How far does the representation of a particular social group change over time? Refer to at least two media texts: Kidulthood and Rebel without a cause

Over the years subcultures and groups have evolved from the Teddie boys in the 50's to the rave scene in the 90's. This is seen through representation, especially in film. Kidulthood (2006) and Rebel without a cause (1955) demonstrate this change through the two social groups.

Kidulthood which is a Y2K film follows the issues that can be faced in teenage life, including bullying and teenage pregnancy. There are a mixture of boys and girls in the social group and they all conform to the stereotype of the 'chav' subculture, this can be seen through their image. The girls wear gold jewelry and the boys were tracksuits and caps. They also speak in slang and use swear words, what they say is also vulgar language which also conforms the stereotype of chav. This is very different to James Dean and the group in Rebel without a cause as they are from a middle class background whereas in Kidulthood many of them live in council estates. The group James Dean tries to fit in mainly dress in leather jackets and jeans and Judy who is his love interest wears a red top and pretty dresses, in much contrast to Becky in Kidulthood who wears little clothing. Although at the time Rebel without a cause was released, Judy's top caused some controversy as it was red which denotes danger and lust, but this is interesting as in today's society this would be overlooked as in films we see a lot more explicit content. Another obvious difference in both films is the mix of races. In RWAC there were predominately white characters but in Kidulthood there were many races but predominately black characters which represents a more modern society. Their image can be related to the ideas of Henry Tajfel as the two different groups build their image around each other especially seen in RWAC as he wears a leather jacket with the collar up to give off a rebellious feel .

Another change in the representation of social groups is the violence shown in the films. In RWAC the only scene that is somewhat violent is when Buzz and his gang pull out a pen knife of some sort but in Kidulthood there is scenes involving guns and in the end scene Sam beats Trife to death with a baseball bat which is explicit violence. This shows how society has changed in the way of what we are allowed to see as in the 1950's violence of that level would be censored, as well as the language and scenes of a sexual nature.
The ideas of Foucault can also be related to both films as James Dean is from a middle class background and from what we see in the film so is Becky as she lives in a house that is decorated to quite a high standard with white sofas and glass cabinets yet they both want to rebel and try to hang around with the wrong people, more in Becky's case as she takes class A drugs and sells her body.

There is a major difference in the education of the students, in Kidulthood we rarely see them learning as in the class scene Katie is being badly beaten up by a group of girls but just in their overall personalities it is clear to see they are not well educated whereas in RWAC Dean first meets Judy in a class where they are learning about science of some sort, and in their speech we can tell they are educated to a higher standard. This could also reflect the change in society as education was very important in the 1950's and men especially were seen to have to get good jobs and provide for their families but in today's society there a high statistics of truancy in schools and children have a lower expectation of school.

In conclusion the representation of social groups in Rebel without a cause and Kidulthood is very different but goes accordingly with modern society as the times have changed and so have what we expect and accept in modern day society, overall the idea of what a rebel is has greatly changed from James Dean to Kidulthood.