1. Representation of Age

3. How does Catherine Tate change herself to make her characters?

4. Stereotypes of Age
Write down some stereotypes of age in the media for;
Old
Young

5. Stereotypical Characteristics
Young
Old
Immature
stupid
greedy,
lazy
selfish
unfit
obese
violent
callous
gullible
unreliable
careless
self-entitled
never going to achieve anything
Grumpy
out-dated
slow
weak
whining
unable to use technology
unhealthy
miserly
hard-of-hearing
ugly
never go anywhere
Forgetful

6. YOUTH OLD AGE POSITIVES NEGATIVES Active Sociable Innocent Strong
Long future ahead
Adventurous
Fun
Wise
Authoritative
Well educated
Freedom
Wealth
Stability
NEGATIVES
Lazy
Rebellious
Rude
Hormonal
Vulnerable
Naive
Dependent
Weak
Fragile
Mentally incompetent
Not in control of their own bodies
Lonely
Boring
Unwilling to try new things

7. Who is being represented?

8. History
Media representations of young people have always tended to be negative, e.g. ‘The Wild One’ (1953) shows a motorcycle gang terrorising a small town. ‘Made in Britain’ (1982) focused on a delinquent, anti-social youth.
(TWO)
(MIB)
Both representations reflect anxieties of middle class adult society, in relation to the threat to hegemony posed by young people.

9. Representations which are the same as the dominant representation REINFORCE the stereotype
Representations which are different from the dominant representation CHALLENGE the stereotype

10. Represented as….. Immature…stupid…greedy…lazy
The representation is (HOW)
Modern
Traditional
Dominant
Alternative
Narrow
Dis/ empowering
Over/under-represented
Reinforcing/ subverting a stereotype
AVOID Positive/ Negative

11. What representation does the front cover create?
How would the majority of readers respond to this front page?
Discuss the use of language on the front cover how does this create a response?
What visual codes are being used?
How does the front cover as a whole create a narrow/ disempowering representation of young people?

12. Stereotypes of young people
Discuss – Are they true? Reason why media use stereotypes? What can be the effects of stereotypes?
Discrimination

13. http://www. dailymail. co
To print

14. Task for Tomorrow Watch the videos and answer the following question
Which video has the most ‘truthful’ representation of youth in your opinion?
Use the following to help you:
The representation in the first video is
Modern
Traditional
Dominant
Alternative
Narrow
Dis/ empowering
Over/under-represented
Reinforcing/ subverting a stereotype
AVOID Positive/ Negative
Because….

15. Tessa Perkins
Stereotypes…. “grain of truth”

16. Crime and Age – Is is right to rep as criminal?
Age also makes a difference in criminal behavior
Offending rates are highest in the late teens and early twenties and decline thereafter. Accordingly, people in the 15–24 age range account for about 40 percent of all arrests even though they comprise only about 14 percent of the population.
Several factors again seem to account for this pattern
First, peer relationships matter more during this time of one’s life than later, and peers are also more likely during this period than later to be offenders themselves. For both reasons, our peer relationships during our teens and early twenties are more likely than those in our later years to draw us into crime.
Second, adolescents and young adults are more likely than older adults to lack full-time jobs; for this reason, they are more likely to need money and thus to commit offenses to obtain money and other possessions.
Third, as we age out of our early twenties, our ties to conventional society increase: Many people marry, have children, and begin full-time employment, though not necessarily in that order. These events and bonds increase our stakes in conformity, to use some social science jargon, and thus reduce our desire to break the law

17. But…

18. Theorists
Dick Hebdige (1979) explored the polarised (contradictory) media representations of teens as “trouble”(dominant) or “fun” (alternative).
Michael Brake (1985) categorises the media representations of teens into:
Respectable (alternative)
Delinquent (dominant)

19. More Theory
Daren Garratt (1997) suggests that negative media representations of teens as trouble invite teens to be trouble. “Media coverage represents how they should behave, even if, largely, they haven’t been.”
Graeme Burton (1999) argues that teen subculture is in opposition to the dominant culture (of adults). He uses the term ‘problematisation’ to describe the idea of youths as problems.

20. One more bit: Stuart Hall (1978)
Argues that the negative representations of young men by the media, is deliberate as it justifies social control by authority figures, such as the police and government.
Hall identifies the media as having a key role in this ‘social production’ of news. Youths are often portrayed by new media as a social problem.

21. Ideology Moral panics! Stanley Cohen (1972)
A moral panic occurs when society sees itself threatened by the values and activities of a group who are stigmatised as deviant and seen as threatening to mainstream society’s values, ideologies and /or way of life.
Mods & Rockers (1960s), football hooligans (1980s), hoodies, muggers, vandals, knife/gun crime, binge drinking, under age pregnancy
Ideology

22. Process of a moral panic
Occurrence of deviant act.
Act or problem widely reported in media: news outlets; internet chat rooms; fictional narratives; video games…
Call for government control either from legislation/policy initiatives or the more vigilant operation of already existing social controls.

23. The Dominant Representation of youths
‘Delinquent’ (Michael Brake).
‘Trouble’
(Dick Hebdige)

24. Go back and look at… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrCPEqDiXik
Is the representation of youth successful?

25. 6 Point Plan: Case study template

27. Skyfall - James Bond meeting Q The scene in the James Bond movie "Skyfall" where 007 and Q meet each other for the first time.
Representations? Subverting stereotypes

28. Reasoning
50th anniversary of the film Pillars of British acting, self-parody jokes throughout – Sam Mendes plays with the generic conventions of the Bond franchise to ensure Skyfall is contemporary and offers something different for the mass target audience.
“Brave new World”

29. Context and Purpose
The representation in a media text may have a different purpose. This may change according to the type of text it is, i.e. the context.
Ill Manors (MUSIC VIDEO)
Teen Awards (WEBSITE/ VIDEO)
London Riots (Newspaper)
Skins (Poster/ Trailer)
What are the purposes of these?

30. Conclusion
Sum up argument – As I have shown most media representations of young people are negative. This is because they reflect the concerns of their middle class producers, and as a result usually reinforce hegemony…
More positive representations can be found on television channels aimed at younger people.
The effect of media representations of young people is…
In the future I believe…(social media, young people can construct their own representations – Student Fees protests, power of mass media).

31. A final thought…
There is no single 'media representation' of youth or older age; there may be dominant representations (delinquent/trouble/grumpy), but across films, TV, fiction and documentary there are significant differences and nuances which need to be teased out and considered.
AO!: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of media concepts, contexts and critical debates

32. Homework Written Task (50 mins)
Using Representation Essay Template.
With reference to your own detailed examples, explore the representation of age in the media today.
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of media concepts, contexts and critical debates