Youth Representation Practice Essay

How is age represented in the extract?

Refer to:

Camera Work

Mise-en-scene

Sound

Editing

In 1904, Stanley Hall argued that young people are “emotional”, “depressed” and “criminal”. The media language in the extract supports Halls Theory in a number of ways, but also at times disrupts this and moves more towards the arguments concerning mixed metaphors of “Youth as trouble and youth as fun” that Hedbridge (1988) and Osgerby (1998) put forward concerning the media and stereotypes.

The extract starts with fast moving visually interesting montage of short clips that reveal the modern day setting and the characters. The whole montage is linked together using a sound bridge of up-beat non-diegetic music. The non-diegetic music acts as a mixed metaphor when read alongside the images because the shots shows the characters as being trouble/rebellious while the sound makes the whole thing sound ‘fun’. This connotes that the extract links and supports Hedbridge/Osgerby’s idea of youth as mixed metaphor.

In terms of the images themselves, there are a number of shots that tell the viewer a lot about the youth representation. First, there was a medium close-up shot of a teenager smoking; this supports Hedbridges theory that youth are trouble makers and connotes that teenagers are rebellious. There was also a close-up shot of a girl that was not dressed very conservatively, connoting that she is also rebellious. Another shot showed teenagers kissing which links with Stanley Hall’s theory that teenagers are addicted to sex. A close up shot of teenagers smiling and a medium ariel shot of them on a trampoline links with Hedbridge and Osgerby’s theory that youth is fun. An extreme close up of a girl crying and another one of a girl wearing dark make-up supports Halls theory that teenagers are emotional and depressed, which connotes that they are emotionally unstable.

After the opening montage, the next shot is extreme close up (birds eye view) of the main character. It zooms back to a high angle shot revealing an interesting mise-en-scene choice – the duvet that has a naked man and woman on it. The high angle connotes the audience should look down on the young male while the mise-en-scene choice connotes that teenagers are addicted to sex and are rebellious, linking to Hall’s theory because he says that if youth does not have excitement in a moral form, “it is more prone to be sought in sex or drink”. During this, there is an ambient sound of birds, which connotes that this scene starts in the morning. Next, the diegetic sound of Tony’s alarm plays – this goes against Halls theory that teenagers are lazy and depressed as he was awake before his alarm sounded.

During the next part, there is a diegetic sound of R&B / Hip-Hop music that plays while Tony exercises. The genre of music is associated with crime, youth and rebelling which supports Halls theory that criminal activity increases between the ages of 12 & 24. The lyrics to the song also link with Halls theory that teenagers are sex addicted and also with the fact the Tony is exercising and working out to make himself look more attractive. Throughout this part, the camera movement allows the viewer to see around Tony’s room: it is tidy, and his clothes are folded neatly which shows he might not be a stereotypical teenager, so it goes against Halls theory that teenagers are criminals and depressed as that would connote that they do not care for their homes or belongings.

The next shot is parallel editing and starts with a tracking shot revealing a young teenage girl. In terms of mise-en-scene, she is dressed in a short skirt, stockings, a low-cut crop top that is revealing and has dark messy make up; this links with Hall’s theory that teenagers are emotional and depressed, which connotes that they are emotionally unstable. It then goes to 1-2 shots between the neighbour and Tony. When the shot shows Tony’s point of view from his window towards the female, middle-aged neighbour that is naked, there is a hand-held camera movement, which connotes that he is excited – this links with Halls theory that teenagers find excitement in sex. The adult that he is staring at knows he is looking at her and encourages it - this goes again Halls theory that that it only teenagers that go through this stage of upheaval, “before establishing a more stable equilibrium at adulthood.” During this, the R&B / Hip-Hop music still plays with lyrics that link with Halls theory.

After this, there is more parallel editing between Tony and his sister, Effy. A high angle shot of Effy showing hand movements that show that she wants to be let in connotes that the audience should look down on her. It then goes to a medium shot of Tony turning up his music of a heavy metal genre to max, which gets his dads attention. When his dad enters, there is a medium shot of him shouting at Tony: “Tony! Turn it down!”, and calls Tony things like “Twat”. This links with Richard Butsch (1992) theory as he says working class males in the media are presented as; "Incompetent and ineffectual, often a buffoon, well-intentioned but dumb.”

During the time that Tony’s Dad is shouting at him, his sister lets herself into the house and up the stairs. As she comes up the stairs, there is a Hitchcock zoom, which connotes the state that she is in and the fact that she had been out all night. While this happens, their dad shouts at Tony: “Every fucking morning!” - this suggests that Effy is out most nights and Tony has to let her in using this method often, connoting that she is rebellious and in trouble often. When she gets into her room, the lighting is dark – this connotes trouble which links to Hedbridge’s theory. In terms of mise-en-scene, there are pillows used under Effy’s duvet to make out that she is in bed. She then gets changed into her school uniform quickly and takes off her make up from the night before – this shows that she is rebellious as she has been out all night without her parents knowing and links to Halls theory that “‘all’ young people go through some degree of emotional and behavioral upheaval”.