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?