1. Historical Case Study Notes
Quadrophenia (1979) Dir. Frank Roddam
1. Discuss the representation and ideological values of Jimmy, Steph and
Kevin. Use textual examples to back up points made.
In Quadrophenia there are many different representations of ideologies. An
ideology is a widely held belief and Jimmy’s belief is that he I a mod. A mod is
a youth that is very British, as they like to dress in tailor made suits and listen
to British music such as The Who. Mods can be recognised from their
Lambretta Scooters and from logos such as Ben Sherman, The Royal Air
Force Logo and others such as Fred Perry. The youths are represented in
Quadrophenia to be mindless thugs in my opinion as we always see them
taking drugs and picking fights with the opposite gang. Jimmy is a rebellious
youth that doesn’t really have much self-responsibility and all that he cares
about is taking drugs, being a mod and chasing girls. Jimmy is different to
other mods as he sees being a mod as a lifestyle whereas his mates mainly
see it as a hobbie. Because he is so obsessed with being a mob he doesn’t
realise that he is slowly losing everyone who cares about him, over the course
of the film we see him fall out of love with his family, Steph and his fellow
mods.
Kevin is Jimmy’s friend and we first see him in the film when Jimmy is singing
in the baths and he has a bit of conflict about music with a man who he later
finds out was Kevin. They decide to meet up and go for some food, this is
when Jimmy finds out that Kevin is a rocker, which is the mods rival gang. We
see that Jimmy is ashamed to be around him and this is backed up when
some mods come into the café and Jimmy quickly makes an exit. The
difference between the two is that Kevin seems to have more of a perspective
on life and seems to know a lot more than Jimmy.
Steph is a young mod that seems throughout the film to have a lot sexual
freedom as we always see her with a lot of different boys in the film. She is a
very good looking mod and she knows how to play lads along into thinking
she likes them. We see when we see a lot of flirtatious talk between the two
throughout the film then they finally settle the deed in Brighton as they find an
alley and sneak off and have sex. After Brighton we see that Jimmy meant
nothing to Steph as she has already replaced him with one of Jimmy’s mates
and wants nothing to do with Jimmy.
2. What examples of mise en scene reinforce the idea of youth culture?
Some of the clothing and accessories used within the film and evident to show
the trend within the current time of the youth culture. These mise en scene
props are used to show how you can recognise the difference between people
such as the mods and the rockers.
Mods- Parker Coat, Tailored suit, Levis, Lambretta Scooters, Music, Blues.

2. Rockers- Leather clothing, Motorbikes, Boots.
3. “Identity is complicated” – How can this quote be applied to the
character of Jimmy?
The phrase “identity is complicated” fits very well to a carry such as Jimmy; I
say this because he is very strange to understand. In the film we understand
that he is a mod because he is always around fellow mods and he dresses
and behaves the way other mods do. But throughout the film we do see times
in which he seems very confused about his personality and what it is his life is
leading towards. He is a mod but this is the only life he believes in and this is
why he doesn’t like being pushed around by the older generation and he only
lives for the here and now. This is why he is so shocked at the end of the film
when he realises Ace who is a God figure within the mod culture is just the
same as he is a hotel bell boy and gets pushed around. Even within his family
he is misunderstood as throughout the film he is always involved within
conflict with his parents as they don’t understand the mod culture and his
need to take drugs and party.
4. Can you draw any similarities between the youth representation of the
past compared to youth representation today?
There are some similarities from the youth of today and the youth of the past
as we see from watching Quadrophenia. During the film we see that there are
different cultures such as Mods and Rockers, even nowadays we have many
more cultures and subcultures such as Indie, Punk and many more. There is
also still the idea that youths are at the center of all things that cause Moral
Panic. Examples of this would be that in this film we see many youths on
Blackpool beach are all fighting and causing conflict between themselves and
police officers. And then in more recent times we had the London riots in
which there was more conflict involving the youths and the authority, which is
a similarity that could be compared with past and present youths.
5. Discuss how Stan Cohen’s theory can be related to this film.
Stanley Cohen had a theory that talked about things such as, a Moral Panic,
Folk Devils and Deviance and amplification. A moral panic is when an event
takes place that causes a threat to society. Within Quadrophenia the moral
panic would be when the mods and rockers meet up in Blackpool and have a
riot on the beach. Folk Devils are Stan’s representation of what a menace to
society is, within Quadrophenia the mods and rockers (youths) are what are
known to be the folk devils, this representation arises from all of the mindless
drugs, fighting etc. they carry out through the film. Deviance amplification is
the way in which the media describe the things such as the moral panic. In
this film we have the news articles that Jimmy had on his wall that emphasise
the panic because of the way that the paper reported the previous Blackpool
riots.

3. Clockwork Orange
1. Discuss the background to the film.
A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 film written, directed and produced by Stanley
Kubrick, adapted from Anthony Burgess' 1962 short novel A Clockwork
Orange. Alex, the main character, is a charismatic, sociopathic delinquent
whose interests include classical music (especially Beethoven), rape, and
what is termed "ultra-violence". He leads a small gang of thugs (Pete,
Georgie, and Dim), whom he calls his droogs. This gang are seen to be very
violent and don’t seem to have any form of respect towards their elders or
other people in general. The gang are seen to be always full of different types
of drugs and always full of violence as they rape, beat people to death and
torture their victims.
2. How was the film reported by the press and how did the youths of the
time relate to the film?
Clockwork Orange received a lot of bad criticism upon release as it was
described as some of the worse violence in cinema and then was further
removed from distribution up until the director passed away. The film was also
at blame for violence that was taking place around the time as it was said to
be mimicking the film and what actions the gang where carrying out. This was
one of the reasons that the film was forced to be removed from distribution, as
it was a bad influence of the teens.
3. How can Stan Cohen’s theory be related to this film?
Stan Cohen’s theory talked about things such as Moral Panic, Folk Devils and
Deviance and amplification. Within Clockwork Orange the moral panic would
be that these reckless teens who feel no guilt are running around the streets
murdering, raping etc. we even see within the film that the people aren’t even
safe within their own homes. The folk devils are people such as Alex and his
gang who are seen to wear the same type of clothing just like the mods and
rockers from Quadrophenia and this is what people will recognise them
through and it is their fashion statement. Finally deviance and amplification is
the way in which the media describe the events and the film. The media
reported this film in a negative way as it was having the wrong effect on teens
at the time as they were carrying out some of the events Alex and his gang
acted.