2. Teenage
This documentary, not yet
released, takes an
historical look at the
whole concept of the
teenager, including
archive clips from before
the Second World War.
“Rebels with a cause, they exploded in a riot of dancing,
fashion, sex and revolt. All are evident in the film’s new
trailer.”(Empire)
Let’s examine the trailer
http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=39768
3. Plato
“The children now love luxury; they
have bad manners, contempt for
authority; they show disrespect
for elders and love chatter in
place of exercise. Children are
now tyrants, not the servants of
their households. They no longer
rise when elders enter the room.
They contradict their parents,
chatter before company, gobble
up dainties at the table, cross
their legs, and tyrannize their
teachers.”
(Plato 428-348 BC)
4. Why reference the past?
When answering this question concentrate on the word
'representation'.
This question isn't asking you to know about how youths have
changed over the ages, this isn't a sociological study - it's
about how UK youth's behaviour is shown, presented,
REPRESENTED.
What sort of behaviour do the texts focus on?
How are inter-generational conflicts resolved?
How is bad behaviour presented - demonised or immaturity?
What aspirations or roles do they fulfil?
5. Considering the trailer for teenage and following clips
could we argue that contemporary issues with the
representation of youth culture have always existed?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=8E4znu82XhE
Forgive the subtitles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=nAEpJX0Bwt0
6. So was Plato pre-empting the future?
Is this demonisation of youth nothing
particularly new?
7. The role of the media
If the Media make a drama out of an event or social
problem, this attracts more interest, perpetuating
and amplifying the initial problem.
Here's a clip from Charlie Brooker's Newswipe
which has Dan Gardner explaining why the 'media'
has a tendency to create (perhaps mediate??)
moral panics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWC1DrhL_8w#
t=17
8. Development of the panic and
demonistaion
We could argue then that this demonisation has developed so
much so that it has become it’s own narrative arch and is
evident in all forms of media output.
This ‘feral’ ‘unruly’ youth have developed into such a 'type', a
well understood presence in the media that they've become a
stereotype and in order to maintain a state of social panic and
fear the stereotype much be exaggerated.
The development of the flirty teenager –
https://phavenprod.s3.amazonaws.com/files/video_part/asset/624576/wKg
PN13UDX6fz3dAfS97DODzv0o/Flirting-YouTube.mov
