Identities and Film: blog task

1. Read Media Factsheet 142: Identity and Film.

2. Complete the Twenty Statements Test yourself. This means answering the question ‘Who am I?’ 20 times with 20 different answers. What do they say about your identity? Write the 20 answers in full on your blog.

1. I am Sharife
2. I am a brother
3. I am 18
4. I am 6 foot
5. I am a son
6. I am a student
7. I am a L.H fan
8. I am a Chelsea fan
9. I am a man
10. I am a male
11. I am an Oklahoma fan
12. I am a New York Giants fan
13. I am mixed race
14. I am humble
15. I am chill
16. I am hard working
17. I am self motivated
18. I am not lazy
19. I am a teenager 
20. I am tired

3. Classify your answers into the categories listed  on the Factsheet: Social groups, ideological beliefs, interests etc.

1. Social groups and Classifications
2. Social groups and Classifictaions
3. Social groups and Classifications
4. Social groups and Classifications
5. Social groups and Classifications
6. Social groups and Classifications
7. Interests
8. Interests
9. Social groups and Classifications
10. Interests
11. Interests
12. Social groups and Classifications
13. Social groups and Classifications
14. Self evaluation
15. Self evaluation
16. Self evaluation
17. Self evaluation
18. Self evaluation
19. Social Classification
20. Self evaluation

4. Go back to your favourite film (as identified in the lesson). What does this choice of film say about your identity? Are there any identities within the film (e.g. certain characters) that particularly resonated with your values and beliefs?

Training day - this film is about corrupt police who constantly are displayed exploiting the public. This choice of film would suggest I am interested in action and violence from media texts and possibly real life. This is because of the way characters are presented in the film with the constant use of guns, violence and drugs. Denzel Washington plays the role of the corrupt police man and he is portrayed as being cold blooded. Usually I enjoy his character in films but in this film I kind of swayed towards the other cop as he was presented as hard working which I can relate with. 

5. Watch the trailers for the five films highlighted as examples of gay/lesbian representation in mainstream film. How are LGBT identities constructed in the trailers and how are audiences encouraged to respond to these representations?

Wilde:
This trailer showed a character from the past who was in discreet gay relationship. One of men said he wanted to reveal their love and wanted other people to know about it but they knew the consequence of doing this. Once it came to everyone's understanding about their situation, the men were being targeted by most (if not all) of the characters in the film and one of them was going to prison it seemed. It could be suggested that this was a way of punishing the men for their beliefs. It's fair to say society didn't agree with them being gay and it could be argued that the audience are supposed to be sympathetic for the characters as their story is being told so we could build a personal relationship with the characters (uses and gratification).

The Wedding Banquet:
This film seems jolly because of the music used and certain scenes from the trailer. Again they are trying to hide their relationship.