Media representations are complex, not simple and

straightforward- How far do you agree with this statement?

Representation within media has always provoked controversy and

discussion surrounding whether the complexity and depth of certain
collective identities such as youths are often inaccurately portrayed. The
representation of the youths in the media effectively shapes how we see
most youths in everyday life. The portrayal of certain groups of people in
media, specifically youths can often be seen as somewhat negative and
simple, the idea of youths being closely linked with vandalism, drugs, sex
and gangs is not a recent one. Films dating back to the fifties such as The
Wild One and Rebel Without a Cause again depict youths as a terror to
the natural society. We see this repeat throughout film history, with mods
and rockers, punks, rave, and among many other stereotypes. Throughout
this time, teens have often represented a resistance to the hegemony and
ideology of the bourgeoisie. This act of revolt against the elites of the
state is the catalyst of these negative interpretations of youth within
media, and is therefore transferred into thoughts about youths in the real
world. Cohens theory of moral panic allows us to see that many people
base these representations we see of youths in the media around fear and
anxiety of anarchy and revolt. The theory in itself highlights the narrow
mindedness of the media and the overreaction from the public. Believing
that youths create societal issues rather than understanding they are a
product of them, can often be the reason many argue that the simplicity
of the youth representation within media is dangerous. The issue of class
within youth culture can also be very simplified with the representation of
youths. We often see rivalries and attacks between middle and lower class
groups which not only paint youths in a bad light once again but also
allows for a divide within youth culture itself. This negative view of youths
is often believed to be very closed minded and simple compared to the
reality of youth culture, often giving characters very one-dimensional
personalities rather than allowing them to be fleshed out characters with
complex personalities and opinions.
In television, the complexity of youth cultures representation has
changed dramatically over time. The representation of youth culture as
we would recognise it today started with the 1978 show Grange Hill. In
this show, the representations of youth culture are very complex, as we
see the young people portrayed to all be very different. Grange Hill
tackled very controversial subjects such as sex, drugs and violence in a
way that would today seem very tame, but for its time it was controversial
and ground breaking. Black people were part of the main cast, and this,

along with the aforementioned subjects, caused quite a stir amongst the
hegemony. Grange Hill went against Hebdiges theory of youth are shown
as either trouble or fun, there is no inbetween, as it showed characters
that could be both or neither of these things, and gave the viewing public
an almost real-life look at comprehensive schools at the time.
Byker Grove, first aired in 1989, is another youth culture drama that
proved controversial to the views of the hegemony through its complex
representation of a youth club in Byker, Newcastle. In this TV show, the
characters were working class youths, and like Grange Hill issues such as
drugs, violence, sex and even sexual violence were explored. Both these
shows caused a Moral Panic, in line with Cohens theory. These shows
were among the first that were specifically for young people, and so
therefore did not contain the simple representations of youth culture that
served to alienate young people as can be seen in earlier shows.
The complexity of media representations in contemporary youth drama is
much less than the historical counterparts, however the volume of content
available to and specifically for young people is higher than it has ever
been. Every TV network wants a piece of this lucrative market, and
channels such as E4 and BBC3 cater almost specifically for the young
people.
However, there is solid evidence that although the number of shows has
drastically increased, the complexity of the representations is decreasing
steadily. This can be seen in the BBC3 show Some Girls. This show is a
perfect example of Hebdiges theory that I mentioned before, as the
characters are all extremely stereotypical in a way that shows how the
characters have been crafted to be relatable to as many different people
as possible. The reason that they can be relatable is that the characters
are so simple they together they have basic qualities that everyone have.
Their characters never go beyond the clever one, the angry one, the
stupid one and the sarcastic one. This representation of youth is very
much trapped within a closed box, and the characters are not able to
explore different traits that create a real-life personality.
Even shows that are realistic such as E4s Youngers follow this trend to
some extent. Although the characters are vastly more sophisticated than
that of Some Girls, we can still see that Jay is trouble and Yemi is
serious. This again follows Hebdiges theory of the representation of
young people, and the fact that these two shows demonstrate this is an
example of Girouxs theory of adults not understanding the true
complexity of young people. The makers of these shows are adults, and

therefore create characters that represent their opinion of what youth

culture.
Furthermore, I would say that the fact that the representations of youth
are much less complex now than they were in the 1970s and 1980s is
masked by the sheer volume of youth culture content currently available.
The shows in the past were limited, so the characters had to be complex
in order to portray all aspects of young peoples lives. The fact that the
market is so saturated nowadays means that production companies can
create simple characters. There are so many shows that the
representation of youth is still as good as it was in the past, it is just
spread over a number of simple representations rather than few complex
ones. For this reason I would say that for television I would disagree with
the statement in the title, and conclude that media representations of
youth culture in this media format are simple and straightforward.
In the future I can only predict that this trend will continue, as the ability
to create and share youth drama starts to have a much wider availability.
We have seen that dramas have been created on free platforms such as
YouTube, with the channel This Is Drama producing the questionable
series 5-A-Side. At the moment the amount of youth culture drama on
YouTube is limited, like it was on television in the 1970s, however it will
become better and more popular in the future. As it starts to be taken
more seriously, actors that at the moment are firmly focussed on
conventional television will start to work in YouTube and other internetbased dramas. This allows the market to become even more saturated
than it is today, further simplifying the representation of youth culture in
the media.