Gauntlet: Identity Theory

Gauntlet: Identity Theory

The theory:

• While everyone is an individual, people tend to exist within larger groups who are similar to them. 
• He thinks the media do not create identities, but just reflect them instead.

PART 1: Audiences get a sense of their own identity through the media products that they consume.

PART 2: New media products offer far more complex and diverse ideas in terms of representation, compared to past constructions which were very straightforward and simple. He particularly applies this to gender representation.

Useful when exploring over simplified representations of groups of people or for discrediting the role of media when creating identities.

Explain the theory and discuss its limitations and value in terms of analysing newspapers and TV drama.