Collective Identity Essay

Looking at two media, describe the ways in which a particular group of people (youth) are collectively represented or provided for, using specific examples to support your response.

In the media, the representation of youth, past and present has been that of a negative one. Harrowing images of a generation who seem to be out of control and branded hooligans by some newspaper headlines. As a collective group the representation has always been negative and shows no sign of improvement with recent events such as The London Riots of 2011 and the tuition fee protests. The youth are provided for through such things as Web 2.0 and the easy access to internet sites especially social networking sites.

The press contribute highly to the negative images and messages we receive as a consumer about youth especially the tabloid papers such as The Sun and The Daily Mail. The press have covered the events surrounding youth including The London Riots in 2011 which a headline in The Sun newspaper read “British youths are 'the most unpleasant and violent in the world”. This was written by a retired prison doctor who reacted in light of the actions seen all over the news. Images printed in The Sun of masked youths setting police cars alight and smashing shop windows stealing goods were seen throughout this event. By publishing these images and headlines with words such as ‘hooligans’ and ‘animals’ to any older audience would create a sense of fear towards any youths even though this was only a media portrayal but due to the extent of the riots this can be seen to have been the real representation of youth. Another event which the press represented youth in a collectively negative way was the tuition fee protests of 2011. An image in The Sun newspaper of a youth wearing a riot policeman’s helmet swearing at the camera brandishing a makeshift weapon reached the front pages, again creating not just a negative image but a frightening one to any older consumer concerned about the recent events. Showing these images allows the press to sell more papers as our fright and fear creates money for them as we as consumers and onlookers want to know exactly what is going on at all times. Although this may seem to some a recent representation going back to the 1980’s when the Brixton Riots started the headlines read very similar to the ones we read today. In 1981 the BBC published a news release with the headline “The arrest of a black man has led to hundreds of youths rampaging through the streets of Brixton in south London”. The use of the words ‘hundreds’ and ‘rampaging’ gives an impression of somewhat animalistic qualities and a large quantity of youths which to a reader would again create fear as they press are collectively labelling youth as this representation. Throughout the riots social networking sites such as Twitter and Black Berry messenger were being monitored as the youth of today have an advantage of being a technologically savvy generation compared to that of the youths involved in the Brixton riots as word of mouth would have been the only source of spreading information whereas in 2011 Web 2.0 is widely used and these sites were used to spread messages and information between the rioters and the government made many attempts to shut them down to minimise the communication. Post-modernists would agree with the youth of today and their knowledge and use of web 2.0 as because time has moved on so has the technology available to us which allows there to be more ways for these representations to be spread virally and through press. The images and messages we are bombarded with by the press can be related to the idea of Marxism as it is argued the press especially tabloid papers merely construct news rather than reflect it allowing them to exaggerate as bad news sells and the images we are seeing, we as a passive audience do not choose to decode them and take them at face value which is why we see youth as collectively negative group.

Although press is not alone in the negative representation of youth, films also show these representations. Y2K films such as ‘Kidulthood’ show youths to be drinking and drug taking, sexually promiscuous and violent. Collectively as a group they are represented as there are boys and girls of a young age involved in these illegal or deviant activities which as a member of society watching this would be shocked. Noel Clarke who is the director of the film said he wanted to portray a real gritty and true portrayal of youths but this can be argued to not be as this is only a small minority and also for a film to be successful it has to be somewhat exaggerated and contain elements an audience wants to see such as violence. The representation of youth in Kidulthood was negative, this being released in 2006 but films from the past such as Rebel without a Cause released in 1955 starring James Dean as a rebellious teenager. Although the extent of violence is less and no real references to sex and explicit messages it still shows youth as rebellious which shows there has been no positive change in the representation only one that seems to have worsened. Although as argued earlier when films are being produced there are certain elements and expectations they must meet, according to the audience gratification theory that the audience must be able to identify with personal relationships or identity, a form of diversion or surveillance which if a film does not meet it will be unsuccessful so a producer or director will exaggerate certain things to be certain there film will sell.

In conclusion youth are collectively represented in a negative way through the various means available in media especially film and press. Newspapers are available daily and with online press now available it is hard to escape from and reading these headlines as Stuart Hall’s theory states that we will either take the messages at face value and believe all youths act in this manner or we will decode these messages. This negative representation may have been viewed as a recent one but as seen above in the past events such as The Brixton Riots and ‘Rebel without a cause’ has portrayed youth in a negative way and it can be seen to only have worsened. The hegemonic view in society has always been that of a negative one but with the advancements in technology such as Web 2.0 youths have a wider access to the internet including social networking allowing them to communicate and spread messages more easily. The idea of youths being provided for by media can relate to this idea of them being able to access the internet freely and post their thoughts and feelings through these sites. For example the use of online press allows people to read online and then comment which could be an opportunity for youths to get their views across and read but also through social networking as they can express their thoughts and feelings about current events.