2. Introduction
Harry Brown is a fictional film produced from the
perpective of the Dominant Ideology, this makes it
very interesting when looking at how teenagers and
young adults are represented throughout the film.
Since the dominant ideology generally represent
teenagers negatively in the media, much of this has
been reinforced in the film since the film is based
around teenagers but has been made appeal to a
target audience of adults.
3. Moral Panics
Throughout Harry Borwn the teenagers in the film
have been show creating moral panics in society. The
main example which stood out for me was near the
end of the film when their is a riot between a large
group of teenagers and the police. Petrol bombs,
bricks and glass bottle are thrown and the police
seem to loe control to of the situation. Innocent
bystanders are then begin to panick since their is no
one to enforce law and order.
4. Sub Culture
The main sub culture represented in the film is an
urban street subculture. This sub culture is shown in
a dark light throughout all forms of media so it was
not suprising when it was once again represented
negatively in another film. They are show from very
early on taking part in criminal/immoral activities
like taking/selling drugs, gun crime, knife crime and
anti-social behavior and underage drinking. This
subculture is often shown wearing steotypical
clothing like hoodies, tracksuits and trainers. This is
exactly they were shown wearing in Harry Brown.
5. Folk Devils
A folk devil is a person who is considered as a bad
influence to society. From the beginning of Harry
Brown all the teenagers in the film are represented
as these. The first scene in the film shows older
teenagers encouraging other teenagers to smoke
crack to innitiate themselves into the gang. The next
scene of the film then shows two teenagers
terrorising a mother and baby in a park before
accidentily shooting her in the head. These are both
example of the teenagers being represented as folk
devils as the teenagers are commiting violent crimes
and taking part in anti-social behaviour.
6. Althuser- Ideological State Apparatus
IDA is used in Harry Brown through the way the
groups of teenagers and young people are dressed.
They have been dressed in a very stereotypical way,
wearing hoodies, tracksuits and trainers. This helps
reinforce how young people and teenagers are
represented in the media by the dominant ideology
and represent teenagers in a negative way
