Saturday, 19 October 2013

Discuss ‘how identity is mediated’ in the film Gone Too Far? Essay

Discuss ‘how identity is mediated’ in the film Gone Too Far?


The film "Gone too far" is set in the present time were living in now but the film is mainly focused on the lives of teenagers in the area of Peckham, this includes stereotyping of all the black people that live down Peckham whether they were West Indian or Afro Caribbean but the main focus were the characters in the film being from Nigeria. Throughout the film, there was an emphasis of culture clash. 

The film covered many areas on showing the stereotypical perception of how everyone views the black community, this was done through over exaggeration which made elements of the film humorous, for example, at the beginning of the film, the Nigerian mum comes into the park, pulling hes son's ear and shouting at him to come home in front of hes friends. In addition to this the mum was being depicted as stereotyped also because she was talking to her self and her dress sense was cultural, also her behavior was loud and aggressive. These elements were added deliberately to make the film more comical. 

One of the stereotypes shown was towards the light skin girl character, the film portrayed her as sneaky as she uses men to get what she wants, for example, we see her bribing one of the Nigerian characters to steal a weave for her by giving him false hope that she would go out with him, but she only did this to make her ex boyfriend jealous; in fact  due to her, all these unnecessary argument and fights occurred throughout the film. This just shows that the light girl seeks for attention and tries to cause or stir arguments.

Furthermore  the light skinned girl friend who is more darker skinned than her is revealed as jealous towards her friend because she has the guy she likes running after the wrong girl who is trying to use him for the wrong reasons. All this just shows that identity of some characters in the film are being shown as negative and representing a stereotypical side which some people assume that's how the black community behave but in real life, this is not all accurate. 

Not all black guys are shown as bad in the film, like razor has another side to him, this was shown when he pushed the old lady, he realized he's mistake and went back to hug and apologize to her. This just shows that some characters like to have people perceive them as tough and bad when really they do have an emotional side to them which they do not like people seeing as this may show them as weak, also to support this, razor seems emotional towards the end of the film, he gets teary when he's girlfriend goes after the next big guy she sees.

Evermore, the part i liked best in the film was in the Chinese shop where the light skinned girl made a comment saying she will call immigration on them, as soon as she said that, all the Chinese people got scared and left the light skinned girl alone, this showed over exaggeration and emphasized that other foreign countries are not legal in this country when this is not all true. 

To conclude, i would suggest that if there was a hidden message depicted in this film, this would be that wherever your identity is from, we should all be proud of this and be able to freely express yourself and try not to cover up where were from by trying to be the same as everyone else. To support this, at the end of the film, we see the big rapper speaking his home language and dancing a traditional dance. This shows that we shouldn't be embarrassed where were from and try hiding this. To sum up the film, all comedy elements were shown through stereotyping of cultures clashing together but at the end of the film, all characters are settled and tensions are dissolved. 










Friday, 18 October 2013

Discuss ‘how identity is mediated’ in the film Gone Too Far?


Discuss ‘how identity is mediated’ in the film Gone Too Far?

Mediated: How is (media) shown to you?

Intro:

·         The film was released in 2013

·         Representation of culture clash

·         Too stereotypical- light skin girl being too sneaky (using guys) - based on some reality but not all light skinned girls are liked that. Dark skinned girl portrayed as jealous for the light skinned girl because she had guys after her.

 

Main body:

·         Light skinned girl didn’t know who her father was- claims that she is yard(Jamaican)

·         Light skin girl just wanted attention, always trying to cause and stir arguments

·         Why do we emphasise different cultures, were all the same at the end of the day- if you are from Africa(big nose and big lips)

·         Yemis brother was portrayed as loud, dancing, dress sense was not right(socks with sandals), accent-talks foreign language

·         Not all black guys are portrayed as bad, razor has another side to him, when he pushed the old lady on the road, he realised he’s mistake and went back to her to hug her, they may put them self as bad and tough but at the end of the play, razor does get teary where he’s girl goes after any guy she sees.

·         Mum being stereotyped- talking to herself, her dress sense was cultural (she wore slippers), loud and aggressive- all these elements made the film humorous.

·         In the Chinese shop, the light skinned girl made a comment saying she will call immigration on them, as soon as she said that, all the Chinese people got scared and left the light skinned girl alone- showed over exaggeration and emphasised that other foreign countries are not legal in this country when this is not all true.

 

Conclusion:

·         Moral: be proud of where you come from and be free to be able to express yourself and try not to cover up where you’re from by trying to be the same as everyone else.

·         To sum up the film, all comedy elements were shown through stereotyping of cultures clashing. For example, at the beginning of the film, Yemi’s mum drags he’s son out the park by pulling he’s ear in front of all he’s friends.

 

 

film review on “Gone too far”:


My film review on “Gone too far”:

My opinion on the film was that it was full on comedy due to the stereotyping of all the black people whether they were West Indian or afro Caribbean focus is Nigeria. This was shown when Yemis brother steps into Peckham; an area full of young youth and swag, but Yemi’s brother steps out in socks and sandals, it seemed like Yemi was embarrassed by he’s brothers dress sense and the way he acts. For example he can’t talk fluent English as he has an accent. The parts I liked throughout the film was the ending where there was going to be fight for different reasons but one reason that stood out was to show which culture runs the community. At the end where the rapper appears, he tells the main guy razor that he is from Nigeria, Razor is shocked with this because it means what he is fighting for is pointless now. I think the film is best in showing that whether what identity you have or culture, you should be free to express this and not try to be like everyone else.

Friday, 11 October 2013

Gone too far

 Destiny Ekaragha: The image below is her









Destiny Ekaragha is the third child of six children. She was born and raised in London, England in 1982 to Nigerian parents who came to Britain in the 1970’s. Watching films has been one of Destiny’s favourite past times for most of her existence, the first film being A Nightmare on Elm Street when aged 5. Her relationship with the dark was never quite the same, however neither was her relationship with film. The idea of escaping to a world other than her own was very compelling.
 
'Gone too far': the story follows two estranged teenage brothers over the course of a single day as they meet for the first time, and struggle to accept each other for who they are. Yemi can't wait for his big brother to join him on the estate in Peckham - but when Ikudayisi arrives from Nigeria wearing socks and sandals Yemi questions both his judgement and his African heritage. A day on the estate filled with danger and excitement teaches both of them the values of family and self respect.

Find two articles on how black people are represented in the media?

First page of article 1:

Second page of article 2:

Second article:


Find two articles on how teenagers are represented?
Article 1:
Throughout the media we see representation of teenagers. This can show teenagers in positive and negative lights. Teenagers are found in magazines, advertising, television and films, and they are targeted by newspapers and magazines etc. There are two different newspapers reports from the 'Daily Mail' and the 'Dorset Echo' that are part of this representation.

"Perverted tennis club coach jailed for seducing pupil of 15."

This report is written by a tabloid called the Daily Mail and is about a perverted tennis club coach who has been jailed for seducing and under-age, pupil protégé.

The view portrayed by this report is negative, I have come to this conclusion because in the headline it displays very negative words, and the headline usually represents the rest of the article or report. In this report the 'by line' comes before the body text, not after. This may signify that the reporter is highly respected, and if a more experienced reporter is working on the story, this can possibly show the magnitude of the crime.

Article 2:


















Research David Gauntlett's work in identity, "identity is complicated":


Key words:
  • Representation: the way reality is 'mediated' or 're-presented to us.
  • Collective Identity: the individuals sense of belonging to a group (part of personal identity.
  • Mediation (Reality ^^^^ Media (Exaggeration Sterotypes)


David Gauntlett a professor of media and communications at Westminister Univeristy, author of several books including Media, Gender and Identity (2002) In 2007 he was shortlisted for young acdemic author of the year.

Gauntlett believes you can express your identity in a creative form. For example the lego pieces


 








Friday, 4 October 2013

My identity


Notes:
- Foucault- "identity as fluid, not fixed"
- Becker (1973) "identity isn't fixed, or permanent but fluid changeable and dynamic"
- David gauntlet- identity is today seen as more fluid and transformable- "identity is complicated"