Male teenagers are often negatively portrayed in media. They are frequently shown as rebellious, disrespectful, engaging in illegal activities like drinking and drugs, and making up more than half of crime-related stories in newspapers. One TV show, Skins, depicts teenagers constantly consuming alcohol and causing trouble without much positive representation. However, the portrayal of teenagers in media has become more negative over time, as youth culture and teen markets have developed alongside new media like television, radio, and the internet. In the past, teenagers were not as prominently featured or predominantly negatively depicted.

1. Representation of Social Groups
Male Teenagers

2. Our Characters
The only social group shown in our film are
teenagers, the two boys are very adventurous
and risk-taking, as they decide to go out of
their way to meddle in matters that usually
would be left to police.

3. Average Media
Teenagers in the media are often shown very negatively; usually quite
rebellious, disrespectful and apathetic. They will often be shown drinking
and doing drugs illegally. Generally just the worst group in society.
Figures show more than half of the stories about teenage boys in national and
regional newspapers in the past year (4,374 out of 8,629) were about
crime. The word most commonly used to describe them was "yobs" (591
times), followed by "thugs" (254 times), "sick" (119 times) and "feral" (96
times).
Very rarely are the positive side of teens shown.

4. Fictional Representation
A good example of the negative representation
of teenagers is Skins, and e4 drama about
teenagers where they are shown consuming a
lot of alcohol and generally causing a lot of
trouble. They rarely do anything positive.
Trailer

5. Change over Time
Following World War II, new economic growth,
along with very large numbers of American
youth, gave rise to a new teen market and a new
media landscape defined by television and radio.
These influences in turn gave rise to a youth
culture that found expression in the mass media.
The entrance of the internet helped further the
development of strong teen culture. Before this,
teenagers were not shown in media as much, and
not in the predominantly negative light as of now.