First Paragraph Task...

Have the representations of teenagers in the British Media changed for the better or have they become worse? With particular reference to the film, Adulthood.

The modern teenage culture emerged during the 1950's, however according to Maltby "Self-conscious Subculture" actually developed between the 1920's and 1930's. Teenage representation within the media has progressed and developed over the years. In particular the British Media represents teenagers in a negative manner. In fact you could say that the British Media portray teens in the most unconstructive and degrading way than any other media across the globe.

1950 films such as "Rebel without a Cause" (1955), "Teenage Crime Wave" (1955) and "The Wild One" (1954), just to name a few, were about juvenile delinquency, Juvenile wildness and Juvenile crime that went as far back as the 20's and 30's. These 1950 films represented teens as rebellious and conniving which then indicated, what they thought, the authenticity of teenagers.
Overall the above shows that the media's negative and unconstructive representation of teenagers stretched back as far as the 1920's. The Media and films, named above, showed the "so called social problem" that was wrong with the teenage generation. As Adulthood is the most relevant and recent film text on teenager representation and shows how teenagers are portrayed within the Media, in particular the fact that it is a British made film, it is the most relevant film text to focus upon in this essay.