The document discusses several theories related to media representations of youth and identity formation: 1. Dick Hebdige's theory from 1979 analyzed British youth subcultures and how they used style to challenge dominant ideology. Media representations of youth were limited to portrayals as troublemakers or sources of fun. 2. David Gauntlett's 2002 theory examined how media texts influence self-identity and expression. He argued people shift from passive consumers to active producers through new media like Web 2.0. 3. Tajfel and Turner's 1979 social identity theory proposed that people categorize themselves into in-groups to build identity, creating boundaries with out-groups. Youths often divide into subcultures based on

1. Dick Hebdige (1979)
Theory:
• Studies British Youth Subcultures (Late 1970’s)
• Focused on the reality of youth cultures
• Subcultures = Youths to express themselves and to
challenge hegemony (mostly through style)
Representation of youth:
• Hebdige argues that the representation of youths is very
limited. Either shown as trouble or fun, there is no in
between. Suggests media representation of youths is not
reality
Effects of these representations:
• This would effect the representation of youths
dramatically. Due to them either being shown in two
different ways of being trouble or having fun in the media
it suggests that we never get to see the good and hard
working teens of society who fade into the background
(which is then seen by the media as boring)
Role of media representations in society:
• By looking at this theory we are able to see that the media
in society tends to ignore the good representations of
teens and focuses on the negative. This therefore portrays
them to adults as all youths behave in this manner.

2. David Gauntlett
(2002)
‘How we form our identities using media texts’
• He studied the role of media in self-identity
and self expression and the making and
sharing of digital media
Old Media
• The ‘media gods’
• Passive Audience
• ‘Appointment to view’
• Expensive
• Separate platforms
• Centralised
• Wasted time/Cognitive
• Surplus
New Media
• Web 2.0
• User
generated
• Cross
platforms
• Inexpensive to
produce
• Decentralised
• Social
• ‘Making is
connecting’
• He proposed in 2008, ‘the Make and Connect agenda’, in an attempt to
rethink audience studies in the context of media users as producers as well
as consumers of media material.
• He argues that there is a shift from a ‘sit back and be told culture’ to a
‘making and doing culture’, and that harnessing creativity in both Web 2.0
and in other everyday creative activities will play a role in tackling
environmental problem.

3. Tajfel &Turner (1979)
Theory:
• Becoming a part of different groups and how membership to these
groups helps construct our identities.
• They suggested that people have an inbuilt tendency to
categorise themselves into one or more in-groups, building
a part of their identity on the basis of membership of that
group and enforcing boundaries with other groups.
Categorisation:
• The way in which people put others (and ourselves) into
categories. We label one another based on interest, ethnicity,
gender, occupation and other factors.
Identification:
• Your collective identity becomes your in-group. This could be
your family, a friendship group or classmates. A group or individual
that poses as a threat to your in-group is called the
out-group.
Comparison:
• People compare themselves and their groups with other groups,
seeing a favourable bias towards the group in which they belong.
Nowadays, we see youths dividing themselves into social groups
or subcultures based on clothing, music or other interests.
Can you think of some examples?
Henri Tajfel

4. Charles
Acland
(1995)
Theory:
• Media representations – Delinquent youths = enhance
authority
• Done by ideal of ‘Norm’ adult and youth behaviour =
contrasts deviant youth behaviour = unacceptable
Representation of youth:
• Media representations of young people = allows state to
control them (E.g. ASBO’s)
• This is known as ‘ideology of protection’ Idea that youths
need to be constantly watched = Youth is the time where they
learn about social roles/values State needs to confirm
these values
Effects of these representations:
• This therefore effects the representations as the adults see
youths as being reckless and they have to keep enforcing that
these actions are bad. This is to enforce the hegemony of how
they should not behave when it comes to adulthood. This
means that there will be more negative stories in the media
Role of media representations in society:
• From this theory we are able to see that adults believe it is
necessary to show youths in such a disastrous way. This is so
they can tell youths how to and how not to act so they can
enforce middle class hegemony.

5. John Fiske (Genre Theory)
Theory Genre as 'Convenience' for Producers and Audiences
“Attempts to structure some order into the wide range of
texts and meanings that circulate in our culture for the
convince of both producers and audiences”
Audience Theory: Focus = We all create a context for what
we are seeing through intertextual referencing
In my words: If a movie series already has a set genre and
you announce a new movie in that series, the audience will
instantly assume its of the same genre, and will follow a
similar plot because that is what they're expecting of that
series.
Personal
example
Year 12’s film ‘The Wish List’ is all about a girl who completes
her bucket list, so it follows through what you expect from
the film title.
Niche example The film ‘Gone Too Far’, you expect it to be your typical
hoodie horror, with guns and drinking and partying 24/7,
when in fact it’s an innocent comedy with young people
acting in an adolescent way.
Mainstream
example
"With X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a familiar action adventure
formula is developed (hybridized with Science Fiction and the
Superhero genre) which serves to ensure 20th Century Fox
target a market who have expectations in terms of
conventions"

6. Henry Jenkins
(Genre
Theory/Collective
identity)
Theory Genre constantly 'Breaks Rules' e.g. evolving hybridization:
"Hybridization is now commonplace to maximize audience appeal but
also to offer a unique selling point by appearing to break the rules
In my words: Combining two opposite genres into one, to appeal to a
wider audience
“We need to interact in order to form our identity”
-or interact with media representations
-participating in an event(in reality or virtually) with people with whom
we feel affinity helps us to form collective identity
Strengthening elements of your own identity through solidarity with
others
Clothes, hair, drugs, lifestyle, films, books, music –cultural texts that
alter opportunity for solidarity with others who have similar tastes
Especially valuable to those who feel like outsiders already
In my words: The people and environment we live in. forms who we
are and who the people are we spend our time with
Personal example In high school, if ‘Populars’ start wearing a trendy piece of clothing,
other students might start copying that certain style to fit in or become
‘Popular’
Niche example Zombieland: Horror/Comedy
ALS ICE BUCKET CHALLEGE
Mainstream
example
Submarine is both social realist in format but using comedy
conventions typical for a rites of passage film
Kylie Jenner's lips influenced thousands of girls to plump and enhance
their lips

7. Louis Althusser
(Marxist theory)
Theory -1969
Identity theory: Focus = Interpellation
“Represents the imaginary relationship of individuals to their
real conditions of existence”
This means that Althusser believes that ideology are
circulated by agencies(The Media) and help to construct
peoples identities. But because this is so subtle and covert,
members of society don’t realise this is happening.
In my words: The media have gradually engraved extreme
stereotypes into our heads , making us prejudge people
unconsciously
Personal
example
Walking home from school late, not walking through alleys or
quiet streets, in case of bumping into gangs of hoodies.
Niche example Teens in hoodies: chavs, Thugs
Men/women in suits: Good, Hardworking
Mainstream
example
The Riots:
The hoody is the material existence of the representation of
teenagers and symbolises moral decline of a generation who
pose a threat to the Capitalist system because they may be
unemployable.

8. • Theory
• Genre as 'Convenience' for Producers and Audiences
• “Attempts to structure some order into the wide range of texts
and meanings that circulate in our culture for the convince of
both producers and audiences”
• Audience Theory: Focus = We all create a context for what we
are seeing through intertextual referencing
• In my words: If a movie series already has a set genre and you
announce a new movie in that series, the audience will instantly
assume its of the same genre, and will follow a similar plot
because that is what they're expecting of that series.
• Personal example
• Year 12’s film ‘The Wish List’ is all about a girl who completes
her bucket list, so it follows through what you expect from the
film title.
• Niche example
• The film ‘Gone Too Far’, you expect it to be your typical hoodie
horror, with guns and drinking and partying 24/7, when in fact
it’s an innocent comedy with young people acting in an
adolescent way.
• Mainstream example
• "With X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a familiar action adventure
formula is developed (hybridized with Science Fiction and the
Superhero genre) which serves to ensure 20th Century Fox
target a market who have expectations in terms of conventions"
John Fiske
(Genre Theory)

9. • Cultivation theory – Gerbner studied
the effect of television and found that
media overestimates crime. News
reports/TV dramas/ Films = lots of
crime and this influences the
perception of the world.
• MSM – Daily Mail and Fox news like
fear
• Niche – Essex Chronicle very negative
all crime
• Personal – can you think of one? Are
you scared of walking around
Peckham at night?
Gerbner

10. • Contemporary ‘Hoodie Cinema’
reflects middle class anxiety
about the threat of the working
class.
• MSM – The Guardian article
“Hoodies strike fear in British
cinema.” Media link social classes
with strong stereotypes, anyone
below middle class is a hooligan.
• Niche – Essex Chronicle article
“Teens hurl large rock from
bridge at car on A12” Linking the
incident with youth however
there is no proof that teenagers
committed the crime however
the paper links it with teens
because the people running
away matched the teenage
stereotype.
• Personal – There was an article I
read and I believed it. This makes
me anxious of hoodies Greg Philo

11. • “A star is an image not a real person
that is constructed (as any other
aspects of fiction is) out of a range of
materials (e.g. advertising, magazines
etc. as well as film, Music)
• MSM – Any music video abides by this
theory because they want to sell their
artist.
• Niche – This theory doesn’t really
apply to a niche audience however
someone like tobuscus a YouTuber is a
niche star, This is because he is only
known to a select group.
• Personal – My love for David Beckham
Richard
Dyer

12. MSM The mass media such as newspapers and news TV programmes broadcasted a
stereotype of all teenagers who wear hoodies as hooligans such as David
Cameron's press for his ‘Hug a hoodie’ campaign, leading to teenagers seeing
the stereotype so much that they conform to it. This ultimately caused the
London riots.
Niche
Personal When I started to what The Only Way Is Essex I started to pick up the
language that they were using like “babe” in my everyday speech without me
realising.
This can be
applied to al
platforms.

13. MSM Kylie Jenner (find UK equivalent) and other celebrities dress
and look in certain ways, making the working class believe
that that is the acceptable way to look, making us believe that
the people who do not conform to these norms are different.
Niche Local newspapers covering young people knife crime
Personal Social media websites such as Facebook control what you can
and can’t see, making you people that what you see or the
way that you portray your profile, creating a hegemonic
ideology that people think is the only one.

14. MSM News papers such as the Daily Mail and broad casting television shows such as
BBC News published stories about youths being Hooligans and used imagery of
teens wearing hoodies. This created the Hoodie Horror.
Niche When “BREAKING NEWS: Arsonists torch five cars in Melbourne and Newlands
Spring areas of Chelmsford” hit the front page of Essex Chronicle with a big
picture ofa car set on fire with the culprits being a “group of teens” as said in
the article, it strikes fear into the heart of society about the youths near where
the public live. This makes them fear teens.
Personal Through the use of Facebook the Essex Chronicle uploads statuses and links to
their websites about incidents that are to do with drugs, stabbings, etc, striking
fear to people seeing the update.

15. Henry
Giroux
1997
Henry Giroux
1997
Theory
Empty Category: the representation of youth is
determined by adults and their fears. This theory
suggests that the identity of the youth is not
created from real problems but instead the fears
the media produce. You can apply the hypodermic
theory to Giroux as the fear is created rather than
a representation of real problems.
Examples
MSM: Top Boy (2011-2013), this channel 4 series
convey the London drug scene, although the main
characters are adults, the programme shows how
teenagers and kids are involved in drugs and
violence. Although the target audience is young
people, broadcasted on channel four, the greatest
influence is experience on older viewers.
Niche: Essex Chronicle Teens hurl large rock from
bridge at car on A12, a horrific attack on a middle

16. Stuart Hall
Stuart Hall looked at the role of audience positioning
in the interpretation of mass media texts by different
social groups. He came up with three ways we read
media texts; dominant reading, negotiated reading
and oppositional reading.
Personal: Instagram/twitter/facebook posts may appeal to teenagers
and younger people where as older people may think differently and
disagree. For example if there's a missing teenager in the area,
younger people may think they are in need of help where as older
people may think they deserve what they get by being bad-
mannered.
Niche: Essex Chronicle “Teen bailed and another released without
charge after Taser incident outside Chelmsford McDonalds”. The
wording of this headline shows each audience age group could take
different impressions from the title. For example, older ages would
go with the negative stereotype and say the article is saying teens are
bad where as youths which the same age may believe the article
suggests they haven't done anything wrong as they were released.
Mainstream: This image is taken from a mainstream newspaper
article. The title was ‘hoodies, louts, scum’. The audience may agree
and think this image shows a threatening teenager (dominant
reading) where as some may think he looks sad and disagree that all
teenagers are ‘scum’ this is oppositional reading. Some may see both
ways of the image being negotiated.

17. Giroux
(1997)
Giroux argues that in media representations youth
becomes an ‘empty category’ because media
representations of young people are constructed by
adults therefore young people do not necessarily
reflect the reality of youth identity.
Personal: Teenagers are avoided by older people when out on the
streets, they may cross the road to be on the opposite side to avoid
trouble, but in reality the teenagers are most likely harmless and
have no bad intentions.
Niche: “Two teenagers arrested on suspicion” shows the stereotype
being used, assuming the event had something to do with teenagers.
Even if It had been because of this, it still shows the word ‘teenagers/
putting them in the ‘empty category’
Mainstream: Daily mail “British youths are ‘the most unpleasant and
violent in the world’ this was written at the time of the London riots.
This suggests every teenager is violent and unpleasant which is not
true for everyone therefore is putting them in an ‘empty category’ as
there are all seen as the most common stereotype.

18. Pluralism
Pluralism is defined as a society where multiple people,
groups or individuals share political power, an example of
pluralism is a society where people with different cultural
backgrounds keep their own tradition. Think of it as
having a choice.
Government – Legal System – Church – MEDIA (the fourth
estate)
Personal: Watching C4 Teens girl No More Page 3 campaign
Niche:
In areas in north west London there are various multi cultural
communities
Mainstream: Question Time

19. Daniel Chandler
"Conventional theories of genre tend to be
based on the notion that they constitute
particular conventions of content"
Daniel Chandler suggests that genres can become too restricted to all the
conventions in them, not allowing them to become diverse and change.
Chandler's theory suggests that a genre can be restricted to the
current conventions used, however some of those people who have
different beliefs in what should happen in a movie in a certain genre
have their views drowned by the many other beliefs of conventions
that should be included. "Conventional definitions of genre are based
on the idea that they share particular convention of content e.g.
themes or setting."
MSM – Marvel films
Niche – World cinema

20. Steve Neale’s theory of
repetition and difference
"Genres are instances of repetition and
difference"
"Difference is absolutely essential
to the economy of genre"
Steve Neale is saying that a film and it's genre is defined by two
things:
1) How much it conforms with a genre's stereotypes and
conventions.
He says that a film must conform to these conventions enough
that it can still qualify and be identified as a film of that genre.
2) How much a film subverts the genre's stereotypes and
conventions.
He says that a film must subvert these conventions enough
that it is still viewed as a unique film, not just a clone.
Miss Brookes says remember DISTINCT acronym if writing
about genre. Setting, Theme, Icons, Narrativ, Character, Text
Analysis
MSM – Superhero films
Niche – Indie films

21. Stuart
Hall
Stuart Hall at Birmingham University in the considered how
texts were encoded with meaning by producers and then
decoded (understood) by audiences
Reception Theory - The theory suggests that: When a producer
constructs a text it is encoded with a meaning or message that
the producer wishes to convey to the audience. In some
instances audiences will correctly decode the message or
meaning and understand what the producer was trying to say.
In some instances the audience will either reject or fail to
correctly understand the message.
Stuart Hall identified three types of audience readings (or
decoding) Dominant, Preferred or Negotiated
Dominant- Where the audience decodes the message as the
producer wants them to do and broadly agrees with it E.g.
Watching a political speech and agreeing with it
Negotiated Where the audience accepts, rejects or refines
elements of the text in light of previously held views E.g.
Neither agreeing or disagreeing with the political speech or
being disinterested Brexit
Oppositional - Where the dominant meaning is recognised but
rejected for cultural, political or ideological reasons E.g. Total
rejection of the political speech and active opposition.
Can you think of egs with reps of youth in the media?
Mainstream, Niche, Personal

22. Hypodermic
Needle
theory
1920-30
Hypodermic Needle theory
1920-30
Theory
This theory highlights how the media create fear in
society, the original idea dates back to war
propaganda in America. Since then the media
has used this theory to manipulate consumers and
indoctrinate (alter political beliefs) people. This
theory can be likened to moral panic where the
media create fear amongst people.
Examples
MSM: The fear of Britons leaving to join ISIS in
Syria has been exaggerated by the media. All the
news stories about dangerous websites and social
media outlets that draw young people to ISIS
create fear in society that anyone could be
persuaded by the extremist groups.
Niche: The Essex Chronicle commonly produce
stories about youth violence. In March 17th 2016,
the front cover shown youth arson, other stories
include teenager knife crime and possession of
class a drugs. The assumption that these criminals

23. Author of ‘Mediated: How
the Media Shapes Your
World and the Way You Live
in It’ (2005)
Explanation of
theory:
In his book he asserts that almost everything
(information, values, news, role models) comes
to us through some media platform (TV, print,
web, magazines, films) so will undoubtedly
influence our view of life and therefore our own
self definition.
Mediated- how the media shapes your wold and
the way you live in it. When viewing a media text
we are not seeing reality, but someone’s version
of it.
Mainstream: BBC News- an image of teenagers used but
shows them looking scruffy, wearing hoodies
which are deemed intimidating. Their backs are
facing the camera which could represent how
they are neglected as the article is about getting
rid of youth services.
Niche: Essex Chronicle April 12th 2016- they chose a
very close up harsh image of the reality of what
happened. This makes it look very serious
because of the damage it caused to someone’s
face. However it is unexpected that teenagers
were not mentioned in the headline as in the
article it states ‘Two teenage boys hurled a rock
at a car from a bridge on the A12.’
Personal:
De Zengotita

24. Maffesoli

25. Theodor Adorno – I like this guy! Good for
the future?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YGnPgtWhsw