To what extent is human identity increasingly mediated? Suggested essay plan

Case study/point Theorist/theory/quote

Intro State that you are discussing African American males and females at the start Use Manny Otiko to frame your essay and show you understand the complexities of naming this social group. (Use document from blog) http://a2mediaaquinas2012.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/using-manny-otiko-to-introduce-your.html Pick a term to use throughout the essay e.g. Black Americans

“African Americans no longer consider themselves African: they celebrate homecoming, Thanksgiving and the Super bowl” “[my] girlfriend found the term “black” offensive”- being asked to mediate his ID to make others feel better.

Part 1 Address the question: is ID increasinglyYour point: Black American ID is still mediated by mainstream media outlets but the proliferation of social media and cheap editing technologies has enabled audiences to create, moderate and reshape representations of their social group, removing power from media outlets. Audiences are increasingly able to mediate their own identity

mediated? David Gauntlett: Media 2.0 • Audiences are able to create and share their

own, unmediated representations through social media. By sharing media, audiences encourage each other and repeat the behaviour, leading to new representations.

• These representations are untouched by media outlets and don’t tend to be exploited for profit e.g. Naptural 85 is one of the main voices in the natural hair movement, has 240K followers and 20m views but is not part of mainstream media. Her rep is unfiltered by media owners.

Part 2 Historical reps: Coon and blackface were originally used as a way of controlling how Black Americans were seen by mass audiences. As they were repeated and reinforced it also became part of the way Black Americans saw themselves. Lazy, dim-witted, hungry, musical, happy, simple, oversexed. White media owners had their own agenda and represented Black Americans in a way that benefitted them. (Fear of the black man while reducing the threat of the black man- Chomsky, propaganda model) Hottentot Venus: rep of black American women has been filtered and sexualised by white males. Women made to fit ideals of what is considered attractive according to the male gaze. Beyonce, Rihanna, hip hop videos show mediated images of women that objectify and homogenise women. These reps encourage women to think of themselves misogynistically. Women are rewarded for behaving in a way that objectifies them which encourages others to do the same. Drake- Practice: audience member rewarded for dancing provocatively Also, use twerking videos for authentic audience response to sexualised images of females

Gramsci: hegemony • Cultural elite- rich, white media owners create

reps from their perspective • Black Americans have never been able to create

their own reps, how they have been portrayed in the mainstream has always been controlled by another ethnicity.

• Negative representations were constructed as a way of making Black Americans feel worthless, thus maintaining status quo.

Mulvey: Male gaze Bell Hooks: cultural criticism/ pugilistic eroticism Butler: gender performance

Part 3 Link coon and blackface to rap and hip hop. Mainstream reps of black American males are an updating of the old reps. (Same characteristics but no make up) Rep of black males mediated by record companies- by rewarding stars that conform to negative

Bell Hooks: cultural criticism • “Rap is diverse, but it is not the social and

political music that gets the most attention. It is the music that promotes pugilistic eroticism and misogyny that makes the money” corruption of

stereotypes they encourage the repetition of these characteristics and other young black males to follow the same stereotypes. This means that the representation is perpetuated and reinforced, harder to purge from the mainstream Fresh Prince: Will, Carlton, Geoffrey, Uncle Phil all demonstrate facets of the coon stereotype but all are rewarded by the audience for their behaviour, especially Will. Ice tray, however is branded as transgressive and is feared by Uncle Phil and Aunt Vivienne as he becomes involved with their (pure) daughter, Hilary

the art form from a form of self expression and a way of keeping kids off the street and away from crime (Scratch 2002).

• Hip hop was originally a way for black, oppressed communities to express their anger at social injustice through art and mediate their own identity.

• Once it became successful record companies became involved and mediated the identity of rappers and hip hop artists so it became what we know today

Gramsci: hegemony • perpetuation of negative stereotypes maintains

status quo and makes mediators more powerful, representations are regarded as fact by audiences

Part 4 • “Gangsta” flak via social media. Audiences taking images of young black males treating the “gangsta” stereotype as a lifestyle choice and ridiculing them by creating memes.

• Gangsta definitions from Urban Dictionary • Gangsta signs poster that ridicule gang signs • Funny or Die: “Racist Siri advert” that draws

attention to coon stereotype. Satirically makes the point that black American men are still branded as hungry, athletic, “gangsta”, oversexed and by making humorous references to the stereotype shows the audience that this is

Chomsky: propaganda model- flak, branding Gauntlett: media 2.0

incorrect.

Part 5 Naptural85 @fantasyhairweaves • Both use social media to create representations of

themselves that are unfiltered and unmediated by mainstream media outlets

• Naptural85 created her blog and YouTube channel as a response to mainstream media reps of black American women as they were becoming increasingly false and harder to attain. In her videos she teaches that natural hair is beautiful and worth caring for, and that audiences don’t have to change in order to be considered attractive. She brings her ideal self closer to her real self.

• @fantasyhairweaves builds a more escapist representation of herself by selling wigs and weaves and promoting a culture of chasing “white” ideals of beauty and conforming to the mainstream male gaze. By posting photos of bundles of hair that she has access to and photos of her clients on twitter she is showing the audience that the celebrity ideals they aspire to are attainable.

• Both women encourage audiences to repeat and spread the representation, forming new, unmediated parts of the black American female collective

Gauntlett Butler Mulvey Bell Hooks (straightening our hair)

Conclusion Human ID is mediated but audiences are increasingly able to mediate their own identity without the interference of mainstream media outlets However, some audience members (e.g. @fantasyhairweaves) choose to create an unfiltered rep that does conform to mainstream ideals.