Representations of Teenagers:

Essay:

Many Media texts feature real people and real places. Are such representations more realistic?

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Get Real Film Poster
     In this essay, I’ll be discussing how realistic some of the media texts that feature real people and real places are. Most of the representations in the media today are exaggerated to an extent for entertainment purposes; such as soaps, news, films and even reality shows. However, most people believe these representations and judge people based on them even thought there not realistic. I will be looking at the representation of some groups such as British teenagers and young black men in soaps and movies. In addition to that, I will also be looking at the representation of places such as the slums of Rio and London hoods.


      The first representation I will be discussing is the representation of British teenagers in soaps, movies and news. There are many soaps dedicated to teenagers such as sugar rush, skins, Eastenders and Hollyoaks. In addition to that there are many movies that feature the representation of British teenagers as well such as Bullet boy, Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging, kiduthood, St. Trinians, adulthood and Get real. In all of those soaps and movies the representation of teenagers are the same. They are seen as arrogant, careless, immature and disrespectful group of people who are mainly interested in drugs, underage sex and pregnancy, crime, alcohol, violence, partying, antisocial behaviour and smoking. However, these representations are not entirely true or realistic as they are over exaggerated for entertainment purposes, so that it gets a lot of public attention. However, due to those representations, it is believed that it is creating a moral panic in the British public. It is upsetting a large number of teenagers as now everyone believes that all teenagers fit into those representations.

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Coach Carter Film Poster
    In addition to that, my second representation that I will be discussing is the representation of young black men. Movies such as Bullet boy, Get rich or die trying, kiduthood, Coach Carter, boyz ‘Nthe hood and adulthood all represent young black men as a group of people who are mainly involved in gun and knife crime, drugs, anti-social behavior and street life. However, the people in these movies are not 100% real, neither are their representations. The representations of young black men are exaggerated and therefore, they are nowhere near the real truth. That is done so that it becomes interesting enough for people to watch and find entertain able. In addition to that, in most media texts we only get to view the negative representation of young black men and not the positive representations. As a result of that, most people associate young black men with those representations even though not all young black men fit into those categorize.


 

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City Of Men Film Poster
     Many places have also been represented in the media today; such as schools, slums, hoods, countries and cities. One of the places I will be discussing today is the slums of Rio. The slums of Rio are known to be as shanty towns mainly made up ofirregular and poor-quality housing that are often crowded. The slums are mainly associated with drug-related crimes and gang warfare. Many movies and series are used to represent the slums such as the movie city of God and the Series City of Men. In both of those media texts the slums are seen as a dangerous place where a large number of people die due to gang and drug related crimes. In addition to that, it also represents the people that live in these slums as lower class people living below the poverty line. In conclusion these representations are exaggerated to an extent as it shows a large number of people getting killed without anybody taken action against it. However, due to the fact that we only get these representations from media texts such as movies and series we can’t judge 100% if they are real or not as we do not know what exactly takes place in the slums of Rio.



 

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Bullet Boy Film Poster
    Finally, the last representation I will be discussing today is the representing of the Hoods in London. Movies such as Bullet boy and Adulthood both represent Hoods in both east and west of London. Mainly, multicultural people, from the lower class, living in council flats are shown to be living in these Hoods. These Hoods are also represented as places that are dangerous where street, gun, knife and drug crime take place. In conclusion, I believe that some of these representations are true, however their only true and accurate to an extent, as sometimes they are also exaggerated so that they seem more dangerous and interesting. That is done so it creates a moral panic about those places and maybe raises an awareness of the crimes that take places in there.

       In conclusion, I believe that each representation has its negative and positive side. However, I think the media only betrays the negative side as they are more interesting and entertain able. Therefore, I believe representation of real people and real places are realistic to an extent.