SUMMER WORK 2018

YEAR 13 SUMMER WORK

INTRO TO CONTEXT – IN THE EXAM YOU MAY BE ASKED TO REFER TO ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, SOCIAL OR CULTURAL CONTEXT. THESE OF COURSE TEND TO OVERLAP. HERE IS A TASTER FOR YOU TO RESEARCH AND SUMMARISE. WE THOUGHT ECONOMIC WOULD BE A BIT TOO BORING FOR THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS BUT WE’LL RETURN TO IT.

 

POLITICS

·         After Cameron resigned who was running for the leadership?  Theresa May, Michael Gove, Stephen Crabb, Andrea Leadsom and Liam Fox.

·         When was May chosen as leader of the Conservative party? On 11^th July 2016, May became the leader of the conservative party, two days later she was elected prime minister by Queen Elizabeth II.

·         General Election result and the rise of Jeremy Corbyn’s popularity. The overall result of the votes in the general election show a hung parliament. Although conservative won, they did not get over 50% of the votes. However, Theresa May will stay on as prime minister, for now, after agreeing with the Democratic Unionist Party to work together to form a government.

After Ed Miliband stepped down as Labour leader after a poor general election, Jeremy Corbyn became successor after many turned down the role. He won the hearts of many due to his grandfatherly style and informal manifesto that promised money to almost anyone. Many students and young people started to support Corbyn due to his promise of free university.

·         ROYALS  Engagements, Queen’s 90^th, babies. The queen celebrated her 90^th birthday and become the longest-reigning living monarch in 2016. Prince Harry confirmed dating Meghan Markle in 2016. In January 2016, prince George had his first day of school. In 2016, the Obamas visited Kensington palace.

In 2017, the Queen and Duke celebrated their 70^th wedding anniversary. Pippa Middleton got married. Prince Philip retired from public royal duties. 20^th anniversary of Diana’s death. Kate Middleton announced pregnancy. Harry and Meghan confirmed engagement.

 

TERRORISM and HATRED

Westminster Bridge- Six people died, including the attacker, and at least 50 people were injured after a terror attack near the Houses of Parliament on 22 March 2017. A man names Khalid Masood hired from Birmingham and mounted the pavement at Westminster bridge and began to hit people. They believe he was driving at around 76mph. When crashed into the parliament fence, Khalid ran towards the houses of parliament where he was confronted by officers. PC Keith Palmer, although wearing a protective vest was stabbed and killed. Controversy was apparent as the medics tried to save the terrorists life.

 

London Bridge- Three men drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge before getting out and stabbing people in nearby Borough Market on 3^rd June 2017. 8 people were killed and 48 injured. The attack stopped when the three men were shot by the metropolitan police. The men had fake bomb vests on, they were known to be Islamic. It occurred only 3 months after an attack on Westminster bridge.

Borough- On 3^rd June 2017, 3 men drove a van across the London bridge, mowing people down and continued to enter Borough market and stab people. 8 people died with 48 injured. They were known to me Islamic extremists and were shot dead by the metropolitan police.

Finsbury Park mosque- Finsbury Park mosque attack: Driver who ran over worshippers 'brainwashed' by TV sex gang drama, court hears. Darren Osborne, 48, deliberately mowed down Makram Ali, 51, and nine others last June after becoming radicalised against Islam following viewing of BBC's 'Three Girls'. This brought controversy as people believe the man was a terrorist and was not sentenced or labelled right.

Manchester- The Manchester Arena bombing was a suicide bomb attack in Manchester, United Kingdom on 22 May 2017. An islamist detonated a homemade bomb as people were leaving the arena from an Ariana Grande concert. 23 people were killed including the attacker and 139 were wounded, more than half of them were children.

Jo Cox- Helen Joanne Cox was a British labour politician was an MP for the Batley and spen constituency in May 2015 until she was murdered in June 2016. On 16 June 2016, Cox died after being shot and stabbed multiple times in Birstall, where she had been due to hold a constituency surgery. Thomas Mair, who held far-right views, was found guilty of her murder in November and sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life order. When committing the crime, Mair apparently shouted “Britain first”.

SYRIAN WAR

Brief summary, still ongoing, huge humanitarian issues, refugees – The Syrian war is an ongoing multi-sided conflict between Ba’athist Syrian Arab republic led by Bashar Al-Assad and various conflicting organisations who are opposing both the government and each other in various combinations. The human rights situation in Syria has long been the subject of harsh critique from global organizations. The rights of free expression, association and assembly were strictly controlled in Syria even before the uprising.

SPECIFIC UK ISSUES

·         Grenfell tower – The fire at Grenfell tower highlighted the lack of care and money the government had put into safety measures within the building, such as, fire doors, fire escapes and the fact the cladding which made up the structure of the building was incorrectly installed. After the disaster, it took the government too long to respond and help with the casualty, resulting in many civilians living in poverty. This lack of care has risen problems between the government and the social demographics they choose to focus on and those they choose to neglect, such as those who were effected by Grenfell fire.

• Windrush - Those arriving in the UK between 1948 and 1971 from Caribbean countries have been labelled the Windrush generation. This is a reference to the ship MV Empire Windrush, which arrived at Tilbury Docks, Essex, on 22 June 1948, bringing workers from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and other islands, as a response to post-war labour shortages in the UK. The ship carried 492 passengers - many of them children. Prime Minister Theresa May has apologised to Caribbean leaders over deportation threats made to the children of Commonwealth citizens, who despite living and working in the UK for decades, have been told they are living here illegally because of a lack of official paperwork.

• NHS – doctor’s strikes, worry over privatisation, waiting times-  The current financial crisis, rising costs of services, energy and supplies; innovations and technological breakthroughs that require more investment – along with higher numbers of people to cater for – all spell out a huge economic disaster for the NHS. In September 2015, Hunt proposed new contracts for junior doctors which would scrap overtime rates for work between 7am and 10pm on every day except Sunday while increasing their basic pay. The union argued that the contract would include an increase in working hours with a relative pay cut of up 40%, and refused to re-enter negotiations unless Hunt dropped his threat to impose a new contract and extensive preconditions, which he had refused to do.

• Football sex abuse- A sexual abuse scandal involving the abuse of young players at football clubs in the United Kingdom began in mid-November 2016. The revelations began when former professional footballers waived their rights to anonymity and talked publicly about being abused by former coaches and scouts in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. This led to a surge of further allegations, as well as allegations that some clubs had covered them up.

·         Murray wins Wimbledon- Murray defeated Novak Djokovic in the 2012 US Open final, becoming the first British player since 1977, and the first British man since 1936, to win a Grand Slam singles tournament. Murray is also the first British man to win more than one Wimbledon singles title since Fred Perry in 1935.

·         2016 Great Britain Olympics success- Great Britain smashed their medal target for the 2016 Olympics, achieved a succession of notable 'firsts' and caused a major stir by finishing second in the table, above global powerhouse China.

YOUTH AGGRESSION – Acid attacks have trebled in three years and threaten to cost Britain £500million by 2020. As victims suffer the long-term physical and physiological impact from appalling injuries, taxpayers are facing a mounting bill for increased spending on medical, police, prison and legal services.

TRUMP ELECTION – Trump's campaign rallies attracted large crowds, as well as public controversy. Some of the events were marked by incidents of violence between Trump supporters and protesters.

#METOO CAMPAIGN- Instigated from the reveal of sex offender and top film prodder Harvey Weinstein. Multiple well known actresses came forward to explain how they were victimised by Harvey. From this abuse within the industry has been highlighted.

 

CULTURAL TRENDS OF 2016-2018 (and how other media has influenced a product) Spider diagram, Moodboard whatever you fancy to get an idea of the

zeitgeist (look it up)- The Zeitgeist is a concept from 18th to 19th-century German philosophy, translated as "spirit of the age" or "spirit of the times". It refers to an invisible agent or force dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history.

·         Films- Major films include: Moana, Infinity war, wonder woman, la la land, shape of water, three billboards, black panther, suicide squad, Get out and jungle book.

·         Tv programmes: Dr Foster, Stranger things, American horror story, Victoria, Black mirror, Fargo, Orange is the new black, Good place, prison break, Narcos, breaking bad.

·         Music: Albums released by major artists including Kanye West, Drake, Gorillaz. Cardi B took media by storm. Kanye became very controversial. Jorja smith is a rising star and Dua Lipa won too many awards to count.

·         Video games: Celeste, assassins creed, COD, Fifa, Grand theft auto.

·         Youtube, memes, twitter storms- Logan Paul was shamed throughout the world due to controversial Japanese suicide forest YouTube video. Cardi B and Niki Minaj feud. Donalds Trump threatens North Korea and other major organisations. 21^st century teens and young adults share humour through memes.

·         Find three examples of intertextuality

·         TOP CULTURAL FADS-  Top cultural fads such as 'the dab' is a trend that went viral due to social media i.e twitter and Instagram, facebook.
Fornite is an example of a video game, played through games consoles or mobile devices, which went viral in 2017. In the 2018 in world cup, some of the footballers, e.g. Jesse Lingard, took on and recreated one of the characters moves off the game. This was influenced from the gaming platform of media, but also due to social media, it allowed the game to become popular worldwide. It can now be seen on various platforms.

SOCIAL CONTEXT – changes in wider society find some egs in media for each

·         DISABILITY (more publicity in Olympics)- At the Rio 2016 Olympics the Para-Olympics was publicised. It was played on channel 4 and bbc. In the new Mama Mia 2 film one of the dancers in the song ‘Waterloo’ was a woman named Amy Trigg who needs a wheelchair. Although the dancing was physically demanding, the dancer pulled off an amazing performance and showed the audience disabled people can do anything.

 

·         REGIONALISM – With various regional programmes on TV, various places are stereotyped to look a certain way. Made in Chelsea shows the posh people of England with a lot of money, TOWIE follows the lives of so called dumb blondes who care nothing else but spray tans and Botox and Geordie shore parties with youngsters who can’t handle their drink. However, in Towie, people from outside of Essex are making an appearance on the show and people from other reality tv shows such as Love island’s Cara and Nathan are having short cameo’s.

 

·         CLASS – The poorer parts of England are still portrayed in the media, such as the tv show ‘people just do nothing’ and ‘benefits Britain’. On the other hand, programmes such as made in Chelsea are still popular. Reality stars who came from a common background have gained money however, due to their publicity, money can be made from online advertisements. Controversy was apparent due to the Beyoncé and Jay z collaboration. Fans felt their recent music and music videos portrayed the couple to be arrogant, splashing their money and mocking the serious issue of a cheating husband.

 

·         AGE – Due to the brexit votes a barrier between young and old people has been risen. Youths feel the adults are voting for something that will not affect them in the future. As costs for mortgages and general living wages rise, young people have latched more onto the labour government hoping that Jeremy Corbyn keeps his promise of wanting to make the future bright for young people who are not yet able to vote or feel they do not have a say in any political matters.

 

·         GENDER – It is an ongoing debate about the gender fluid matter within the media. People agree/disagree with uni sex toilets and the option for children to decide whether they want to be a boy or a girl. Abuse towards women in the performing industry has been noticed and the #metoo campaign is trying to prevent the degradation towards vulnerable performers who are trying to make a name for themselves.

 

·         ETHNICITY – Black panther and get out are films that are highlighting or fighting back against racism in today’s age. Black Panther used an all-black cast and Get out focused on a dystopian society that want black people for a special purpose.

 

·         SEXUALITY – in the media, the LQBT community has fought for representation. In the show Rupauls drag race, every cast member is gay and enjoys dressing up as a woman. In orange is the new black, there are many lesbian characters such as Suzanne (crazy eyes). In Glee, one of the performers is a gay singer.