Regional Identity

Regional Identity-

Regional Identity refers to the part of the United Kingdom someone is from. It could refer to a general area such a “North” or “South”, a country such as “English” or “Scottish” or specific towns such as “London” or “Manchester.”


Regional identity is identifying a persons identity which is rooted not only in the setting of the film but also in speech, costumes etc and in the region they live in.
Essex – often shown as being glamourous but cheap, footballer’s wives, lots of partying, being quite stupid
South England – often shown as being the centre of culture, modern, classy, clever, sunny, richer, doing middle class jobs such as managers, etc.

North England – often shown as being poorer, bad weather, lower class, aggressive, less culture, less clever, doing working class jobs such as builders, etc.

How can you identify regional identity?

– Setting

 – Accents

 – Dialogue

– Props

 – Make up

– Class of characters

– Costumes

– Etc.

The North, South Divide-

In Great Britain, the term North–South divide refers to the economic and cultural differences between Southern England and the rest of Great Britain. The divide cuts through the English Midlands. Sometimes, the term is widened to include the whole United Kingdom, with Northern Ireland included as part of "the North".

Class-

Upper class- The upper class consists of peerage, gentry and hereditary landowners

Upper middle class-This particular class consists of people with higher education and income levels. In some cases, the individuals of the upper middle classes have their ancestors belonging to the upper classes.

Middle middle class- The individuals of this class are associated with the jobs as social workers, IT workers, engineers, bankers, teachers, architects etc. They are actively engaged in the political and social works.

Lower middle class- The lower class is comprised of the white collar workers. They are employed in the less skilled services in comparison to the upper middle classes.

Working class- This is the lowest class of the British social hierarchy. They are not being able to take optimum education and are associated with unskilled professions.

Working class  Those individuals engaged in manual work, often having low levels of educational achievement. The classic, traditional working class jobs include heavy labouring and factory based work. 

Middle class  Those individuals engaged in non-manual work, often having higher levels of educational achievement. Classic middle class jobs include everything from doctors and lawyers to clerical workers. 

Upper class  The elite class that controls the majority of wealth and power in British society. 

Media Representation of Social Class-

Representations of poverty and underclass

Portrayal usually negative and stereotypical,

 Portrayed in the form of statistics in news bulletin such as figures of unemployment,

 Recent media interest in the labelling of the poor such as “chavs” which according to Shildrick and MacDonald (2007) suggest that the poor are undeserving of sympathy,

 Hayward and Yar (2006) – the term chav is used as an amusing term of abuse for young poor people

Representations of the working class

•Newman (2006) argues that there are very few situation comedies, television or drama which focuses on the everyday lives of working class who constitute a significant section of society,

•Newman argues that when in the media working class are often depicted in a very non positive light dumb buffoons (Homer Simpson) and immature machos (Phil Mitchell),

•Butsch (1992) – working class portrayed as flawed individuals (benefit cheats, etc.)

Hegemony

Hegemony is a way to describe people or ideas that become—and seek to remain—dominant in society.

The development of the term “hegemony” in media studies follows the work of Antonio Gramsci and Stuart Hall

Stereotyping – theoretical perspective Dyer (1979) suggested that stereotypes are always about power – those with power stereotype those with less power. Hence he argued there were more recognisable stereotypes of gay men, non-white racial groups, the working class and women in society , and alternatively it was perhaps not so easy to point to media stereotypes of white, middle class, heterosexual men.

Race Representation-

Presentation2 from kelsiocx


Representation of race in the media can consist of the same sort of rigid stereotypes that constitute gender portrayal.
Stereotyping of race is seen as more harmful than stereotyping of gender, as media representation may be the only experience of contact with a particular ethnic group that an audience may have (especially children and young people)
Racial stereotypes are often based on social myth perpetuated down the ages.

Alvarado’s Race Theory (1978)

Four key themes in racial representation:

–exotic- Princess Jasmine, Between Israel & Jordan

–dangerous- (Scottish) King Fergus from Brave

–humorous- (Indians)

–pitied- (Africans)

Black Racial Stereotypes-

Stereotypes :Positive and negative stereotypes are often seen in contemporary British media.

–Musicians – jazz, hip-hop and soul - AJ Tracey

–Sportsmen and women- Ibrahima Sonko

–Comedians- Kevin Hart

–Criminals- NWA

–Socially dysfunctional-

–Prostitute/sexually promiscuous- Rihanna

–The stud/pimp- Snoop Dog

Presentation2 from kelsiocx


Archetype- The concept of an archetype appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychological theory, and literary analysis. Archetypes are also very close analogies to instincts in the sense that its impersonal and inherited traits that present and motivate human behavior long before any consciousness develops. They also continue to influence feelings and behavior even after some degree of consciousness developed later on.
Islamophobia is the fear, hatred of, or prejudice against the Islamic religion or Muslims generally, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or the source of terrorism. The meaning of the term continues to be debated, and some view it as problematic.