MIGRAIN: Representation theory - David Gauntlett & collective identity

One of the crucial named theorists we need to cover is David Gauntlett - a media academic who has written on representation and identity for the last two decades.

Gauntlett has covered a huge range of media topics to do with representation over the last 20+ years. Much of his early work explored gender representations, building on work by theorists such as Butler or McRobbie. In recent years, he has focused on how new technology and creativity is changing how identities are created and the sense of belonging people can find in online communities (collective identity).  

David Gauntlett: key notes

David Gauntlett wrote extensively on gender representation and the importance of role models in the media in the late 1990s – early 2000s.

He looked particularly at theorists such as Butler and McRobbie: “Although the popular remix of feminism is accepted by young women, it remains the case that most women and men remain somewhat constricted within particular gender roles.”

Men's magazines and masculinity

Gauntlett looked at men’s lifestyle magazines in the same way McRobbie looked at women’s magazines. He found a new, quite different representation of masculinity – reflecting the changes seen in women’s magazines.

Recent work: Making is Connecting

Gauntlett’s recent work has focused on how new technology is changing how identities are constructed: “Making is Connecting is all about how people build a stronger sense of self-identity through creative practices – in other words, through creating their own representations.”

“Media [made by all of us] … can be places of conversation, exchange, and transformation… a fantastically messy set of networks filled with millions of sparks – some igniting new meanings, ideas, and passions, and some just fading away.”

Representation & Identity: Factsheet blog task

Use our brilliant Media Factsheet archive on the M: drive Media Shared (M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets) to find Media Factsheet #72 on Collective Identity. Save it to USB or email it to yourself so you have access to the reading for homework. Read the whole of Factsheet and answer the following questions to complete our introductory work on collective identity and David Gauntlett:

1) What is collective identity? Write your own definition in as close to 50 words as possible.

2) Complete the task on the factsheet (page 1) - write a list of as many things as you can that represent Britain. What do they have in common? Have you represented the whole of Britain or just one aspect/viewpoint?

3) How does James May's Top Toys offer a nostalgic representation of Britain?

4) How has new technology changed collective identity?

5) What phrase does David Gauntlett (2008) use to describe this new focus on identity?

6) What does Gauntlett suggest about creativity and identity?

7) How does the Shaun of the Dead Facebook group provide an example of Henry Jenkins' theory of interpretive communities online?

Complete for homework to finish our initial work on representation - due date set by your exam teacher.