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.
In 1993, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, aged ten at the time, abused and murdered a two-year-old boy, James Bulger. There was media uproar about the case with the two boys being described as ‘evil’, ‘monsters’ and ‘freaks’ in the media (Franklin & Horwath 1998). There were many references to evil in the newspapers; with the telegraph stating that Thompson’s nickname was ‘Damien’ (from The Omen) and declaring that Venables birth date was Friday the 13th. The majority of society was united in the belief that these two boys were the epitome of evil and it was the media that nurtured this belief. ‘Newspaper reports were unequivocal in their denunciations of Thompson and Venables as inherently evil, prompted perhaps initially by Justice Morland’s description of the murder as an act of unparalleled ev...
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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
Have you ever met someone who acted just as teens are stereotyped? Not many people have because they do not exist. Real teens are poorly portrayed in the media and are the complete opposite of their stereotypes. Books and TV shows make teens out to be wild or crazy, irresponsible and out of control. One hardly ever hears about teen-heroes. Instead, newspapers and magazines are plastered with stories of teens and crime. And while looking at commercial billboards and other related media, the regular teen seems to be sex-crazed and image-obsessed.
In a modern age where the media retains a strong influence on the general population, many youths across the globe are feeling the effects of being misrepresented by media. The characteristics often forwarded by media frequently links youths with that of criminals and gangs. Similarly, depictions of teenagers being ignorant and haughty is now a widespread stereotype. These inaccurate depictions, which are sometimes taken for granted, are causing detrimental damages to the lives of youths and their futures as members of society. Despite the media’s likelihood to portray modern youths negatively, evidence suggests the opposite; that modern youths are in fact responsible,
Males, Mike. "Why Demonize a Healthy Teen Culture." Los Angeles Times 9 May. 1999. Rpt. in Violence in the Media as "Teenagers Are Not Becoming More Violent." Ed. James D. Torr. San Diego: Greenhaven. 2001. 82-84.
Rideout, Victoria and Hamel, Elizabeth. (2006). “The Media Family: Electronic Media in the Lives of
The Representation of Children in the Media I am writing about how children are represented in the media, after a group investigation carried out to see how they are portrayed in different papers; local newspapers, tabloids and broadsheets. We were looking to see if newspapers showed positive or negative images of children and how they portrayed them in general. In local papers there are usually articles of local news from around the area, items for sale and advertisements. Local papers highlight local stories and issues. Local papers usually have the scores or information about local teams in the sport section.
The Representation of Teenagers in the Media Throughout the media we see representation of teenagers. This can show teenagers in positive and negative lights. Teenagers are found in magazines, advertising, television and films, and they are targeted by newspapers and magazines etc. There are two different newspapers reports from the ‘Daily Mail’ and the ‘Dorset Echo’ that are part of this representation. “Perverted tennis club coach jailed for seducing pupil of 15.
History of the debate Since the late nineteenth century the media has been a cornerstone of our society. It has, for long periods of time provided the public with a variety of debates. In social policy the amount of influence the media has on the public has been at the forefront of intellectual minds. One of the main groups who have gained the attention of the media since the outset of the 1950’s is youth in their various different forms. These considerations lead to three questions:- * What pressures are present in the production of media material and how do these pressures affect what eventually reaches the public via newspaper reports and other media sources such as television?
Teens are not only portrayed as delinquents but also as disloyal, jobless, untrusting monsters. The media causes the public following to assume that all teenagers are bad and immoral just because of a few that have done things wrong. And even when a teen does something wrong, that too is sensationalized. We do not generalize that all adults are killers and rapists just because a few have chosen...
Most people often look down upon youth, They are often represented as bad people despite the good things they can do. The public often don't think twice, we see something wrong such an illegal spray painting, intoxicated teenager on the street so they instantly stereotype them despite the good things they can do. For example they can contribute to the society allowing for a better community and have a better world to live in. Not as many people care about adults doing bad things adults do, other than teenagers people care a lot more when the story is about a teenager doing bad things. The news exploits things and puts youth in the spotlight as bad people. They can be taken into this stereotype because of the few bad things youth do, Its not just youth then can do bad things, there are many many adults who behave badly who we don't
be the most 'real' form of media". If this is the case, then it is
I am going to study the two pieces of media. The first one I will
Mass media creates a stereotype promoting an image of how a young man should act, appear, or resemble in today's society. The media has a great influence over what we view and hear as a society and it can have an effect especially on a younger men and the image that they want to portray. Moreover, the media has a lot to do with the image we perceived in our minds and young men are easily perusable by what they see or hear. With the media flooding negative influence, it builds up to having this negative effect on younger men by how they look and feel about themselves and others. Furthermore, a man even a younger one is not to expose their vulnerabilities, weaknesses or to even to display emotions such as love and fear. In addition, mass media is a big contributor to this negative younger male self-image. The media has its own version of what a normal younger male should be; act, think or even look like can be very impressible to younger male generation. According to D'Arcy Lyness, Ph.D., a Behavioral Health Editor with KidsHealth.org describes in the article, A Guy's Guide to Body Image. Lyness writes, "Body image is part of someone's total self-image. So how a guy feels about his body can affect how he feels about himself" (par 7). Even though mass media plays a very important role in creating providing entertainment and awareness, it does however, shape the minds of the younger male generation. In other words, mass media creates a negative image in the younger male's mind.
Media can present content that seems and is more or less real, however, it is our duty as the viewers to be able to distinguish, and differentiate between “reflections of reality, and constructions of reality”. The prime targets of the media are young people because they so unwittingly believe everything the media tells them, from “how to talk, how to dress, and how to relate to others”. This newspaper article, seeing is not believing by Leslie Fruman is essentially explaining that now “for the first time students will take a mandatory course to help separate fantasy from reality in the media.” The mandatory course is referred to as media literacy, and will teach young people the classifications of reality and fantasy.
“The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses” (Thinkexist, 2010). The mass media, including news, movies, magazines, music, or other entertainment source has become a part of daily life for many people. As the quote mentions mass media and its power are capable of influencing people’s mind and behavior. Contents in the media introduced to young people make it difficult for them to distinguish between what is real and what is not, as a result stimulating confusion and blind imitation. The mass media plays an important role in the increase of violence, sexual activity, and risky behaviors among teenagers.