadcasters to fulfil certain requirements as part of their license to broadcast.

All of the BBC's television and radio stations have a public service remit.

The history of the BBC

The BBC was created in 1922 in response to new technology – the radio (or wireless as it was called then).

The BBC was set up to “inform, educate and entertain” – which is still its mission statement to this day. 

The BBC funding model: license fee

All BBC content (and some of Channel 4’s funding) comes from the License Fee, which costs £150.50 a year. 

You need a TV Licence to:

- watch or record live TV programmes on any channel

- download or watch any BBC programmes on iPlayer – live, catch up or on demand.

Some politicians want to scrap the license fee and change the BBC’s funding model.

Channel 4

Channel 4 is an important part of UK public service broadcasting. Read full details of Channel 4's remit here - there is plenty of important information regarding the channel's commitment to public service broadcasting and its unique funding model.

"Channel 4 is a publicly-owned and commercially-funded UK public service broadcaster, with a statutory remit to deliver high-quality, innovative, alternative content that challenges the status quo.

Channel 4 reinvests all profits back into programmes, at zero cost to the taxpayer. A ‘Robin Hood’ model of cross-funding means programmes that make money pay for others that are part of the PSB remit but that are loss-making e.g. News and Current Affairs." 

Opposition to public service broadcasting

Many people in Britain see public service broadcasting as a good thing – but not rival commercial broadcasters.  

James Murdoch, son of Rupert, has criticised BBC news. He says that free news on the BBC made it “incredibly difficult” for private news organisations to ask people to pay for their news.

Some politicians have argued that the BBC should not produce programmes such as Strictly Come Dancing so commercial broadcasters such as ITV or Sky can attract larger audiences in primetime.

Public service broadcasting: blog task

Create a new blogpost called 'Public service broadcasting' and complete the following tasks:

Ofcom report

Read the first few pages of this Ofcom report into Public Service Broadcasting in 2017.

1) How does the report suggest that TV viewing is changing?

• People are increasingly viewing content in a variety of different ways, both on the television set and on other devices. Young adults are watching a substantial amount of non-PSB content, and behavioral changes are happening not just in this group, but among those up to the age of 45.

2) What differences are highlighted between younger and older viewers?

• Between 2015 and 2016, average daily viewing among children and 16-24 year old each fell by 10 minutes, whereas viewing by over-64s increased by 2 minutes.

3) Does the report suggest audiences are satisfied with public service broadcasting TV channels?

• Overall, 78% of regular or occasional viewers of any PSB channel claim to be satisfied with PSB broadcasting, significantly higher than in 2015 (73%). 

4) Public service broadcasting channels are a major aspect of the UK cultural industries. How much money did PSB channels spend on UK-originated content in 2016? 

• They Spent on new UK content at peak time stood at £1.6bn in 2016

Goldsmiths report

Read this report from Goldsmiths University - A future for public service television: content and platforms in a digital world.

1) What does the report state has changed in the UK television market in the last 20 years?

• ITV has been transformed over the past 25 years as a result of the changes introduced by the 1990 Broadcasting Act and the greatly increased competition it now faces in a multi channel world. 

2) Look at page 4. What are the principles that the report suggests need to be embedded in regulation of public service broadcasting in future?

• Principles of independence, universality, citizenship, quality and diversity need to be embedded into the regulation and funding of an emerging digital media landscape.

3) What does the report say about the BBC?

• BBC is the most important part of the television ecology, but the model of universality underpinning its public service credentials is under threat. The BBC has been contracting in real terms and it is hard to sustain the case that it is damaging competitors. 

4) According to the report, how should the BBC be funded in future?

• With a more progressive funding mechanism such as a tiered platform-neutral household fee, a supplement to Council Tax or funding via general taxation with appropriate parliamentary safeguards. 

5) What does the report say about Channel 4?

• Channel 4 occupies a critical place in the public service ecology – supporting the independent production sector and airing content aimed specifically at diverse audiences. 

6) How should Channel 4 operate in future?

• Channel 4 should not be privatized also should significantly increase its provision for older children and young adults and restore some of the arts programming that has been in decline in recent years.

7) Look at page 10 - new kids on the block. What does the report say about new digital content providers and their link to public service broadcasting?

• Believe that the growing contribution to a digital media ecology made by these cultural institutions should be boosted by a specific public intervention.

Final questions - your opinion on public service broadcasting

1) Should the BBC retain its position as the UK’s public service broadcaster?

• Yes.

2) Is there a role for the BBC in the 21st century digital world?

• No.

3) Should the BBC funding model (license fee) change? How?

• Yes and they do this by using a more tiered platform-neutral household fee, a supplement to Council Tax.