Modern day media is creating a more complex representation of people, images and messages being sent to the public. Richard Jenkins said "we need to interact in order to form our identity with other people or the media, partaking in events helps to form our collective identity". In relation to the question this refers to the idea of the representations we are given are not easy to decode and we have to form an identity with others and take part in events to perhaps discover what the messages we are given.
The hegemonic view in society of youths is a bad one, as they are constantly portrayed negatively. In the recent London Riots the main focus was on the involvement of youth and what impact they had. A headline from the Daily Mail read "Teenage looters arrested", the word that your are immediately drawn too is teenage. An older reader would choose to believe this and think that this is how every teenage was acting although this was not true, this relates to the idea of Postmodernism as they believe the media somewhat create a new reality in which we live and believe. The student protest over university fees earlier this year also showed a bad press when representing youth. Images of young hooded boys smashing police cars and swearing at the cameras were on the front of newspapers which again automatically makes people think all youths are like this and behave in the same way. Although the idea of construction and reflection can be seen when looking at the tabloids headlines compared to the broadsheets. The Sun used words such as 'yobs, thugs and hoodies' in articles about youth whilst broadsheet papers such as The Guardian simply used the words youths or students showing that the representations we see aren't always clear.
Newspapers alone are not the only source of complex and perhaps false representations. Mainstream music videos are becoming increasingly explicit and shocking. The messages portrayed through these videos can have a profound affect on youth, their behavior and attitudes. Stars such as Lady Gaga and Rihanna all send out messages to young girls that it is acceptable to wear promiscuous clothing and flaunt their sexuality. Richard Dyer's star theory relates to how the star is constructed in order to sell an image to the target audience and give them what they want, the conflicting images given out by stars such as Rihanna with her image. She made a statement by dying her hair bright red and wearing little clothing which when young girls are watching will follow this because they think this behavior is right. Although stars such as Nicki Minaj and Beyonce are binary oppositions because although they wear little clothing and have a strong sexual image they are also presented as dominant women. In Nicki Minaj's video 'Super Bass' she makes reference to herself as a barbie throughout with pink hair and girly clothing but on the other hand she is portrayed as a dominant woman who is in charge over the men in the video who instead of her are scantily clad. This again gives a complex representation to both young girls and boys.
In conclusion the mixed and complex representations young people receive in today's media all contribute to how they build on their identity as well as their collective identity. Different messages coming from various types of media means that there are unclear messages. Negative portrayals of youth and the representation of gender are also sending out mixed messages, if stars such as Rihanna are representing it to be acceptable to wear little clothing and use swear words but then there are stars such as Beyonce showing you should also be dominant. Overall on the whole the hegemonic view of youth in modern society is negative and this without doubt is having a profound affect on the youth of today.
Newspapers alone are not the only source of complex and perhaps false representations. Mainstream music videos are becoming increasingly explicit and shocking. The messages portrayed through these videos can have a profound affect on youth, their behavior and attitudes. Stars such as Lady Gaga and Rihanna all send out messages to young girls that it is acceptable to wear promiscuous clothing and flaunt their sexuality. Richard Dyer's star theory relates to how the star is constructed in order to sell an image to the target audience and give them what they want, the conflicting images given out by stars such as Rihanna with her image. She made a statement by dying her hair bright red and wearing little clothing which when young girls are watching will follow this because they think this behavior is right. Although stars such as Nicki Minaj and Beyonce are binary oppositions because although they wear little clothing and have a strong sexual image they are also presented as dominant women. In Nicki Minaj's video 'Super Bass' she makes reference to herself as a barbie throughout with pink hair and girly clothing but on the other hand she is portrayed as a dominant woman who is in charge over the men in the video who instead of her are scantily clad. This again gives a complex representation to both young girls and boys.
In conclusion the mixed and complex representations young people receive in today's media all contribute to how they build on their identity as well as their collective identity. Different messages coming from various types of media means that there are unclear messages. Negative portrayals of youth and the representation of gender are also sending out mixed messages, if stars such as Rihanna are representing it to be acceptable to wear little clothing and use swear words but then there are stars such as Beyonce showing you should also be dominant. Overall on the whole the hegemonic view of youth in modern society is negative and this without doubt is having a profound affect on the youth of today.
A solid C but you have become confused in places. Nicki Minaj are not binary oppositions because they are quite similar - they both choose to flaunt their sex appeal. Please make sure you are keeping on case studies long enough to sustain interest. Look at the essay I gave you to help, how was this structured?
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