How are teenagers and young people in the media portrayed?

The Inbetweeners, follows the story of four teenage boys and the difficulties of teenage life. In the series we see Will who comes into the school as the new boy and immediately stereotyped a nerd as he carries a briefcase and wears a suit. The three other boys Simon, Jay and Neil consider themselves as 'cool' and popular yet their schoolmates disagree, we see throughout that they are the unpopular group. We see Neil and especially Jay fit the stereotype of a typical teenage boy in the sense that they are obsessed with getting girls and trying to impress. Jay especially shows off and talks about all the girls he has been with but we as an audience see he is lying to impress his friends and seem 'cool' which could relate to teenagers especially boys. Jacques Lacan's theory of the mirror stage can be seen in the epsiode 'Will's Birthday' as they pick going to a school house party where the popular kids will be over their friends birthday dinner. This relates to the theory because the boys are showing a change in identity as they perhaps are trying to fit in with the popular crowd. With a film released in 2011 showing a typical lads holiday to Malia where they do everything you'd expect a group of teenage boys to do but with an inbetweeners twist. The theory from Richard Jenkins can be seen in the film as they talk about going on a boys holiday because 'its the time to go' as everyone is doing it and Malia is a known popular teenage holiday destination and  is renowned for its club and partying scene.