Both extracts revolve around the theme of proposals and rejection from one of the key female protagonists. Our Mutual friend by Charles Dickens takes a much darker approach to the rejection of a proposal, in which the female character is rendered powerless against the obsessive character of Mr Headstone. However, Dancing at Lughnas presents woman as the dominating sex in this item, the contrasts a result of the time period difference of 125 years between texts as the representations reflect society at the time.

Victorian reputation was extremely important in 1865 when Our Mutual Friend was written, making it significantly difficult for a penniless Lizzie to get the upper hand of a man with such a “high reputation”. His “quite easy” circumstances contrast heavily against Lizzie who finds herself “yielded to the entreaty” that is societal norms expected of her, ‘yielded’ repeated twice as if to emphasise this point. This expectation of society is evident in Lady Chatterley’s ‘Lover’ by D.H Lawrence, in which the narrator enthuses ‘women must yield’ having but no other alternatives against the “sex” driven males, accentuating the helplessness of women against societal norms. Mr Headstone proposes his high ranks would act as a “shield” for Lizzie.

The military language places Mr Headstone in a masculine position of dominance when attempting to woo Lizzie, suggesting that it’s a male’s role to protect the weak and feeble woman. This presumption of males being indebted to protect females is evident in Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy in chapter 11 when Alec d’Urberville “enclosed” Tess in “his arms to support her” suggesting the fragility of females who need a strong male to support them. Similarly, there are aspects of male dominance in Dancing at Lughnasa in the first section of the extract in which Gerry cuts of Chris’ sentences, repetitively silencing her objections he “suddenly take her in his arms and dances” as the stage directions state. By requesting a dance, suggests Gerry is leading Chris which could be symbolic of their relationship in which he leads her on. This interpretation is emphasised by the sisters realistic view of Gerry’s idealised proposal when Kate observes he is “leading her astray again”, repeated by Maggie who nebulously states “she’s easily led” which could be interpreted as meaning Chris is easily led in the dance by the charming Gerry, or as meaning Chris’ the easily led on, submissive gender within their relationship.

However, despite this male dominance, Gerry soon becomes the submissive character as Brian Friel inverses the sexes. Lizzie demonstrates her ability to resist Gerry’s “beautiful” charm as observed by her sisters, firmly rejecting his advances , stating “I don’t think so”. Her newfound dominant role in the extract is highlighted when her imperative tone instructs Gerry to “just dance me down the lane” and then “leave”, her initiation of the second dance suggesting she is now leading the dance. This is similar to the modern text the Life and Loves of a She-Devil, following the character of Ruth who is introduced as being so pliant to Bobbo’s desires her neighbours often remarking she is “lucky to have him” but soon asserts her authority over her husband much like Chris.

 

 

Explain what is meant by ‘collective identity’ and the role of media in its construction.

Collective identity is how an individual fits to a certain stereotype, to the extent that they no longer have their own personal identity but share the same identity with others designated to the same group. This classification of groups in society as presented in the media is vast, ranging from ethnic grouping to youth. Youth are usually presented in a highly negative manner across the media, gaining a bad reputation which is reflected in everyday life.

The Clockwork Orange is a film which includes content such as murder and vicious sexual activities while presenting them throughout the film in a highly artistic manner. This is achieved through the use of setting and costume with a very futuristic approach by using brightly coloured wigs, eccentric artwork and wallpapering and unusual clothing. This could be interpreted as a representation of how a teenager perceives life, the gang’s peculiar setting matching their deranged minds.

Mise-en-scene is also used in the Clockwork Orange to present teenagers as highly sexualised. The gang leader known as Alex lives in a house in which graffiti is often evident within multiple shots. The graffiti on the walls is significantly sexual in nature, often including in shots behind the characters to present the idea to the audience that both are intimately linked. In addition, the paintings within various houses within the film are highly sexual in nature, with paintings of the naked human form, particularly in the scene in which Alex’s friends deceive him when he visits a woman’s house. This creates this idea that youths are overly sexualised from a young age and have little else in their mind apart from committing immoral crimes.

This idea of being immoral is again developed through mise-en-scene with the use of Alex’s pet snake and the ornament of Jesus nailed to a cross. Close up shots of Alex’s pet snake are shown in the scene where you are introduced to his home, alluding to the idea of first sin in the Garden of Eden. This biblical imagery is furthered through the close-up shots of an ornament of Jesus nailed to a cross, the several shots running in time with the crescendo of the music. These biblical images are used to build tension for the audience, giving a highly negative perception of youth today.

Waterloo road is also another programme which represents youth in a negative manner. In series 8, episode 13, a blonde girl is introduced as having materialistic values of caring more about her appearance than school as she threatens to drop out. The way in which she dresses emphasises this idea, the high quantity of makeup paired with her rebellion against school rules by not wearing proper uniform presents her as a shallow person, which again shows youth negatively.

This negative representation that dominates the majority of media is a common occurrence can be explained through the theory of hegemony by Gramsci. Hegemony is the idea that ideological beliefs of the upper class are forced onto inferior classes in society which we accept to the point that the representations become the norm. The presentation of youth can therefore be explained by Giroux as this idea of creating moral panic among lower class citizens of their anxieties of a particular culture. To raise the public’s concerns about youth is viewed as unacceptable by Women in Journalism at the conference entitled ‘Hoodies or Altar Boys?” who expressed “deep concern” about the “serious image problem” that teenage boys in modern day society face in the media. From extensive research into various news articles, they found that a “group of 14 year old boys […] doing positive things in this area” were ignored by journalists who stated that “that’s not the story people are interested in” documented by the Morning Chronicle. This furthers the idea that youths are exploited in media, potentially to the point in which they become outcasts from society.

The cultivation theory states that repeated exposure to the same message can have an effect on the audience’s attitudes. This accentuates the idea that these reoccurring negative images of youth could cause issues within society through influencing audiences to agree with bias attitudes of adults who are expressing anxieties about this group of people being highly violent.