2. Representation of Contemporary
British Youth
• There has been an
emergence of British
horror films whereby
youth are presented as
‘monsters’. This
representation is bleeding
into social realist texts too.
• They appear to threaten
normality – civilised
middle class values and
ideologies

3. Formula of horror films
• Robin Wood argues that the basic formula of a horror
film is where ‘normality’ is threatened by the monster.
• By normality he means the ‘dominant social norms’ of
society.

4. The Monster as a visual metaphor
• Could we argue that the alien
monster is a visual metaphor for
how society has stereotyped
British Youth?
• “They're all the things that the
press and people call those
kids…………People call these kids
monsters, they call them feral,
they call them animalistic, they
say they've got no morals or
values and all they care about is
territory and competitiveness”
(Joe Cornish (director), 2011)

5. Opening Sequence Analysis
• Watch the opening sequence of Attack the
Block, Eden Lake and Harry Brown.
• Using evidence from the 3 films how are the
middles classes represented and how is this
juxtaposed with British youth?

6. Applying Cohen & Wood
• How can we apply Stanley Cohen’s and Robin
wood’s theory to these contemporary texts?
• Write a detailed paragraph, incorporating
examples from the opening sequences and
applying the theory of Cohen and Wood, to
suggest how British youth are constructed as
monsters who threaten the civilised values of
society.