Anthony Giddens

Modernity and self-identity

This basically means in societies where modernity is developed we will create some form of identity, whether we intend to or not as in some cases people believe they have done nothing to create an identity still have through what they wear, how they talk, where they live and what music they listen to. However as it was not always like this many societies used to tell people how to act and what to be thus being they are defined which I believe is one of the reasons there are such strong stereotypes of people today such as that women are to be a house wife, cook and clean etc this can also be best exampled in Beyonce’s music video ‘Why Don’t You Love Me?’. I think this video can show both old and new identities which women are supposed to have as Beyonce is wearing multiple ’slutty’ outfits but also doing the housework meaning she is making other young girls believe that they should follow this identity as they would want to be like her. I must take this into consideration when doing my own music video because if my band were to be a success then members of my target audience may look up to them and create an identity similar to my bands/ artist therefore I must consider the way in which they are presented and represented in my music video.

Through the early day and age Giddens himself said ‘What to do? How to act? Who to be? These are focal questions for everyone living in circumstances of late modernity- and ones on which some level or another all of us answer, either discursively or through day-to-day social behavior’ This is because he can see connections between ‘micro’ aspects of society and the big ‘macro’ picture of the state meaning he sees a relation between identity, capitalist corporations and/or globalization, which I believe means corporations are the reason for many individuals identities today especially corporations such as MTV and EMI who produce and advertise today’s celebrities and ‘want to be women/ men’ as their target audience (teens and young adults) are always wishing to meet someone who looks like them or wishes to look like that themselves. Having said that it makes me wonder whether many identities are the same with only minor differences to make us unique as everyone is exposed to the same influences of identity. These ideas have been brought about in my opinion through the social changes of how individuals view life and what they believe to be socially acceptable and what is not, which is why many people do not mind seeing celebrities such as Rhianna without many clothes on as we find it to be the ‘norm’ and are therefore desensitized to it.

How Will I incorporate this into in own music video?

I will use Giddens theory within my own music video by thinking about my own self- identity and how I would want to be represented within a music video, for example I may wish to be represented as cute and innocent or loud and fun, although I think that as self- identity is best shown within stereotypes I believe it would be best for my group to look and as many possible genre’s for our music video as possible so we are able to see how artists of that genre are represented and how their target audience could then be represented. For example looking at the Pop industry and Katy Perry, her identity in the music video ‘Teenage Dream’ is to be fun, young and in love therefore her target audience (which I believe to be teenage girls) will have an identity when listening to that music as being quite mainstream but also fun and young. Therefore Genre can also play a big part in ones identity meaning that my group and I must not only look at genre but also society and our own self-identities with the music we listen to as we can then get a rough understanding of how our band will want to make their target audience feel towards them but also what the band is like towards their audience.

By Laura Thorpe