section 2B essay 2

HOW ARE YOUNG PEOPLE REPRESENTED IN CONTEMPORARY MEDIA?

 

 Ill Manors and Eden Lake are extremely similar because they exploit violence, drug abuse and bad language. They all represent the word ‘chav’ by using the stereotypes of their fashion, language and persona. However, Ill manors is trying to show the reasons why they riot and why they have been classed as ‘chavs’ whereas Eden Lake encode the stereotype and create a film where it may encourage youth or make people aware of what they’re like.

Youth are represented badly in the music video ill manors because of the riots and violence. However, Plan B (Ben Drew) wanted to prove to people that the youth aren’t like the stereotypes people seem to view them as. Plan B quotes in an interview ‘I genuinely want to change things. When you attack someone because of the way they talk, the way they dress, the music they listen to, or their lack of education, and you do it publicly and its acceptable to do that, you make them feel alienated.’ ‘Ill Manors says if you stereotype people as socially worthless then they will grow into those stereotypes’

It can act as a protest song because it can make people aware that the word ‘chav’; is derogatory and he wants to change the way people stereotype them ‘This is just the first step. Let me make my point first and raise the issue, and then if anybody wants to talk to me about how I think we can change these things im ready.’

However, he is being a hypocrite by blaming ‘rich people’ and alienating that class and blaming them for their violence. He is exploiting what they do and showing the public what happens and what these people are like which is making it worse. They feel in their eyes that society has made it very clear they don’t care about them.

The protagonists in this music video are the youth and Plan B; the antagonists are the government and seem to be the cause of the problem. The representation of youth in the video is portrayed badly because of smoking, gangs, rudeness and no respect for authority (the police, law and their environment). They live up to their stereotype because of their actions for example, violent towards the police and politicians. They look for trouble because of community centres closing and have nothing better to do; ‘what you looking at you little rich boy?’  Deviant youth is represented a lot through this video (Acland Theory 1995.)

 

Representations of youth vary through generations. The way in which representations are chosen is through the current fears of society at that time, what is perceived to be threatening to them (society). Youth representations are filled through the interests of the adult world.

The more violence seen in films the more likely we are to believe in its existence. Eden Lake would then make us believe that it is the lower class British youths that behave in this way and therefore develop negative and ideologies about them. This results in moral panic, through symbolic violence and follows cultural hegemony.

 

The Theory by Mcrobbie (2004 Symbolic Violence) is used in the film Eden Lake because it portrays deviant youth and highlights the contrast in social class. Cultural Hegemony (Gramsci Theory 1971) is used also because in the opening scene we are introduced to a normal couple who go away on a romantic holiday. They are the protagonists and at the start of the film the mise en scene overall is very vibrant and happy. This changes and becomes very dark when we are introduced to the antagonists (deviant youth) looking for trouble. They show animalistic characteristics because they are portrayed as wild animals in a forest hunting the couple. Before getting to know the gang the audience have automatically viewed them as stereotypical ‘chavs’ because of their clothing, body language, colloquial language and behaviour towards the others. (Giroux Theory 1997) we see them as the empty category. For example they reply rudely when asked to turn the music down. A waitress in a café describes them as ‘little terrors’ in a sarcastic way. Which is what some people may view them as before getting to know what they’re like.

 

Films like Eden lake create a moral panic on the representation of youth COHEN (1972) because this is what we believe is real and our views and opinions change after watching these films. We then ultimately judge and look down on the youth after what we seem to believe. The repetitive pattern of television mass produced message and imaged influences peoples understanding of the world. GERBNER (1986) (Cultivation Theory) television and the news are constantly reminding people of the bad representations of the youth and we then adjust to this and view them as the empty category.