Running Header: HOW THE MEDIA HAS IMPACTED CULTURAL IDENTITIES

Cultural Identity/Media Project

Emily Lemons

Lewis and Clark College

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Cultural Identity/Media Project

Developing a sense of cultural identity from media has impacted my identity greatly.

From 1998-2002, media was shaping my identity as a youth with movies like Sister Act II: Back

in the Habit, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Ever After, Never Been Kissed, 10 Things I Hate

About You, Save the Last Dance, Selena, Miss Congeniality, Coyote Ugly, Bring It On, Charlie’s

Angels, Legally Blonde, and Dancer in the Dark. Also, let’s not forget all of the Disney princess

movies. Music that was influencing my cultural identity came from groups like Spice Girls,

Mariah Carey, The Fugees, Lauryn Hill, TLC, Celine Dion, Tori Amos, Dixie Chicks, Outkast,

DC Talk, Jars of Clay, Jennifer Knapp, Amy Grant, and various movie soundtracks. Television

shows like Friends, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, 7th Heaven, Step by Step, Frasier, Dark Angel,

Alias, Touched by an Angel, and occasionally Gilmore Girls also suggested what my identity

should look like as a white female. In this paper, I will explore how these different facets of

media influenced my cultural identity and worldview as a young teen and compare this influence

to my current identity and worldview.

Influence of Media on Cultural Identity Development

As a young teen, movies, music, and television shows told me that my cultural identity

should align with being white, female, heterosexual, English speaking, American, and religious.

My social class should reflect a middle/upper class standing. My social identity would need to

reflect something unique, quirky, different, and special. These television shows and movies told

me that I needed to be noticed—to ‘stand apart’ from the rest of the group. According to this

identity, I should position myself to be socialized in a group that had similar identities as me. A

prevalent music group that influenced my development of cultural identity was the Spice Girls.

Even though they were British, most members except for one identified as white. This group was
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presenting what my “in-group” should look like and was telling me I needed to be socializing

with a group of girls who were each unique with different talents, styles, or interests that set

them apart from each other. The unifying factor was that they were committed to their friendship

based on a locality (e.g. sharing a neighborhood, school, church, or interest community). The

music I listened to often represented a voice of confidence in a woman’s femininity, or, in

contrast, a voice of strong devotion to religion. Sometimes both of these voices were combined.

The roles of people who were different than me were positioned as lower to middle

class, male and female, black, African American, Latino, Puerto Rican, youth to middle age,

heterosexual, bilingual, and religious. My love of movies like Sister Act II was my way of

looking into black culture, something I was not a part of. I associated myself as a member of

these groups by listening to music and wearing similar clothes, connecting to an identity that was

strong, brave, and resilient. I was not exposed to much media that had individuals who identified

with LGBTQ, disabilities, or other marginalized groups. Similar to the ways of looking into

black culture, I used movies as my way to learn more about other cultural identities I was not

directly interacting with.

Media did not present a wide variety of identities for me. Most identities were white

females who were idolized as the heroine and rebel in pop-music culture or in the movies of my

youth. The theme of “girl power” was really significant as a young teen. While developing a

sense of cultural identity from media, I’ve never considered that these movies were instilling a

sense of pride in myself. But yes, in most movies, a sense of musical and artistic pride supported

my cultural identity as a female. This pride very much influenced my understanding that as a

girl, I had power to participate in anything a boy could. The music I listened to, especially if it

was connected to my religious beliefs, gave me a sense of ownership of who I was in the world
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as well. The concept of an identity where being different or standing apart meant I was unique

and special drove me to multiple musical interests.

Impact on Worldview

This assignment challenged me to narrow in on a time where my interaction with movies,

music, and television shows aligned heavily with my religious identity. I had never considered

how the media was shaping my identity at the time. Conventional companionship was highly

coveted in religious media. As a young teen between the ages of 12-16, being a grown up meant

I would live a creative yet conventional lifestyle, be dedicated to my religion, grow into a

confident and talented person, and be noticed by a “true love”. Even though the movies Ever

After, Never Been Kissed, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Save the Last Dance were not

religious, actresses like Julia Styles and Drew Barrymore represented these roles to me. If the

white female followed her path of authenticity, she would stand out and be noticed for her

successes and thus be rewarded with a compatible companion who saw her for who she

authentically was. In the same way, I associated musician and actress Lauryn Hill in the movie

Sister Act II with this path to authenticity as a young African American teen. The difference here

was the movie highlighted an achieved academic and musical success rather than a conventional

companionship. At the time, I did not see the distinction that I now understand.

The reflection about standing out to be noticed as unique and special is something that

stuck out to me. Because of my white identity, I never realized that my worldview of being

unique and special was a privilege—a white privilege—and an implicit bias. Because I was

white, I had more of a choice in developing what I wanted my identity to be, more so than a

person my age from a marginalized group. Even if the reality of my current worldview isn’t
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shared with my younger identity, it still reveals an implicit bias that I was in a position to even

believe that the future I envisioned was a possibility for me.

Today, I still feel the pressure from media to stand out and be something that no one else

is. The religious media of Christianity also creates this pressure, and since my early twenties I no

longer identify with that religious group. What deterred me from staying with the religious

groups was how exclusive it was. If participating in this “in-group” was denying me permission

to experience or associate with other identities, it did not feel right for me anymore.

I wonder if that pressure is even harder for an individual who identifies with a marginalized

group. I wonder how much harder it would be to break away from the identity placed upon you

based on your culture, gender, race, ethnicity, age, social class, and ability/disability.

The process of overcoming these learned biases has been extremely hard yet extremely

informative, especially when it comes to racial identities. Even though I identify myself as

someone who is inclusive–someone who desires to create spaces of belonging–it has been hard

to learn and unpack what it means to identify as a person of color from the perspective of a

person of color. Obviously, my white privilege and identity makes this impossible. I do not

comprehend the daily barriers that prevent a person of color from developing a healthy sense of

their identity without labels being placed on them. As a white female, most of my struggles for

identity development were internal and not coming from external adversities based on my race,

ethnicity, ability, or disability.

My current struggles in this process involve a negative self-view on risk taking. I don’t

think I give myself enough room to process my implicit biases through modes of expression

other than words. This is something I need to create time and space for. Creative modes of

expression help reveal a deeper sense of what I am feeling and guide me to a place of
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understanding who I am. As a school counselor, I hope to create spaces where more youth can

explore a positive self-identity and develop a sense of cultural identity that is more accurate and

accepting than what is portrayed in current media.