Research On Douglas Kellner’s Media Identity Critical Theory

The development of media technology is rapidly in the contemporary society, at thesame time, the identity of people also changed along with the media culture. so to speak,media culture has been deeply into the identification problem, and have a profound effecton them. Douglas kellner aware of this question, as he is a famous western media theoristand a cultural analysis, he constructed media identity theory under the vision of his ownunique. The study of Douglas Kellner’s media identity critical theory adopts the methodof document-study, attempting to make a comprehensive evaluation based on theintroduction of ideological basis and the main contents of Douglas Kellner’s mediaidentity critical theory.The origin of Kellner’s media identity critical theory was from the Frankfurt schoolcritical awareness and the traditional spirit of British cultural studies, it has marxistdialectical perspective, as well has postmodern discourse analysis. Globalization’sdiffusion of media culture and the subject discourse’s theoretic construction were themajor factors to form the media identity, all of these constituted the ideological basis ofkellner’s media identity critical theory. Kellner’s media identity critical theory was builton the basis of the media culture, mainly involved in social group, individual, fashion,consumption, political and other fields, the variability and constructive has become mediaidentity’s characteristics. Media culture as a kind of new social forces, by making the newimage and style provide new resources for the new identity, and played a vital role for theconstruction of identity.Media identity crisis as the identity’s unique expression form, has variety causes.Intermediary’s global integration, the audience’s diversified experience and mediaproduct’s globalization flows caused this crisis’s occur, thus enhances people’s anxiety inthe practical life, weaken the identity of people. Kellner’s media identity critical theory isquite unique, compared with other two (including John Fiske and Chris Barker) theoristsmedia identity theory, it can be seen that the media globalization influence and the subjectdynamic role of media audience, reshape the structure of the whole world’s human lifemode, provides people the identity copy form in a broader range. The critical anddialectical perspective of Kellner, draw outline of media’s influence on the social aspectsas well as the people’s identity that media culture constructed.Douglas Kellner’s media identity critical theory is proved defective, which is due to the lacking of a consolidated and complete theoretical system, and the analysis of thechange of media identity is also deficient. In spite of the defects, the theory plays animportant role in the establishment of media identity theory of today’s network society asa whole. His multiple media identity theory, and integrating his multi-perspective,all-around analytical method, trying to open a door for the study of media identity theory.Meanwhile, the study of Douglas Kellner’s media critical identity theory contributes tothe media identity theory study in the Chinese characteristics of social transformation notonly at the theoretical level, but also practical level.