1. The teenagers in the video game for Bully are a negative representation. The first teenage boy we see is objectified as being a child of misbehaviour and disobedience, this shown by the way he is dressed as he has with his shirt tucked out, his tie loosely hung around his neck, his shaven head and the way he talks and openly gestures. The use of a long shot as we watch him sliding down a hand rail immediately gives the sense of insolence and disrespect; this shows his character to be off-putting which therefore creates a stereotypical view upon all teenagers to act the same. The medium shots of the “bully” harassing a teacher and school kids emphasise towards the audience teenage boys are all troublesome. While children play this game they can be injected with the same ideologies of misbehaviour and disrespect and begin to believe this behaviour is suitable. Some teenagers may copy attitudes from the “Bully” and bring them to their own lives, such as sneaking around and creating fires in the classroom. Girls are also represented negatively in this game trailer as we see a young girl who is laid back whilst talking about “dirty pictures” and connoting sex references. This gives the idea that sex is fine and accepted. Teenagers are represented as creating havoc and trouble.
Similarly, in the opening for “Skins”, teenagers are seen as disobedient and mischievous. The quick montage shots show the teenagers smoking drugs, homosexual themes and a general laid back attitude. This immediately emphasises moral panics for adults as they believe all teenagers are influenced by what they see on the television and can adopt bad behaviour, also creating a negative view on society’s issues. This can highlight the theory by Stanley Cohen who speaks of when a society sees itself threatened by the values and activities of a group, in this case teenagers. On the other hand, producers of Skins may be creating such programmes to educate kids on the dangers and real life situations children face now a days.
The representation of teenagers in both texts may cause moral panics as adults may feel that teenagers are troublesome and can be injected with ideologies that drugs, causing havoc and sex are all acceptable in today’s society.
2. Both texts can be seen to show moral panics. The representation of teenagers in the trailer for “Bully” can demonstrate moral panics. The game emphasises the stereotype of teenage boys to be troublesome. The representation of the “Bully” may result in teenage boys to be injected with ideologies that negative attitudes and bad behaviour is acceptable. The game influences violence and mayhem. It can be argued that some people may believe the game is dumbing down children and lowers their achievements and goals.
Similarly, the opening for “Skins” contains negative representations of teenagers, and can also be seen as a moral panic as the teenagers involve themselves in drug taking, sex and bad attitudes. The adult audience may feel that the programme injects teenagers to be unsociable and unreasonable. The montage of teenagers creating havoc and bad ideologies may result in adults gaining negative views about all teenagers and can corrupt society. This can highlight the theory by Stanley Cohen who speaks of when a society sees itself threatened by the values and activities of a group, in this case teenagers. This programme may also be seen to dumb down children as it doesn’t teach them the dangers of smoking, alcohol and drug taking.
However, there are some representations of teenagers such as Eastenders and The Simpsons that cannot be seen as a moral panic. These alternative representations show how some teenagers are well behaved and do not take drugs or involve themselves in sexual attitudes. In the Simpsons, Lisa Simpson is seen as a clever, intelligent, well mannered girl. Therefore this representation shows the audience that teenagers can be successful and good. In Eastenders, Tamwar Masood is constructed as a stereotypical Muslim boy who is an academic boy who listens to his parents all the time. Therefore, this alternative representation shows the audience that teenagers are positive and are willing to behave well. These alternative representations, have allowed society to see some teenagers positively.
3. The appearance of new and digital media has allowed different audiences to shape their own media representations, especially the younger audience. This is because this generation is the internet era and teenagers are most likely to use e to be more plural in the way they represent themselves.
Through social networking sites teenagers can represent themselves and changes the values and ideologies teenagers are associated with. Blog making sites such as BlogSpot have given teenagers the power to speak their minds and to form their own representations. User generated content (UGC) has allowed teenagers to put up their views and own material on the internet. In some situations teenagers have put up interesting and arguable work which has allowed adults to see this and change their views on teenagers, for example Twitter and Facebook. The younger audiences can join groups and present themselves positively.
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