Research on relevant historical texts...

Representations of Characters in Kidulthood:

I will be looking into the representations of the characters in Kidulthood and how they were presented in the past and compare to see whether these representations are being reinforced within the film or challenged in ADULTHOOD.

Moony:
Moony's character in Kidultood is a stereotypical representation of teenage boys as he is seen as violent, aggressive and sexually minded and active. This shows that in Kidulthood he is reinforcing this stereotype of teenage males and presenting them in a negative manner rather than positive. For example, we see this stereotype being reinforced as he picks a fight with two guys in a street and gets involved when beating up the main protagonist in the film ADULTHOOD, Sam in his own house.

However, his character does challenge this stereotype as he is more into his education and striving to do well for himself and get far in life. he challenges this stereotype further as he deals with revenge in a different and positive manner rather than the path that Jay has chosen to take.

Jay:
Jay's character in Kidulthood also reinforces the stereotypical view on teenage boys as being aggressive, sexually active and violently orientated. We see this in the film as he tries to have sexual intercourse with Claire in Sam's house and then beats him up straight afterwards.

However, his character in Adulthood reinforces the stereotype further as he is seen as a drug dealer and has more violent outbursts within the film than before and has vengeance in his mind and heart. For example, as he attempts to do a drug deal with the middle class man, he becomes very aggressive with him and forces his finance to flash him and ends up robbing them both. This shows that his character reinforces these representations in more depth and has progressed in a more negative manner.
Although this is due to the fact that he is not dealing well with the death/murder of Trevor.

Claire:
Claire's character in Kidulthood reinforces the stereotype of teenage girls being promiscuous and sexually active. We see her acting promiscuous as she is intimate with both Sam and Jay in Kidulthood, which shows she is unable to be committed. This shows that these stereotypes of teenage girls are being reinforced by the British media in a negative manner and adding more fuel to the fire and giving the media more ammo to reinforce these negative representations. By doing this, it creates a more unconstructive and negative image for teenage girls.

Although, in Adulthood her character does challenge this stereotype as she is seen holding a steady relationship and getting on with her life and doing well for herself. This shows that Noel Clarke is aiming to challenge these stereotypes and representations the British Media have given to teenagers, both males and females.


Although we don't see her character in the sequel, Adulthood, Becky reinforced the stereotype of teenage females as promiscuous, drug orientated and we even saw some scenes of her doing sexual actions to get some drugs. This then gives a negative image of teenage girls as she presents them in a unconstructive, off putting and degrading manner. This then portrays and puts a strain on the audience into thinking that all teenagers act this way, by doing so it portrays them in an unconstructive, demeaning and corrupting conduct.
Even though we don't see the main female protagonists taking part in this, there are scenes of bullying in Kidulthood. For example, the scene with Katy being beaten up in the class room by a group of girls. This shows that some females are aggressive and violent in some senses. This is also reinforced and seen in ADULTHOOD as we see Lexi being verbally and physically abused by girls in the hairdressers. This shows that not just teenage males are aggressive and violent orientated but also females.

This is being presented in the Media a lot more as we see more girl gangs being merged as well as male gangs. This also shows that Bullying is being put forward to media audiences and portraying that it is a serious issue and is progressing further and at times ends in serious consequences as we see in Kidulthood, when character Katie commits suicide due to this matter. This is brought to the attention to the media audience that it is a serious offence is getting worse each time.

This portrays that realism is used in the film, KIDULTHOOD, as serious topics such as bullying and the use of drugs are presented and brought forward to the media audience's attention, although you can say that the media do exaggerate these particular stereotypes and construct them to their liking and in a way to give a shock factor to gain people's attention and bring it to their attention of how teenagers act in an in describable way.