Both postmodernism and postcolonialism focus of social, cultural, political and historical constructs, which all helped to create the world and society we know and live in today. Many theorists are intrigued by these topics as they show exactly how society has shaped itself and how it has both caused and resolved problems , which have occurred due to events in the world and people themselves. Postcolonialism focuses on individuals whereas postmodernism focuses on how society is as a whole.

Professer Natalie Fenton quoted in a book called ‘fake news vs media studies’ written by J.McDougall; in this she quoted “I’ve always said you can’t understand the world without the media nor the media without the world”. This supports the ideology that media products challenge the social and cultural contexts in which they’re created, suggesting that you can’t have one without the other, both the world around you and the things happening in it whether is be good or bad, can’t be understood without media products and vice versa, for example if there was a war going on in a country or if there was a huge crime somewhere, you wouldn’t know about it unless you heard it in the news, the news helps people understand what’s going on in the world around them and if they can do anything to help.

Natalie looks for the links between media and the real world seeing how they overlap and intertwine with one another, whereas Ibid, quotes “I do spend long periods of time with my gaze turned away from the media, because I’m seeking to understand what’s going on out there, and then the role of the media in that context. This suggests that Ibid wants to find things out on his own without the media then find out how the media portrays that same event, this could be due to the social ideology that the media is propaganda and plants false memories into people’s heads trying to make them believe something that isn’t true or see something in a twisted way, this is to abuse the power they have over ordinary individuals such as you and I, this is an example of hegemony(thought of by Antonio Gramsci) where parties of high power or dominance uses that power over individuals with less power or influence and sway them to believe something that is false.

Common’s letter to the free ft Bilal was made as a soundtrack to the ’13th amendment’ documentary’, the abolition of slavery, common quotes in the song ‘slavery’s still alive look at the 13th amendment’ and ‘prison is a business, America’s the company’ and ‘buildings are a method with black and brown bodies to film them’, this is addressed in the documentary, explaining that slavery still exists today even after centuries. The fact that this is happening suggests that black people are viewed as criminals (the song quotes ‘instead of nigga they use the word criminal’ suggesting that all black people even if they were born in America and are American and haven’t committed a crime they are still a criminal’), Paul Gilroy suggests that we have a double consciousness such as a person being both black and American, however the 13th amendment suggests that black people are only criminals nothing else and they and aren’t treated fairly ‘not seen as humans with feelings’ they’re only seen as worthless objects to make money for America. This discrimination and worthlessness is seen in everyday society where black people are stopped and searched and arrested for no good reason other than just because of their race, this is seen a recent TV ‘trinkets’ where a black girl walks into a shop and the employee is immediately suspicious of her and accuses her of stealing when she didn’t pick anything up. The social and cultural context in which letter to the free is set is the problem of slavery from centuries ago up until now in the modern day, this song challenges this as the name itself shows the trapped calling out to the free to listen to their plea and saying that it’s not ok slavery is not ok in anyway and is dehumanising the innocent and is being run as a business to make American money, slave trading is still going on in the world, America having the highest rate of it in the world. It can be said that George Gerbner’s cultivation theory can be used with this song meaning that the more people see the video the more they will realise the dominant reading being portrayed in the video showing that slavery needs to be stopped but that will only happen when people realise this and do something about it. Recent events of the riots for black lives matter is the start of this showing that black people are people just like all the white people in the world, they have just as many rights as we do.

Both commons letter to the free and the specialist’s ghost town music videos have long intros suggesting the long process and how the history of racism and discrimination and the long journey black people have to go through to become free and remove the ideology that black people are bad and challenge that and create a new ideology that they should have equal rights. In ghost town in the music video as the title suggest the streets are deserted so the people in the car are isolated (like the people in letter to the free are isolated in big rooms far apart from each other), it’s only them there driving recklessly through the streets, in the car is mixed race which shows inclusiveness and black and white people coming together as one. the song quotes ‘no jobs left in this country’ talking about the youths suggesting that the issues with racism and discrimination will be a problem for the youth’s if not resolved, cause a dangerous and unsettling world in which the younger generations are going to live in. This challenges the social and cultural setting as inside the car in the music video it is cross cultural suggesting peace has been formed and that the black and the white can come together as one and make society better, it also looks like they’re having fun whilst driving symbolising friendship and the bond that can be created between races. In ghost town there is a large gap filed with music between lines in the song, suggesting that things have to be thought about. At the end of the music video sirens can be heard in the background when the people are throwing stones into a river which grabs they’re attention suggesting that it is considered bad to associate with a different race at the time this video was made, this supports the social and cultural context it is set in.