Exam Tips

Key areas of Media and Collective Identity

 - How do contemporary media represent [Youth Culture] in different ways?
 - How does contemporary representation compare to previous time periods?
 - What are the social implications of different media representation of groups of people?
 - To what extent is human identity increasingly 'mediated'?

From the Specification

 - Majority of examples in candidates's answers should be contemporary. However, theories and approaches may be drawn from any time period.
 - Where candidates refer to only one media area in their answer, marks will be restricted.
 - Where candidates fail to provide or infer historical references and / or future projections, marks will be restricted.

*Use examples from films and music from the year 2009+

Last years examiners report

 - Examples and case studies should be from within the last 5 years
 - Stronger answers managed to tackle the question of how dominant representations inform identity.
 - Balance is important.
 - Strong arguments present a balance argument with the clear structure, weighing up competing arguments, developing the case through the use of examples and working towards conclusion.

The Mark Scheme

Explanation/Analysis/Arguments (20 Marks)
Use of Examples (20 Marks)
Use of Terminology (10 Marks)

Music!

 - Historically the youth culture has stemmed from the music
 - Film has sought to represent youth culture WHEREAS music seeks to appeal to them.
 - Remember we talked about how the music industry was reactive to the culture (cool-hunting)

How I am going to use this to revise

 - Focus on films like Shank, Sket and iLL Manors to focus on urban 'Hoods' youth culture
 - Different theories to link with argument