Lily England Youth Essay

Youth Essay

With reference to any one group of people that you have studied discuss how their identity has been ‘mediated’

Stanley Hall (1904) –  “ Adolescence is inherently a time of storm & stress when all young people go through some degree of emotional and behavioral upheaval, before establishing a more stable equilibrium at adulthood." The common mood of teenagers is a state of depression.Criminal activity increases between the ages of 12 & 24. “Youth must have excitement and if this is not at hand in the form of moral intellectual enthusiasms it is more prone to be sought in; sex, drink or drugs.”

Dick Hebdige (1988)- Dick Hebdige (1988) termed; “Youth as fun,” and “Youth as trouble maker.”

Bill Osgerby (1998)- “The portrayal of youth is not entirely pessimistic,” he argues that “Mixed metaphors” appear when analysing the representation of youth.

Cohen (1972)- The media create a moral panick. They pick on something really negative and blow it out of proportion, which makes people panick but yet some others want to join.

Andy Medhurst (1998)- “they are awful because the are not like us.” “Films and television comedies are full of images of gay men as effeminate screaming queens…It chooses that aspect of gay male behavior (SELECTION), inflates it into the defining male characteristic of male homosexuality (MAGNIFICATION), then establish it as the most easily recognizable image (REDUCTION).”

Gauntlett (2002)- Due to advances in technology the boundaries between producers and consumers has changed as now anyone can be the producer of as media text.

INTRODUCTION

Over the past 100 years the media has portrayed youth in a negative light for the vast majority of this period. The media do not portray things exactly as they are, they mediate the opinions to create moral panic among others. They are guilty of stereotyping for a ‘headline’ to sell out newspapers. In this essay I am going to analyse newspaper articles and films from the past 100 years, also the last 25 years of online media. I will do so to find out whether or not people have been reporting on the truth of the media or what is not truly there. I will refer to the theories of: Stanley Hall (1904), Dick Hebdige (1988), Bill Osgerby (1998), Cohen (1972), Andy Medhurst (1998) and Gauntlett (2002) to support my arguments.

THE WAR YEARS-

Newspapers represented young people positively during the war years as young people were seen as heroes fighting for our country as soldiers and helping with war efforts. This painted them in a spectacular light. These positive representations of youth connote that adults and young people had a great bond with each other. A quote says; “There were casualties perhaps inevitable for the remarkable view…These men laid down their lives for this country.”-Daily Mail September (1943). This quote connotes that the men are exceptionally brave in laying down their lives for the country. We must bear in mind that the majority of the men in the British army at this time were between the ages of 15 to 24. This is showing youth in a positive light yet again through this quote. Theories regarding youth stereotypes during the war years are disproved. Thus is due to the fact that newspapers and films did not portray youths negatively. They showed them to be heroic war heroes. Theories of Dick Hebdige (1988) and Bill Osegerby (1998) are disproved because young people are seen heroes and not criminals or troublemakers. Cohen’s (1972) theory is also disproved due to the fact that there is not moral panic picked on by the media so nothing is blown out of proportion. War film ‘The Way Ahead’ however supports the theories as says that the young people are being cowards about not wanting to go to war and that the adults had it harder when they were their age. However as the film progresses we do see that the youths prove themselves as heroes once they finish their training. Which then disproves the theories of Hebdige (1988) and Bill Osgerby (1998). Another war film ‘In Which We Serve’ also ends with young people seen as heroes. With all things considered, this decade is seen as the best for positive representations of youth. Being seen as heroes in the media and newspapers. This may all be seen as false however as the government were trying to persuade young people to fight. Painting them as ‘heroes’ may have been a way to persuade them. The media aided the government by advertising this in newspapers and magazines.

1950’S- 

The term teenager was created in the 1950’s as a new marketing group. This was due to the fact that a lot of people had died in the war, companies wanted a new group to aim products towards. The opinion of teenagers at this point, is still rather positive, people are still thinking of these newly termed ‘teenagers’ as war heroes! Young men and few young women began a new fashion called the ‘Teddy Boys’ it was and Edwardian inspired fashion with smart suits and waistcoats worn in a casual way. The Daily Mirror says; “Flick knives, dance music and Edwardian suits,” (Daily Mirror,1953). Although some women were also a part of this fashion, the media said that they ‘only focused on the men as they are more interesting’. Teens were said to cause trouble as they didn’t have anything else to do. An interview shows young men saying “we didn’t want to go home for tea so we stayed out” they were speaking of and assault on a senior vicar. Sunday Dispatch,(1955)says; “War on teddy boys- menace in the streets of Britain’s cities” Sunday Dispatch, (1955). This quote shows a negative connotation of young people in the 1950’s. This era is beginning to prove the theories of Dick Hebdige (1988) and Andy Medhurst (1998). However this information of youths in the 50’s comes from newspapers and interviews. Therefore it may be proving Cohen’s (1972) theory “The media create a moral panic. They pick on something really negative and blow it out of proportion, this makes people panic but yet some others want to join in.” Youth may not have been as bad as they were represented. A film also supporting these ideas of youths being seen negatively, is ‘The Blue Lamp’. This is because the main protagonist George (a youth) kills an upstanding policeman. This shows that young people are violent criminals.Rock music began making an appearance towards the end of the 1950’s. In my opinion this is what swayed the style of the 1960’s.

1960’S- 

The 1960’s was best known as the era of hippies, mods and rockers. However the slightly less publicised issue of black people’s rights was also a key part in this era. Martin Luther King spoke of having a dream where everyone was equal, black or white. The media however, decided to focus mainly on the negatives of mods and rockers. The Daily Mirror says; “Wild ones ‘beat up’ Margate” (Daily Mirror 1965).  This is about a fight between the mods and rockers. This conforms to Stanley Hall’s 1904 storm and stress theory, which says; “Youth must have excitement and if this is not at hand in an educational form it is more prone to be found in; sex, drink or drugs.” (Stanley Hall 1904).  Because of these negative factors, the 60’s proved itself to be an even more negative era than the 50’s. Another factor that came about in the 1960’s also proving this theory, is the contraceptive pill. The contraceptive pill became available to all women, married or unmarried. This led to everyone become involved in intercourse not matter what age or marital status. This was all to do with hippies and free love. Despite being frowned upon by older family members, young people continued to rebel. With the introduction of the contraceptive pill, the baby boom came to an end in 1964.

1970’S- Punks. Negative

Many negative factors came from the 70’s era, punks and the contraceptive pill were the biggest factors of this time. The worst thing was the pill made many women infertile, as the pill itself was 10 times stronger then, than it is today.  Formaldehyde, the 'Wonder drug' that left babies with deformed limbs was lethal in conjunction with the contraceptive pill.  The newspapers and women in fact, did not pick this up until the 70’s when children were being born with no arms and women found they were unable to have children. I feel this is a large part of the 70’s. Punks caused riots and shocked the older generation with their quirky Mohawks, scary makeup ideas and odd dress sense. ‘A Clockwork Orange’ is a film which was ‘banned’ in 1972 because of a copycat crime. A 14 year old boy copied a rape and murder from the film in the exact way it happened. He then claimed that the media/film persuaded him to do it. Another 16 year old boy copied the killing of a homeless person in the way the film did so too. The film was therefore banned, it was like a never ending circle. The film imitating real life and real life imitating the film. I personally found the film shocking and sickening, I felt this way because of the awful violence and rape which were very graphically shown. The ban on the film was lifted after 27 years in 1999. The film focuses on the main character Alex being sociologically reconditioned with the help of media imagery. Where as stated before, the opposite to this happened in real life to the young boys committing these crimes. This film supports Stanley Hall's 1904 theory "Youth seek excitement and if it's not in the form of education, it is usually found in violence, sex, drink and drugs." This relates to the majority of the film.

1980’S- 

Skin heads and ravers was the current look of youths in the 80's. It was a new decade, 1980 started off with a bang in the form of both natural and man-made disasters – including the eruption of Mount St. Helens and the assassination of John Lennon. Music was getting a change around as well with a move away from the disco and singer-songwriter music of the 70s. New sounds hit the airwaves in the form of Blondie, Devo, and the Sugar Hill Gang with something new – rap. This was the beginning of a new era – the 80s. Margaret Thatcher made some big decisions, which changed the country in many ways, but also upset a lot of people. This caused the skinheads and many others to riot. Young men sent to fight in the Falklands war were seen positively and named ‘lads’ according to a newspaper article published in May 1982. On the other hand it was in no way as positive as the young men sent of to fight in the 1^st or 2^nd world war.

1990's
The British media seem to connote the 1990's were dominated by rave culture, with ecstasy and acid being very popular drugs at the time. The fashion was very grunge with baggy clothes a popular thing. It was a good time to be a teenager with the internet being created and other things released such as gameboys and psp's. However these were very expensive to buy so you would have had to have very wealthy parents. Kurt Cobain the main singer and guitarist from Nirvana, shot and killed himself on April 5th, 1994  following a bout of depression. This relates to Stanley Halls's 1904 theory stating that youth are always depressed. This may have been why youths were interested in Kurt and his lifestyle. He was more appealing and more exciting to youths as they were banned from television for swearing too much. They also smashed up a studio at top of the pops leading to this television ban also. A film called human traffic was one about raves and drugs, it proves Dick Hebdige's 1988 theory that youth is trouble and youth is fun. "Spaced out, 11,000 youngsters go drug crazy at Britain's biggest-ever acid party."- The Sun June 1990. This clearly fits with Stanley Hall's 1904 theory of young people seeking excitement through drugs and alcohol and criminal behaviour. This headline is very negative creating moral panic, which fits Cohen's theory stating "The media creates headlines to generate moral panic" This negative connotation started a stir amongst adults fitting Medhurts' theory of "awful not like us". Adults had a negative view of youths. Trainspotting, a movie  Trainspotting is a 1996 British dark comedy drama film directed by Danny Boyle, features youths taking huge amounts of heroin and the daily highs and lows of their day to day life. Partying, taking drugs and sleeping with women were the main features of the film. This fits Stanley Hall's theory of young people seeking excitement through criminal behaviour drugs, drink and sex. Another 90's film, Human traffic is about people who have jobs and live for the weekend, to take ecstasy, cocaine and marijuana. This film fits with  Osgerby's theory of youth as trouble and fun, because they're causing trouble but having fun whilst doing it. "Ecstasy pill puts party girl in coma" -BBC. In 1995 Leah Betts took an ecstasy pill on her 18th birthday, which put her in a coma, she died soon after. Her parents have since become high-profile anti-drugs campaigners. Her behaviour fits closely with Stanley Halls theory of youth being prone to criminal reckless behaviour.

2000-2017
These fast years have been those of social media. Social media produced some of the biggest and most popular sites to this day. For example Facebook and youtube were released in 2004, closely followed by Bebo, 2005 and twitter 2006. Gauntlet 2008 "Technological advances meant anyone could become a producer of a media text" From this quote, we could say that youths had the chance to represent themselves positively, but this did not really happen. Things such as online bullying caused people to take their lives, people can be hurtful online and people take the things that are said very seriously. People advertised house parties to their friends on Facebook, but instead of 20 people arriving hundreds would turn up. The media had a very negative impact on some peoples lives. CHAV's (Council House And Violent) appeared in the 2000's they were a group of people who stereotypically dressed and matching tracksuits and trainers and lived in council houses. These are the sort of people you keep your children away from. Emo's (emotional) also emerged, these were a group that dressed in grungy colours and listen to bands such as my chemical romance 2001-2013 and fall out boy 2001-present day. 2010, onwards has seen the release of Instagram (2010) and Snapchat (2011) still popular today. The new name for somebody who wishes to follow their own unique trend is now called a 'Hipster' and people who dress in the stereotypical 'Chavy' clothes are now called 'Roadmen'. Legal highs were popular from 2000-2013, then in 2013 ecstasy came on the scene again, stronger than ever. More and more women are dying from taking ecstasy. It has been scientifically proven to kill more women than men. This is because women carry more water in their body than men and when you have taken ecstasy, it makes you dehydrated. This makes you drink lots of water, but the drug doesn't let the water leave your body, because women store more water, they effectively drown in their own body. 

"Two women die after taking drugs as one is killed by ecstasy and another has fatal reaction to a legal high"- Daily mail 2013. This article shows the fatal effects of both popular types of drug at the time. This relates to Osgerby's theory of youths being mixed metaphors of trouble and fun- 1998. The inbetweeners movie was released on the 17th August 2011 The film is about four uncool misfits that take a post-high-school holiday in Malia, Crete, where they encounter a quartet of fun British girls. This supports stanley Hall's theory of young people being prone to trouble and seeking excitement through drink, drug taking and sex, he said they are also prone to depression. In the film, the youths partake in all elements of this theory  apart from drugs and get into a lot of trouble, but have a lot of fun. It is better that the film does not feature youths taking drugs. This may suggest that it is not the done thing anymore and they are not glamorising it for youths. Youths are looked down upon as trouble makers still to some adults. Films between 2000-2011 representing youths were a stark contrast to the films in the 1990's because the characters and narratives gave a much more positive representation of youths. In 2000 the film Billy Elliot was released, although the film is set in the 1980's, it gave youths of noughties a role model that they could look up to. Billy was a young boy that broke all stereotypes by wanting to be a ball dancer. There is no sex, no drug taking or no alcohol involved. He just realised his dream and strived to achieve it, he also broke stereotypes because he was not gay. This film and character break Stanley Halls stereotypes of youths and disrupts Cohen's theory as there is no reason for moral panic. This film portrayed youths in a more positive light. From 2013 onwards many more films began being released, this was all thanks to the release of Harry Potter. Because the franchise made billions, it made people realise that British films are good and worth making. The Harry Potter franchise is about 4 youths that are in theory, heroes, they go against their teachers wishes from time to time but this is all to help others and save the day. There is no drink, drugs or sex involved therefore this portrays them to be better students and youths are not seen as a threat.

I personally think that youths have been represented negatively and unfairly over time in the media. The media has depicted youths in a way that is not necessarily truthful. This fits with Medhurst's 1998 theory of blowing things out of proportion and then making that the stereotype. Older people then realised that representing youths negatively, didn't make them anymore money in films. Yet when they portrayed youths in a more positive light, for example the Harry potter franchise, it in fact made them more money. This disrupt's Cohen's 1972 theory of moral panic, because when the youths are not seen as a threat, there is no longer a moral panic. When youths are given the opportunity to become the creators of their own media text, they have abused this freedom of being online by partaking in rebellious and dangerous things such as neck nominations, house parties and sending inappropriate images online.