Question One

Scri

Q1 How does the media represent collective groups of people (teenagers) in different ways?

Teenagers are often portrayed in the media as anti-social thugs that all drink, smoke, partake in pointless acts of crime that have sexual intercourse on a daily basis transmitting thousands of STI’s. "Almost all of the publicity that the media gives to young people is negative"- David Seymour, the Political Editor of the Mirror group.

‘Images of teens smoking, drinking, condoms etc’

These factors are true to some extent but the media magnifies these situations frequently focusing on the negatives, typically stereotyping all teens as ruthless thugs who lack in self-respect.

Many people complain about the view the media has on teens and state that ‘children are the future’ and that they are misrepresented. This is not entirely true in most cases as there are many teens that act in exactly the way the media portrays them. This relates to Judith Butlers theory of ‘performativity.’

‘Image of Judith Butler’

She argues that identities are a performance of day-to-day life. It’s not about who you are, it’s about what you do and how you ‘perform’. It can be said that the majority of teenagers are performing in a way they believe is expected of them- they are performing to societies expectations.

The riots in 2011 ‘Images of riots’ are an example of this. The images found in the newspapers look as though the teens are acting out scenes from Kidulthood. ‘Images of riots from newspapers’. Were they just performing, just acting up to the expectations the public have of them?

Stories in newspapers of human interest rarely feature young people and they are rarely approached by the mainstream media to give their opinions and views on issues. This leaves teens destined to be represented only in stories about gang crime, other criminal activities and more. By featuring stories about anti-social behavior, gang crime, drug and alcohol abuse and other criminal activities the press generate strong feelings of often moral outrage from society.

 ‘Images from newspapers’

This is why they love to feature stories about failing teens. "Some newspapers aren't interested in young people having a voice, because either it doesn't fit in with what they're generally writing or saying, or because they don't even think it's an issue." - David Seymour, the Political Editor of the Mirror group.

'Our 15 year-old girls lead the world in boozing, obesity and taking drugs.'

In a few paragraphs the media can convince the newspapers reader's that all teenage girls were overweight slobs, who spend hours slumped in front of the television drinking alcohol and smoking drugs. Many stereotypical views, similar to this one are seen across the media.

Another media institution, which represents teenagers in a negative light, is television. There are many TV programmes which stereotype the younger generation showing the bad side of teens.

‘Images of television programmes- Skins, Misfits, Top Dog’

Skins follows a group of British teenagers in their two years at college. Its controversial storylines have explored a vast amount of issues such as disfunctional families, mental illness, adolescent sexuality, drug and alcohol abuse and death. Teenagers in the programme are portrayed as self-absorbed, followers, rebellious, greedy people that fail to see the real importance in life.

‘Image of Skins cast’

On one hand, Skins shows a true representation of what most teenagers 'get up to', but on the other hand it displays a negative view on teens in our society today, stereotyping them. In the first episode we’re introduced to the characters Tony and Sid. The first storyline we are introduced to tells us how Tony is trying to help his mate, Sid lose his virginity. This displays teenagers as sex crazed lunatics. The second storyline in which we are made aware of is of Sid and Tony trying to buy some drugs for a party in order to have a wild and crazy night. This shows how teenagers feel the need to put 'crap' into their bodies in order to have a good time.

‘Images of drugs at the party’

‘Trailer of Skins series 1’

The trailer contains over fifty clip changes containing different shots of the teenagers, throwing foam, dancing, drinking, frequently removing clothes and doing unsavory things to one another. These shots all contribute in displaying a negative image of teens. In the first half of the clip the teens are all seen as energetic and seem to be having fun, dancing, drinking and 'getting off with each other.' The shots of them kissing and removing their clothing shows an image of teens as being promiscuous sex animals. Ten seconds into the trailer, a girl writes of one of the boys heads 'virgin', this shows how teens are concerned about being a virgin and when someone is they are usually ridiculed for it, showing how the teens are obsessed with sexual activities’. Up until 17 seconds into the trailer, things take a turn for the worst. The teenagers begin to take drugs; nos, pills, cannabis and they begin the come up on a 'high'. The pace of the trailer remains the same but begins to slow down to capture one of the girls faces as she 'comes up'. ‘Image of girl’ This shot captures the girl’s happiness from taking the drugs, depicting a negative image of teens that frequently take drugs and think that it's cool.

Half way through the video the characters begin to start throwing up and get into states where they don't know what’s going on due to the alcohol and drugs. This balances out the video and shows the negative inflections of drugs and alcohol and how a typical teenage house party usually ends horrendously with everyone making a mess of themselves. This shows how teens are not aware of limits and how they are just interested in getting absolutely wrecked not thinking of the consequences.

Question 2- How does contemporary representation compare to previous time periods?

Most teenagers of today have been misrepresented by the media and are stereotyped as troublemakers who have little value within society, creating a distance between younger people and other groups in the community.

However, the media does have the power to change this negative opinion of youths of today, reporting positively about them by outlining their achievements and goals rather than their criminal activities.

This can be shown back in the past before the 21^st century, especially with teenage females, where they were represented as smart, quiet and dutiful whereas in today’s culture they are portrayed to be just as aggressive and rebellious as males.

Even though there are plenty of positive, achievements made by today’s youths, the media chooses to focus on the negative actions and activities they get involved in such as the London Riots because they believe they are more ‘newsworthy’, which increases the violent and rebellious reputation of the younger people today.

Teenagers have also been given the same image within television of today. For example programmes like ‘Skins’ and ‘Misfits’ have created the image of a group of teenagers who ‘get high, get drunk, get laid and get up for their A-levels’ which was quoted from the Guardian back in 2007, doing no justice in changing this reputation that today’s youths have been branded with.

The storylines of these programmes that follow the lives of a teenager, have a main focus of crime, drugs, sex, drink and gangs which along with the medias opinion of younger people, expands this ‘thug’ theory that has been created.For example, after watching a number of trailers for the series of 'skins', like this one for season 3, it proves that the image the whole series is creating for teenagers is based on violence, drink, drugs and sex. This is shown by a group of younger people entering a pub full of older people and violently destroying the place along with fighting with one another, sexual suggestions and complete disrespect for the older generation. This is a very different interpretaion of the lives of teenagers than the ones from many years ago, however, todays image if youths through television may be a lot more realistic than what it once was.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdsqkWiZx84

However, it never used to be like this. The image that is now created for teenagers through television programmes such as ‘skins’ has dramatically changed compared to programmes from the 1930’s such as ‘Good manners’, a popular programme of this time based on the lives of teenagers. Back in this time era, teenagers were portrayed as well mannered, well spoken and very polite when addressing each other.

It is clear that the representation of teenagers has evolved throughout the years, from the image of the innocent, obedient young people who were un-sexualised and completely unaware of the negative world around them from the early nineties, which has now changed and possibly became more realistic as teenagers became more loud, expressive and sexually aware.

Question 3)

What are the social implications of different media representations of groups of people?


To be created with the found footage method:


There are many social implications because of the media representing groups of people. In this case we will be focusing on the implications on British Teenagers. 

‘Commit crimes, don’t care about anyone but themselves, always drunk/partying, unemployed’ Other terms often used included "hoodie", "louts", "heartless", "evil" "frightening", "scum", "monsters", "inhuman" and "threatening". The Independent.

The representation in the press means that it is particularly more likely for the elderly generation to fear teenagers and make them suspicious even though not all teenagers are acting in this way. 

A large majority of newspaper headlines show negative stories about british teens and therefore it makes the public judge the younger generation before even giving them a chance.

But do the media ever think of the teenagers and what it does to them? 

Because of the media representing them in such a negative way the teenagers will start to feel negative about themselves and therefore start to live up to the poor expectations of the public 

Judith Butler is a theorist and has a theory concept of ‘Performativity’ and how identities are a performance which includes day to day life, and how identity is anot afixed state in which is constantly changing, and flowing. So it's not about who you are its about what you do and how you perform.

So in simple terms: you act differently depending on what environment your in and who you are with: for example you act differently with your parents compared to your best friend; teachers act differently within class compared to when they are at home. So it’s that sense of not being just one person, but instead being one person who shows different sides of personalities and performs differently all the time depending on the surrounding and the identities around them. 

So in this case over the years the media has constructed this image of teenagers. Whether it be through television programmes such as skins, or through the newspapers we read this stereotypical image is surrounding us. So this relates to Butlers theory on performance. Because we can see that the teenagers in todays world are performing in this way because they believe this is just expected of them. So they’re just performing to todays societies expectations. So thinking of the riots: when you look at the shocking images of the teenagers in the riots and the destruction they caused it literally looks like they are performing a scene out of Kidulthood.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebnWuJcf0Ts -Kidulthood
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gex_ya4-Oo -Reality

The media representing teenagers in this way also makes teenagers wary of other teenagers 'nearly a third said they are always or often wary of teenage boys they don't know. And 51% of teenager boys said this was due to the media stories about boys. Compared to 40% which said it was from a bad experience of other teens'. 'Hoodies, louts, scum': how media demonises teenagers’  (The Independent). These statistics clearly shows us that the press representing teens in this negative way are actually have a large impact onto teenagers themselves.

A quote from an article ‘young resent negative images’ on the bbc webite from a teenager: Naushin Shariff, said: "I have made heads turn and had adults cross the road when I wear my hood up because I was feeling cold.”

"I am not an aggressive person, nor a 'feral youth', but am treated like one. It is only a minority that cause trouble, yet the media seem to label us all.”

These two quotes clearly show that it is having an effect on British teenagers themselves because they feel as if they are being labelled as violent etc, when really it’s just the minority. Is this really fair? 

Skins

Skins follows a group of British teenagers in their two years at college. It's controversial storylines have explored a vast amount of issues such as; disfunctional families, mental illness, adolescent sexuality, drug and alcohol abuse and death. Teenagers in the programme are portrayed as self-absorbed, followers, rebellious, greedy people that fail to see the real importance in life.

To many people's dismay, Skins is a programme which displays what untamed teens get up when let off the leash. On one hand, Skins shows a true representation of what most teenagers 'get up to', but on the other hand it displays a negative view on teens in our society today, stereotyping them. The programme shows how the creation of youth has come hand in hand with conflict from older generations. Skins emphasises the hopeless struggle expressed by the characters family, who in trying to help their children, striving to solve their problems which are closely rooted in the relationships they have with their mates, hopelessly fail.

In the first episode of Skins we see the storylines plotted out before us, buying drugs for a party and attempting to lose their virginity. The first storyline line we are introduced to tells us how Tony, is trying to help his mate, Sid, lose his virginity. This displays teenagers as sex crazed loonitics.The second storyline in which we are made aware of is of Sid and Tony trying to buy some drugs for a party in order to have a wild and crazy night. This shows how teenagers feel the need to put 'crap' into their bodies in order to have a good time.
In the scene of the teens in the park we see them as how the media often represents teens. They talk openly about drugs and having sex in a way that implies it's a common topic and something that they always naturally discuss with one another.

I analysed Skins series 1 trailer. The editing in the clip is very fast paced which creates a montage like theme, disorientating the viewer while displaying a hectic and confused mind frame felt by teens. The trailer contains over fifty clip changes containing different shots of the teenagers, throwing foam, dancing, drinking, frequently removing clothes and doing unsavoury things to one another. These shots all contribute in displaying a negative image of teenagers.

In the first half of the clip the teens are all seen as energetic and seem to be having fun, dancing, drinking and 'getting off with each other.' The shots of them kissing and removing their clothing shows an image of teens as being promiscuous sex animals. Ten seconds into the trailer, a girl writes of one of the boys heads 'virgin', this shows how teens are concerned about being a virgin and when someone is they are usually ridiculed for it, showing how the teens are obsessed with sexual activites. Up until 17 seconds into the trailer, things take a turn for the worst. The teenagers begin to take drugs; nos, pills, cannabis and they begin the come up on a 'high'. The pace of the trailer remains the same but begins to slow down to capture one of the girls faces as she 'comes up'. This shot captures the girls happiness from taking the drugs, depicting a negative image of teens who frequently take drugs and think that it's a cool thing to do.

Half way through the video the characters begin to start throwing up and get into states where they don't know whats going on due to the alchohol and drugs. This balances out the video and shows the negative inflextions of drugs and alchohol and how a typical teenage house party usually ends horrendously with everyone making a mess of themselves. This shows how teens are not aware of limits and how they are just interested in getting absolutely wrecked not thinking of the consequences.

Our chosen approach

From discussing the two approaches we have chosen to use both approaches and mix the two together.  This is so that we can easily type in the text we want so we can show the information that we need to know as well as using images of the press and our case studies through the 2nd approach.

We can make it more interactive and inticing as we can choose characters, setting, camera changes etc using the xtra normal software.

However we do need to be aware of the fact we have a limit of characters, so we will need to plan the script extremely well.

We will create this video by simply using the account we signed up for and then once we have planned a script, as a group we will choose characters and the setting and then use voice overs to explain our topic in more detail and to show images as examples.

Second approach to media revision video

The alternative to using the xtra normal website is to use final cut express and to use voice overs straight into the Mac to put across the knowledge we need to know within media and collective identity. As well as voice overs we will also use text transitions and various images to make it more appealing.

The advantage of this is that we can add as much facts and information as possible. However it will be more time consuming and we will have to take more time finding images etc.

Using Xtranormal video software

In todays lesson we tried out the xtranormal software to see if it would work to teach our students our topic of collective identity.

There is alot of advantages from using this software: for example you can choose the set, the characters, the sounds in the background and then you can make the characters use specific facial expressions or gestures.

However there are disadvantages from this, for example you have a limit to the amount of characters you can use so you would have to make the most of the text you can use.

Identity as an individual idea - David Gauntlett

"David Gauntlett", a professor of media and communications, explains his theory of identity as an individual idea by stating the fact that an identity itself is an abstract and complex concept that is often reduced to categories such as gender, ethnicity etc. Gauntlett argues that we should change this approach of categorising people to form their identities and that we should ask individuals themselves what identity means.


A key finding of the work by David Gauntlett is that people don't generally place much emphasis on the media as forming their sense of self/identity. However, when considering the use of social networking sites, its shows how individuals and their personal identity can reformed and reinvented to anything they desire, by the individual themselves through the use of new media, where their identity or identities can therefore be fragmented scross different platforms/sites. Gauntlett then suggests that this could be a truer reflection of identity itself being fluid, in a constant state of flux and being different depending on who you are representing to.

A theory by Durkheim we can include in our debate!!

Durkheim is a theorist that has done research into how people within society manage to belong to and form a social structure which operates well without too much conflict. He claims that the social structure which is formed through people having shared norms and values is called a 'unifying force'. He suggests that institutions such as education and the media teach people to have what he calls a 'collective conscience', this is when people expect the same behaviour from each other because they have been taught that certain values and expectations are the 'norm'.

However it depends on different societies that people are a part of or surrounded by as to what norms and values are expected of them. Durkheim claims that a member of a collective conscience will have a shared understanding of its institutions,formal and informal rules, collective symbolism including values, ideals,opinions, mythologies and religions.

 The extent to which someone is socially intergrated to a level similar to someone else or not can have an effect on their achievement within society. We could use this point to relate to our collective (young british) by claiming that certain values that are projected to them through institutions influence them to act a certain way.

 Society is becoming increasingly individualistic with people's identities and actions throughout recent decades. Durkheim would claim this is a negative thing as he is a functionalist and believes that everything is set out because it performs a certain function and if things become too diverse people will start to loose their collective conscience. He suggests this means remedy is needed and an example of this is the encouragement of moral links with other members of society.

Young people's lives today

After reading the source "Young people and British Identity" from a research study conducted for the Camelot foundation, I have discovered another theory for the identity of young people that suggests that the different facets of a teenagers personal identity such as taste, preference to music, sport and fashion, go together to create their individual identity. It also suggests that the process that defines these attributes is a decisive pre-occupation for young people and determines their social standing, group status and personal trajectory.

The source then goes on to describe research that uncovers a lack of emotional resonance amongst young people towards Britishness and the spontaneous associations that are connected with it, such as the Queen, tea and crumpets and Big Ben, which are more connected with an "old world Britain" and do not reflect today's Britain and society. In the opinion of Young people Britain is an old, hierarchical, traditional, political discourse that doesn't fit in with the fresh, inventive, messy and often chaotic world of a British teenager.

However, even though Britishness does not connect well with young people in terms of their everyday life, they still recognise a number of advantages that come with living in Britain like it's strong economy and good public services like the NHS. They also value British institutions like the BBC, good education and coveted universities, basic law and order and social rules and the knowledge that social freedoms and human rights will be protected.

Being British also becomes relevant to younger people when they are abroad on holiday as when surrounded by other nationalities it creates a form of "othering" where ones national identity becomes stronger in the face of a culture that is not your own. However, despite all of this, being British doesn't really add anything to the daily narrative or social reality that young people are faced with which is reflected in the negative attitudes younger people express about career prospects and equality of opportunities in British society which poses a number of challenges if Britishness is to resonate with young people.

Theorist: Judith Butler

Judith Butler is a Professor of Comparative Literature and Rhetoric at the University of California. She is a well known theorist who talks about power, gender, sexuality and identity. 


I am going to study the theory concept she has of 'Performativity' and how identities are a performance which includes day to day life, and how identity is a fixed state in which is constantly changing, and flowing. So it's not about who you are its about what you do and how you perform.


For example every day is a performance - you act differently with your parents compared to your best friend: teachers act differently within class compared to what they would at home. So its that sense of not being just one person, but instead being one person who shows different sides of personalities and performs differently all the time depending on the surrounding and the identities around them. 


 The media over the years has constructed a stereotypical image of teenagers through the television we watch, in the newspapers we read, in the music we listen to, these stereotypical images are surrounding us. Relating to Butler's theory on performance, we can see that the majority of teenagers in this modern world are performing in a way they believe is expected of them; they are performing to societies expectations. 

So from this study it makes me think specifically to our case study of the Riots in 2011 and it makes me question is it all just a performance and are they just acting up to the expectations which the public have of British Teenagers? 
In a majority of the newspapers covering the riot stories, they featured shocking images entailing teenagers during the riots and the destruction in which they caused. They looked as if there were acting out scenes from 'Kidulthood'. 

Question 4) To what extent is human identity increasingly mediated.

Within David Gauntletts videos overall he was trying to show how you can only get a truthful representation of identities if you let them express themselves in a creative way. In this example it was the use of lego to represent the volunteers and show parts of their personalities and to show who they think they are themselves and how they want to be represented.

So therefore this will help us when answering the question 'To what extent is human identity increasingly mediated' in many ways. For example in the media the people in which are portraying individuals identity is actually the people creating the sources of media. Such as 'The Press' 'Television' 'Music' and many other media areas. So therefore instead of letting the individuals represent themselves how they think they should be shown, the people who are writing the articles and programmes are the people giving their own representation of the identities.

From this you can see that David Gauntlett stated that you can only get the truth of identities if the people themselves are allowed to creatively represent themselves. Where as in the media the truth of the human identities is being twisted (mediated).

Starting on our Media theory

We read into some media theorists beliefs and considered how their theories would help us in answering our prompt questions...
1. How does the media represent nations, regions and ethnic/social/collective groups of people in different ways?
2. How does contemporary representation compare to previous time periods?
3. What are the social implications of different media representations of groups of people?
4. To what extent is human identity increasingly mediated?

We came across a theorist called David Gauntlet, a professor of Media and Communications at the University of Westminster. His theories commonly express the idea of identity being a fluid concept "Not only is there more room for a greater variety of identities to emerge; it is also the case that the construction of identity has become a known requirement. Modern Western societies do not leave individuals in any doubt that they need to make choices of identity and lifestyle- even if their preferred options are rather obvious and conventional ones, or are limited due to the lack of financial (or cultural) resources" The part of David's concept which we can relate our research on collective identity to is the part where he discusses how the gender in the present day has changed and created new identities for people within society. For example he discusses how some social identities have changed such as the women's stereotypical identity in the early 1900's would have been viewed as a 'housewife' but he claims that this has now been improved to a more individual identity. Clearly he would argue this is a positive change within society , however we could argue that identity can be a 'fluid concept' because it is easily adaptable but our collective identity 'British teenagers' have had their stereotypical identity changed into a more negative light. 


David Gauntlet is a good person we can use for research into media theory for our first question 'How does the media represent nations, regions and ethnic/social/collective groups of people in different ways?' because he discusses throughout his book ; Representations of gender in the past, Representations of gender today, Giddens (theorist) modernity and self-identity, Michel Foucault: lifestyle analyst, Queer theory and fluid identities, women's magazines and female identities today, and diections for living: Role models, pop music and self - help discourses. These are all generalised subjects about the identity of people within society and would provide us with a lot of information which relates to our questions asking us about the media and representations of different people. 

Media and collective identity questions

What collective does your example illustrate?
Our example illustrates the collective of young people (teenagers) and how they are portrayed by the media and television and the kind of image they are being perceived with by the the rest of the country. Within the media aspect of the image of youths of today, we are specifically focusing on the riots that took place in England during August 2011 and how the media represented younger people during this event. We have so far discovered that this event further elevated the negative views and opinions that people have on teenagers with pictures and clips throughout the media of them looting and destroying shops and behaving aggressively which probably did them no justice. So far within the television aspect of the portrayal of teenagers, we have focused on the programme 'skins' and the kind of image that they have been given in the series. After watching an episode of the programme, within the first five minutes it shows a group of teenagers at a party, with some taking drugs, some having sex, which already creates a negative image for the older generation to have upon teenagers. So within both the media and television a negative image, which only relates to a small minority of young people, has been created for all teenagers of today.

How has the representation of that group changed over time? What examples do you have to support this         claim?
The representation of teenagers has significantly changed throughout time in a way where it has become a lot more negative towards younger people. They are being perceived as drug taking, sex mad, out of control yobs within the television and gangs of destructive, stealing and murdering hoodies within the media. This highly negative image of teenagers has never been as extreme as it is today. Back in time they weren't labelled as 'hoodies' or 'chavs' and this negativity didn't spread across all the teenagers in England as it has today.

What are the advantages to representing this collective in this way?
The advantages within the media of representing today's teenagers in this way is that it's very easy for people within England to believe the image that has been created for younger people within aspects such as television or from events such as the 2011 riots. Because there are so many events that include teenagers being involved in burglary, murders and gang violence it is very easy for the media and television to portray the teenagers of England as a whole within this category of 'hooded yobs'.

What are the disadvantages to representing this collective in this way?
The disadvantages of the media and television creating this negative image falls mainly on the reputation of teenagers. Two very powerful and popular groups, being the media and television, have created the image of teenagers being out of control, violent yobs. This may be true for a very small minority of teenagers within England but it is unfair that teenagers as a whole are being viewed as these uncontrollable monsters that has been influenced by people within the media and television.

How can you express your identity in the world? What barriers are there to expression, what facilities are there to express identity?
The main ways to express your identity in the world are through the media, which usually consists of something that will stand out and interest everyone.

Questions on our collective identity

The collective our example illustrates is the British youth. We will be representing male and female teenagers across Britain as this gives the our audience a balanced perspective of how both genders are portrayed to society. By using this collective we can find examples from the media and footage from television programs easily because we would be able to relate well to the issues relating to our collective that are being displayed.

The representation of our collective group, British teenagers, has become a more negatively displayed representation throughout the media. We will be trying to demonstrate examples which clearly present this view, for example when the events of the riots were happening in cities of high population , the younger teens were the main focus of the newspapers. This was because it is more shocking to see teenagers of a younger age to be looting and committing non utilitarian crime and therefore makes a more interesting read for the newspaper's readers. This clearly is portraying teenagers in a negative light , and it demonstrates to the reader how society has this negative stereotype of teenagers in the present day because footage and recordings of a teenager helping an elderly lady over the road wouldn't be displayed on the front page of a popular newspaper. This suggests that we could argue the view of teenagers has changed over time possibly due to the way the media portrays our collective because the media influence a lot of the norms and values society excepts and learns from the papers.

Although the media can often display our collective negatively this can be an advantage for such institutions as the press and television because it can provide them with continuous interesting evidence or footage to use and adapt to display interesting messages and entertainment to what the audience or reader would be interested in. For instance the program Misfits sets up the entire setting of its series in a community service building for the characters. This indicates to the audience that the teenagers, our collective, have clearly done something wrong and deserve to be there, however it provides great entertainment for the audience at home as it is a unique setting but it does continue to display this negative stereotype of teenagers.

Another advantage of displaying the collective in this way is that from my perspective, the perspective of a young teenager, is that the negative judgement people within society can have of us can produce social change. For instance the government reconsiders the options to help get youths off of the streets , such as an increase in youth centers has dramatically risen in the last ten years.

A disadvantage of representing the collective in this way is that it can lead to people in society continuously having a negative stereotype of any individual teenager they meet. In addition to this negative displays of the collective within the media can lead to certain types of teenagers being specifically judged, for example if you are a certain race or are of a lower class they are more likely to be stigmatized by the public because they will be reflecting the stigma the media has attached to British teenagers.

The collective we are researching could be argued to having the most likely ability to convert the stigma that is attached to them by the media because they are the younger generation with a big future ahead of them. For instance many people would argue that young teenagers in Britain are offered an equal chance to gain high education and to establish themselves well within the economic society. People within society could also argue that young teenagers within Britain have many different clubs which they could attend to discover or build a talent within a sport etc. For instance Tom Bailey , the young diver from Plymouth, that aims to be held in the 2012 Olympics can display a good example of how young teenagers in Britain can produce an identity for themselves. However some people within society could claim that institutions such as education which are meant to provide the same equal opportunity for anyone, i.e. any class, any gender, any race etc don't always provide the right support for those who need it to gain the equal opportunity of success for their identity. For instance children from working class backgrounds may , without knowing, be labelled by teachers as low achievers within the school and therefore not be able to achieve similar success to middle class children. In addition to this these working class children may not be able to afford the necessary resources which would help them achieve their path to success through education. However the labour government did introduce facilities such as EMA to help those children who needed extra financial support with education resources to get it. Financial fundings for clubs and education etc are what a lot of people within our collective rely on to be able to reach or achieve their identity. However social change often means fundings which are provided by the government to help our collective are abolished , such as the decrease in payment for EMA since the coalition of the new government has happened.

Theodor Adorno

I conducted some research on Theodor Adorno and his beliefs into capitalism. Adorno believed that capitalism 'fed people with the product of a 'culture industry'' in turn falsely keeping them satisfied and politically apathetic.

Adorno saw that the economic system, capitalism, had no become more unstable or was not close to collapse, as Marx had predicted. Adorno instead believed that it had become more well established. Where Marx had focused on the economics side of things, Adorno was more focused on the role of culture in securing the status quo. Adorno suggested that 'culture industries' such as film, radio magazines etc. churn out a corrupt mass of unsophisticated, sentimental products, which have replaced the more advanced, 'difficult' and critical art forms which he said might lead people to actually question life.
FALSE NEEDS are cultivated by people in the culture industries- enlightenment of mass deception. These false needs are ones which can be both created and satisfied by the capitalist system. These replace peoples 'true needs', freedom, full expression of human potential and creativity and genuine creative happiness.
COMMODITY FETISHISM- denotes the mystification of human relations said to arise out of the growth of market trade promoted by marketing, advertising and media industry. This term means that social relations and cultural experiences are objectified in terms of money ( we are delighted by something because of how much it costs.)
Popular media and music products are characterized by standardization- the process of developing and implementing technical standards ( they are formulaic and similar) and pseudo individualization- “endowing cultural mass production with the halo of free choice or open market on the basis of standardization itself. It keeps consumers in line by making them forget that what they listen to is already listened to for them, or ‘pre-digested,’”
Products of the culture industry may be emotional or apparently moving, Adorno sees this as cathartic- emotional cleansing- we might seek some comfort in a sad film or song, have a bit of a cry and then feel restored again. 
Applied to the most obvious modern day application, the argument would be that television leads people away from talking to each other or questioning the oppression in their lives. Instead they get up to go to work, come home switch on the TV, absorb the TV's nonsense till bed time, and then the daily cycle starts again. 

Our Case Studies

Our second media area will be the press. Specifically the headlines and stories of 'the riots' which took place in 6-10th August.

We feel as if this will be a interesting topic to study and analyse as it was a serious event of 2011 which everyone was aware of. And also British teenagers were portrayed very strongly throughout these riots.

"Following a peaceful march on 6 August 2011 in relation to the police response to the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan by Metropolitan Police Service firearms officers on 4 August 2011, a riot began inTottenham, North London. In the following days, rioting spread to several London boroughs and districts and eventually to some other areas of England, with the most severe disturbances outside London occurring in Bristol and cities in the Midlands and North West of England. Related localised outbreaks also occurred in many smaller towns and cities in England.

The riots were characterised by rampant looting and arson attacks of unprecedented levels. As a result, British Prime Minister David Cameron returned early from his holiday in Italy and other government and opposition leaders also ended their holidays to attend to the matter. All police leave was cancelled and Parliament was recalled on 11 August to debate the situation.

As of 15 August, about 3,100 people had been arrested, of whom more than 1,000 had been charged. Arrests, charges and court proceedings continue. Initially, courts sat for extended hours. There were a total 3,443 crimes across London linked to the disorder.

Five people died and at least 16 others were injured as a direct result of related violent acts. An estimated £200 million worth of property damage was incurred, and local economic activity was significantly compromised.

Police action was blamed for the initial riot, and the subsequent police reaction was criticised as being neither appropriate nor sufficiently effective. The riots have generated significant ongoing debate among political, social and academic figures about the causes and context in which they happened."

Our Case Studies

The first media area we have chosen to study is television. And more specifically how british teenagers are represented through television programmes. We have chosen the TV series 'Skins' as we feel as if this will good to analyse and to see how teenagers are portrayed.

'Skins' is a BAFTA award winning series in which fits under the genre of a British teen drama. It is based on a group of teenagers who live in Bristol and its based in their two years of college.

It has very dramatic and controversial storylines which include: 'asdysfunctional families, mental illness (eating disorders for example), adolescent sexuality, substance abuse and death.'

The show was created by father and son television writers 'Bryan Elsley' and 'Jamie Brittain' for Company Pictures. It premiered on E4 on 25 January 2007.The show went on to be a ratings winner in its target demographic and to be a success with critics.'