2. Big Questions
ā¢ How are teenagers and young people in
the media portrayed? Find egs online, tv,
film, advertising, music videos
ā¢ Are these portrayals accurate?
ā¢ How does the intended audience influence
the messages sent about youth in the
media?
ā¢ How do young people create their own
representations? How are these different
to those created and aimed at adults?
3. Starter Discussion
ā¢ Who is your favourite young person in the
media? (real or fictional)
ā¢ Why do you like them?
4. Hebdige (1979)
ā¢ Studied sub- cultures in 1970s.
ā¢ Subcultures allow youth to express
opposition to society and challenge
hegemony.
ā¢ Style is key aspect of subculture ā attempt
to resist hegemony.
ā¢ Representations tend to be limited: Youth
as fun or youth as trouble.
5. Who are
you?
Fashion:
Clothing, hairstyle
Music, art
Lifestyle/
practices
Subculture
Opposition/ resistance
To dominant culture
counterculture
Dialect/ slang
Place, gender, class, race
Who arenāt
you?
7. Article on pop tribes:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2
010/feb/25/emo-pop-tribes-modspunks
8. Jacques Lacan
ā¢ Mirror stage ā child begins to develop their identity
ā recognise themselves in a mirror at around 6
months, helps to develop sense of self.
Just like the recognition of the mirror, images
on screen offer:
ā¢ Identification
ā¢ Aspiration
ā¢ What are potential issues with this?
10. 1945-60: Birth of the Teen
ā¢ 1940s ā WWII = demand for labour = young people with
disposable income
ā¢ Economic potential is obvious ā market of the future
ā¢ But also the first negative stereotypes
ā¢ Youth simultaneously represented āa prosperous and
liberated futureā and āa culture of moral declineā
ā¢ First sign of adult cultureās dichotomous image of
teenagers
ā¢ Film example: āThe Wild Oneā
11. Generation gap
ā¢ Hegemony = a dominant social group
keeps an oppressed group in their
subservient position by making them feel
this position is ānormalā or desirable.
ā¢ Adult mainstream exploited the image of
the ārebel teenā
ā¢ Sold to teenagers as aspiration
ā¢ Sold to adults as a fear
12. James Dean ā an accurate
portrayal of youth?
ā¢ First celebrity to capture the
dissonance of youth;
ā¢ āRebel Without A Causeā ā
lots of delinquent behaviour.
Conforms to adult fears.
ā¢ But: Deanās character isnāt a
ābad boyā ā confused,
sensitive, frustratedā¦ and
very handsome.
ā¢ āLive fast, die youngā = the
start of adults fetishising
youth?
13. Each pair will be assigned a decade.
You need to use the internet to complete your row of this chart:
Decade
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
Movement (s)
Films
Event
Media
14. ā¢ Select a media representation of youth of your
choice. Choose some images and paste.
ā¢ Research and give examples of the positive and
negative audience reactions and interpretations to
this media representation. Variety of sources.
Remember Lacan and Hedige ā What did they say?