Essay: How are British Youth Demonised by the Media

'British Youths are the most unpleasant and violent in the world, they are not well-educated, bored and exhausted'
'Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.'Here, the first quote is taken from a newspaper article by Lee Moran and Allan Hall in 2011 reporting the London Riots. 
The second quote is from Plato 469–399 B.C. This suggests the opinions of Youths haven't reflected a great deal of change, I think it surprised the majority of people how old Plato's quote is so old as people expect that this ideology is recent.

This article demonstrates a negative representation of British youth; they are unfairly stereotyped by the language images and collective criticism. They are portrayed as being violent, aggressive and not caring for anyone. It fails to reflect upon the majority of British Youths who were not involved in the riots and the 75% of people that were involved who were not 'youths'. With reflection of who this opinion is from is highly significant. Bias opinions from the elderly whom aren't within the social environment of British Youths today do not see the majority of Youths that would demonstrate a nicer and more intelligent society. He describes British Youth as 'un educated' and 'bored'  making all the British Youth sound unintelligent and gives various quotes from people with the same opinions as him which subsequently builds a strong article building British Youths up to be perceived negatively creating a moral panic. 
People generally will believe this article due to the representation of youths in films such as Attack the Block (ATB), Eden Lake (EL) and Harry Brown (HB) in all three films the youths show evidence of having no education by their use of slang language and swear words. By stating the minor aggressiveness that he witnessed outside his hotel as unsurprising, he reflects his own ideology in a hegemonic light however this was just his opinion. Also, by scrutinising British Youth this man has failed to realise he has also stereotyped other cultures such as Russia and Iran, stating British are 'even worse', to me this suggests this man is a very judgemental person to any Youths making his while article completely bias. However many people would confirm his stereotypes as that is how they are represented in media, in both HB and ATB the main characters associated with drugs and violence are black resulting in the ideology that all black men are violent and do drugs. Showing images of other newspapers from around the world suggest this ideology of British Youth is now a worldwide stereotype, it demonstrates how the media can enforce such a belief to a vast amount of people in a very short time from one event in Britain. He also states that if British Youth cannot buy what they want materialistically then they will find a way of getting it whether this be stealing, suggesting that they do not care for anyone but themselves. Also, there are no statistics and therefore no evidence backing his opinions up.

Stanley Cohen was the first to create the term 'moral panic'. He defines moral panic as a sporadic episode which, as it occurs, subjects' society to bouts of moral panic, or in other terms, worry about the values and principles which society upholds which may be in jeopardy. Examples of media creating moral panic are the way in which films represent Youths. In the film opening of ATB, the Youths are represented as intimidating due to the way they stand in line and then around the woman. The shot reverse shot of the woman's face when she sees them proves there is a tension between her and the group of youths. They use violence, (a knife) and slang words which in demonstrate the words used in the riot article (un-educated and violent). What the youths are wearing is an important role of their representation. Hoods, balaclavas and hats are all an ideological dress code for today's British youth. This was also seen in the riots and is associated with crime due to them hiding their identity creating a moral panic that if youths are wearing this, they are a danger. Robin Wood (a film critic) was quoted saying; 'One might say that the true subject of the horror genre is the struggle for recognition of all that our civilization represses and oppresses' this could be used in relation to Attack the Block where 'normality/ dominant social norms are threatened by the monster (the youths).' Thus stating the monsters are a representation of the youths of today (animalistic).

Joe Cornish (the director of Attack the Block) said that the aliens are a visual metaphor for youth, animalistic and feral. The Aliens are disruptive, violent and threaten society, which is an ideological view of youths. The film EL also contributes to this animalistic way of representing youths, shots of them in a group represents an animal pack. Showing the youths collect together like this creates the sense of a gang. Today, the ideology of a gang is 'violent, drug abuse, use of weapons and un-educated' this is seen in the opening of HB where the gang are in a subway doing drugs and then shows violence and use of weapons when shooting the woman, the language they use (swearing) demonstrates un-educated. Gangs are associated with youths in all 3 of the films, rap music is played diegetically in EL and non-diegetically in ATB this music is not only gang associated but because of the people who perform it it is associated also with drug abuse and violence making this music create a predisposed opinion of whoever plays, listens or performs it. 

Moral Panics

Stanley Cohen ' Folk devils and moral panics 1972, looked at...
his main points were....
He looked at representations of the clashes between mods and rockers in 1965, such as (refer to some of the newspaper coverage naming papers and quoting headlines.)
he predicted that...

Examining the Past

The label 'teenagers' has been in use since WW2.

It has connotations of...

• Lazy
• Dis-obedient
• Ill-mannered
• Hooligans
• Violent
• Rebellious

Many of these are explored in Matt Wolf's documentary 'Teenage' (2014)

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=39768

• No hope
• Reckless
• Wild
• Miss-understood
• Creative
• Jitterbugs
• Hooligans

The representation of teenagers by adults- consistent from generation to generation over the centuries (Plato 400bc - 

'love luxury, bad manners, contempt for authority, disrespect elders, love chatters, tyrants, don't rise for elders, contradict parents, gobble up dainties, cross their legs, tyrannise their teachers.')

Similarly the representation of teenagers by themselves or by sympathetic adults ('Quadrophenia' (1979) This is England (2006). 

Media Arc - Dan Gardner author of 'Risk: the science and politics of fear' (2009) - only certain representations will be made by the media depending on what fits with their existing narratives about that group/event.  

British Youth Riots Article

Riot Article

In reaction to the riots this article demonstrates a negative representation of british youth. They are portrayed as being violent, aggressive and not caring for anyone. This represents all British Youth in a particular way which is highly bias as not all British youth are like this. He describes British Youth as 'un educated' and 'bored'  making all the British Youth sound unintelligent and gives various quotes from people with the same opinions as him which subsequently builds a strong article building British Youths to be perceived negatively. He states it 'doesn't surprise' him, which suggests that this ideology is hegemonic however it is just his opinion. he states that British are 'even worse that' Iran and russians, this stereotypes these cultures also as being bad and thus stating Britain is worse than them. Showing images of other newspapers from around the world suggests this opinion of British Youth is now a world with stereotype, it demonstrates how the media can enforce such a belief to a vast amount of people in a very short time from one event in Britain. He also states that if British Youth cannot buy what they want materialistically then they will find a way of getting it whether this be stealing, suggesting that they do not care for anyone but themselves. Also, where are the statistics? there is no evidence backing his opinions up.




Academic Response

In response to the article, i feel like the British Youths are being unfairly stereotyped by the language, images and collective criticism. The article fails to acknowledge the majority of the British Youths that were not involved in the riots. These Youths have been stereotyped through no fault of their own and this is unfair. The fact that there is no statistical evidence for any of the accusations of Youths proves that the comments are of opinion. With reflection of who this opinion is from is highly significant. Bias opinions from the elderly whom aren't within the social environment of British Youths today do not see the majority of Youths that would demonstrate a nicer and more intelligent society. An equal amount of quotes if not more could be found where British Youths are not seen in the way this article makes them out to be.
By stating the minor aggressiveness that he witnessed outside his hotel as unsurprising, he reflects his own ideology in a hegemonic light however this was just his opinion. Also, by scrutinising British Youth this man has failed to realise he has also stereotyped other cultures such as russia and iran, stating British are 'even worse', to me this suggests this man is a very judgemental person to any Youths making his while article completely bias.



This article raises a moral panic. We need to consider whether this hegemonic representation of British Culture has always been around and just made more public with today's media or is it really the culture changing. Questions as to who writes the text, who's voice is heard and who's isn't should be considered.

Past and Present

Past and present youths both seem to be referred to in a negative light. Demonstrating youths as being ill mannered, disobedient and uncontrolled. The media today due to its vast sources can reflect this making the stereotype even more prudent, however in the days where media wasn't so bold in peoples lives peoples views were still very similar however these opinions were made by themselves and not just because the media said what children were like stating these statements may be a valid reflection.

Scene

The scene subculture is a contemporary subculture which has mostly taken place in United States, associated with a style of fashion and sometimes music. People involved in this style are called "scene people" or sometimes "scenesters".
scene kid = boy/girl. usually seen wearing neon colors w/ black. leopard and/or zebra print obsessed. hair colored at least 2 different colors and cut at different angles.

Chavs

Dictionary Definition: 
a young lower-class person typified by brash and loutish behaviour and the wearing of (real or imitation) designer clothes. 

Someone's description of a chav:
Picture this a young lad about 12 years of age and 4 ½ feet high baseball cap at ninety degrees in a imitation addidas tracksuit, with trouser legs tucked into his socks (of course, is definitely the height of fashion). This lad is strutting around, fag in one hand jewellery al over the over, outside McDonalds acting as if he is 8 foot tall and built like a rugby player, when some poor unsuspecting adult (about 17/18) walks round the corner wanting to go to mcdonalds for his dinner glances at the young lad, the young lad jumps up in complete disgust and says “Whats your problem? Wanna make sommin of it? Bling Bling” when the adult starts to walk towards the young lad, the young lad pisses himself and runs off to either his pregnant 14-year-old girlfriend or his brother in the army crying his eyes out.

Representation Definitions

Stereotypes 
A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.

Hegemony
Leadership or dominance, especially by one state or social group over others

Ideology 
A system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.