I devised this chart to help me revise case studies for the G325 Question 2 answer. I have described how the examples represent youth, I've applied different theorist interpretations to this answer, I have highlighted the key points and made links between the examples. Hope this helps

1. Example Representation of Youth Theory Key Points Additional References/ Links
The bright colours communicate
youths positively as it portrays fun
and exciting connotations.
The straplines suggests that
youths are not concerned with
serious issues, like world events
or politics, but boys and dieting.
The cover model is smiling in the
photo, portraying that being a teen
is something to be happy about.
Teenage girls are sometimes
stereotyped as naive and their
goal is to please teen boys with
appearance and looks. This
magazine could be said to
reinforce that.
AGENDA SETTING THEORY
Tells youths (particularly young
women) what to think about i.e not
serious issues.
GAUNTLETT
The media is showing youth how
society would like to see them.
Allowing youths to adapt their
identity based on the themes in
this magazine.
ACLAND
Encouraging young people to not
concern themselves with adult
topics keeping young people in
their place ‘ideology of protection’
LAURA MULVEY MALE GAZE
The girls on the cover of these
magazines are conventionally
physically attractive and the
straplines are encouraging
readers to seek male attention.
Mulvey’s theory of male gaze
could be applied here because
this conventionally attractive cover
model will encourage woman to
look at themselves in an
objectifying way and if they do not
look just as this model does they
will feel bad about themselves,
because it is this ‘look’ that is
popular and makes magazines.
Overall this representation is a
‘safe’ representation of young
people. It is non-intimidating,
innocent. Orderly and controllable.
Traditional media forms tend to
represent teenagers through the
eyes of an adult because the
adults are the producers. The
outcomes of this can sometimes
be falsely negative
representations, or it can also just
be falsely positive
representations.
Not every 70s/80s teenager would
be able to relate to the cover
model shown in this issue of
Jackie, with preened blonde hair,
bright white teeth and a clear
face. Therefore it reinforces
Giroux’s theory that
representations of youth
especially in historical, traditional
media are reflecting what would
be the preferred appearance of
teenagers, leaving out certain
groups which don’t appeal to
society’s needs (Gauntlett). It
could be said that this
representation is projected so that
these neglected groups would
want to change to fit in with this
representation of their age group
(links with Acland theory)
Jackie magazine
HISTORICAL

2. The sister is represented
positively, she is caring, helpful
and giving advice. This represents
youths positively.
The ‘Greaser’ sister is shown to
be a rock chick, with a messy
room and messy appearance and
listens to loud music and plays
guitar. Historically this is a
representation of a careless
teenager.
However the sister could also be
displayed as having trivial
concerns over appearance,
suggesting that good looks =
success.
The representation of youth in this
advert is
AGE, that teenagers are expected
to present themselves well at this
age
GENDER that female teenagers
are negatively represented if they
dress in a stereotypically male
way. Patsy Palmer, when she
starts looking after her skin and
presents herself more feminine,
gets a handsome man. This is
perhaps suggesting that
historically, female teenagers are
expected to lust after the attention
of men.
ACLAND
Media representation of youth is
done to maintain social order. This
product represents teens being
‘sorted out’ and parents will also
see this and be influenced by the
advertisement of the product.
GRAMSCI
Patsy Palmer is seen in this
advert to be out of the norm.
Gramsci’s theory can be applied
to this advert because it is
suggesting that as the girl does
not fit in with the ‘ruling class’ or
‘normality’ and therefore is
unacceptable and needs to
change.
LAURA MULVEY MALE GAZE
This advert is a good example of
how Mulvey’s male gaze theory
can be applied. The teenage
woman in this is stripped of what
makes her an individual and is
transformed into being what
society deems ‘attractive’ so that
she has been regulated to the
status of object whose worth is
only judged through physical
appearance.
As a 2016 audience, we would
see Patsy Palmer’s character
being an independent, unique
person as a positive
representation.
Also as a 2016 audience, we
would say the fact she is easily
persuaded to change her lifestyle
is negative.
The fact that once Patsy Palmer
looks more conventionally
attractive she gets a handsome
boyfriend can be linked to the
connotations made in Jackie
magazine: that young girls have
been represented as sexual
objects for men.
(Mulvey)
Clearasil
HISTORICAL

3. AGE is a factor of this youth
representation. In the
Inbetweeners there are 4 17-18
year olds and the show highlights
some stereotypes often
associated with teenagers. These
boys are different because they
strive to become stereotypes to fit
in. Also, since they are nearly
adults, the activities they get up to
creates humour throughout the
series when they are posed with
adult situations.
GENDER also plays a role in this
representation of youth. The 4
main characters are male and this
shows the male race as being
diverse and dominant. Throughout
the series the boys see females
as sex objects and this is a
running theme throughout the
series which creates comedy.
LOCATION and SETTING of this
show is in a suburb outside
London which is stereotypical of
the middle class, which creates
stereotypes such as cockneys
and upper class citizens which we
see in the show. The REGIONAL
IDENTITY is defined by mise en
scene. There are posh housing
estates and the community lives
close together. This is however
juxtaposed by the diversity of the
characters, which insinuates that
teenagers often do not want to be
defined by where they come from.
GAUNTLETT
Teenagers can watch the
Inbetweeners and pick certain
characteristics from the 4 bold
stereotypical characters and
relate themselves to it,
establishing a sense of collective
identity with the show
ACLAND THEORY
Media representations of youth
out of control allows the institution
to control people. The way in
which the Inbetweeners get
themselves into situations where
the are made fools of would
dissuade the audience from
copying their actions
subconsciously.
Adults have produced this
representation, and therefore the
theme of collective identity/
belonging to a group is shown
through adult perspective,
perhaps based on memories of
being a teenager themselves.
Using a television comedy sitcom
to represent teenagers is a more
safe representation as what is
shown can be taken in jest more-
so than if it was a drama, which
tend to reflect more truth.
As the programme is set in
modern times it would engage the
audience because they can see
how different locations are living in
the same time as the viewer.
The target audience of this
programme is teenagers and
adults because they can both find
comedy from it as being the same
age and remembering being that
age
The Inbetweeners can be linked
with Skins as both contain similar
storylines (students studying A
Levels) and attract similar
audiences however the way they
represent the youths is
distinctively different. For
example, the Inbetweeners are
shown to get themselves into silly
situations and make fools of
themselves, however Skins shows
the young people doing similar
activities but makes it seem cool
and iconic for their audience to
admire and that is where
representations of young people
in these programmes differ. They
both communicate social realism
but in accordance with different
genres (comedy, drama).
The Inbetweeners
CONTEMPORARY

4. The characters in Skins are
typical stereotypes of teenagers
who are enjoying their youth and
not caring too much about the
consequences.
AGE representation can be
applied to Skins, as the main
characters are 16-18 year olds
getting in trouble with the police
and their parents, drinking
underage, drunk usage etc. They
have abandoned childhood in
favour of adult activities. There is
only one character throughout the
series who enjoys more childlike
activities ‘Pandora’ and she is
seen as the strange character
because of this.
Juxtaposed with Cook who is the
same age as Pandora, he smokes
and swears and dresses quite
messily and this shows how
youths are represented through
mise en scene and how the
audience is supposed to respond
to the way they look and assume
their characteristics because of
the built in stereotype the media
has created.
In the early seasons, the
character of Effy, Pandora’s best
friend, dresses in short revealing
clothes with fish net tights and big
boots when she goes out but at
home she changes and wears her
hair neatly and wears ‘normal’
clothes. This represents youths
negatively as it suggests they are
sneaky deceiving their adult
superiors.
ACLAND THEORY
The negative side of this
representation of youth is the bad
situations that the teenagers get
themselves into. A character
nearly dies in series 1 and
another character actually dies in
series 3 from drug overdoses,
which unfortunately is seen in the
real world, too. Acland’s theory of
maintaining social order could be
applied to Skins because it does
represent real life experiences of
some teenagers however it does
not glorify drugs in order to remind
young people, especially the
‘deviant youth’ of what is right and
wrong.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
The media has obligations to
show truth, objectivity and
balance. If they were to glorify
these lifestyles it would be
damaging for the audience.
AGENDA SETTING THEORY
This theory can be applied
because it is influencing the
significance of certain events in its
audience’s mind. For example,
teenagers and adults who watch
Skins will be exposed to a lot of
social teenage activity, such as
intoxication, sexual activity and
hanging out with friends. There
isn't much if any discussion about
school or politics or something
than an adult would
stereotypically see as ‘important’.
The writers of Skins have taken
aspects of teens life and
exaggerated them to make the
programme more entertaining and
make aspects of what is being
represented more noticable.
The way in which the main
characters are portrayed as
individuals in each episode could
be a positive representation as
the creators of the show
recognise the fact that all
teenagers, like adults, are
individuals and act/behave
different and should not be seen
as one category. This is a much
more realistic representation of all
youth cultures.
Unlike the Inbetweeners, Skins
represents a diverse range of
characters. Teenagers exploring
their sexuality, teenagers of
different ethnicities, teenagers
from different classes. Skins is a
drama and so represents the life
of a teenager with more sincerity
than the Inbetweeners and
therefore it could be said that it is
a better media representation of
young people.
Skins