Task 6

An investigation into the representation of male teenagers in contemporary urban dramas.

Male teenagers are constantly being stereotyped from a negative view in the media. This representation of male teenagers has changed in a range of ways from a historical perspective. This essay will be an investigation on how male teenagers are being represented in urban dramas and if this representation is a good representation or not. In order to look at the representation of male teenagers, the examples that would be looked at are contemporary texts as well as historical to find out the ways that the representations have changed. The media texts that my essay would focus on are 'Rebel without a Cause' (1955), Alpha Dog (2006) and 'Adulthood' (2009). "Stereotypes come and go; they also change in the light of the shifting political cultural context" [1]. This would mean that if stereotypes are coming and going, it must mean that the representations of males are changing too which will be looked at. This essay would also include a conclusion on how male teenagers are being represented in urban dramas and what effect this would have on the audience and the public.

"The media can be seen as providing us with the information which tells us what it feels like to occupy a particular subject - position" [2]. This is shown as in the media male teenagers are being represented as aggressive, violent and irresponsible which is present in the media as the media is stereotyping teenagers in a particular way which is making the audience think like this too. As shown in the films, Adulthood, Kidulthood and Bullet Boy, male teenagers are being represented negatively in all films. This has been shown to the audience because of male teenagers getting involved in crime, taking drugs, getting involved in knife and gun crime with a lack of interest in education. This connotes that in these media texts, the male characters have similar roles because of them being shown as 'gangsters'. By this we can see that male teenagers are being given roles that would represent them negatively in the media and they are being shown in contemporary films such as the ones mentioned.

[1] Hayward, Susan. (2000): Cinema Studies - The Key Concepts. London; Routledge. Page 358
[2] Woodward, K. (1997): Concepts of Identity and difference. London; Sage Books. Page 64