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 11th
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 90th, babies. The queen
celebrated her 90th 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 70th
wedding anniversary. Pippa Middleton got married. Prince Philip retired from
public royal duties. 20th 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 3rd 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 3rd 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. 21st
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.
