Magic Paragraph

Collective identity is a very difficult concept to define. This is because it is such a broad area that can be expressed through a number of cultural materials including “names, narratives, symbols, verbal styles, rituals, clothing and so on”, all of which were established by a theorist named Polletta, and therefore because there are numerous factors affecting collective identity, this prevents the word from developing a concise meaning. To define “identity” as an individual word alone is also very problematic. This is because, as quoted by David Buckingham “identity is something we uniquely possess.. yet on the other hand, identity also implies a relationship with a broader collective”.  Therefore this makes identity complicated because it can be used to define and represent two completely contrasting factors. Equally, to define the concept of “collective” can be just as difficult. Collective refers to a group and is “a perception of a shared status or relation”, however there are so many different factors that can influence collective identity such as social class, gender, age and so on and this is where it becomes difficult to understand the entire concept of what collective identity actually is. Trying to define British Youth as a collective identity is again very complicated as there are so many contrasting stereotypes within British Youth, for example “grebs” who listen to rock music and wear black clothing and “chavs” who listen to grime and wear tracksuits and hoodies, and therefore this represents why we as an audience cannot simply define British Youth as a single collective identity as there are so many implementing factors within this category. I will be exploring my chosen texts, all of which come from the British media, to analyse the representations that the producers have chosen to construct focusing specifically on gender within British Youth, and whether or not the media portray male and female stereotypes accurately.

 

Easter Essays

Explain how far your understanding of the conventions of existing media influenced the way you created your own media products. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how this understanding developed over time.

My prior understanding of conventions in existing media influenced the way that I created my media products significantly.

My AS production was the opening sequence of a thriller and therefore I did a lot of research into similar products to ensure that I followed conventions correctly to make my own product successful. The first convention that I noticed was apparent in a lot of opening thriller sequences was that the end of the story was shown at the beginning and therefore I used this technique in my own work as I found from research that it was a successful way of enticing an audience and films that had previously done this such as Saw, are all very successful media products. Another technique that is apparent in thrillers was flashbacks. I chose to adapt this technique into my own production because I thought that it was a positive way of attracting my audience’s attention from the beginning and as a result achieve the main purpose of an opening sequence. Furthermore, from prior knowledge and research, it is important that there is a hidden storyline within all thrillers to ensure their success. Therefore I transmitted this technique into my opening sequence, by not revealing enough of the storyline for the audience to completely understand what was going on. Furthermore by using a secret/code message “the next is among you”, allowed me to achieve this technique and put the audience in suspense due to the mystery that I was aiming to create. One other convention that I knew was extremely important in thrillers was music, as music plays a major part in creating the right atmosphere and building suspense for the audience. Therefore I used a nine inch nails track which sounded very sinister and dark as I think that this worked complimentary with the storyline of my opening sequence and added to the atmosphere. Overall I think that I applied a lot of conventions from existing media into my own product to make it successful and as true and stereotypical to similar products as possible.

Furthermore, my knowledge of existing conventions also influenced my A2 production in several ways, which was a trailer for a new adventure film that would be released in the near future. One technique which I noticed was apparent in all adventure films was that there is always an iconic object, for example treasure in Pirates of the Caribbean, the ring in Lord of the Rings and so on. Therefore I adapted this technique into my own work, however using a map as my iconic object as the storyline was that the main character was out on a quest and therefore this was appropriate. I think that it is important for all adventure films to have an iconic object as it is often the basis for the entire product and as a result I ensured that my production included one, to follow this important and stereotypical convention. Another technique that is apparent in the majority of adventure films is that there is some form of “adventure” or “quest”, like there is with films such as POTC and therefore again I decided that it would be important to apply this into my own work. To do so successfully, I showed the main character walking out with a suitcase in his hand and various shots of a map to make it obvious to the audience that the central character had set out on a quest. Furthermore, in doing so, it created a sense of mystery, which again is a stereotypical convention of adventure. However, when producing my A2 production it was not only important that I followed conventions of adventure films, but further, was equally important that I followed conventions of trailers. Therefore I did a lot of research into trailers which enabled me to do so successfully. Stereotypical conventions of trailers are that the studio production will appear at the very beginning, followed by the production logo, which I did in my trailer. Credits often appear at the end, and there are a variety of shots and speeds used for different clips often broke down by transitions like fade to black. I followed all of these conventions when producing my trailer to ensure that it looked as realistic as possible and therefore ensure the success of my product. I also knew that the music, theme, font, studio names and all other aspects of the trailer had to be fitting with the genre of the film and as my film was an adventure I ensured that all aspects were generic to this.

Prior knowledge of existing media further influenced the ways in which I produced my two ancillary tasks. My first ancillary product was a magazine cover; I researched into several film magazines such as Empire to get a clear understanding of the layout and then adapted these conventional features into my own magazine. Some of these conventions included taglines and puffs, which I used in my own work to make it look as realistic as possible. I then placed an image of the main character central on the magazine cover, in front of a background image of a map, as I had a clear understanding that the graphology of film magazines had to be fitting with the genre of films that they are advertising. My second ancillary product was a poster. I wanted the poster to look simple with one recognisable central image as my understanding of conventions influenced this because I knew that this is what a lot of adventure film posters do, such as the Harry Potter posters.

Overall, I think that my understanding of the conventions of existing media influenced the way I created all of my media products, and that as my course progressed, my understanding and interpretations of adapting these conventions has developed significantly.

Analyse A2 in relation to the concept of narrative.

I am going to analyse my A2 production in relation the concept of narrative. Narrative in media regards essentially regards “how the story is told” and can be made up from conventions of genre, character types, form and time.

For my A2 production I used an open structure to therefore leave the audience in anticipation of what is happening and further allowing them to create their own assumptions if they wish to do so. I chose to use an open structure as my production was a film trailer and therefore it was important that the audience were left wondering what was happening to entice them to watch the full version of the film on its release.

Propp’s theory regarding narrative considered character types and narrative functions, also known as narratemes. Every character within a piece of media has a “type” whether it is a hero, villain, side kick or so on. Only one character is present throughout my production and the character type that it portrays is an anti-hero. I think that anti-hero is best to describe this character type because it is unclear to the audience whether the character is good or bad from what they are shown, and though we can guess he is on some form of “quest” which may suggest that he is a hero, the overall portrayal is very sinister and as a result I have chosen to connote this character as an “anti-hero”. Propp also talks about narratemes and he lists many of them. I think that there are two main narratemes presented throughout my production which are “hero leaves home”, when we see the character take a suitcase and set out on his journey and “hero acquires magical object”, which in this case would be the map as the character needs his map to set out on his quest.

Barthes is another theorist who deals with narrative in the media. He talks about a series of codes which are read and interpreted by the audience. Two of the codes which Barthes discusses are represented within my A2 production. The first being the “enigma” code, which is something hidden from the audience, and the second is the action code, which is something that the audience understands without requiring explanation. The enigma code can be used for my production because the entire storyline is hidden from the audience as it is a trailer and they have no real understanding of what is happening, and furthermore the action code can be used because the audience will understand from seeing the map and having the character walking out with a suitcase, that not only is the genre action but also the character is on some form of quest.

For my A2 production, I can also use a theorist called Levi-Strauss who talked about binary oppositions within media texts. Though there is only one character in my production, the opposition would be man V nature, as the lead character sets out on a quest of the world.

Overall, I think that my A2 production displays several different concepts of narrative.

Discuss how one or more groups are represented through the media.

The media portray several different stereotypes of male and female British Youth. It is my belief that male stereotypes are more realistic in the media, however I think that this is also influenced by the fact that there is a lot more variety with male stereotypes in the media, as females are often dismissed, which alone could represent the dominance of male youth over female youth in the British media. I have chosen to use Skins, Kidulthood and Harry Brown as my three texts as they will help me to explore my hypothesis because they are based around British Youth and each have a variety of different male and female stereotypes represented within them.

Historical representations of British Youth in the media are in some ways very different from modern day representations. They are different in the way that previous representations, though may still have been negative in some ways are not nearly as vulgar or violent as the representations that we are exposed to today. Some people say that this is due to the behaviours of British Youth becoming worse and the media portraying these behaviours, however some would argue that representations are unfair and that British Youth do not display nearly as negative attitudes and behaviours as those that are represented in the media.  

In Kidulthood I have chosen to focus on four characters; Alisa, Becky, Trife and Sam. I have chosen these characters as they all have very opposing stereotypes and portray British Youth from a variety of angles. Though Alisa and Becky are both females of the same age, and friends within the film, their personalities couldn’t be any more contrasting. Alisa is pregnant, and though at times she displays irresponsible behaviours, we can tell that she is actually very mature for her age and develops a responsible attitude towards having a child. Whereas Becky is the complete opposite and tries to pressure Alisa into getting an abortion, she further craves male attention and comes across as being “easy” and at one point in the film we even see her sleep with an older man for money, which is a very degrading behaviour of a teenage girl. Though this film represents the contrast in female British youth, and Alisa’s character is more responsible, I think that representations of female youth are still very negative and associations are always of a sexual nature which is an unfair portrayal. Both of the female characters are used as sexual objects, as Alisa is pregnant and Becky displays “easy” traits and therefore female characters are viewed as narrative functions, rather than well rounded characters. I think that the producers represented these characters in this way because they wanted audiences to view British female youth as a collective separate to male youth and furthermore to represent their lack of importance compared to male characters.

Furthermore, though the male characters in the film all come across as “criminals” and “chavs”, there is still several different representations of them throughout. The character Trife strives acceptance from others, whether it is his friends or his uncle. However, although he displays very negative and horrific behaviours, such as when he cuts a man’s face because his uncle tells him to, we can tell that he is just a confused teenager that wants to fit in with others. I think that Trifes character is quite an accurate portrayal of teenage males in British media as they do look for belonging and acceptance within social groups. Sam’s character is again very different to Trifes. Sam’s reputation is very important to him,  he protects his family – whether it blood related or “street” family and we know that this is true as he beats up Trife in the final scene to prove his “street rep” and defend his name. I think that Sam’s character displays a lot more strength and confidence than Trifes does and though both characters are very different, I think that Sam’s character is also realistic of some British male youth as boys of this age do portray characteristics that are represented in Sam’s character. I think that the producers created more diversity with the male characters, to represent a wider variety of personalities which supports my hypothesis that male characters are considered more dominant and realistic within the media.

I think that overall, both genders characters are portrayed realistically to some extent, although I do think that the male characters within the text are shown more realistically as there is more realism and variety with the behaviours that they display. However, despite the realism in the characters, I think that the portrayal of British youth is still very unfair as there isn’t much positive representation in any of the characters shown within the text.

Skins is another text that I have chosen to use to help me explore my hypothesis. I have chosen four characters to discuss; Tony, Michelle, Sid and Effy, as I think that these characters represent contrasting gender roles very well. Tony is a stereotypical “top boy” in his school with friends that look up to him and girls that want to be with him. He likes to go out and party, he smokes weed, and even peer pressures his best friend Sid into buying weed. He further argues and fights with his dad a lot and tries his best to get his friend Sid to lose his virginity before he turns 17, because it would be “embarrassing” if he didn’t. I think that Tony’s character, though at times can be a bit exaggerated, is actually a quite realistic portrayal of British male youth at his age. Sid on the other hand is a very contrasting character to Tony. He comes across as nerdy and sloppy, and we know that he is not good with girls as he is still a virgin and foolishly in love with Tony’s girlfriend, who would never go for a boy like Sid. As an audience we feel sympathetic towards Sid’s character and can empathise with him at times, which I think despite his character being completely opposing to Tony’s, represents the realism in his character also and that the portrayal of British male youth is in fact to a certain extent realistic. I think that the producers created two completely opposing male characters within the programme to represent the contrast in British youth and therefore for this, I think that Skins displays a more realistic representation of male youth.

Michelle is Tony’s girlfriend within the programme. She loves Tony, but knows that he doesn’t love or appreciate her as much as a boyfriend should and despite her character being loud and confident, she doesn’t really stand up for herself when it comes to this. I think that this is an unfair portrayal of British female youth as it suggests that males are always dominant in relationships, which is not always true and therefore this representation is not as realistic as the males within the programme. Effy’s character within the programme is again very different to Michelle’s in ways. Effy as Tony’s little sister is an interesting relation to explore. Her parents believe that she is their innocent little girl, though we know otherwise. When she goes into hospital because of her drug overdose, her parents blame her brother, even though it was not his fault, but he takes the blame for her (which is a realistic representation of male youth as they will often defend and look out for their younger sisters.) Effy’s character, though comes across as very quiet, she secretly has a very wild trait that she does not let anyone know about. When her parents split up, she “goes off the rails” and is afraid of commitment and love due to her parents separation. This represents a realistic portrayal of British female youth as parent’s separation often affects females more than it does males and this has been represented accurately in her character. Again, the female characters, like in Kidulthood are reliant on males as Michelle and Effy are both reliant on Tony. Producers chose to represent female characters in this way to make the audience feel like they are superior to male characters and as a result, not as important.

Therefore, I think that representations of both genders in Skins are both realistic in ways, however I think that male characters overall are portrayed more accurately as characters than the females.

Harry Brown is a film that I have chosen to discuss as I think that it is a really good text regarding British Youth. The dominant gender of British youth within Harry Brown is males. The males in the film are all vandals and thugs, they take drugs and drink, abuse the elderly, graffiti, victimise people in their neighbourhood, carry weapons, belittle female characters and generally display disgraceful and criminal behaviours. These are all very negative portrayals of male British youth, and I think that they are very unfair representations as it leads viewers to believe this is what all members of British youth are really like. The two main male characters; Noel and Marky are especially represented negatively as they are shown physically and verbally abusing other characters, especially the older generation of characters.

 

Female characters do appear but are not as important as the males (which alone can represent that the media are able to stereotype male characters a lot easier than females), the females that are shown are used by the male characters as sexual objects, they are “easy” and want to be accepted by the males which is stereotypically associated with teenage females. I think that Harry Brown probably portrays the least accurate representation of British youth; though some traits of the characters are realistic I think that overall representations are overly negative for both males and females.

 

I think that overall, both genders of British Youth, though displayed negatively, do portray some realistic representations. However the representations of male youth are portrayed more realistically than females as the attitudes and behaviours that they display are a lot more accurate and there is also a lot more variety with the representations. I think that future media texts will continue to follow this trend as historic and modern texts have all done so. 

Submarine

How far are the characters in submarine representative of British types of youth? Discuss with reference to the film, and examples from other British TV and film.

There are three main characters in the film Submarine who represent different types of British youth, some following more stereotypical conventions than others. 

Oliver Tate - the main character

 

Submarine_pic
Throughout the film Oliver's character does not appear to conform to the stereotypical conventions of a British teenage male that we would often expect to see portrayed in the media. Oliver's character within the film could be considered as "unique". He displays unconventional traits and behaviours. Oliver is extremely inquisitive and gets himself involved in all sorts of awkward situations - whether it be with his parents, Jordana, people from school etc. Furthermore, Oliver often appears distanced to others in the film and does not "fit in" with the charatcers that surround him, his relationship with his parents is very unusual as he confronts his mother about her and his fathers sexual relationship, he freuqently gets bullied in school and he even finds it hard to relate to his girlfriend. Oliver's character can also appear to be quite sinister at times as he often speaks about his death and has to read aloud a suicide note that he has written after Jordana has broken up with him. Though Oliver's character could overall be considered nerdy, his personality suggests that it is more complex than that.

 

However, although Oliver's character does not often portray a stereotypical young British male, at times his character does display the conventions that we would expect to see as an audience. Oliver wears dark, plain clothing, a stereotypical convention of a British teenage male. Oliver's bedroom is painted blue with posters hanging on the wall, a skeleton model placed in the room and is overall messy. Oliver bullies and gets bullied for the girl he loves - Jordana. He wants to lose his virginity and even arson is shown within the film. These are all expected behaviours and traits of a youth culture and therefore represents stereotypical conventions of his character well.

Jordana Bevan - Oliver's girlfriend

 

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Jordana's character again does not always portray steretypical conventions of a young British female. She is very blunt and sarcastic, and does not express feeling or emotions in the way that teenage girls are often expected to. Furthermore she doesn't want a cliche relationship with Oliver and he tries harder to impress her than she does him, which is an unconventional feature of teenage relationships, as typically it is usually the female that is more "head over heels" than the male. Jordana is always seen wearing a large red coat, which could signify her bold and strong character as she seems very independant and unreliant on others throughout the film. 

Chips - the school bully

 

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I think that Chip's character is most representative of British youth than the other two within Submarine. He is a typical school bully who thinks that he is "cool" and "hard". He gives insults and sends notes around the classroom to embarrass other students (such as Oliver), he mocks other peoples problems and would do anything for popularity and status. Although Chips is a bully, he does not come across as violent or fierce, however more the "class clown" bully who gains popularity by stupidity.

If I had to compare the characters in Submarine to other charatcers in British TV and media I would most likely choose the characters from The Inbetweeners. This is because the characters in both Submarine and Inbetweeners have very abstract personalities and also Inbetweeners is a more realistic portrayal of youth than other TV programmes such as Skins and because these characters don't follow stereotypical conventions that have been created by the media I think that Inbetweeners is therefore a more similar portrayal. I think that Oliver is most like the main character Will, who wants to prove his intellegence but in doing so always ends up in awkward situations, whereas Chips would be more like one of the other charaters, such as Neil, as he is more laid back and enjoys life.

Overall I think that to some extent the characters within Submarine are representative of British youth, however I think that their is more complexitiy and perhaps even realism to the characters in Submarine then the stereotypical portrayal of British youth that the media often exposes audiences to. 

Submarine

How far are the characters in submarine representative of British types of youth? Discuss with reference to the film, and examples from other British TV and film.

There are three main characters in the film Submarine who represent different types of British youth, some following more stereotypical conventions than others. 

Oliver Tate - the main character

Submarine_pic
Throughout the film Oliver's character does not appear to conform to the stereotypical conventions of a British teenage male that we would often expect to see portrayed in the media. Oliver's character within the film could be considered as "unique". He displays unconventional traits and behaviours. Oliver is extremely inquisitive and gets himself involved in all sorts of awkward situations - whether it be with his parents, Jordana, people from school etc. Furthermore, Oliver often appears distanced to others in the film and does not "fit in" with the charatcers that surround him, his relationship with his parents is very unusual as he confronts his mother about her and his fathers sexual relationship, he freuqently gets bullied in school and he even finds it hard to relate to his girlfriend. Oliver's character can also appear to be quite sinister at times as he often speaks about his death and has to read aloud a suicide note that he has written after Jordana has broken up with him. Though Oliver's character could overall be considered nerdy, his personality suggests that it is more complex than that.

However, although Oliver's character does not often portray a stereotypical young British male, at times his character does display the conventions that we would expect to see as an audience. Oliver wears dark, plain clothing, a stereotypical convention of a British teenage male. Oliver's bedroom is painted blue with posters hanging on the wall, a skeleton model placed in the room and is overall messy. Oliver bullies and gets bullied for the girl he loves - Jordana. He wants to lose his virginity and even arson is shown within the film. These are all expected behaviours and traits of a youth culture and therefore represents stereotypical conventions of his character well.

Jordana Bevan - Oliver's girlfriend

Yasmin-paige-as-the-fireb-007

Jordana's character again does not always portray steretypical conventions of a young British female. She is very blunt and sarcastic, and does not express feeling or emotions in the way that teenage girls are often expected to. Furthermore she doesn't want a cliche relationship with Oliver and he tries harder to impress her than she does him, which is an unconventional feature of teenage relationships, as typically it is usually the female that is more "head over heels" than the male. Jordana is always seen wearing a large red coat, which could signify her bold and strong character as she seems very independant and unreliant on others throughout the film. 

Chips - the school bully

11198723_ori

I think that Chip's character is most representative of British youth than the other two within Submarine. He is a typical school bully who thinks that he is "cool" and "hard". He gives insults and sends notes around the classroom to embarrass other students (such as Oliver), he mocks other peoples problems and would do anything for popularity and status. Although Chips is a bully, he does not come across as violent or fierce, however more the "class clown" bully who gains popularity by stupidity.

If I had to compare the characters in Submarine to other charatcers in British TV and media I would most likely choose the characters from The Inbetweeners. This is because the characters in both Submarine and Inbetweeners have very abstract personalities and also Inbetweeners is a more realistic portrayal of youth than other TV programmes such as Skins and because these characters don't follow stereotypical conventions that have been created by the media I think that Inbetweeners is therefore a more similar portrayal. I think that Oliver is most like the main character Will, who wants to prove his intellegence but in doing so always ends up in awkward situations, whereas Chips would be more like one of the other charaters, such as Neil, as he is more laid back and enjoys life.

Overall I think that to some extent the characters within Submarine are representative of British youth, however I think that their is more complexitiy and perhaps even realism to the characters in Submarine then the stereotypical portrayal of British youth that the media often exposes audiences to. 

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

Analyse Arthur’s behaviour in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, identifying examples of positive and negative behaviour as read by a contemporary audience.

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning was a film produced in 1960. The film portrays the behaviours of youth within the city, focusing especially upon the main character Arthur, a typical portrayal of a working class young male within this era whose weekly routine is to work in a factory all hours, followed by a weekend spent with friends in the pub drinking alcohol and flirting with females. 

The behaviours which are displayed by Arthur in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning would overall be seen as negative when viewed by a contemporary audience in the 1960s. Some of these negative behaviours include Arthur having an affair with a married woman, which in 1960 would be completely disapproved of and serious punishment would come as a result, as shown later in the film when Arthur gets beaten by the soldiers. Furthermore, the affair leads to the pregnancy of the married woman Brenda and when Arthur finds out the news his immediate reaction is to persuade Brenda to have an abortion and seeks advice how to go about it. Though this may still seem like a negative response today, in the 60s it would have be viewed extremely worse by a contemporary audience as abortions were in fact illegal and would have cost phenomenal amounts for the little money that the working class received, however this did not seem to affect Arthurs decision and it appeared that he was determined for Brenda not to have the baby as he did not want to take on the role or responsibilities that come with being a parent.  

Arthurs character further displays negative attitudes of youth as he is a stereotypical young “lad” who drinks too much, is involved in violent behaviours and has a resentful attitude towards society. During the film we see Arthur shoot an elderly woman in his neighbourhood and also put a rat in a woman’s work space for entertainment, which again, viewed by a contemporary audience would be considered extremely disrespectful for a member of the youth to behave in such ways to the elderly and women. Overall the attitudes that Arthur displays represents that he is trying his best not to conform to society, but rebel against it when he can do so.

However, not all of the behaviours that Arthur’s character displays are negative. He works full time and helps his mother by giving her some of his wage every week, he goes out fishing and has a good time with his best friend Bert, he offers to pay for Brenda’s abortion, which although may have been for himself, it would still have been a lot of money for him to pay and the gesture of him offering to do so represents a more positive side of his character. Therefore, although the overall conception of Arthur’s character would be viewed as negative, he does at times portray the attitudes of a caring and friendly young male.

Towards the end of the film, we see that Arthur has settled down with a young woman his age called Doreen, who he had been seeing throughout the film. The two characters are discussing about getting their first house and living together, which would be considered the norm for a contemporary audience. This represents that despite Arthur’s efforts not to conform to society, he has in fact done so. This suggests that eventually all members of youth grow up and conform to society, behaving as they are expected to do so. 

"In Harry Brown, young British people are portrayed as nothing more than enemies to be defeated. They are no different from the monsters, aliens or enemy troops in any other action film. Discuss with close reference to examples from the film."

The portrayal of British youth within Harry Brown is extremely negative and displays to the public that young individuals in society are in fact “monsters”.

The opening sequence of the film alone is very powerful in displaying the monstrous and criminal behaviours of British youth as two teenage boys aimlessly ride around shooting a gun in broad daylight and murder a mother walking her baby, with no justification other than entertainment and no guilt, other than worry of being caught. Therefore, from the very beginning, the audience feel a sense of hatred towards the young people that are shown due to the way that the media is representing them.

Another sequence within the film that portrays British youth as “enemy troops” is when the character Marky shows Harry the video of Len being killed by his friends and him. When we, the audience watch the video and see the sickening ways that the boys torture the old man by beating him to death, again gives a horrific representation of British youth.

Furthermore, towards the end of the film when the "battle" between the teenagers and police is taking place, the actions and language used by the teenagers is appaling and disrespectful. We see them smashing windows, setting fire to things, physically and verbally abusing police officers and people in authority, vandalising people's homes and so on. This influences how the media portray British youth and reason that they do in fact need to be defeated to protect society. 

Throughout the entire film, there is only one main point where justification to the behaviour of the young individuals is given to the audience. This is when it is revealed that Marky has experienced sexual abuse throughout his life and then later on in the film, it in fact shows him being sexually abused and having to perform a sexual act unwillingly. Although this makes the audience empathise with the character and almost relate to why he behaves the way he does, this is only shown for a short period of time and is not a leading part of the storyline. Therefore, despite little justification, the portrayal of British youth is still extremely negative.

Overall, representation of British youth in the media, and specifically in Harry Brown is extremely negative and they are portrayed in such a way that can only be described as monstrous.

 

Harry Brown

Codes

Camera
A variety of shot types are used to add emphasis to the storyline. Close ups were used on the teenagers faces when they were being questioned  in prison, and at various other times to represent their fear. Close ups were also used on Harry to represent his sadness and anger at different times within the programme. Long shots were also used, particulary when showing the estate, when Harry was watching the teenagers through his window and also at the end throughout the fight. These helped to emphasise the "dirty" location and mess that the teenagers had made due to their disordely behaviours. Shots were variying and effective throughout to represent characters, feeling and location and helped emphasise the overall storyline that was being told.

Editing
 

Sound
Music used throughout was often very dark and sinister to help portray the story that was being told. Whenever Harry looked out of his window, it become a recognisibile feature that the music would remain the same each time and became louder, faster and more dark as something bad was about to happen. Furthermore, when the two police officers are walking through the estate, loud "dance" music could be heard, a stereotypical feature of the type of music that teenagers would be associated with listening to. 

Mise-en-scene
Mise-en-scene portrays stereotypical features of youth throughout the film.  One main feature is the costumes that are worn by the characters. All of the teenagers are seen wearing hoodies and tracksuit bottoms, portraying the characters as common. Also, by having all of the teenagers in the same clothing, helps to identify them as a "gang", which from the storyline we know is true. Lighting and colours used throughout are all very dull and most scenes happen during night in the dark, which helps add to the sinister tone that the film sets. Props are used in the form of weapons throughout - guns,knifes and so on, which again give the message that teenagers are involved in and "enjoy" physical violence.

Conventions

Characters 
The teenagers that are shown are all represented as villians and their sidekicks within the film. They all play negative roles and have negative attitudes towards society and others within it. Although Harry displays physical violence within the film, we would not necessarily associate his character as being a villan, but in fact a victim and hero as he fights to protect  his friends and what is right within his neighbourhood. 

Narrative/Plot
The narrative helps to emphasise a clear divide between youth and an older generation, and this divide is not questioned at any time throughout the film. It portrays youth in the most negative way possible to the audeince. 

Dialogue
The teenagers within the film use slang throughout such as "bruv", "init", "you get me" and so on, Their accents are also very common which would suggest that they lack intellegence that the older characters display.  

Ethnicity
All characters within the film are white and there are no racial issues represented. 

Reigonal Identity
The location and setting played an important role within the film, all of the characters were from a council estate that looked very run down and poor. Therefore suggesting that the behaviours of the youth are to some extent a result of their regional backgrounds. One of the teenagers mentions that his dad used to "own the estate", therefore representing that the youth consider their estate as their own and they are in the highest power within the estate. 

Gender
Most of the charatcers were males. This portrays the stereotypical assumption that it is more likely to be males displaying violent behaviours and getting into trouble with the police, than it is females. Also the males treat the females in a negative way throughout, referring to them as "bitches" and "slags", and one of the young males even "sells" a girl to others, representing that the males believe they are more superior and females allow them to take this role. 

Class and Status
From the setting, language, costume and several other features we know that all of the teenagers are stereotypical council estate, common people with lack of money and education and this reflects in their agressive behaviours - again, a very stereotypical feature. 

Negative/Positive portrayal
The tone of youth representation throughout is very negative, and the teenagers have been portrayed in some of the worst ways possible, displaying violent attitudes, vulgar language and generally horrific behaviours. However, the storyline also gives us some background information about their upbringing which at times makes us emphathise with the characters as they may not know any other way to behave. For example one of the teenagers gets sexaully abused, and another is trying to follow on his fathers footsteps. Therefore although most of the time the youth are portrayed in negative ways, there is some justification as to why, so therefore audience attitudes may change during these times. 

Use of recognisable stereotyping
The characters within the film are portrayed as stereoypical common teenagers. They take drugs, deal drugs, use vulgar language, display violent behaviours, carry and use weapons, smash cars and properties, vandalise their estate, thieve, are disrespectful towards the police, are dirty, watch porn, wear hoodies, have sex wiith underage girls and so on. All of these are are recognisable stereotypical features that are associated with youth today.