How do contemporary media represent British youth and youth culture in different ways?

Harry Brown (2009) Director: Daniel Barber

How does Harry Brown represent young people?

The use of hoodies is an iconic symbol for gangs.
The dogs, knives guns.
Drugs, sexual abuse/confrontation
Location- environment for the gangs is a survival place, and shows who you are.
Male dominance
Policewoman comes out stronger even when she had less status where nobody believed her
criminal behaviour
revenge
territory
Dialogue (colloquial)
Binoray opposition- Harry brown/gangs(lower class)   gangs/police(middle class)   Harry Brown/Police age difference creates this opposition aswell as social class
Dark lighting-negativity, shadows, evil, threatening
crime drama thriller genre

'Hoodies Strike Fear in British Cinema'
Guardian,2009

unemotional inactive fealings
thugs
Reflect them being monsters (Jaws)
It becomes scary on films because there is this sense of realism, that it could happen.
The hoodie hides their character and we don't understand them which makes them scary.
Non fiction is scarier.

reacting to the environment in which they are living in
it's harder to survive
upper/middle class vs working/lower class

right wing politics- hegemony they want us to belive about a particular thing about eg lower class. giving a clear distinction between them. the media emphasizes this. prior to the asbos being intriduced ..
police seen as heroes.

implications of the representations:

Fear
moral panic by making us believe a particular thing
influence us they way we think about youth culture

Eden Lake (2008) Director: James Watkins

How are Jenny and Steve (the main couple) represented?

• average happy couple
• middle class
• mature
• Innocent
• Vulnerable
• Defenseless
• Outnumbered 
• Steve is shown as the dominant one facing up to the gangs instead of Jenny at the beginning. However we see more scenes of Jenny trying to get out of this horrible situation where Steve becomes the weaker one.

How is this contrasted with the representation of the other characters?

• Kids powerful over Adults
• Careless
• Evil
• Ruthless
• Brutal
• The gang stay the same throughout the trailer, as they are the bad guys in the film so don't need to change.

How important is the issue of social class?

• Not that important, though an expensive car is taken
• Accents
• clothes (not blazers)
• Dominant Ideologies 'Normal people who are accepted in society' 
• or Todorov narrative theory where there is a disruption to the equilibium
• youths seem like monsters as they are a real fear

How are young people represented?

• Rude
• Agressive
• Find somoene and cause pain
• scene as an entertainment, nothing to do
• binary oppositions of youths where couple comes into their territory.
• like monsters, hunt in packs, always outnumber their prey (couple)
• meeting a pack of youths at night creates a scary feel.

Attack The Block (2011) Director: Joe Cornish

Youths packing in numbers at night.

hoodies,bandaders, baseball hats iconic props used

A bit of a pathetic group as they only gang up on one girl, quite jokey attitude

We don't take them seriously