2. In the opening sequence of ‘Kidulthood’ (2006) there are a lot of cuts
showing the different ethnicities of the teenagers that attend the school.
There is a lot of noise in the background: Shouting, talking, boys playing
football. A lot of informal language is used – Swearing, slang, mumbling.
This suggests that there are a lot of different ethnicities and background in
the school.
The camera tracks around the school
revealing different groups of people, the
first being two girls one white girl and one
black girl, the white girl speaks in a fast
tone and speaks in a lot of slang, the black
however, speaks slower and uninterested
of going to the party that everyone is being
invited to.
Next, a group of black boys
are shown wearing dark
clothing and hoodies. This
suggests they may be
dangerous. They use a lot of
slang and swear a lot which
makes them come across as
aggressive and violent.
3. Next, two black boys are shown
lighting weed. This shows the
audience that they cause trouble. Both
boys laugh as they light the drug
showing they have done it before.
This gives them a negative
representation as they are doing
something they should not be.
In this part we see the white, older man getting scared of one of
the black students. He starts by telling him to hurry up and get to
lesson, but when he gets a dirty, intimidating look back he looks
away showing that he is scared of him and that he has more
power over him.
4. It is clear that the group of black
youths in the hoodies are the
‘dangerous’ stereotypes. They
cause fights, speak in slang and
just cause trouble in general. The
one in the blue hoodie is very
controlling over the others and he
always tells the others what to do.
Next we see the ‘gang’
filming each other
bullying other students
in the school and then
spitting on them if they
stand up for themselves.
This is another negative
representation of black
youths as they are
dangerous and violent.
5. In conclusion black people
are represented in a
negative light and shown to
be; Dangerous, aggressive,
violent and short tempered
in this film. Depending on
what the media text is will
depend on how the ethnicity
is represented. In different
media texts they are
represented differently.
