“I want you to carve a "c" from the corner of him eye to the corner of him mouth” [1]
An investigation into the representation of male teenagers in contemporary urban dramas.
"Stereotypes come and go; they also change in the light of the shifting political cultural context"[2]. Like all stereotypes, the representations of male teenagers have been evolving throughout the years. Urban dramas, however, as a genre “of drama that focuses on issues and problems caused by modern and contemporary urban life”[3] and therefore conflict is often the essence of these films. The representations of males, therefore, have only had this negative portrayal of them emphasised. This essay will investigate the ways in which male teenagers are being represented negatively in urban dramas. In order to see the development of the representation, both historical and contemporary texts will be called into analysis.
The media can be seen as providing the audience with privileged information that tells us what it feels like to “occupy a particular subject – position”[4] which is shown in the vicarious pleasure audiences receive through identification with male teenagers who are being represented as aggressive, violent and irresponsible. This is shown in the films, ‘Adulthood’ (2008), ‘Kidulthood’ (2006) and ‘Bullet Boy’ (2004), in which male teenagers are represented negatively. Their negative portrayal is demonstrated through continuous involvement in crime (including knife and gun crime), taking drugs, and demonstrating a lack of interest in education. Yet, ‘Bullet Boy’ is also considered as a film that has a “valid storyline which will resonate and reverberate with different communities throughout the UK”[5]. This shows that gritty dramatic films such as ‘Bullet Boy’ may show teenagers through a negative view but they may also depict the realities of ‘ghetto life’ in their almost documentary approach. This demonstrates that in these media texts, the male characters have similar roles because of them being shown as 'gangsters' which demonstrates that they are being given roles that would represent them negatively in the media. This refers to the Cultivation theory as if male teenagers are always shown the same representation of them; they will not be affected by it and find that it is ‘normal’,
Due to the continuous negative portrayal of male teenagers, it has made this negative image the hegemonic view of them to the public and therefore a moral panic being generated. Stan Cohen has argued that the media labels youth culture in a “stereotypical and negative way”[6]. This shows that the media is increasing the negative representation of male teenagers which as shown in the film ‘Kidulthood’ which is a contemporary urban drama that has represented male teenagers in a horrific view. This was shown through the character Trife who is murdered in the film because of a dispute between the other male characters. This demonstrates that male teenagers are being represented in a threatening way that is leading to the audiences having the same view on male teenagers which is becoming a social and popular point in the media. This is because the media is generating many stories on teenagers and the public is talking about teenagers a lot because of this representation being repeatedly put in the public’s mind. This relates to the Copy-cat theory as teenagers may watch films such as ‘Kidulthood’ and be influenced and then do what is shown to them in the films. This shows the urban drama films that are produced on male teenagers may also hold a part in the representation of male teenagers in society as it is influencing them.
As a result of this stereotype of male teenagers created in the media has meant that “youths have suffered from a rather negative representation in the media”[7]. This negative view of male teenagers has created a moral panic in the media that could result in the self fulfilling prophecy as male teenagers would believe that they are in reality in the way that the media is portraying them and result to the Copy-cat theory because there are “violent visions of the young teen rebel and delinquent”[8]. This demonstrates that male teenagers are being influenced because of movies and this is also shown because the theorist, David Buckingham, believes that “young boys make sense of what it means to be masculine partly from the ways they talked about videos”[9]. This would mean that male teenagers mainly get influenced by videos and would encourage them to behave a similar way. This assumes that the audience is passive and “will receive without question whatever ideologies are presented”[10]. Similarly, in the hypodermic needle model, ideas are being injected in to the audience’s mind which is the situation with male teenagers as these ideas are being reinforced in their minds while watching films. This is shown as the film ‘Shank’ (2010) had been released when there has been a serious issue on knife crime as in 2009 the amount of “teenagers carrying knives had gone up a quarter to 23%”[11] which demonstrates that films are trying to show teenagers the right way whereas they are going against the message of the film which refers to oppositional reading according to the Reception theory where the audience sees what they want to and not what the producer wants them to see.
Over time there has been an increase in the change of the stereotypes of male teenagers in the media because in a historical view, male teenagers were not stereotyped as harshly as they are now. This is shown through the 1955 film, ‘Rebel without a Cause’ where it shows male teenagers being represented negatively whereas the male characters are not taking part in dangerous activities for example, the character Jim who is new to town is trying to gain popularity from his friends by taking part in activities such as car racing towards a cliff. This would be a negative representation of teenagers but it’s not as harsh as now as they are not harming anyone. ‘Rebel without a Cause’ was a film that was “accused of encouraging delinquency and driving a wedge between the younger and older generations”[12] which demonstrates that the film is encouraging male teenagers to go on the wrong path which would generate a moral panic in society today. ‘Rebel without a Cause’ is a film which is known to create a stereotype on male teenagers that is “inaccurate, simplistic generalisations about a group of individuals that may lead to a particular perception of the group by others”[13]. This shows that the way that male teenagers were represented in ‘Rebel without a Cause’, created a moral panic on teenagers and encouraged ‘delinquency’ which became a social factor. However, by comparing this to a contemporary media text such as ‘Notorious’ (2009), it is clear that the stereotypes of male teenagers in contemporary urban dramas have changed to a large extent because of labelling all male teenagers in a harsh way as Notorious was shown as a ‘street hustler’ who sold drugs to pregnant women. This refers to news values as the more negative news that are arising on teenagers, the more negative films are being produced such as teenage murdering had increased during the time period of when ‘Kidulthood’ was released. This demonstrates that as teenagers are always in the news, the public watches this and conform to the stereotypes of teenagers and then are shown a negative film on teenagers.
‘Fire with Fire’ (1986) is another historical text that looks at teenagers in a negative way. Tessa Perkins has pointed out that some stereotypes are based on “truth that can be observed”[14]. ‘Fire with Fire’ stereotypes male teenagers as being immature and against their parents which generates a moral panic. This was shown because the young female and young male is attempting to run away from their parents together. This shows that this is reinforcing the typical stereotypes of teenagers which are that they are “moody, argumentative, violent and causing trouble”[15]. This representation is seen as negative against teenagers because of “dominant assumptions of our society”[16] that have been created because of dominant groups that have control over the subordinate groups. This film could become a social factor in the media because the audience would watch this and be influenced to believe what is shown in the film which refers to the hypodermic needle theory.
Another contemporary film that focuses on male teenagers is ‘Alpha Dog’ (2006) because it looks at a variety of different crimes that male teenagers take part in as there are scenes with male teenagers using props such as guns, drugs and involvements in street fights. Films such as ‘Bullet Boy’ are leading to an “increase in juvenile delinquency”[17] as male teenagers are repeatedly being represented in a very negatively. This influences the audience to believe that male teenagers are in reality like this as they are shown a negative view thus generating a moral panic in society. The theorist, Glen Lewis believes that within certain limits, “aggressive male behaviour is accepted as a normal part of everyday life”[18] because it is shown in every urban drama films. This demonstrates if this male behaviour is being shown repeatedly, it raises the question, why is the representation of male teenagers being created in to a moral panic. This is because it is being accepted by the audience which relates to the dominant reading according to the Reception theory because the audience is believing what the producers are showing them and conforming to those ideologies.
Furthermore, by looking at the film ‘Who’s your Caddy’ (2007), it demonstrates the effect of teenage gang as there is streetwise crew disruptions that take place in the film. Films such as ‘Who’s your Caddy’ makes it clear to the audience that teenagers are a group to be afraid of and are referred to as “a gang of criminals”[19] due to the use of bribery amongst male teenagers and guns. By this we can tell that the media is repeatedly creating this negative view of male teenagers that has meant that the public is viewing teenagers negatively too. This would relate to the Uses and Gratifications theory because the society is using male teenagers as surveillance. This may also refer to personal relationships as by watching these films; male teenagers might relate to the character and create a relationship with the character and will increase the amount of negative stereotypes of male teenagers.
The institutions of urban drama films could be held responsible for the representation of male teenagers as institutions are repeatedly creating this representation of male teenagers and showing them in a negative light in the media. This could be because institutions have produced films that can be seen as “determining factors”[20]. This demonstrates institutions and the media have the power through “selection and reinforcement to give us very influential portrayals of a whole range of groups”[21] as the media is representing male teenagers negatively to create moral panics and influence the audience. This would be a social factor because many people that have seen films that have this representation would think that teenager males are in this way.
To conclude by looking at the representation of teenage males in urban dramas, teenagers are repeatedly viewed negatively and this is shown in contemporary texts such as ‘Kidulthood’ that show teenagers getting involved in murder and violence. The representation of male teenagers has changed, however, from historical texts such as ‘Fire with Fire’ as representations are “not fixed for ever and [it] is possible to observe changes over a period of time”[22]. In addition, Dyer also believes that representation involves “media language and the conventions that are used to represent the world to the audience”[23]. This shows the media could be held responsible for the negative representation of male teenagers because they construct them in producing mediated men. This stereotype is being reinforced in society and is influencing male teenagers to be more like this. This demonstrates the hypodermic needle model as institutions are injecting ideologies into male teenagers and resulting in them actually behaving in that way.
Word Count – 2086
[1] Kidulthood (2006)
[2] Hayward, S (2000) p358.
[4] Woodward, K (1997) p64.
[6] Sardar, Z, Loon, B (2000) p77.
[7] Rayner, P, Wall, P, Kruger, S (2001) p68.
[9] Nicholos, J (1998) p45.
[10] Hall, J, Holmes, P (2008) p93.
[11] http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/12/knife-crime-prison-sentences
[12] Bennett, P, Slater, J, Wall, P (2006) p133
[13] Bernadette, C, Neil, C, Ben, F, Lewis, J (2002) p229.
[14] Rayner, P, Wall, P, Kruger, S (2001) p69.
[15] http://www.coursework.info/University/Mass_Communications_and_Documentation/Media_Studies/Film_Studies/kidadulthood_review___How_are_teenagers_L137186.html
[16] O'Sullivian, T, Dutton, B, Rayner, P (1994) p81.
[17] Carter, C, Weaver, K (2003) p52.
[18] Mackinnon, K (2003) p11.
[19] Gifford, C (2006) p9.
[20] Strinati, D (2006) p57.
[21] www.mediaed.org.uk/posted_documents/repsyouth.html
[22] Phillip, R, Wall P, Kruger S (2002) p68.
[23] Lacey, N (1998) p131.
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