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

Discuss how one or more groups of people are represented through the media

When looking at society today, it is clear to see that there are many groups within society, and indeed many groups within those groups. The theories written by Michel Maffesoli in his book “The Time of the Tribes” identify and describe this: society is fragmented into many groups, which are then further fragmented into tribes. The tribes are for ever changing, never static. The media can be shown to represent different groups in different ways. One group in particular, British youth, is heavily represented by media, often in a very negative way.

The TV series White Girl is a story following a young girl named Leah, whose family escape the grasp of her abusive father, and end up living in a small Muslim community. Following the struggles Leah experiences concerning her parents and poverty, the audience watches her strive to break free of the identity she has, and find a new identity within the community she now lives. The result of this is her becoming Muslim.  

This TV series represents youth in a refreshingly positive way, in the way that Leah’s behaviours and attitudes developed and changed as she developed a post-modern identity, which contrasted greatly to the behaviours and attitudes she’d adopted with a modernist identity pressed onto her by family, community and religion, seen at the beginning of the series.

The series shows a youth that is heavily influenced by post-modernist identities and results in the identity shifting and changing to fit the narratives of the individual. This is suggested in the theories of the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur, who suggested that the narratives of an individual are always changing, and it is down to these stories and narratives that our identity forms.

Another media text that is representative of British youth is the film This Is England. In this film, the main character is a young boy named Sean who lost his father and lives with very little money, resulting in him becoming unhappy in his own lifestyle. Sean finds friendship in a group of ‘mods’ from which he copies their behaviours, attitudes, fashion, and appearance. Sean does whatever he can to become one of the gang, which proves difficult with his lack of money and his mother’s strict disagreement. The audience watch as Sean changes his entire identity, from the modernist identity forced upon him by his mother, to the mod identity of the gang to which he aspires.

This Is England represents youth mostly as the group of mods, that being yobbish and antisocial, with disregards for authorities as laws are disobeyed and Sean completely defies his mother. This can be described as Sean trying to break free from a modernist identity, controlled by his mother, society and what they expect of him. Sean desires a change of identity, which, as he does so, upsets his mother and represents him and British youth as a whole as rebellious and uncaring. As the audience identifies with Sean, the film represents British youth as misrepresented. This Is England supports the ideas of the theorists Paul Ricoeur and Anthony Giddens that the identity is never static, it changes with the narratives of the individual in order to suit them.

A final media text that represents British youth is About A Girl, a short film about a young white girl in a run-down area of Manchester. Her monologue describes her life in a light-hearted manor despite the depressing situations she experiences, for instance poverty, domestic abuse and family troubles. The film shows her loss of identity as her family is broken down, due to the absence of her father and the poverty her family experiences. She is clearly a very troubled child, dreaming of being a famous pop star like Britney Spears.

In this short film, youth are represented as disconnected and out of control. Youth seem to have completely distorted views and morals. Leah has lost her sense of identity, which is influenced heavily by her community and her family, who seem to have disregarded her welfare.

All three media texts represent youth similarly. The main character in both This Is England and White Girl experience a search for their new identity and a resulting change in their identity. In both texts, this is caused by their broken families and being neglected by society. About A Girl also outlines the influence that broken families and being neglected by society has on British youth, but doesn’t represent youth as searching for a post-modern identity, rather represents a youth that has lost touch with the reality of their identity and as a result forms a lost and damaged identity. The link between all three media texts is that they represent a youth of rebellion and disconnection in some form, whether it be rebelling against their parents and the modernist identity pushed upon them or rebelling against morals, whose personal identities are developed due to their narratives and stories.