First Paragraph Rewrite...

“6 and a half years and that’s what you want ... You think you’re a bad man Jay, I thought I was a bad man remember that, I thought I was a bad man and they put me in a big man Jail”[1]

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 Maltby “Self-conscious Subculture”[2] actually developed between the 1920’s and 1930’s. Teenage representations within the media has progressed and developed over the years. It could be argued that the British media represent teenagers in a negative, unconstructive and degrading manner than any other media across the globe. Adulthood is one of the contemporary media texts that show how “the media labelled youth culture in a stereotyped and negative way”[3] thus creating “moral panic within society”[4]. As Adulthood is the most relevant and recent film text on teenage representation and shows how teenagers are portrayed within the Media, taking into account that it is a British made film, it is the most relevant film text to focus upon in this essay.
1950 films such as “Rebel without a Cause” (1955)[5], “Teenage Crime Wave” (1955)[6] and “The Wild One” (1954)[7], 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 went further back than the 50’s. The Media and Films, named above, showed the “So called social problem”[8] that was wrong with the teenage generation.

[1] Adulthood, (2008)
[2] Maltby, (1988), Cinema Book, 2nd edition, Page 213
[3] Cohen, Stanley (1972) “Folk Devils and Moral Panics” Page 77
[4] Cohen, Stanley. (1972) “Folk Devils and Moral Panics” Page 77
[5] Cook, Pam& Bernink, Mieke.(1999) The Cinema Book,2nd Edition, Page 213
[6] Cook, Pam& Bernink, Mieke.(1999) The Cinema Book,2nd Edition, Page 213
[7] Cook, Pam& Bernink, Mieke.(1999) The Cinema Book,2nd Edition, Page 213
[8] Cook, Pam& Bernink, Mieke.(1999) The Cinema Book,2nd Edition, Page 213