Youth Essay

1940's 

As Osgerby 1998 said the portrayal of youth has not changed much in the last 100 years apart from around world war 2 where the media showed youth as good happy people meanwhile around the rest of the last one hundred years youth have been seen as trouble and as people with the common stat/mood of depression (Stanley Hall).

The only time as I pervious said when youth where portrayed in a positive way was around the period of war as you can be seen by this quote from the daily mail 1940 “British troops taking a well earned rest from a grooling mornings training somewhere in Frances. This quote shows a positive view of youth as it shows that are working hard. Another positive representation which can also be found in The Daily Mail but a little earlier which is 1940 which sates “Recruits poured in for the new volunteer defense corpses, for A>R>P and the A.F>S and for the vitally important nursing service”. This just shows how youth are willing to fight for there country. Also the Sunday pictorial said in 1944 “if you are over 17 half and under 19, you are needed now for vital work.” This portrays another positive view of youth because it shows how much youth are needed and how important they are.

The newspapers where not the only type of media with this positive view of the youth. As films such as In which We Serve (1942) and The Way Ahead (1944) shows youth as very important also as films of Britain were very poplar at the time (as people wanted to watch films of use winning the war) it meant a lot more people would see how important youth are in are society.

1945/1950's

The 1940’s speciously 1945 was the end of the war this led to things such as the baby boom, new technology and immigration. The baby boom simply is when at the end of the war there was I sudden increase in population, which meant more children and more youth/ teenagers, and in my eyes this was the creation of the teenagers as this is when a division was made between being a kid and being a adult.  This links to what Laurie said which is “Teenagers are presented as a class in themselves” Look in more depth into this quote and my idea of this time being the creation of the teenager I also think this is when negative stereotypes of teenagers started as shown in the film the blue lamp which portrays the polices (adults) as perfect and teenagers as wrong and trouble makers. As Medhurst said about youth ‘they’re awful because they are not like us.” This links into the next film which is Brighton Rock which just played up to this idea that youth are very different to us as it followed the story of a teenage gang leader called Pinkie and in the film it shows follow the stereotype that youth are just pure trouble.

I believe that the media is over hyping how bad youth are, however because of this I also think youth have also played up to this view spread by the media but its just because of the baby boom I think this because there a lot more teens because of the baby boom meaning there a lot of teens to playing up to this view set by the media.

1960's

In the 1960’s there was the moon landing and the birth control pill was introduced however focusing more on youth there were three main groups Hippies, Mods and Rockers and though the 60’s youth were portrayed very negatively this is because violence’s was a big thing as you had the Mods and Rockers which went outside to just pick a fight in the BBC 1964 which said  “Mods and Rockers jailed after seaside riots”. Another pieces of the media, which also covered this, were the Daily Stretch 1964 which said “Breach crowds take cover from battling Mods and Rockers wildest ones yet”. This also shows youth as trouble however the Beatles helped present youth in more of a positive light however in there film A hard Day’s Night directed by Richard Lester showed how different youth are as seen at the beginning of the film when they are in a train and a man says I fought in the war for you this links to what Medhurst said ‘They are awful because they are not like us”. This just shows how youth are treated as less people. However later in the film one of the beetle members is asked what are you Mod or Rocker and he answers with a combination of both this just shows youth in a positive light as it does not limit youth in the 60's to one of this two groups.

In conclusion I believe youth are playing up to the stereotypes by the media this is shown though the Mods and Rockers which is just playing up to the stereotypes.

1970’s

The 1970’s bought use the death of the 60’s and also the disintegration of the 60’s dream of love and peace which was symbolised by the death of Martin Luther King in 1968.Aftere the 60's baby boom it has also meant a lot of unemployment for the 70's. The 70,s was very much just a era of disorder and in this disordered youth were portrayed in a very negative light.  And film such as Quadrophenia which was set in the 60's however it showed youth as violent and dangers. However not all films showed youth as trouble as Bugsy Malone showed youth as fun however you could as say it shows youth as wanting to be like adults when really they are still very immature. Although another film a clockwork orange which unlike Bugsy Malone did show youth in a very negative light as it involeved drugs and gangs which just showed a more negative view on youth of the 70's.

1980’s 

The 1980’s brought about the recovery from the 70’s and intern brought about a economic boom and brought us the end of the cold war. It was also the time where Thatcher (conservative) was in power and you had an increase in inequality between the rich and the poor.

A film called Gregory's Girl helped shine a somewhat nicer side of youth as instead of showing youth as rebels and trouble which goes against what Hebdige said in 1988 which is youth are represented as ether “fun or trouble”.However the film also does not show youth as one hundred precent positive as it did show them as drifting away from society.
Another film from the 1980's is My Beautiful Laundrette which portrayed youth as the underclass of society this show though out the film way we follow the story of Omar. The third film from the 1980's was Withnail and I which was directed by Bruce Robinson and was based on his life in the 1960's so the film really just showed the stereotypes of youth that you would find the 1960's.

1990's 

In the 1990’s you had a range of different groups from Nirvana fans(grunge fashion), Spicy girls with there tarty fashion how they where presented in a very happy way and made youth look like fun which links to what Hebdige said which is “youth are represented as either fun or trouble “The other type of group was Lad culture where youths would go out in football shirts picking a fight. There was also the new technology available to the public mean things like mobile phones had a huge impact in youth culture. Films such as Train Spotter also helps show Youth in a negative light such as show though the first five minutes where you can see them taking drugs this links back to what Heddibge said which is youth are represented as either “fun or trouble”  and in the first five minutes  they are taking drugs which is seen as trouble/bad. Also later on in the film the main characters have this drug deal which just backs up the idea that youth are trouble and bad. The final main part of the film which carries on this negative look on youth is when later on when Diane a fifteen year old girl has sex this just shows her as rebelous as she is doing something she should not be doing at her age this links to what Michael Brake said in 1985 which is youth are portrayed as cultural rebels or politically militant.

2000 to 2014

The 2000 to now has seen a huge jump in technology and because of this youth have now been able to reach a mass audiences of people now matter where in the world. Youth could have used this as a way to change peoples view on you youth however youth have abused technology and have used it for bad things however also good things.  A classic example of this is the London riots which was all planned and organised though social media sites this newspaper quote from the daily express; “flaming morons thugs and thieves terrorise Britain’s streets,” just shows how bad the riots where and how badly youth where portrayed in media. Another bad outcome which came out of social media was Neknominations which sure the death of servile people on the mail online one of there headlines was; “Neknominating could land you with a manslaughter charger,” this just shows how such a little bit of fun expanded into something which has shown youth in a very negative light. The media how show youth in the last 14 years as depressed however this I believe not to be true as shown though the music culture which has really just been focused on boy bands such as one direction which portrayed youth as fun and happy which likes to what Hebdige said in 1988 which is; youth are represented as ether “fun or trouble”. However looking at the last 14 years I can say boy bands have been the main music crease but really with the development of technology and things like ITunes music has just exploded and for example in my media one 1 in every other person has a different tasted in music.

Although looking back at the last 14 years knife crime has also gone up and in the year 2008 the 10^th person in that died from stab wounds was Robert Knox and the telegraphy said on the 24 may; “Harry Potter actor Robert Knox stabbed death protecting his younger brother,” this showed youth in a negative light however it also showed that there are good people that full under the youth category as this guy did what was a selfless act to save his brother.  

In conclusion to the question over the last one hundred years youth have commonly been portrayed as rebellious trouble makes though the media eyes as there has only been a hand full amount of times where youths have been shown in a positive light.