I got 42/50 for this essay answer.

1. Analyse the ways in which the media represent one group of people you have studied [50]
Charles Acland argues that youth are represented in the media in order to allow the
state to have more control over them, also known as the ‘ideology of protection’. He
believes that youth are targeted with particular representations because this is the
time of their lives in which they learn of social roles and values, and so the
representation of themselves which they see in the media is meant to have an
impact on how they will behave in the real world. I am going to discuss these ideas
of young people alongside historical and contemporary examples.
Jackie magazine was the best-selling teen magazine in Britain in the 1970s and
1980s. It was mainly directed towards teenage girls and covered topics such as
beauty, boys and gossip. This could be seen as a negative representation of youth,
girls in particular, as it is telling them that these are important topics to think about,
when in fact they are quite shallow. Additionally, the girls on the cover of these
magazines are conventionally attractive and straplines such as ‘tips for a more
kissable you’ and ‘do you put boys off?’ is encouraging readers to lust after male
attention. Laura Mulvey’s theory of male gaze could be applied here, as this would
encourage readers to objectify themselves and other women and base their worth off
the attention of men. Traditional media generally represents teenagers through adult
eyes because adults are the producers. Therefore, Jackie magazine can apply to
Acland’s theory of the ‘ideology of protection’, as this magazine is keeping young
people in their place and encouraging them not to concern themselves with ‘adult
topics’. This magazine places certain implications on society. For instance, it only
represents one category of youth which we have already established could be
largely fabricated, and it doing so it implies that certain groups don’t appeal to
society’s needs and therefore are unable to be represented. Overall, this
representation of youth overall is ‘safe’ as it is innocent and not intimidating.
However, it presents a sickly-sweet impression of young women which has obviously
been done to ‘restore order’ among young people, creating a false consciousness as
Acland’s theory upholds, and therefore cannot be seen as a true representation of
teenagers.
Another way in which Acland’s theory can be applied to media representations of
youth is through how they are represented in television. More contemporary
examples in television such as the Inbetweeners and Skins choose to portray
teenagers as getting involved in more ‘adult’ experiences such as drinking, drugs
and sex, and these experiences usually result in negative outcomes for the
characters. This could be so that the audience is subconsciously dissuaded from
mimicking the actions they see on television through reverse psychology, which
further reinstates Acland’s theory that the media represents young people in such a
way that allows the state to control them. The Inbetweeners represents young boys
who are nearly adults at age 17-18. Stereotypically, these characters are constantly

2. trying to act older than their age and see females as sex objects, which creates
comedy as a running theme throughout the series. This television programme
represents boys by implying that they are trying to grow up too fast and are driven by
their interests in adult activities. Using a television comedy to represent teenagers is
a ‘safe’ representation as what is shown can be taken in jest more than if it were a
drama. This television programme has been constructed by adults, like Jackie
magazine was, however there is a difference between the ways in which these
different types of media have been produced. With Jackie magazine, it was adults
creating an image of a teenager for a teenage audience. On the other hand, with
shows such as the Inbetweeners, adults have produced this representation as well
and therefore the youthful characters are constructed through adult perspectives,
however these representations could be based on memories of their own youth and
is therefore suitable to both teenage and adult audiences.
The Inbetweeners’ representation of youth can be linked with the television
programme Skins as both contain similar storylines of teenagers studying for their A
Level exams and they also attract similar audiences. However, the way in which they
represent youths is distinctively different. For example, the Inbetweeners are
consistently shown to get themselves into silly situations and make fools of
themselves, however Skins implies that within the series the characters are seen as
‘cool’ and ‘iconic’ for getting themselves into trouble with the police and with their
parents. Both series’ communicate social realism however the Inbetweeners is a
comedy whereas Skins is a drama, therefore the way in which they convey meaning
to their audience is different and therefore the way the audience absorbs what they
see onscreen is different.
The characters in Skins are typical stereotypes of teenagers who are enjoying their
youth and not caring a lot about the conseuqences. They are shown to have
abandoned their childhood in favour of adult activities. There is only one character
throughout the series who enjoys more childlike activities called Pandora, and she is
seen as the ‘strange’ character because of this, which implies to the audience that by
the age of 16-17 young people should act more like adults. Pandora’s best friend in
the series, Effy, is an exact juxtaposition of Pandora’s character. She wears fish net
tights and revealing clothes which in the eyes of the media portrays a scandalous
and promiscuous character. However at home, Effy’s character changes into
‘normal’ clothes and presents herself quite neatly. This is a negative representation
of youths as it suggests that they are deceitful towards their ‘adult superiors’.
Another negative aspect of this representation of youth is the situations which the
teenagers get themselves into. For example, a character dies in series 3 from
overdosing on drugs, which unfortunately is seen in the real world too. The
representations of young people shown in Skins support Acland’s theory of
maintaining social order because it represents real life experiences of certain
teenagers, but it does not glorify drug use, it reminds people of what is right and
wrong but without being blatantly obvious about it. These representations also depict

3. certain elements of the Social Responsibility theory, as the media has obligations to
represent truth, objectivity and balance and if they were to glorify the lifestyles shown
in Skins unto the audience it would be damaging for them. Furthermore, Skins,
unlike Jackie or the Inbetweeners, represents a diverse range of characters. For
example, it portrays teenagers of different ethnicities, different classes and different
sexualities. Additionally, as Skins is a drama, the themes shown in the programme
are meant to be absorbed by the audience with more sincerity and therefore could
be said to display better, more truthful representations of young people, both good
and bad. I would say that the creators of Skins respect teenagers a bit more in terms
of what topics they expect teenagers to be aware of, i.e they do not dumb them
down because they sometimes present hard-hitting themes such as drug abuse and
subsequent death which teenagers in the real world are aware of and it is not just a
topic for adult concern.
Overall, Acland’s theory about the way in which young people are represented in the
media is certainly one to be considered, whether it be positive or negative
representations. The media is dominated by adults and their marginalisation of
young people is constantly reinforced. Youth representations in the media, both past
and present, are tailored to educate and inform young people of what society deems
is the ‘right’ way for them to behave as they ascend into adulthood, which implies
that since the media industry began it has been known that young people are of a
‘separate status’ to adults. To summarise, it must be remembered that most media
representations of young people have not been constructed by young people
themselves and therefore cannot wholly reflect or represent every young person
truthfully.