The document compares the representations of youth culture in the films "Good Vibrations" and "The Inbetweeners Movie". "Good Vibrations", set in 1970s-80s Belfast, portrays punk youth as individual, motivated and fighting for social change. "The Inbetweeners Movie", a modern British comedy, depicts teenage boys as typically horny, irresponsible and shallow in their pursuit of sex and partying. While neither representation is entirely unrealistic, they provide contrasting views of teenagers and how media shapes perceptions of youth.

1. Comparing Media Texts:
“Good Vibrations” and “The Inbetweeners Movie”

2. In order to understand and analyse a representation of youth
culture in the media effectively, we have to know where the
representation comes from and who's it is. From that we can
begin to discover why a platform is re-presenting this group in
that way, what the motive behind it is and better decide
whether or not it has some credit to it and if we should endorse
or reject it

3. “Good Vibrations” (2013)
“Good Vibrations” is a 2013 UK film, chronicling the life of Terri Hooley, a record-store owner instrumental in
developing Belfast's punk-rock scene. The film is Nostalgic, which is crucial in understanding the representation
and evaluating the reliability of the source.
As a Historical film (Made in 2013, but about the 1970's and 1980's), there is a suggestion that perhaps the
representation of youth culture presented is genuine, or at least more so, as the film is a report on time gone by
rather than a reflection of the modern era. The media might have little to gain from manipulating the image of
1970's/80's youth (When more modern interpretations would have more resonance) and the film's realism (And
review) could be criticised and negatively effected for falsely portraying youth's in a certain way (Or straying too
far from the truth).
“New York had the
haircuts…
London had the
trousers…
But Belfast had the
reason…”

4. “Good Vibrations is also remarkable both in
terms of quality and in its freewheeling
take on the truth. We've come a long way
since the crazy, hazy, beigey days of 1970s
Belfast and in his own small but significant
way, the subject of this film contributed to
that positive shift forward.”
Joe Nawaz

5. The film, as it happens, presents a fairly positive portrayal of youth culture. The
representations include:
 Different/New, Individual
 Motivated
 Fighting for something real
When looking at “Good Vibrations” however, there is an element of the
Constructionist Approach about the way audiences receive it

6. Different/New, Individual
The film “Good Vibrations”, which is set in the 1970 and 1980’s in Ireland, largely represents youth subculture
through the characterisation of the Undertones, and Punk underbelly of Ulster at the time.
The rise of Punk was all about getting away from the norm, finding something different and taking it to the
extremes. Being different from your parents was key, and during The Troubles the Punk scene thrived.
Teenagers are shown to be individual, different, and rebelling. Mainly through fashion and attitude, the teenagers in
“Good Vibrations” are frustrated with the environment they are forced to survive in, created by the heavy violence
Northern Ireland is experiencing, and rebel the only way they know how, by drinking and listening to music in bars
dressed in funky-coloured sweaters and dying their hair neon shades.

7. Motivated
Fighting for something real
In “Good Vibrations”, which is set in the 1970 and 1980’s
in Ireland, largely represent youth subculture through the
characterisation of the Undertones, and Punk underbelly
of Ulster at the time.
Writing and performing their own music, they are eager
to become the next “Big Thing”. They get signed by Terri
Hooley, and eventually have their song “Teenage Kicks”
played on the radio, becoming a HUGE hit. There are a
variety of scenes, with them working on the song,
recording it and performing.
This idea is felt primarily in the watching of the Undertones
rise to fame. The film’s backdrop is The Troubles, which
engulfed Ireland for decades, creating a sense of
hopelessness and endless violence, that nothing positive
could come from it. However, the release, and subsequent
popularity of the song “Teenage Kicks”, proves the idea that
the youth of that time were aiming to create something
meaningful and fight for something real, not a petty war of
religion.
One of the most moving moments of the film was when
“Teenage Kicks” first gets played on the radio, and then
played a second time (Never before happened). The film
ends with a farewell concert, which has Terri Hooley saying
“Money couldn’t buy what we’ve just done.”

8. Regarding Baudrillard’s theory, the film challenges the simulacrum that teenagers are delinquent, dangerous and
irresponsible, generally dismissing conventional negative portrayal film’s give.
However, the film is Historical, and so might be difficult to manipulate fact positive representations of teenagers.
The film is also representing youth culture through one specific group, the Undertones, who happened to succeed
where many didn’t – only showing one side of the spectrum.

9. “The Inbetweeners
Movie” (2011)
In comparison to “Good Vibrations”, “The Inbetweeners Movie” is a topical film, a coming-of-age comedy based
on the E4 sitcom of the same name. The film follows the misadventures of a group of teenage friends on holiday
in Crete after the end of their final year at school together, and currently serves as an ending to the TV series.
Although a topical representation, which could suggest the film's representations of youth culture are designed to
emphasise a certain perception of teenagers e.g. How boys and girls behave towards each other, particularly while
on holiday. If we look at the TV series, you'll find that the presentations are much the same but hold an element
of Britishness and realism which makes it hard to suggest that the film isn’t somewhat realistic in its approach.

10. The film, as it happens, presents a fairly positive portrayal of youth culture. The
representations include:
 Typical
 Horny (Both boys and girls)
 Irresponsible
 Shallow

11. Typical Male Representations
School boy wedgy
Richard Dyer argues that these re-presentations create “types” of people, part of the process of naturalising.
“The Inbetweeners Movie” opening sees Will, a nerd with glasses and a briefcase, wedgied by the school bully, a
hardly original plotline. This shows that although “The Inbetweeners Movie” challenges generic conventions
regarding the stoic British edge the film has, it plays up to the natural “type” of teenage male group which includes a
nerd who is bullied.

12. Horny
Both the film and the TV programme promote the idea that teenage Boys
are purely motivated by sex.
The TV Programme regularly features scenes in which females are
objectified and perceived as sex objects by the 4 male protagonists in one
way or another. In the “Caravan Club” episode, Jay and Neil are in the
petrol station shop, reading a porn magazine, a blatant example of the
teenage males being portrayed as purely sexually motivated
This is also seen in “The Inbetweeners Movie”, where the representation
becomes a physicality, shown graphically, e.g. the opening scene where
Jay, one of the foursome, masturbates to porn on the internet.
The characterisation of Jay goes a long way in promoting this representation. Obsessed with
sex and women, he lies compulsively about the various sexual encounters he has had, but
also develops his own iconic, vulgar language when referring to women e.g.:
“The gash isn't going to fuck itself, y'know”
Jay is a prominent example of boys being motivated by sex, his character's creation centred
entirely around the idea that women are there to be exploited sexually, through porn, his
language and own imagination.

13. Laura Mulvey’s Look theory can be applied to “The
Inbetweeners Movie” in the sense that the film is very much
about teenage boys objectifying and sexualising women. Not
only do the boys LOOK at women, but the camera does
similar, particularly when the boys walk down the strip, which
allows the audience to partake in the viewing as well.
However, Mulvey’s theory is flipped from one perspective,
when examining the opening scene. Jay’s masturbating over a
Porn actress might showcase the Look theory but in reverse,
where ultimately, the female is the one in control, taking
advantage of him who, in the end is naked and embarrassed
when his Mum walks in on him.
Obviously there are varying degrees of this representation e.g:
Perverted = Jay Sexually
motivatived = Simon
“Oh, not talking”“… booze, minge, fanny and sex”

14. Similarly, Dyer’s theory comes into play here too. Whereby a process of naturalising creates a “type” of boy we, as an
audience, are familiar with and will less likely challenge e.g. Horny teenage boy.
The contemporary rise of sex and pornography in society, particularly in males, has naturalised our perception of
teenage boys as sexually motivated, so that films like “The Inbetweeners Movie” ultimately comes across as simply
realistic rather than malicious.
The realistic aspect of the re-presentation begs the question: Good or Bad?
To continue, is the representation realistic? Could this be just another case of Baudrillard’s theory where the media
has portrayed young men as sex-obsessed so many times that it has in fact become a reality? A simulacrum? Designed
to reinforce the hegemony (Charles Acland Theory)?

15. Irresponsible
Shallow: “I better not be stuck with the fat one”
Excessive drinking, shaving and spraying the
groin and waking up in an ants nests all
showcase youths as irresponsible. However,
when put in context (e.g. On holiday), it is
much harder to be critical and consider the
representation as something 24/7
Contradicts Mulvey’s theory of the Male Gaze
Female
teenagers are
portrayed
just as
sexually
motivated as
the males

16. In Conclusion…
Both films present youth culture in differing lights, “Good
Vibrations” gives an ultimately positive portrayal, whereas “The
Inbetweeners Movie”, although not necessarily negative, presents
young men from the naturally sexualised to perverted. A variety of
reasons for their contrasts are the Nostalgic versus Topical nature
of the films, as well as the varying genres, and aims of the
representations. Neither of the representations are unrealistic and
ultimately give very interesting but contrasting portrayals of
teenagers, particularly males, and do inspire consideration for how
we view the social group in real life.