Post-colonialism

Post-colonialism: blog task
1) List FIVE films, FIVE TV programmes and FIVE online-only productions that are discussed in the article.

Films:

• Anuvahood
• Kidulthood
• Shank
• Attack on the block
• The mirror boy

TV programmes:

• Fresh prince of bell-air
• 3 Non-Blonde
• The real mcoy
• Luther
• Casualty

Online- Only: 

• Venus vs Mars
• The Ryan Sisters
• Brother with no game
• Meet the abdenanjos 
• All about the Mckenzies

3) Watch Destiny Ekaragha's clips above (more of her work is available onher website, including the short film The Park). To what extent can we apply Alvarado's and Fanon's theories to these films? Do they reinforce or subvert typical black stereotypes in British film and TV? Refer to specific scenes and events in the clips in answering this question and aim for at least 350 words.

In the first clip, Gone too Far, the representation of the brother coming to London from Nigeria fit the stereotypical persona that people would expect. Alvarado's category of 'humorous' would definitely be applicable to this character as seen in the end of trailer, he is seen singing whilst eating his chicken. By the restaurant owner laughing, it echoes and accentuates the humour that is seen by the audience. Additionally, Alvarado's category of 'exotic' and Fanons 'primitivize' would also be applicable as seen through the mise-en-scene, specifically the costume of the mother. Throughout the trailer, the mother is dressed in a traditional African dress. By wearing something that wouldn't normally be worn in England, it would present the mother as 'exotic'. Furthering this, the brother and mother speak with a stereotypical  African accent which also solidifies this reading of 'exotic'. In addition to Fanon's 'primitvize', the scene where the protagonist is playing football would coincide with the representation of 'sporting prowess'. According to the trailer, it can be interpreted that it is reinforcing stereotypes associated with Afrcian culture. However, the representation is more playful and seen  as somehow embracing Arfican roots and culture. In Ekaragha's short film 'Skinny Jeans', Alvarado's category of 'humorous' is seen through the dialogue between the three characters seen in sat. The fact that the characters are so naive to the truth makes their conversation all the more trivial thus accentuating the stereotype of humourous. However, with the costume, the representation is interesting. This is because although the characters are wearing hoodies, which would be assossiated with Alvarado's 'dangerous' through the connotations of a reckless youth. But through the use of bright colours, blue and red, it would create alternative connotations and thus changing the representation. Ultimately, Ekaragha's 'Skinny Jeans' reinforces stereotypes in African culture, however also challenging stereotypes especially in therms of gang culture and African youth.

Identities and the Media: Reading the riots

1. How did the language and selection of images in the coverage create a particular representation of young people? The use of language, 'riots' rather than 'uprisings' or 'protests' immediately creates connotations of mindless, barbaric behaviour. Furthermore, in majority of images used include fire, police geared with riot uniform and youths dressed in tracksuits and hoodies. The images of the fire imitates images that are generally seen in warzones. Also, the way in which the police are represented in pictures portray them in the light as the protectors against the 'mindless youth' rioting and causing mayhem.   
2. Why does David Buckingham mention Owen Jones and his work Chavs: the demonisation of the working class? In Jones' work 'Chavs', he discuss the new form of class contempt. This is where the working class, is argued, to have become an object of 'fear and ridicule'. This isn't just seen in the news industry, but also seen elsewhere in popular figures like Little Britain's 'Vicky Pollard' and Cathrine Tate's 'Am I bovvered'. 
3. What is the typical representation of young people – and teenage boys in particular? What did the 2005 IPSOS/MORI survey find? 40% newspaper articles featuring young people focused on violence, crime or anti-social behaviour. 71% could be described as having a negative tone.
4. How can Stanley Cohen’s work on Moral Panic be linked to the coverage of the riots? Stan Cohen says that the media play a role in ‘deviance amplification’: in reporting the phenomenon, and in expressing the fear and outrage of ‘respectable society’, they make it more attractive to those who might not otherwise have thought about becoming involved. Media stereotypes are never simply inaccurate: they always contain a ‘grain of truth’. Yet in this case, the media coverage can be seen to reflect a much more general fear of young people, and especially of working-class young people
5. What elements of the media and popular culture were blamed for the riots? Much of the initial blame for the violencewas put on popular culture: it was rap music, violent computer games or reality TV that was somehow provoking young people to go out and start rioting.
6. How was social media blamed for the riots? What was interesting about the discussion of social media when compared to the Arab Spring in 2011? Despite being depicted by tabloids as mindless thugs and morons, the rioters were also seen as somehow skilful enough to co-ordinate their actions by using Facebook, Blackberry and Twitter. According to The Telegraph:technology fuelled Britain’s first 21st century riot. The Tottenham riots were orchestrated by teenage gang members, who used the latest mobile phone technology to incite and film the looting and violence. 
7. The riots generated a huge amount of comment and opinion - both in mainstream and social media. How can the two-step flow theory be linked to the coverage of the riots? Different people – politicians,community leaders, media commentators, ‘experts’ – offer different accounts of what is happening; although they often receive most attention if they can come up with simple explanations, and propose simple solutions. Yet how they do this often reflects their own social or political interests: the issue becomes an opportunity for them to make broader points, and to promote their own views.
8. Alternatively, how might media scholars like Henry Jenkins view the 'tsunami' of blogs, forums and social media comments? Do you agree that this shows the democratisation of the media? system. They argue that theage of ‘Big Media’ – of powerful, centralised corporations controlling media – is now finished: hierarchical, top-down communications have been replaced by a more egalitarian approach.
9. What were the right-wing responses to the causes of the riots? Too much permissiveness, he argues, has bred a generation of young people with no respect for their elders and betters, and no ‘moral compass’. Working-class youth – apparently live lives of ‘absolute futility. He also says 'They are essentially wild beasts.'
10. What were the left-wing responses to the causes of the riots? They argue that it was unsurprising that most of the disturbances erupted in areas with high levels of poverty and deprivation – and, they point out, it was tragic that these communities also bore the brunt of the damage.
11. How can capitalism be blamed for the riots? What media theory (from our new/digital media unit) can this be linked to? British society has become acceptable for our politicians to lie and to cheat... the sad young men and women, without hope or aspiration, have caused such mayhem and chaos over the past few days. They are just following the example set by senior and respected figures in society.
12. Were people involved in the riots given a voice in the media to explain their participation? On all sides of the media debate, there was rush to instant judgment – or at least instant opinion. No, people for example Tudor historian Professor David Starkey tried to explain, talking about how ‘the chavs, the whites are now black’, and about gangsta rap – a topic on which he clearly knew nothing at all.    
13. In the Guardian website's investigation into the causes of the riots, they did interview rioters themselves. Read this Guardian article from their Reading the Riots academic research project - what causes are outlined by those involved in the disturbances? Anger and frustration at the way police engage with communities was a significant cause of the summer riots in every major city where disorder took place. Interviews with people who took part in the disturbances which spread across England in August revealed deep-seated and sometimes visceral antipathy towards police.  Many rioters conceded that their involvement in looting was simply down to opportunism, saying that a perceived suspension of normal rules presented them with an opportunity to acquire goods and luxury items they could not ordinarily afford. Rioters identified a range of political grievances, but at the heart of their complaints was a pervasive sense of injustice. For some this was economic: the lack of money, jobs or opportunity. For others it was more broadly social: how they felt they were treated compared with others.   
14. What is your own opinion on the riots? Do you have sympathy with those involved or do you believe strong prison sentences are the right approach to prevent such events happening in future? I have sympathy for the people punished for rioting for the reason of feeling that the government are treating them unjust. This is because it is a way that they feel that they will get the attention that they deserve and a means of which that they are able to get some sort of equality. Although it became very barbaric and violent, if equality was in place initially, the events wouldn't have happened in the first place. Also, I think that the riots escalated to such a high degree because it was anger that was bottled up by the youth. If the youth were given a fair share, or at least shown to be cared for, the events wouldn't have escalated to such a high degree. Ultimately, a strong prison sentence would deter participants, however the right way of preventing a repeat would to establish a good relationship with the youth. To give them a share of equality and a means to speak out.  

NDM News

Twitter sued for enabling Isis by family of shooting victim

Twitter is being sued by the family of a soldier killed in an Isis shooting who claims the network hasn’t done enough about the spread of the group. Like the rest of the large social networks, Twitter has been under scrutiny as a place that Isis is using to recruit people online. A range of accounts use the site to spread propaganda and other information. The family of Lloyd “Carl” Fields Jr, who was killed in an attack in Amman in Jordan last year, claim that the shooting might never have happened if Twitter didn’t exist. The complaint claims that Twitter is aware of Isis users on its platform and lets them continue to use it. “While we believe the lawsuit is without merit, we are deeply saddened to hear of this family's terrible loss. Like people around the world, we are horrified by the atrocities perpetrated by extremist groups and their ripple effects on the Internet,” a Twitter spokesperson said.

Twitter responds:

“Violent threats and the promotion of terrorism deserve no place on Twitter and, like other social networks, our rules make that clear. The company’s transparency report says that it complied with 42 per cent of just over 1,000 content removal requests in the first half of last year.

Companies can monitor workers' private online chats, European court rules

Privacy concerns dismissed by European court of human rights after Romanian engineer fired for using Yahoo Messenger to communicate with fiancee. The European court of human rights (ECHR) dismissed the engineer’s argument that the company had violated his right to confidential correspondence. 

The court said it was not “unreasonable that an employer would want to verify that employees were completing their professional tasks during working hours”, adding that the company had accessed the messages in the belief they contained professional communications. The judges also defended the decision by Romania’s courts to allow transcripts of the engineer’s communications be used against him in court, saying: “It proved that he had used the company’s computer for his own private purposes during working hours.”

NDM News

Netflix expands into 130 new countries, making it available almost everywhere in the world

Netflix is now available almost everywhere after it rolled out in 130 new countries — with one big exception. The company is still not available in China, which is the last big country to hold out on the online TV and film streaming service. With this launch, consumers around the world — from Singapore to St Petersburg, from San Francisco to Sao Paulo — will be able to enjoy TV shows and movies simultaneously - no more waiting," said Mr Hastings. "With the help of the internet, we are putting power in consumers' hands to watch whenever, wherever and on whatever device." The site announced at the gadget show in Las Vegas that it now shows 125 million hours of TV and films per day, and that 12 billion hours of video was streamed in the last three months of 2015. That is up nearly 50 per cent on the same period next year.

This shows how globalisation is taking form in terms of movie streaming. By Netflix being available worldwide, it could show that western culture would affecting and influencing other culture worldwide.   

In a fast-changing media world, quality remains king 

Forget the media gloom of shrinking circulations, shrivelling revenues, blocked ads and all the woes of change and upheaval. There are reasons – modest but instructive reasons – to be cheerful: good things from 2015 set to get better in 2016. One thing is the price that quality still commands. An old, distressingly pink newspaper, founded in 1888: that would be £844m of Nikkei’s money for the Financial Times. And an even older – 1843 – news magazine founded to fight for the repeal of the Corn Laws: that would be £469m for a mere 50% of Economist action. Two fine, seasoned brands turning a profit and moving to grow digitally as well as in print.

Did television kill the movies? Not when the Force awakens and breaks historic box office receipts. Did Kindles kill the printed book? Will galloping technology click away the need to discover and understand? No: the mix churns and evolves. Something old, something new: and something constantly human operating just off screen. Which is why, perhaps, the Guardian and Observer refugee appeal, topping £2m and breaking all past records, is the most cheering, brand perfect thing of the lot.