Representation of Youth Through the Media - Essay Example

? The representation of youth through the media (TV series, films) Introduction The media is often accused of propagating myths about young people and crime. Indeed the media often appear endlessly pre-occupied with the notion that all young people are a danger to their communities. Countless studies conducted over previous years have found that the representation of young people in the media is in fact biased and, on the whole, unfair (Mason, 2011, p.2). Both print and visual media use youths for their business purposes. It should be noted that in majority of the television commercials, younger generation plays the lead roles. Even though both boys and girls are exploited for visual media advertisements, the number of girls used for this purpose seems to be extremely more than that of the boys. Female body is considered as one of the most beautiful things in this world and the exploitation of female body shapes for business purposes is growing day by day. In most of the films and television series, the story line would be something related to the teenagers. All the people, irrespective of age difference or sex difference, are interested in viewing programs related to the teenage community. In fact teenage is the golden era in the life of a person and therefore even old people like to see television serials and films related to teenage life to go through their beautiful memories. Media business people know this psychology very well and they often make films and TV serials which exaggerate teenage life styles and their life philosophies. Thus, in most of the visual media, teenager representation or youth representation seems to be far from reality. This paper analyses teenage representation in media, especially in the visual media, like television programs and films. Representation of youth in visual media According to Taylor & Lisa Taylor (Author) › Visit Amazon's Lisa Taylor PageWillis (1999), “Both television programs and films are produced with their contrasting contexts of consumption in mind” (Taylor & Lisa Taylor (Author) › Visit Amazon's Lisa Taylor PageWillis, 1999, p.3). It should be noted that both television programs and films are viewed by people of different kinds. However, television programs are mostly viewed by a family as a whole whereas films are viewed individually in most of the cases. For example, people like to see adult movies or films privately rather than publicly. On the other hand television serials are mostly watched in groups. Thus, television program producers usually avoid the intrusion of sex contents as much as possible whereas film makers may not obey such unwritten rules. In short, both television programs and films are made in different contexts. For example, Saved by the Bell is an American television program that telecasted between 1989 and 1993. This TV series followed the exploits of several students along with their principal at fictional Bayside High School. Each season of the series basically represented a year of high school for the students, plus summer vacations, ending with their graduation. The sitcom name is an idiom for being saved, by a school bell ringing, when a student is unprepared to answer a question asked near the end of a classroom period (Mashable, 2012). Even though the major theme of this serial was the stupid things performed by teenagers during their school days, it attracted all people because of the comedies involved in it. It should be noted that all people may experience such stupid things in their teenage life and old people was very much interested in viewing this TV serial because of their interests in rewinding their old memories in teenage life. “While for some reason the main characters here are like the most popular people in school you might or might not relate with that but you could at times relate with what's going on in their lives” (Saved by the Bell, n.d.). All people like to see the stupidity others. For example, most of the people like to see the slipping and falling of another person even though they may not like to see it happen in their personal life. Same way, the foolishness committed by the high school children in the Saved by the Bell serial was interesting to all. According to Taylor & Lisa Taylor (Author) › Visit Amazon's Lisa Taylor PageWillis (1999), “media representations play a central role in winning and securing ideologies”(Taylor & Lisa Taylor (Author) › Visit Amazon's Lisa Taylor PageWillis, 1999, p.47). For example, many people believe that sex contents are more in current television serials and films. The attitude of the people towards sex activities has been changed a lot in the past few years. As a result of that nudity and sex contents are more acceptable in visual media at present. In fact, among the viewers who like to see sex materials in visual media, the number older generation viewers seems to be more than that of the younger viewers. In short, life principles, life styles and life philosophies are changing rapidly and based on that the concepts of morality and ethics are also changing. According to a study conducted by (Clark et al. (n.d.), about the media coverage of young people; In 2007 overall, 23% of coverage was positive, 29% neutral or balanced, and 48% negative, this was a slight improvement on previous years. During a week in August 2005, the results were 12% positive, 30% neutral and 57% negative. In 2004, the results were 14% positive, 15% neutral and 71% negative. The three most popular topics covered were knife crime, education and gangs. Then social exclusion and violent crime (Clark et al. n.d.,p.6). Clark et al. concluded that “The well-behaved, well-adjusted ‘ordinary’ child may not be newsworthy but this does not explain the undue attention paid to negative messages about youth” (Clark et al. n.d., p.8). One of the basic principles of human psychology is that people always look into the negatives of others while keeping a blind eye towards the positives. In other words, even if a person commits 100 rights and 1 wrong, people will give more importance to that wrong thing and forget the entire right things committed by him. On the other hand, people never like to reveal their negative sides to others even though they show interests in revealing the positive sides of their life. This human psychology principle is applicable in the case of youths also. Media, quite often give more importance to the wrong things committed by the youths and avoid all the good things committed by them. Media knows very well that people are interested in knowing the negative sides of others. For example, even if Pamela Anderson donates $100000 to a charity organization, visual media may omit those things and give more importance to her sexy appearances in bay watch clippings. “Not all representations of the young people are necessarily constructed in ways which serve dominant interests” (Taylor & Lisa Taylor (Author) › Visit Amazon's Lisa Taylor PageWillis, 1999, p.51). For example, in 1990’s, Steffi Graph and Gabriela Sabatini were two of the most beautiful tennis players. Television media were competing each other during this period to video record every moment of these celebrities. It should be noted that the videographers were interested in unveiling their naked body instead of telecasting their tennis playing abilities. It should be noted that Martina Navrathilova like tennis stars never got such huge popularity from the visual media even though she played tennis much better than Gabriela Sabatini. In short, visual media realized that people like to see the nudity of these tennis players more than their abilities in tennis. “In our culture we value physical beauty more highly than we value a human soul” (Representation of age, 2011). Media knows this fact very well and doing everything possible to exploit it for business purpose. Ballam & Granello (2011) mentioned that “The messages that the media sends to our youth are contradictory to what families and professionals, such as educators and counselors, attempt to instill in our youth (Ballam & Granello, 2011, p.421). Educators and sociologists are usually trying to cultivate values and principles in the minds of the younger generation. On the other hand, television serials and films are trying to cultivate exactly opposite things in the minds of the teenagers. Sex and violence are major themes in most of the recently constructed films and television serials. Film makers usually portray the lead character as a hero even if he/she commits violent crimes and sexual exploitations. The film makers usually justify all such illegal activities of the heroes by creating different scenes in the film. Thus these film makers are spreading the message that violence, crimes and sexual abuses can be justified in certain circumstances. On the other hand, educators and sociologists are trying to teach the teenagers that violence and crimes cannot be justified under any circumstances. “Media plays an important role in shaping public perceptions of youth. Previous studies have shown consistently negative images of youth in media through a heavy focus on crime, accidents, and moral decay” (Levinsen & Wien, 2011, p.837). “The portrayal of teenage boys as "yobs" in the media has made the boys wary of other teenagers, according to new research” (Garner, 2009). Even though reality shows like the X factor is portraying the teenage community in a positive manner, same thing cannot be said about other TV programs. “The word 'youth', in media seems to have become synonymous with street crime and antisocial behavior”(Young people in the media, n. d.). The communication gap between the younger and older generation are increasing day by day and media plays an important role in widening this gap. Younger generation often think that older generation is too much conservative in their attitudes and life philosophies whereas older generation usually believe that younger generation is taking more freedom and destroying values and morals. For example, majority of the older generation criticizes the concept of homosexuality and same sex marriage. On the other hand, younger generation like to implement these things in their life. They are more interested in staying together rather than finding a partner through marriage. Visual media often projects these new life principles like same sex marriage and staying together as better than the older concepts such as heterosexual marriages and sex activities. “The media greatly influences the sexual development of our youth and impacts society on a macro level” (Ballam & Granello, 2011, p.421). Traditionally, the body for youth has been one of the principal terrains for multiple forms of resistance and as a register of risk, pleasure, and sex. It has been through the body that youth displayed their own identities through oppositional subcultural styles, transgressive sexuality, and disruptive desires. The multiple representations and displays of the body in this context was generally central to developing a sense of agency, self-definition, and well-placed refusals. The body as a potent marker of youthful resistance served to set youth off from the adult world and suggested that the body was outside of the reach of dominant forms of moral regulation and sexual containment (Giroux, n.d.). Teenage is the golden era in the life of all the people. It should be noted that the body of a human attains proper shaper during teenage period. The growth and sexual hormones during teenage create a sense of urge in the minds of teenagers for sexual activities. It is difficult for the teenagers to think in terms of moral principles and ethics when their body urges them to engage in immoral activities. So they are ready to experiment anything which may bring physical as well as psychological pleasure to them. Film makers and television serial makers know this teenage psychology very well and they exploit it for their business purposes. “Films such as Rebels Without a Cause(1955), Blackboard Jungle (1955), and Rock Around the Clock (1956) portrayed youth as icons of defiance and rock and roll as the subversive space where sexual desire was explored and its excesses were repudiated”(Giroux, n.d.). Halsall & Edminster, (2009) argued that “films that bring up violence and sex can often help teen work through many of their thoughts and feelings about these topics” (Halsall & Edminster, 2009, p.81). It should be noted that many of the teenagers do not get any opportunity know more about sex related activities. Even though sex education in schools is growing in principle, in practice effective sex education from school still a dream for the teenagers. Under such circumstances, visual media like TV and films provide great services to teenage community as far as sex education is concerned. Conclusions Visual media, especially television and films have the ability to shape the character and life philosophies of the teenage community very much. In most of the recent television serials and films, teenage community is portrayed negatively. Media personnel usually give more publicity to the sex and violence related teenage activities in their films and serials and gives less importance to morality and ethics. Modern life philosophies are usually glorified by the visual media with the help of younger generation. As a result of that, the generation and communication gap between the younger and older communities is increasing. Visual media should give more importance to the positives of younger generation to cultivate good values and feelings in the minds of upcoming generation. References 1. Ballam, S.M. & Granello, P.F. 2011. Confronting Sex in the Media: Implications and Counseling Recommendations. Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families, v19 n4 p421-426 Oct 2011. 2. Clark, C. Ghosh, A., Green, E. & Shariff, N.d. Media Portrayal of Young People – impact and influences [Online] Available at: http://childrens-research-centre.open.ac.uk/research/NCB%20final%20report.pdf [Accessed 05 April 2012] 3. Garner, R. 2009. 'Hoodies, louts, scum': how media demonises teenagers. The Independent. Friday 13 March 2009. 4. Giroux, H.A. N.d. Teenage Sexuality, Body Politics and the Pedagogy of Display [Online] Available at: http://www.henryagiroux.com/online_articles/teenage_sexuality.htm [Accessed 05 April 2012] 5. Halsall, J. & Edminster, R.W. 2009. Visual media for teens. ABC-CLIO, 23-Sep-2009 6. Levinsen, K. & Wien, C. 2011. Changing media representations of youth in the news – a content analysis of Danish newspapers 1953–2003. Journal of Youth Studies, Nov2011, Vol. 14 Issue 7, p837-851, 7. Mashable. 2012. Saved by the Bell. [Online] Available at: http://mashable.com/follow/topics/saved-by-the-bell [Accessed 05 April 2012] 8. Mason, G. 2011. The Representation of Young People in the Media [Online] Available at: http://urbact.eu/fileadmin/Projects/My_Generation/documents_media/Media_Portrayal_of_Young_People_glasgow.pdf [Accessed 05 April 2012] 9. Representation of age, 2011. [Online] Available at: http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/alevkeyconcepts/alevelkeycon.php?pageID=age [Accessed 05 April 2012] 10. Saved by the Bell, N.d. [Online] Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096694/ [Accessed 05 April 2012] 11. Taylor, L. & Lisa Taylor (Author) › Visit Amazon's Lisa Taylor PageWillis, A. 1999. Media Studies: Texts, Institutions and Audiences Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell; 1 edition (June 9, 1999) 12. Young people in the media, N. d. [Online] Available at: http://www.headsup.org.uk/content/default.asp?page=s27_3 [Accessed 05 April 2012] Read More