AgeBy Emma Jane Laffoley

Parents are aged 35-40 The parents aren’t really interested in anything as they’re quite boring and there are no

hobby related items around the house. They care about the age of their daughter as she is dating an older man, however they

don’t care about their own age really. There are more middle aged people (3) as apposed to one 20 years old. In the extract the middle aged couple see the other middle aged man as abnormal as

he’s dating a woman a lot younger than himself. The dad treats the middle aged man like he’s abnormal and he’s disgusting for wanting

to get with his young daughter. However Steve is represented as dominant as he has a job in theatre and is making jokes that both the mum and daughter laugh at.

The clip is trying to portray middle aged people as boring as they have no hobbies or interests and are just sitting on the settee, whereas 20 year olds(the daughter) have been represented as fun and interesting as she’s going out and finding love and also says she has something to do after they leave her parents house, whereas the parents don’t do anything after she leaves.

Blackpool

Age of the teenagers – 16-18 as they’re still attending college and look young. Age of Effy’s dad – middle aged around 40-45.

Teenagers are represented as being interested in; drinking, taking drugs, skateboarding, sex and women. The teenagers in the clip were misbehaving by causing traffic by skating down the middle of the road, illegally drinking and smoking (drugs) and pretending to be hit by a car.

Middle aged people are represented in having no interests other than caring about their car more than other people and work.

Age is important to teenagers as they want to stay youthful, however also want to be able to drink and smoke (although they still do it but illegally). Age isn’t really important to the middle age man as he only cares about work.

Teenagers in this extract have been represented as more powerful as even the old lady went along with what Cook was saying. Also there are more teenagers in the clip than adults.

Adults in this clip (specifically Effy’s dad) treat teenagers badly. This can be seen when Effy’s dad starts shouting at Cook even though (apparently) hit Cook with his car and he blames cook for riding his bike.

The message in the clip is trying to portray youth as fun and exciting as apposed to adults who have been represented as boring and lack excitement.

Skins

Comparative Youth Culture

Respectable youths aren’t represented in the media anywhere near as much as delinquent youths are. Conventionally in the news we hear more about teenagers who have; stolen, vandalised, taken drugs and started riots as opposed to hearing about respectable youths and what they’ve done for society. This is negative as it means that teenagers are usually associated with being delinquent youths who do nothing good for society, even though that’s not the case, most youths are respectable.

An example of a respectable youth in TV drama is JJ from Skins as he is constantly telling the others that what they’re doing is a bad idea (taking drugs, smoking & drinking) so he doesn’t conform to what they’re doing.

Respectable Youth

Delinquent youths are a type of teenager that is seen the most in the media. Newspapers constantly use these delinquent youths as a top seller story about how they’ve committed a crime or set a house on fire or something stupid of that nature. Delinquent youths are essentially the main stereotype of teenagers as the mass believe that all teenagers are badly behaved.

This relates to Dyer’s theory of stereotypes legitimising inequality as if teenagers are represented as being delinquent youths in the media then the majority will automatically see a teenager and associate them with being a delinquent youth.

Examples of delinquent youths in TV Dramas would be Skins’ Cook. This is because he gets involved in illegal activities such as; smoking (underage), drinking (underage), starting fights and taking drugs. Also in one episode he is seen rebelling against all of the school rules and setting fire to a locker.

Delinquent Youths

Cultural rebels aren’t featured in the media as much as delinquent and respectable youths. This is because they’re considered the minority. Also because they’re not creating chaos like Politically Militant Youths are.

I feel like the representation in the media is accurate and they don’t portray them in a negative manor as they’re usually protesting for the right things in the right way, such as lowering the student fee for university. This doesn’t cause chaos and they don’t start riots to get their points across.

Cultural Rebels

Politically Militant Youths are represented in a negative way in the media. They try to be peaceful, instead they’re being aggressive about it by causing chaos. These types of youths will start fires and break shop windows to try and get their point across.

There aren’t really any politically militant youths featured in TV Dramas as it would cause controversy if they were to be featured in a programme.

Politically Militant Youths