Popular media’s representation of youth culture depicts unscrupulous delinquents who despise authority and control, rebelling in a multitude of manners, including style of dress. Moreover, this translates to the public eye through many fictional schools not requiring a dress code, propelling the idea that all teenagers behave maliciously. Additionally, media appropriates non-Americanized religious and ethnic cultures through caricaturization of their practices, painting followers of non-Protestant religions and non-whitewashed ethnicities as extremists who appear and behave vastly different from the “norm”. Finally, over time, the acceleration of childhood became apparent through youth dressing like miniature adults, educational facilities …show more content…
The progression of youths into reckless beings coincides with the progression of adults, though media chooses to emphasize reckless teenagers over reckless middle-aged men. A trip to the movie theater to see the latest teen comedy infiltrates the moviegoer’s mind with the idea that teens behave horrifically, thus harming their reputations (Phan). In addition, vulnerable young minds view the films and feel the need to compensate for their hermited behavior and act similarly to the fictional characters. These actions all contribute to the effort to satisfy pop culture’s image of the ultimate teen, however unrealistic it may be (“Movies Portrayal of High School Misleading”). Finally, the film industry utilizes these exaggerations on purpose, not considering the psychological effects on teens and adults and instead as a means of generating more box office revenue. Since most people watch movies as a means of escaping reality, the alteration of the high school reality cultivates greater interest in the film, all at the price of adults’ opinion of teenagers …show more content…
Henceforth, in literal terms, dress code limits freedom of expression. This results in a feeling of suppression on the behalf of those afflicted by the inability to represent their cultural identity at school. On the other hand, television portrays schools as having no dress code in an effort to emphasize the American ideal of liberty (Hudson). Nevertheless, their incessant misrepresentation leads to incorrect ideologies of various cultures, causing real-life schools to alter their dress code policies in order to compensate for the intrinsic fear of the foreign and encourage suppression. Moreover, white Protestant students consistently experience acceptance due to their normalized lifestyle and have the ability to express themselves as they please. Consequently, school boards permit typical white Protestant styles as they stay seen as normal
David Denby thoroughly explains the distinction between the reality of high school life to what is portrayed in movies in the article, “High-School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies.” He argues that many of these movies are extremely predictable and all have the same story line. Denby gives numerous examples of the cliché teen movie, which entails the skinny, blonde popular girl and her jock boyfriend who, let’s face it, has his shining moments in life, in high school. Denby’s main objective throughout this article is to distinguish whether these films reflect reality, or just what we imagine to be reality. He also touches on the other side of the social spectrum which usually consists of a quiet, female outsider who is known to be smart and
Throughout time, generations have been exposed to the theme of teenagers rebelling in literature, films, and music. Teenagers rebelling is a topic that everyone can relate to because of the pressure that comes with being a teenager. During this time, teenagers are being given rules to follow, expectations to meet, and society telling them what they need to do to make their lives meaningful. The exposure to rebelling themes in the media is presenting them with messages to relate to, and can even showcase the consequences that will come with their actions.
Issues involving the apparel enforcements, including sexism, repressed self- identity, and punishment issues will be discussed within this paper. Literature Review The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the creation of laws offensive to religious groups and ensures their ability to freely practice, grants the freedom of speech, comply the freedom of the press, and allows the right to assemble peacefully. Adopted on December 15, 1791, it has served the United States of America for over one hundred years. Freedom of expression is a controversial topic when applied to the school dress code.
In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the British youth generation, especially those British films and TV series. Media analysts pointed out that people absorbed the information transmitted from media texts, which might have impact on the audiences’ behaviour. That is to say, the representation of media texts is playing an important role in the society. In lots of British media texts, such as Kidulthood and Skins which are going to be compared and contrasted in this paper, the image of British youth generation is depicted as juvenile, violent, aggressive, idle, drugs addictive, having sexual behavior in early adolescence and causing trouble to the community. Therefore this present study is not only aimed at finding the similarities
In “High-School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies” David Denby criticizes movies portraying high school. He writes “The most commercial and frivolous of genres harbor a grievance against the world” (426). In many movies starting in the early 90’s you began to see an extreme amount of disrespect to adults from teenagers. High school movies are filled with unruly
Is pop culture actually good for you? Have you ever been in a situation where the adults in the room are shaking their heads at the things young people discuss? We can all relate to our own parents sharing stories and life lessons of “when I was a kid.” Television has an enormous impact on young people and often at times it may seem like their options to engage in an educational program are non-existent. Has the access and usage of social media overcome us to the extent that we no longer interact face-to-face? Some might think that popular culture is associated with poor education or even lower class, as opposed to higher education with the upper class. Although there are many who would defend the argument that pop culture
This essay will look at the different ways in which young people are portrayed in the media. It will focus on how the idea of childhood innocence has been challenged by the media and rather than ‘little angels’ children are now seen as ‘little devils’ in the public eye. By looking at ‘The Bulger Case of 1993’ we can see where the idea of ‘little devils’ and children as evil beings began. It will examine why media stories of young people are focused much more on negative aspects such as crime and gang culture rather than positive ones. It will also look at how television programmes such as ‘Teen Mom’ and ‘Skins’ portray the youth of today and whether these programmes come across as a positive or negative portrayal of teenagers. The idea of a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ will also be examined and whether the way the media portrays children can be harmful to the construction of their identities and possibly lead to alienation.
Hip-Hop is a vast and popular culture, one part of Hip-Hop culture is the popular genre of music with lyrics spoken by old school artists such as Tupac, Notorious B.I.G, N.W.A, Grandmaster Flash and modern artists including Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Logic and more. Lyrics written and produced depict the hardships and reality for the artists. Contrary, lyrics also showed violence and stereotypes, and portrayed a certain image for listeners. Looking deeper into the genre, evidence shows that hypermasculinity is embedded into lyrics, videos and icons of Hip-Hop. The image of Money, Masculine Fragility and Appearance are prime examples that support the connection to hip-hop and the negative male image it imposes.
Teenage films are often thought of films focused on issues such as teen angst, conflict with parents, coming of age, and most notably rebellion. Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without a Cause(1955) is one of the first films that could be classified as such. In today’s times, many films that fall into this genre follow the same structure as Rebel without a Cause in that perceptions and activities of youth defy what is considered to be a seemingly more stable adult life. Prior to Rebel Without a Cause, there wasn’t a film that challenged the ideas of masculinity in society and the struggles that teenagers endured in that era, so it is no surprise that the film is considered to be the poster child of youth rebellion in the 1950’s. Ray brings to light a
These are two important places for a teenager during these years. An analysis of teen movies, specifically Easy A, reveals that the setting, either at school or in the student’s bedroom, plays a critical role in
America’s school systems seem to have many issues concerning students receiving a quality education without distraction. A current debate argues weather a dress code policy is efficient or takes away from student’s expression. Administrators at schools should regulate a dress code policy because the system improves discipline and student’s attention, reduces social conflict and peer pressure related to appearance, and dress code provides a more serious learning environment.
In order to study and understand pop culture we must first and foremost confront the
Young people especially the teenagers are sensitive and receptive to learning new things. The media provides more than they can handle. Access to different programs, shows, and movies affect the manner that the teenagers behave. Today, it is unfortunate to say that the media is becoming more sexual and violent than the older days, resulting in similar behaviors among the teens (Craig, & Baucum, 2001). By watching programs intended for the adults, teenagers are drifting even further. They start behaving like adults without the prerequisites of becoming one. This means that they have contents that do not match with their ages. And then terrible things begin – increased college dropouts, teenage pregnancies, and increased cases of suicides. Some teenagers who had bright future ahead of them will
There are many ways to define popular culture. Many individuals have grappled with the question what is popular culture? And how to critically analyze and deconstruct the meanings. Looking at the root words of popular culture is where to begin. Raymond Williams states ‘popular’ means: “well liked by many people" or “culture actually made for the people themselves (Storey, p.5). This is part with the word ‘culture’ combine to look at how the two words have been connect by theoretical work within social and historical context. John Storey approaches popular culture in six categories, they are as followed: “Popular culture is simply culture that is widely favoured or well liked by many people”, Popular culture is “the culture that is left over after we have decided what is high culture”, Popular culture is “mass culture”, “Popular culture is the culture that originates from ‘the people.” and “Popular culture as a site of struggle
In the contemporary society, popular culture represents the emerging lifestyles, fashions, values, as well as customs that the mainstream population follows without hesitation and with loyalty. It embraces a blend of philosophies, opinions, beliefs, viewpoints, and imageries, besides various forms of events that specific groups of individuals adopt in the society. Popular culture plays a significant role in shaping the way people think or perceive things by offering them a unique interpretation of something that they may eventually like. In this digital age, some of the popular culture known today takes account of television programs watched by many people, the numbers of individuals who currently use the internet constantly as the best means