Collective identity is intellectualized as
identifying with an individual or the attachment to certain groups. When
studying British films, directors consider identity in a various number of
ways. Whether they choose to reflect or construct the identity of the
characters they are portraying it is inevitable that as the audience our
opinion is to be shaped and influenced. Through focusing on class, age, gender
and ethnicity, or as Daniel Chandler refers to his theory as the 'Cage' of
identity, he suggests that these four key areas play a significant part in the
construction of collective identity in Britain.
The stereotypes of the different social demographic
groups in Britain can be encoded in one of two ways. In the 2010 film, Tamara
Drewe the upper class citizens of rural Britain are constructed to lead the
utopian life. Richard Dyer suggests that through watching the way the upper
class live, the perfect life in what we perceive them to have feed us with the
solution to the downfalls of the problems we face in our own life. Through the
diegetetic sound Stephen Frears chooses to include in his media text, for
example, the sound of birds singing this shows the peaceful lifestyle of the
upper class citizens demonstrating the easy lifestyle they live. Not only
through the sound but the cinematography also plays a key role in constructing
collective identity of social demographic group A. The long shots of the
peaceful, elegant lifestyle, which are frequently used in Tamara Drewe
demonstrate the wealthy lifestyle of her surroundings and this reinforces the
stereotypical view of upper class people having a 'perfect lifestyle'.
The perceived luxury of Hollywood
funded representation of Britain is challenged within social realist texts such
as Andrea Arnolds, 2003 short film Wasp. By using gritty locations and low
profile actors Arnold was able to reflect the hardships of the lower brackets
of the social demographic groups during a time of an economical struggle. David
Guantlett suggest that there is a rise within girl power which can be seen in a
series of jump cuts of Zoe running down the stairs on her way to fight with
another mother. This also runs parallel to his other theory of the
decline in tradition when we see the two women fighting, as it would be
a preferred response from an audience to believe that it is
wrong and un lady like to fight therefore breaking the tradition
of societies thoughts. The collective identity of the financially
challenged is clearly reflected to a wider audience educating them at how the
under privileged live.
Age is a huge part of someone’s identity and how their
identity is mediated. In different media texts, age is a key factor on how
someone is perceived and this is influential on how the audience interpret
them. For example, in This is England 86’, the tv series, you are shown a lot
of loose frames of a young boy, Shaun played by Thomas Turgoose, representing
him as being lonely and not having anyone, and then he is pressured into doing
stuff by the local gang. Instantly this gives young people a stereotype of
being bullies and criminals within society and that their identity, as a
collective, is mediated as being these thugs that are no good within society.
To conclude, Britishness is mediated through various different media texts and the way which media theorist encode their beliefs and ideologies with certain signs and signifiers to conote their own ideas and perceived ideologies to a wider audience who when receive the information are subconsciously subjected to having their own identity reflected or constructing a new identity for themselves.
