1. Theorist Year Concepts Your explanation
Giroux 1997 Youth as empty category Representations of youth vary
through generations. The way in
which representations are
chosen is through the current
fears of society at that time,
what is perceived to be
threatening to them (society).
Youth threaten the structures of
dominant ideologies. Youth
representations are filled
through the interests of the adult
world.
Acland 1995 Ideology of protection; deviant youth and This refers to the re-ordering of
reproduction of social order the limitations so that the
anarchist youth can be brought
back into a protective state;
reordering society. Dominant
ideologies infer that youth need
to be protected. This is shown
through the films by the
protagonists (such as Harry
Brown, the couple in Eden
Lake) attempts to overcome and
over power the youths. In Attack
the Block society is reproduced
through the youths themselves
who are protecting society from
the ‘real’ monsters. These

2. representations are used to show
the deviant and ‘normal’ youths
the results of the actions of
anarchist’s youths, in order to
keep them within the boundaries
in which they can be protected.
Gramsci 1971 (1929-1935) Cultural hegemony(Audience effects theory) In all the three films the
equilibrium (Todorov) is
disrupted and thus dominant
ideologies are disrupted. These
dominant ideologies have been
created through cultural
hegemony and we, have been
positioned to accept them as the
‘norm’. Themes of all three
films revolve around the lower
classes disruption of dominant
ideologies and the middle class
fighting to keep order. The fears
of the middle class (and their
power structure) are the lower
class and their power to disrupt
their ideals
Cohen 1972 Moral panic(Audience effects theory) Creating a threat for society and
therefore a social panic that will
allow attacks on that threat. A
panic created by cultural
hegemony in order to overcome
threats on society. A way of
creating fear with the aim to re-

3. order society.
McRobbie 2004 Symbolic Violence Creating a symbolic narrative in
order to guide and offer self-
improvement to the misguided;
helping to redefine their identity.
Violence is a symbolic
representation/code of the lower
social class and the male lower
social class. This again helps to
create a defining boundary
between the middle and lower
class; ensuring the dominant
ideology of the ruling class.
Gerbner 1986 Cultivation Theory(Audience effects theory) The effects of mass media
communication on society’s
beliefs and attitudes. The more
violence seen in films the more
likely we are to believe in its
existence. Harry Brown and
Eden Lake would then make us
believe that it is the lower class
British youths that behave in this
way and therefore develop
negative and fearful attitudes
about them. This ultimately
creates moral panic, through
symbolic violence and follows
cultural hegemony.

4. 1920’s Hypodermic Theory/Magic Bullet(Audience This theory suggests that
effects theory) audiences passively receive the
information transmitted via a
media text, without any attempt
on their part to process or
challenge the data; so we can
ultimately be easily manipulated
(similar model to that of
propaganda). It does not
recognise that as consumers we
have more control over how the
media influences us.
Copy Cat (Audience effects theory) Refers to the how the media
influence and affects the
audience behaviour and how
they think. It relates to
something publicized in the
media that creates a lot of
attention, causing other people
to imitate in order to gain the
same level attention. The well-
known example of this is
copycat murders, suicides and
other violent acts that come with
no other motive other than
attention, caused by seeing the

5. same acts in the media, be it
film, television or books.
Stuart Hall 1980 Encoding – Decoding Theory (Audience Stuart Hall suggests that the
reception theory) audience does not simply
passively accept a text. There
are, in his views, three ways in
which audiences can read or
decode and understand a text:
1) Preferred
Reading/Dominant
Hegemonic - when an
audience interprets the
message as it was meant
to be understood, they
are operating in the
dominant code. The
producers and the
audience are in harmony
2) Negotiated Reading -
Not all audiences may
understand what media
producers take for
granted. There may be
some acknowledgement
of differences in
understanding.

6. Audiences will
understand the over-
riding dominant
ideologies within the text
but they may not agree
with all the views/ideas;
audiences will make
their own ground rules to
get to the agreed
dominant ideology (they
will take a different
path).
3) Oppositional
Reading/'counter-
hegemonic' – when an
audience understands the
context of the media text
but they will decode the
text in a completely
different way; opposing
the encoded text.