London Riots in the Media

YOUTH

 

"A couple of hundred youths were rioting and looting. Riot police went in to get them out and there was a big fight in the street.

"Youths were throwing rocks and bottles and there was a bin on fire. They used a fire extinguisher to push the police back so they could get back into Currys and continue taking things out."

Buildings were torched, shops ransacked, and officers attacked with makeshift missiles and petrol bombs as gangs of hooded and masked youths laid waste to streets right across the city.

From Hackney to Croydon, gangs of teenagers fought running battles with police, making roadblocks from burning cars and ransacking shops. 
The thugs, some as young as eight, forced the driver to stop the double-decker by pelting it with champagne bottles stolen from a nearby Tesco.

Young and lawless

REASONS

Referring to the "copycat" violence across London, Clegg said: "Let's be clear, the violence we saw last night had absolutely nothing to do with the death of Mr Duggan. It was needless, opportunist theft and violence – nothing more, nothing less."

"Somebody described it as gangs of kids doing Supermarket Sweep. It was Curry's where they were after plasma screen TVs, and H&M and Foot Locker where it was clothes and trainers. It wasn't about social issues, it was an opportunity to go on the rob."

These riots reflect a society run on greed and looting

"no excuse for looting" and that smashing up shops, setting fire to cars and hurling scaffold poles at policemen is "completely without justification".

British Youth Representation Research

British Youth Representation in TV Dramas

How Representation has excelled over the years

 "Good Manners" (1930s)
very different to the representation of teenagers in Skins.
Tenagers;
well spoken
well mannered
very polite
tone is overall very calm and placid
obedient
conforming
un-sexualised and unsusceptible to the negatives of the world

"Derby Youth"(1947)
teens look very well mannered
school seems as if it has very strict regimes
young peoples clothing are neatly put together and if they are wearing a uniform it is spotless
like robots
females all sitting round in their spotless cotton dresses, knitting and sewing 

"Blooming Youth" (1970s)
had many similarities with Skins
students appeared to be very arrogant; they constantly spoke over one another and argued
smoked
talked about sex
cursed
used foul language openly
adult magazine in his room

"Three Minute Heroes"(1980s)
transformed and was even more like Skins
frequent use of slang and colloquial language by the teenagers in the school
dressed very youthfully in colourful outfits
girls tended to have vibrant and flamboyant make up
boys dressed rather casually and the girls wore quite dressy fashionable clothing
teenagers are represented as fun loving and superficial
care a whole lot about their looks and their outer appearance
immature
constant playing of video/ arcade games and play fighting, mainly from the male characters.
naïve
sex/virginity
music such as the punk bad the "specials"
stereotypical "Popular Guy"
loud
expressive
individual
outgoing
sexually aware

Comparison of British Youth in recent TV Shows

Skins (E4) - Negative Representation
always problems relationships, growing up
secrets
rude
joking
individual style
casual
work uniform
relationships
lesbians
sex
parties
crushes
middle class teenagers
drugs/ alcohol
interested in relationships and sex than education or workmany social groups

Glee (E4) - Positive Representation
individualism
friendly
singing and happy
exgarated clothing
cheerleading outfit
clothes relating to their social groups
rehearsals
care about grades
drama
serious relationships
disability
in song
not reality
friendly and happy
fairytale like

Inbetweeners - Realistic Representation
All sterotypes of students are represented;
Will – smart, confident, well read, quick-witted and outspoken
Simon – smart, confident, romantic
Jay – confident, sex pest, loud
Neil – confident, slow, crazy

How Realistic?

Students agree;
yeah we talked about shagging chicks all the time... id say its a good representation
there is a lot of truth there
most of my friends are boys, and they spend some time talking about the length of their genitals and sex

Students disagree;
i'm a male teenager but I'm mostly friends with girls
we rarely ever talk about sex
yes we talk about "shagging" but not as much as you might think, and not as explicit as you might think.

 

Media Theorists

David Gauntlett – Identity Theory (2007)

Identity is complicated. Everyone thinks they’ve got one. Magazines and talk show hosts urge us to explore our “identity”. Religious and national identities are the heart of major international conflicts. Artists play with the idea of “identity” in modern society. Blockbuster movie superheroes have emotional conflicts about their “true” identity. And the average teenager can create three online “identities” before breakfast.

David Buckingham – Identity (2008)

One the one hand, identity is something unique to each of us that we assume is more or less consistent (and hence the same) over time.. our identity is something we uniquely possess: it is what distinguishes us from other people. Yet on the other hand, identity also implies a relationship with a broader collective or social group of some kind. When we talk about national identity, cultural identity, or gender identity, for example, we imply that our identity is partly a matter of what we share with other people. Here, identity is about identification with others whom we assume are similar to us (if not exactly the same), at least in some significant ways.

Stuart Hall – Encoding/Decoding Theory

-Texts are encoded by the producers to contain certain meanings and representations which are then “decoded” by the audience.
-Audiences may interpret different meanings than intended by the producer.