To what extent was a negetive view of British youth constructed by the media coverage of the summer 2011 riots?

Go to the link below to see my glog on the 2011 Riots.

http://www.glogster.com/georgehopkins/lyrics-glog-by-georgehopkins/g-6k4e8eaho27b9e65vq7iacp

1960s Youth Identity - A Different Representation

Let's go back in time to 1961, just 3 years before the media in Britain represented its youth as being violence driven hooligans who were a threat to the very fabric of society.

1961 saw the release of the film 'The Young Ones' starring, amongst others, Cliff Richard.

The story is about the youth club member and aspiring singer Nicky (Cliff Richard)  and his friends, who try to save their club in western London from the unscrupulous millionaire property developer Hamilton Black, who plans to tear it down to make room for a large office block. 

The members decide to put on a show to raise the money needed to buy a lease renewal. The twist in the story is that Nicky in reality is Hamilton Black's son, something he keeps keeps secret from his friends until some of them try to kidnap Black senior to prevent him from stopping the show. 

Although he is fighting his father over the future of the youth club, Nicky can't allow them to harm him, so he attacks the attackers and frees his father. In the meantime, Black senior has realised that his son is the mystery singer that all of London is talking about, after the youth club members have done some pirate broadcasts to promote their show. 

So, although he's just bought the theatre where the show is to take place, in order to be able to stop it, the proud father decides that the show must go one. At the end, he joins the youth club members on stage, dancing and singing, after having promised to build them a new youth club.

TASK

Here is the trailer for the film - how is the representation of British Youth different here to what you have previously seen? 

The way in which British Youth have been represented in this trailer is quite different to how British Youth were represented in the film 'Quadrophenia'.

• In the trailer for 'The Young Ones' the main character 'Nicky' (Played by Cliff Richard) seems to be a respectable and responsible young man, who doesn't smoke, doesn't swear and his main priority is to save the youth group that he and his friends go to. 
• In comparison, the main character from Quadrophenia, 'Jimmy' (Played by Phil Daniels) is a bad mouth drug taker who's only ambition in life is to ride his Lambretta, party and beat up any rockers who cross his path.
• British Youth is portrayed throughout Quadrophenia as people who go around causing anarchy, for example on Brighton pier, where the mods and the rockers took part in riots in shops and cafes.
• British Youth in The Young Ones however, are portrayed very differently. The trailer shows a performance in which the audience members are all youths, they are all sitting down, being very civilised and all wearing school uniform, showing that British 

Task: Mods vs Rockers in the 1960s : Creation of a Moral Panic

Read through and watch the text(s) below and then answer the question that follows in bold print at the end of the post...

One weekend in 1964 residents and holiday-makers in the seaside towns of Brighton, Bournemouth and Margate, were rocked by a sudden influx of young, cool gangs. They were Mods and Rockers, and the culture clash that occurred that weekend, described in the articles below in The Daily Sketch, Daily Mirror and others, has become iconic in the history of youth culture. 

Mods and Rockers were easily identifiable by their distinctive clothing styles: the Mods wore Fred Perry and Ben Sherman designer suits, covered by a Parka jacket; while the Rockers wore leather biker jackets and jeans. Mods also rode European scooters like Lambrettas and Vespas and listened to a mix of Motown, ska and bands such as The Who. 

The Rockers favoured motorbikes and listened to American rock and roll such as Eddie Cochrane and Elvis. Although the movements were short-lived, violent clashes between the two gangs were seized on by the media and used by moralists to exemplify the outrageous liberties enjoyed by Britain’s youths. 

The seafront vandalism and violence described in the newspaper article was later made into the 1979 film Quadrophenia.

The video below shows how the media in the 1960s reported the clashes between mods and rockers and considers whether or not the media coverage exaggerated the scale of events leading to a 'moral panic' in relation to the behaviour of these youth subcultures.

This is evidence of historical creation of collective identity for British youth cultures. 

 

The following is taken from bbc.co.uk:

The seaside battles between the sartorially elegant Mods and their leather-clad rivals the Rockers fuelled much sensationalist media coverage in 1964.

As news of the fighting and arrests filtered out, these youngsters found themselves at the forefront of public outrage.

In fact, the Easter weekend shenanigans were pretty much the first mass-media scare over a drug-taking, mindless, violent youth.

The trouble caused enough outrage for Panorama to investigate the groups and work out whether this phenomenon would be become a regular feature of future bank holidays.

The results were strikingly candid; providing a snapshot of working-class youth at the point where deference to the establishment was beginning to wane.

The Mods preached a hedonistic take on life; enjoying drugs, music, clothes and violence to a lesser or greater degree and set a blueprint for many a youth tribe to follow.

You can watch part of the Panorama programme by clicking on the link below..

I Predict A Riot

Question

In what ways do the media texts referenced above create a representation of young people as being danger to society?  
The use of 'Wild Ones' which it used frequently throughout the texts suggests that young people are a danger to society. the word 'Wild' is often assosiated with animals, suggesting  that the young people mentioned int the texts are acting/behaving like animals.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Mods VS Rockers- 1960's

The Mods

The Rockers

Dick Hebdige: Youth Subcultures

Dick Hebdige: Subculture The meaning of style - Click on the link to the left to go to the page.

"Member of a culture often subject their relationship through a distinctive and symbolic use of style, which includes fashion, music and mannerisms" Dick Hebdige (1979).


How to be a 'New Romantic' 

http://coolinthe80s.com/music/new-romantics/

Task 1: UK Tribes

What is UK Tribes?

Created by Channel 4 and Crowd DNA six years ago, UK Tribes is a long-standing study of British youth culture. 

Looking for something more innovative and authentic than a socio-demographic segmentation model for youth, our goal was to study the youth market in a way that reflected how they actually arrange themselves in our society. 

Tribal culture lives on in modern times, and we’ve got our neo-anthropological hats on to take you to the heart of young Britain. 


Working with over 80,000 young people since the project’s inception, the research approach is fluid and flexible, so each year the findings truly reflect what’s happening now. Absolutely no pigeon-holing in sight. Just simple, honest inputs we can use to dizzying heights in our output. The challenge is distilling the barrage of information into lucid insights for the marketing community, but we’ve got it down pat. 

You can view the UK Tribes website by clicking here. 

The project identified the following as the 2013 UK Tribes which represent British youth culture.

The Media and Collective Identity

We will be focussing on the ways in which the media represent the identity of British Youth Culture.

Through the work we undertake you should be able to resopond to the following 4 prompt questions:

• How do the contemporary media represent 'British Youth' in different ways?
• How does contemporary representation of 'British Youth' compare to previous time periods?
• What are the social implications of different media representations of 'British Youth'?
• To what extent is human identity increasingly ‘mediated’?

We will explore the representation of 'British Youth' across at least 2 different elements of the media. For film this will include theories of film representation and realism in relation to the history of British cinema, a range of British films from recent years, funding, Government and industry practices, and discussion of a critically informed point of view on how Britain is represented to itself and to the wider audience at the present time.

In order to be fully prepared for the specific requirements of the question, the material studied must cover these three elements:

Historical – the development of the media forms in question in theoretical contexts.

Contemporary – examples from no more than five years before the examination. That is, in our case, from no earlier than 2009.

Future – personal engagement with debates about the future of the media forms / issues in relation to the concept of 'British Youth'.

Rules For The Exam

The majority of examples you refer to in the exam should be contemporary. However, theories and approaches may be drawn from any time period.

If you refer to only one media area in your answer, the mark scheme clearly indicates that marks will be restricted to a maximum of the top of level 1.

If you fail to provide or infer historical references and / or future projections, marks will be restricted to a maximum of the top of level 3 for use of examples only.

What is the A2 Media Exam?

In A Nutshell The purpose of the exam is to assess your knowledge and understanding of media concepts, contexts and critical debates, through your understanding of one contemporary media issue and your ability to evaluate your own practical work in reflective and theoretical ways.

Logistics

The examination is two hours.

You will be required to answer two compulsory questions, on your own production work, and one question from a choice of six topic areas.

The unit is marked out of a total of 100, with the two questions on production work marked out of 25 each, and the media theory question marked out of 50.

Section A : Theoretical Evaluation of production

Section B : Contemporary Media Issues (Media and Collective Identity)

During Term 3 we will be learning about the contemporary media issue of COLLECTIVE IDENTITY in preparation for Section B of the exam.

During Term 4 we will be preparing for Section A of the exam in which you will be evaluating your own completed production work.