MEDIA STUDIES Theoretical Concepts IDENTITY DAVID GAUNTLETT

IDENTITY WJEC: SPEC THEORIST David Gauntlett the idea that the media provide us with ‘tools’ or resources that we use to construct our identities. the idea that whilst in the past the media tended to convey singular, straightforward messages about ideal types of male and female identities, the media today offer us a more diverse range of stars, icons and characters from whom we may pick and mix different ideas. THEORIST David Gauntlett David Gauntlett is a British sociologist and media theorist. He focuses on audiences, making and sharing of digital social media, and their roles in self-identity.

IDENTITY 1.Past (Negative): 2.Present (Positive): Gauntlett’s theory seeks to highlight that “Identities are not ‘given’ but constructed and negotiated. He believes that the media presents us with tools or resources (representations) that we use to construct our own personal identities. 1.Past (Negative): In the past, the media offered singular stereotypical representations of identity. Now there is a vast diverse range of representations from which we can pick and choose our identities. 2.Present (Positive): Gauntlett believes we can now navigate the diverse, compromised and contradictory representations the media depicts and use them to construct a ‘sense of self’ to represent. 3.Identity (Defined): ‘Identity’ can be a vague term; it encapsulates everything from clothes, language, body, music, hairstyles, décor, education, family, friends, relationships, career, politics, ethics…. Some people feel identity is real and inherent in who we are as people. Some people feel identity is constructed by the self. Some people feel identity is prescribed by society and the power structures within it.