The document provides discussion questions about the representation of youth in the TV show "Top Boy" and how it may influence youth identities. It asks how the show represents youth as "let down by adults" and as part of a subculture. It also asks how the repetitive negative portrayal of youth in the media could change their behavior and identities based on social learning theory. Finally, it prompts discussion of how the show could increase societal anxieties about youth in a similar way to how the film "Quadrophenia" did for its time period.

1. Top Boy Handout
Using mise en scene describe the representation of youth in Top Boy, expressing whether
it is a positive and/or negative representation.
When considering types of representation it is evident that Top Boy uses ‘youth let down
by adults’ and youth represented as part of a subculture.’ Explain how they have
expressed this from examples from the text.
One social implication of repetitive negative representation of youth could be related to
the Copy Cat Theory- changing your behaviour, attitude and identity to copy the
consumed representation. What ways can Top Boy cause a social implication in changing
youth’s identities?

2. Cohen points to the ways in which the media amplify anxieties and events and create a
moral panic. In what ways do you think Top Boy could be argued to increase the anxieties
of society today?
How do you think Top Boy and Quadrophenia are similar in representing the notion of the
‘fear’ factor that society has on Youth in the particular time period? (you may want to
watch the Mods and Rockers clip on the blog first).