UNIT G325 SECTION B MEDIA AND COLLECTIVE IDENTITY-REPRESENTATION OF YOUTH IN THE MEDIA “BIG FAT GYPSY WEDDING” – CHANNEL 4 T.V SERIES 1 EPISODE 1-“BORN TO BE WED” 2011- Use extracts from this to explore representation of youth in TV Documentary (Channel 4) Discuss these representations and apply postmodern theories regarding the “truth” “THIS IS ENGLAND” –SHANE MEADOWS ,2006 Recap and define: what is collective identity? What is the collective identity of this group? STUDENT NAME:....................................................................................................................
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UNIT G325 SECTION B MEDIA AND COLLECTIVE IDENTITY-REPRESENTATION OF YOUTH IN THE MEDIA
“BIG FAT GYPSY WEDDING” – CHANNEL 4
T.V SERIES 1 EPISODE 1-“BORN TO BE WED”
2011-
Use extracts from this to explore representation of
“Identity is complicated. Everyone thinks they’ve got one.” (Gauntlett 2007) “A focus on identity requires us to pay close attention to the diverse ways in which media and technologies are used in everyday life, and their consequences both for individuals and for social groups.” (Buckingham, 2008)
What is meant by collective identity? You have studied
“This Is England” (Shane Meadows) and have focused on
the representation of youth. Using “This is England” as
your starting point and source of examples, discuss the
collective identity of youth that is represented in this
film?
ACTIVITY: RECAP TASK. Watch the trailer for “This Is England” and look at posters provided.
Then answer the following questions on “This is England”:
1. WHAT GIVES THIS GROUP OF PEOPLE A COLLECTIVE IDENTITY?
for fighting. Dressed in Dr Martens and with heads shaved
military style, these kids would give the V to anyone foolish
enough to give them the eye.
These were teens who came from areas of high
unemployment looking for solidarity beyond
Thatcher’s ‘me’ culture. They were abandoned by society and
that, of course, made them
vulnerable to the advances of the National Front.
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Having analysed a range of representations of youth in Film, you must now analyse representations using a different media text. The chosen text here is a Channel 4 documentary series “Big Fat gypsy wedding” Series 1 Episode 1 entitled “Born To be Wed”
FROM CHANNEL 4’S WEBSITE - Series Summary -A visually
arresting portrait of the lives of gypsies and travellers in Britain today. Picking up where the hugely successful Cutting Edge film of the same title left off, the new series follows the extraordinary rite-of-passage events - including weddings, communions and christenings - to offer a window into the world of the gypsy and traveller community. Each stand-alone episode gives insights into the community's attitudes toward gender roles, education and outsiders. The series also explores the remarkable rituals, traditions and beliefs held by this minority group. Warm, intelligent, engrossing and funny, Big Fat Gypsy Weddings tells intimate stories on an epic scale, laying bare an exotic unseen Britain that exists right on our doorstep.
ACTIVITY: Watch the opening 10 minutes of the DVD and answer
the following questions:
1. What is a documentary? What is the purpose of a documentary? What do
you expect from a television documentary?
2. What actually happens in this opening sequence?
2. Describe the lives of female teenage travellers.
“BIG FAT GYPSY WEDDING” – CHANNEL 4 T.V SERIES 1 EPISODE 1-“BORN TO BE WED”
2011
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3. How do you feel they are represented?
4. Describe the lives of male teenage travellers represented?
5. What makes these representations believable?
6. What makes these representations seem less believable?
7. To what extent do you think these representations of traveller youths
have been “mediated”(created by the media)
8. What do you feel about these representations? Are they fair, accurate or
could they be damaging?
ACTIVITY: READ THE FOLLOWING NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS AND CHANNEL 4
COMMENTS AND answer the questions that follow –
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THE MAIL ONLINE 16 Feb 2012 - THE HIT Channel 4 show My Big Fat Gypsy
Wedding has been accused of stereotyping gypsies while an advertising campaign
featuring gypsy girls and the strap-line 'Bigger. Fatter. Gypsier' has been slammed as
offensive by The London Gypsy and Travellers Unit and potentially 'racist' by two
London Assembly members.The documentary, which features gypsy and traveller
brides in colossal wedding dresses, was also accused of stereotyping gypsies as
"menacing" young men and "alluring young girls".A number of gypsies had told the
unit they found the programme insulting and degrading and felt it was turning them into
something they are not. The unit has also complained to the Advertising Standards
Authority and asked Channel 4 to remove the adverts and apologise.
"Gypsies and travellers are [already] pretty close to being bottom of the heap in terms of
the abuse they receive. Channel 4 should show greater respect and restraint."
Programme-makers claim that they are throwing "an overdue light on a secretive,
marginalised and little-understood segment of our society". But Joe Cottrell-Boyce, the
traveller policy officer for the Irish Chaplaincy, writes on the Liberal Conspiracy website
that nothing could be further from the truth. He points out that many travellers live below
the poverty line, 20 per cent of Britain's caravan-dwelling travellers are statutorily
homeless and 62 per cent of adult gypsies and travellers are illiterate. "These statistics
paint a grim picture of the traveller experience in Britain," he says. "One that is a million
miles from the high jinks of MBFGW."
Meanwhile, a spokesman for C4 told The Week: “Big Fat Gypsy Weddings is an
observational documentary series that features a mix of Irish travellers, English
and Romany gypsies and makes a clear distinction between those different
communities. All the issues touched on in the series were meticulously
researched and are told through the eyes of the contributors themselves, talking
about their own experiences in their own words. “While some of the issues
touched on in the series are challenging, the programme is a fair and accurate
portrayal of what happened during filming and all children were filmed with
parental consent.”
THE MAIL ONLINE -The programmes reveal the eye-popping, extravagant nuptials that
appear to be the norm today among young traveller couples. Initially a one-off show, My