How young people are represented in the media

The media represents young people through a variety of biased views in the newspaper particularly.  Looking at different articles from newspapers, the majority of newspapers portray young people negatively.  The media have a tendency to portray youths in more of a negative manner, due to the fact it is likely to sell more of an interesting story, and intrigues readers by capturing their attention with dramatic headlines.  Different types of newspapers represent teenagers differently, for example some include personal stories, with a particular view on a specific fact.  Whereas others just state facts and figures and some negatively inform the reader of a selective story. 

Looking at article 1 which shows a personal account from a mature university student who had been ‘drinking’ neat vodka through her eyeball – referred to as ‘vodka eyeballing’.  This particular article is representational of a specific student who was under the influence of other people and had given into peer pressure.  In the article are facts, such as ‘she has been warned that her eyesight may deteriorate further as she gets older’ which shows the reader of the consequences of the girl, Melissa’s actions.  She talks about how her antics escalated and refers to herself as being ‘very competitive’ and that she ‘did it quite a lot’.  The article uses a lot of Melissa personal language to suggest her view upon the situation which she was in, from a personal account allows the audience to understand more of a realistic story. 

The second article which I studied is a report on ‘how media demonises teenagers’.  This is more of an informative article, it lists research and figures.  It lists terms which the newspaper had referred to teenagers using, for example “hoodie”, “louts”, “evil”, and “frightening”.  The article is reflective of the opposing view of teenagers, and discusses kids who have had Duke of Edinburgh awards, but in the same way shows the opposing side of a teenager named Adam who ‘exemplified all of our worst nightmares about modern youth’.  This therefore considers both sides of the ways in which teenagers should be presented, however it doe state that nearly half the articles published in a past year in national and regional newspapers alone, were about ‘crime’.

The final article which I looked at discusses if kids are ‘over sexualised’.  This refers to the interpretation of peers, and the exposure to products being advertised.  The article debates whether the market is selling the wrong things and brainwashing young girls who aspire to be like what they see on television or in adverts, with the suggestion that they are growing up too fast.  However the journalist of this particular has included their personal opinion a couple of times using brackets, throughout the article.  ‘Dragon’s Den’ stars expressed their views through social networking sites such as ‘twitter’.  Some products which are being sold have been complained about, where David Cameron’s involvement contemplating about what can be defined as ‘sexualised clothing’. 

In conclusion to this, it is clear that media have a number of different portrayals of younger people.  Most being negative, according to facts and figures, however this is likely to produce a more interesting story, a story that will sell and result in profit for their company. There is no question of a doubt that more dramatic and interesting stories sell more, and therefore I think this is definitely the reason behind the media expressing their views on youth’s in this particular negative biased. 

Films directed by Stanley Kubrick

From researching into different films directed by Stanley Kubrick, I discovered his films were often of the dramatic genre, including crime and violence.   The typical main character within the plot of the film has a recurring gender of being male.  This could of possibly been done because of the suggestion of a male being the more dominant character within the situations that he used in his films.  For example, in “The Shining”, the main character Jack appears to be a content male, who is moving into a hotel with his wife and son.  As the film progresses, there is a clear change in Jacks state of mind, where he becomes what seems to be psychotic.    In “A Clockwork Orange, there is a similar change in the main male character, but a contrasting change where the suggesting of equilibrium of the film is in the middle, but by the very end it returns back to disequilibrium.  Alex, who is the main character in ACO,

Kubrick uses unlikely occurrences within his films, which challenge the expectations of the audience, to prove Levis-Strauss’ theory, on binary opposites, it is clear Kubrick incorporates these within his film in order to inflict shock upon the audience.  In ACO, which was released in 1971, Alex portrayed the youth of what was a ‘futuristic’ appearance of a gang member; this idea would be likely to shock audiences today. It is also a prime example of the binary opposites which keep the audience engaged in the film and particularly the genre typifying its certain conventions.  For example, Kubricks films have a distinctive thriller/horror genre.  By challenging the expectations of the audience, it creates a misleading effect within the film and therefore relieving effect at the end of the film.  The audience recognise the twist at some point, and the revilement of the suspicious characters is pleasurable to watch from the audience. 

In his films, I noticed the particular audio use.  It was more unusual in ACO, by using classical music juxtaposed with horrid scenes of abuse and obstructions from the main character Alex, which we then associated him with this peaceful music throughout, despite the fact that the ‘droogs’ are abusing their victims to this type of music.  The audio has a relation in the film when Alex is raping the wife and kicking the male to ‘singing in the rain’. It allows to audience to associate this song later in the film, when the male recognises him from this song.  As well as this, it gives the audience a visual experience to relate back to.

Within both films, the characters appear to be deceiving in the introduction.  In the shining, Jack is portrayed as an innocent husband with a son, who is merely looking after a hotel; appears to be harmless to the audience.  The particular twist on the story results on him becoming the villain, and not so much viewed as the hero although his intentions were definitely initially for his families’ well-being, to make money over the winter.   In ACO, the same use of a distinctive deceiving character defines how the audience adjust their views of the characters in the film.  We are introduced to Alex as the villain of the film, although he is the main character, he is the main cause of hurt.  The roles then switch to him becoming the victim of scientific experiments, which leaves him weak and incapable of committing any sexual or physical abuse or crime, without it physically inflicting the way he feels, described as ‘death’.   Although the audience do not interpret this as being what seem to be just the effects of the medication he was given, it is clear at the end his state of mind returns to how it was, despite what he has been through and the temptations failure to proceed in any crime.

Levis-Straus’ theory is a prime example of the binary opposites which keep the audience engaged in the film and particularly the genre typifying its certain conventions.  For example, Kubricks films have a distinctive thriller/horror genre.  By challenging the expectations of the audience, it creates a misleading effect within the film and therefore relieving effect at the end of the film.  The audience recognise the twist at some point, and the revilement of the suspicious characters is pleasurable to watch from the audience. 

The similarities between the representations of youth in “A Clockwork Orange” & “Kidulthood”

When watching both “A Clockwork Orange” & “Kidulthood”, their portrayals of youths contrast and compare in different ways.  Both of the openings of the films introduce the concept of ‘gangs’.  The concept in the film “Kidulthood” is more the social status within a school, where the social hierarchy results in different students in different leagues within their school, which is reflected in the way which they treat each other.  In the film ACO, we are firstly introduced to their violent gang, the leader being a boy named Alex.  The differences between both off these members are quite extreme, but this is mainly due to the time period.  For example, Sam in Kidulthood typifies our expectations and the stereotypical ‘chav’ or ‘hoodrat’.  Despite the fact he is on a school premises, without uniform but instead in is in a hoodie, which enables the audience to immediately relate this appearance of the character to violence.  Although we later discover he is in Sixth Form at the school, or initial reaction is dependent on our knowledge and understanding of the primary thoughts of this character.  In comparison, the specific bizarre features which Alex has for example, the false eyelashes on one of his eyes create a distinctive appearance of the leader of the gang.  In order to associate his ‘droogs’, who are all dressed in white suites with his gang, their appearance is vital in the introduction to show the audience who he is associated with. As well as this, there is a language which is invented within the film which is suggestive of the future.  The film insinuates a reflection what the 90’s could be like, being a futuristic response to that particular year in which the film was produced.  Similarly, Kidulthood includes language which can be interpreted by the audience, and understood due to the local dialect, particularly those from London.  The different audiences viewing this would be able to interpret the language and therefore relate to the film more because their understanding of the specific dialect would enable them to engage more personally with the characters.

The introductions to both films both incorporate the use of violence and nudity.  Although nowadays, this is commonly used in films of the 21centruy, particularly in ACO it is clear that this would have been an extreme shock to the audience in the 70’s.  The mass medias label upon youths in society nowadays is completely different to what it would have been then, therefore making the acceptation of this film difficult at the time.   In Kidulthood, Sam’s representation would definitely be seen as more acceptable today due to the constant exposure from media, and negative biased in which the youths are portrayed in.

There are some clear similarities in both films.  By watching both, I understood that there was a definite obliviousness to the parent’s recognition of their child’s social neglect.  In Kidulthood, this was recognised earlier in the introduction of the film.  This allowed the audience to sympathise with different youths of the society in this particular film, and understand that there is an opposing side to managing/not managing  life in a society which fails to accept those classified as ‘individual’ or ‘different’.  We see a school girl, Katie, who is a stereotypical victim of an innocent girl being bullied.  She is not only being abused by other girls at her school, but also by a boy – Sam.  Although I think this challenges the expectations of a stereotypical teenager boy; abusing a girl, I feel that it is believable and I would not question today a boy doing it.  Her physical appearance shows her father that she has been hurt in some way, with a bruise on her face and her being pushed on the floor by Sam as her dad pulls up to pick her up from school.  Her father is still unaware of the fact that she is suffering from a very physical attack from those in her social surroundings.  These contributions later results in her committing suicide by hanging herself in her own bedroom, the mise en scene is deeply effective here, being in her own home gives a realistic view of reality and it is a hard hitting scenario to the audience, specifically those of a similar age who could be suffering from bullying or being bullied.  Her innocence is portrayed through a flower which she has taken the time to draw on the side of her suicide note; this shows the audience her sensitivity and weakness, and much like child behaviour. 

Similarly, in ACO, we see how the parents from the 70’s of Alex seem to be oblivious in a similar way.  Although alex is infact on the opposing view, and is the bully within this society, his parents never fail to let him takes days off of school when he claims that he is ‘ill’.  They do not question his lifestyle, and what he is doing socially in the evenings, there is an apparent trust that the parents seem to have, but suggests a sense of carelessness. His behaviour results in him ending up in prison, which therefore an outcome is produced to show that people suffer from their actions, there are always consequences.  There is a similarity between both parents in the film, and their awareness is lacking.  If action was taken, there could have been a prevention of both outcomes from two completely different situations, but have been rooted from the same circumstance.

Stuart Halls Theory & The Portrayal of Youths in The LDN Riots

Looking at different theories to interpret the concept of scandalous ‘youths’ today, the prime example of this is portrayed in newspapers, such as ‘Daily Mail’ and ‘The Guardian’, where young looters were identified as being ‘one of the crowd’ and ‘the percentage of teenagers are unemployed’.  Daily Mail presents them as being the main culprits of committing the looting, stating that the majority of youths had been released under ‘referral orders’.  The particular subculture labelled ‘chavs’ were the main targets of the newspapers and TV news releasing clips of youths rioting in London and being out of control.  However, they did not emphasises as much the clips and evidence which they had on those whose involvement with the riots was not so much publicized to automatically indicate the blame onto the youths of today. 

Although admittedly, these were the main culprits of the offences (based upon the media’s capability of portraying it this way), Stuart Halls theory is definitely suggestive of the despicable manner in which youths appeared to be acting in this particular circumstance.  For example; Halls theory suggests that the reflection from the media of the portrayal of youths today is in fact constructed rather than the reality of what is actually occurring.  Their sub-cultures are created in order for their behaviour and actions to rebel against what their parents or guardians have attempted to influence their upbringing. Their behaviour is said to be adopted from the interpretation of the Medias presentation, where they are exposed to violent, threatening, brutal behaviour.  The newspapers referral to “copycat criminal activity" insinuates the behaviour of youths as “copying” others/the activities which they aware of.

I personally agree with this theory, as I believe the youths of today are personally affected by each and every exposure to illegal and rebellious acts.  They somehow see it as a trend, and follow what they see.  Their interpretation can be affected from many factors, but I do feel that the media’s role in this is huge, and definitely contributes to the way which the news on youths today is so horrendous and shocking because their violent could be what they personally feel is what everyone else is doing, therefore they are acting upon what they see.