Representation of Age

Which of the youth types are most represented by the media?

Delinquent youth teenagers are most commonly associated with

delinquency (i.e drugs/alcohol, anti-education, violence)
Examples of this can be seen within the news, wherein over half of stories
about young men are those surrounding crime, with words such as
inhuman, evil or feral used to describe them in instances where boys
are portrayed as model students or perfect children, it is usually within
a story about their death
This often leads to teenagers fearing one another, becoming wary of and
separating themselves from their own peers

Which youth types are most prominent in TV drama?

TV Dramas which are aimed towards young people often have more
diverse/complex representations of youth for example, delinquent
teenagers within The Fosters are not presented inhumanly or as innately
evil, but rather as having to deal with other external issues influencing
their behaviour
This is due to the fact that TV Dramas aim to prompt identification within
their target audience teenagers need their emotions and complexity
validated rather than overlooked
In spite of this, there are few TV Dramas displaying politically militant
youth, perpetuating the idea that young people are passive and unaware
of real issues

How (narrative, character types, technical aspects) are they

represented?

Young people are often represented through opposition formed between

various character types or groups (i.e respectable vs delinquent) as
stated in Strauss theory of binary opposition, the innate differences
between the groups highlight aspects of the other (for example, the
excessive obedience of the respectable youth brings strong contrast and
emphasis to the anti-educational attitude of the delinquent youth)
The fact that TV Dramas often span over a number of episodes/seasons
allows character development to be substantial as a result, they are
often prone to develop a characters backstory/emotions further, providing
more insight into the cause of delinquency (as opposed to presenting it as
a result of innate evil)

Why do you think they are they represented that way?

The maintenance of limited diverse representations means that the

identities of young people are categorised into one of Brakes 4 groups
as a result, teenagers become forced to limit themselves as well as their
peers to these groups
 This reinforces the idea that there are fundamental differences between
different groups of young people, disregarding shared emotions/feelings
and further isolating teenagers
The purpose of this within the media can be for both entertainment (i.e the
separation into various groups can be a source of humour) and
identification (though in an exaggerated, hyperreal manner)
These representations also allow audiences to identify recurring character
types/tropes, and thus predict what will happen within the narrative

Do you think they are fair/accurate?

Generally no young people are represented as 2-dimensional, and

fundamentally part of their designated group
This devalues the complexity of their lives/identities and, as a result,
devalues the credibility and intellectually quality of their opinions