How media represents different collective identities

1. Media representations of youth and
how they reflect societies
perceptions and concerns

2. The Different Representations of Youth
• Bullet Boy:
• Within this film, we are given a glimpse into the stereotypical life of
a lower class British teenager, living in an estate. The film only
offers a handful of rational humans. These characters are
represented in young children and adults. The teenagers within the
film on the other hand are all represented as undereducated
criminals and drug users. The only somewhat redeemable character
among the teenagers, the main character, is still a criminal who has
previously killed someone which resulted in him serving time in
prison. These characters have been based around stereotypes that
continue to define a large majority of our youth culture today. The
lack of likeable teenagers only goes to make this stereotype more
prominent within the film.

3. The Different Representations of Youth
• Attack the Block
• This film, similarly to Bullet Boy, focuses on a group of
lower class teenagers that live in an estate area.
However, this film manages to give off some positive
reflections onto the youth culture of today. Instead of
focusing on a group of unlikeable, violent teenagers,
attack the block creates a group of charismatic
teenagers that the audience can become attached to.
These characters are still not shining examples of
innocence but they are given enough redemption
within the film in order to make a positive impact on
the association with teenagers.

4. The Different representations of Youth
• Quadrophenia
• As time has passed, the worlds ideas about Youth
culture has changed. During this time of the Mods and
Rockers, teenagers were thought to be unpredictable,
violent, drug taking psychopaths. The film depicts
these themes within their gang culture, however, we
are given some examples of characters who attempt to
breach the boundaries of their stereotypes by
challenging some of these ideas about youth at the
time. The result gave audiences a new perspective
within this world that could even improve ideas about
teenagers at the time, or at least help the audience
understand them more.

5. Relation to theory
• Many plots follow Todorov’s narrative theory of different equilibriums. This theory
essentially guarantees that the conflict within the film will be resolved through the
creation of the new equilibrium. Bullet boy does not follow this structure, instead
opting to kill the main character, essentially resolving none of the character’s
issues. This can have a poor effect on the way that teenagers are shown through
media as his character dies without any redemption, his character doesn’t develop
any more than when the film started. Attack the block shows an idea of this theory
which allows for the characters to have their story arcs and develop as people. This
makes their characters much more likeable as a result which can positively effect
the way that todays youth culture is perceived by the public.
• These films each have their own opinion surrounding the youth culture of the
context within the film. Stereotypes within these films are common but it is what
the film does with these stereotypes that affect the representation of teenagers.
The Hypodermic Theory can come into play with these ideas as each film gives the
audience a message about the character before the film ends. Some films such as
Bullet Boy or Ill Manors can give negative connotations to the teenagers of today
as the characters often never rise above their stereotypes. Films such as Attack the
Block or Quadrophenia can give positive messages to the audience surrounding
these characters and youth culture.

6. How have films such as these
impacted the collective identity of
young people• Each film offers a different perspective on the state of the
youth culture of the relevant context. A lot of the time
teenagers within these films are shown to be violent, drug-
using criminals. Because of this representation, many
within the audience may associate these stereotypes with
the relevant culture. It is clear that these stereotypes may
come from some area of truth, however, some filmmakers
attempt to use these stereotypes as a platform for their
own character arcs. They can flip existing ideas about
different cultures in a way that causes the audience to care
about them. This can have a long-term effect on an
audience to think of the affected culture in a completely
new way.