Youth and Culture

In what way does Buckingham and Giddens theories relate to Youth and Youth culture?

The Young Ones 1961

The Young ones (1961) illustrates a very positive representation of youth. Youth are mainly presented as happy, respectable, friendly, community activists and standing up for what they want in a responsible manner. Activism is generally associated with some public action designed to raise awareness around an issue usually related to matters of social, political or economic importance. This is particularly shown through their attempts to save their youth club from closure. The characters are also shown to be dressed in much more formal and smart clothing than modern day which provides a sense of higher class. Their etiquette and the dialects is also considerably better than today's youth, once again presenting them in a very positive perspective. Their passion seems to be singing and dancing which enhances the difference in normalities between 1961 and 2011 as the youth are seen to be running around the streets performing .

Attack the Block 2011

In comparison to The Young Ones, In Attack The Block (2011) the youthful characters are presented in an extremely negative light. They also seem to be community activists but in a much more negative way as attempt to raise awareness in regards to the alien invasion but end up causing trouble. They are seen to be considerably violent through the fact that they carry weapons with them with intent to cause harm. They also are portrayed to be rebellious through the recognition that they lie to their parent on their whereabouts and also through one of the characters being arrested towards the end of the clip due to the possession of drugs. Their use of vulgarisms and dress code provide the sense that they are significantly low in class and education which differ from the youth presented in 1961. However, a positive can be taken out of the clip as they seem to be loyal to their friends in the situation that they are put in.

Theorists

Anthony Giddens believes that there is a social structure which shapes our lives (traditions, institutions moral classes, established ways of doing things) but it relies on individuals following these structures. When they act differently the social structure can change. Structuration is the process in which human agency and social structure are in a constant relationship + social structure is reproduced by the repetition of acts by individual people and can therefore change. It is obvious that structuration has taken place due to the different representations of youth which were deemed to be normal in their times. It is evident that youth has changed between 1961 and 2011. Also David Buckingham believes that A focus on identity requires us to pay closer attention to the ways in which media and technologies are used in everyday life and their consequences for social groups. This can be deemed to be relevant due to the fact that in modern times there is much more technology and media in everyday life.

Representations of Islam

If both religions share a similar belief system, why are media representations in the West so different.

There are many similarities between Islam and Christianity in regards to their belief system. Both believe that There is only one God. He is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe and sent prophets. Followers of the faiths believe that people should follow the Ten Commandments and the moral teachings of the prophets and in return will be rewarded on the Day of Judgement where people will be judged. Islam and Christianity believe that there is hell as well as heaven where the good will be rewarded and the bad will be punished.

Since the 9/11 attacks in America media representations on Islam have changed drastically due to the media coverage on the Islamic followers. The view from the Western world on Islamic people is extremely negative as all Muslims are grouped as Jihadis and terrorists. Following the attacks there was a significant influx in Islamophobia where the media controversially debated the topic in a negative. This therefore caused stereotypes and generalisations to be formed on the whole religion based on only the minority which are claimed to be Muslim.These include that the religion condones and also promotes violence. This causes racism from the majority of supporters of Christianity in the western world to increase due to the representations presented by the media. The media creates these stereotypes and views by relating activities carried out by small minorities and the generalising the whole religion to be this way and therefore creating a very negative representation. These views are portrayed in a very bias fashion as well being heavily mediated as they do not take into account the vast majority of Muslims who are innocent and respectable followers of their faith, rejecting any form of this stereotype. As the 9/11 attacks was so horrific and significant in the US, it received a lot of media coverage where only the negatives of the religion a presented.

This topic can be considered to relate to aspects of Toderov's theory of equilibrium. This is because prior to the attacks, the state of the subject can be compared to the equilibrium of the theory. This is because the conflict between Islam and the western world was minimal and relaxed. Then when the attacks took place the disequilibrium was caused due to the disruption and chaos. However, this state is still ongoing which means that the new equilibrium has still not been achieved so therefore these events do not completely conform to Toderov's theory.

Representations in the media

Gender

http://video.foxnews.com/v/3500837339001/gender-equality-debate/?#sp=show-clips

In this Video from Fox News the interviewer and interviewees debate gender equality in regards to the success/income and of men and women. It is implied that women stereotypically earn less than men and therefore chose to marry 'successful men' which is proved from 'facts'. implying that if they marry less successful men that their marriages will end in divorce. It was also suggested that men look to marry women who are younger and more attractive.

http://bluenationreview.com/is-this-the-most-sexist-fox-news-clip-ever/

In this video once again taken from the Fox News channel there is a clear stereotype attached to women by Gavin McInnes. His view is very bias and subjective as he believes that women are less ambitious, better suited at home and accuses them to be pretending to like work and also choosing family over work. He goes on to state that women are emotional and also provides a stereotype of men that they earn more money than women.

Youth

According to this article in the Time Magazine British youth are violent, drunken and out of control. The front cover depicts a young man in a hoodie with mugshots of others across a Union Jack. It heading reads - "Unhappy, Unloved and Out of Control - An epidemic of violence, crime and drunkenness has made Britain scared of its young." The facial expression of the man is very serious and intense. This presents and stereotypes British youth as a whole to be extremely negatively despite this actually being the minority. The article later states that the boys and girls who casually pick fights, have sex and keep the emergency services fully occupied are often fuelled by cheap booze.

In this article from The Daily Telegraph titled Our Sick Society, three images of young suspects are used as possible looters in a riot. The fact that the newspaper chose to only include these 3 youngsters allows for generalisations to be made on youth today. This can perhaps form a stereotype to be formed, regarding the youth to be violent and immoral as they break the laws.

Islam

Once again on Fox News, controversial statements were made by the interviewee and interviewer. On this occasion it is in relation to muslims and "no-go" zones in Europe which are apparently dominated by muslims. This however isn't the case. This generalisation makes muslims seem violent as they suggest that are aggressive towards anyone who isn't a muslim. They include a clip of muslims on a train in France who are chanting, but this clip was in fact recorded 5 years prior to the show. Also they converse about women who wear burkas to hide their identities.


 

During this clip taken from Fox News the interviewee states that all 18-28 year old muslim males should be profiled and then strip searched. This is because he feels that they are a threat to civilians due to the possibility of them carrying weapons or explosives. This provides a very negative stereotype of muslims due to the actions of a minority of muslims. It is suggested that muslims are violent and responsible for terrorism, perhaps due to the 9-11 terrorist attack.

Identity

What is identity?

Identity can be argued to be something unique to each of us that we assume is more or less consistent over time. Our identity is something we uniquely posses: it is what distinguishes us from others. David Buckingham - 2008 - argues identity is complicated and complex.

Collective identity - the individuals sense of belonging to a group who share a set of traditions and values , part of personal identity.

Representation - any consideration of a 'collective identity' must take into account the role that representation plays within the construction of a media text.

not just representations from mainstream media but also through self construction by users of media

David Buckingham - A focus on identity requires us to pay closer attention to the ways in which media and technologies are used in everyday life and their consequences for social groups.

David Gauntlett - identity is now consciously constructed and the media provides some of the tools to help us construct our identities. The media contains a huge number of messages about identity and acceptable lifestyles.
At the same time the public have their own diverse set of feelings. The media and media consumer are engaged in a dialogue in which neither overpowers the other.

Anthony Giddens - there is a social structure which shapes our lives ( traditions, institutions moral clades, established ways of doing things) but it relies on individuals following these structures.
When they act differently the social structure can change. Structuration is the process in which human agency and social structure are in a constant relationship + social structure is reproduced by the repetition of acts by individual people and can therefore change.



Items that represent youth:

• Phones and technology
• Parties 
• Alcohol and drugs
• Music - 1D Justin Bieber, Stormzy
• Fashion - hoodies
• Sport - football and rugby
• Moped, bike
• Fast food