How are British teens represented in the TV programmes Skins, The Inbetweeners and This is England 86'?
This essay will examine the way in which British teenagers are represented in these TV programmes The Inbetweeners (2008), Skins (2007), and This Is England 86 (2010). Media representations are the ways in which the media portrays particular groups, communities, experiences, ideas, or topics from a particular ideological or value perspective.
Representations as they can change a persons opinion on a certain subject due to the way the media portrays something, this shows that representations are very powerful in shaping the thoughts of people. Furthermore representations in the media allow people to gain a better understanding of the specific topic that they are looking at. The effect of the media on the general people helps them to form an opinion on various topics that they may not usually take an interest in without the input of various media outlets.
In television programmes teenagers are represented differently to how they are in real life, it could be said that TV exaggerates the behaviour of teens. In an article by The Guardian from 14th April 2009 which lead with the headline ‘'It seems that we can only be interesting if we are smoking, snorting or stabbing' it interviewed teens who discussed how the stereotypes given to them by the media aren't fair. All the teens discussed how the media seems to miss out the majority of teenagers who aren't out taking drugs, drinking and fighting because the activity of the majority doesn't make good television.
Television seems to focus upon negative stereotypes of teenagers, which is shown in programmes such as Waterloo Road where it shows teens from a disadvantaged background whom misbehave within a school setting. Also TV representations deviate away from the 'norm'. The norm for teenagers in the modern age is that teens carry out rather boring, monotonous lifestyles however they change the perception in order to make them more exciting and entertaining however, as a result of this it causes teens to be reflected in a bad light.
In the television programmes that I have decided to examine two reinforce the negative stereotypes of teens and one refutes the stereotypes. Skins is a British teen comedy drama that follows the lives of a group of teenagers in Bristol, through the two years of sixth form. Its controversial storylines have explored issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness (such as depression, eating disorders and bipolar disorder), adolescent sexuality, gender, substance abuse, death and bullying. Each episode generally focuses on a particular character and the struggles they face in their life. The programme represents the teens in a very negative light as it suggests that all teens are like the ones in this show, they are shown to be drug abusing, alcohol consuming, anti-social teenagers. This backs up the typical representation of teens within TV. Furthermore another example of where the tv show has shown the teens in a bad way is in Series 1 Episode 2 where the group crash a party at a house and wreck the house while taking a variety of drugs. The use of this scene within the programme just exemplifies the way the media portrays groups of teens. The programme This is England 86 also reinforce the negative stereotypes of teens. The programme focuses on a group of friends (Shaun, Woody, Lol, Milky, Kelly, Harvey and Gadget) trying to make their own way in life, looking for employment, love and entertainment. It shows the group fighting with other groups and also fighting within their own group, also it shows racist behaviour, however although it shows teens negatively for the majority it does show some positive aspects. It shows the struggles that different characters go through and how they are helped by their friends, although they're shown negatively it also shows that teens have a strong sense of loyalty. In the first episode of This is England 86 there is a fight scene where the group fights a moped gang, this scene shows the loyalty between the group as Shaun was the person who the moped gang wanted to fight but the whole group stood by his side and fought with him. However it could be said that this shows the teens in a negative light aswell because they are fighting and being anti-social. On the other side of the stereotype is how teenagers are represented positively and well behaved. This is shown in The Inbetweeners which focuses on 4 social outcasts during their time at sixth form while they try to fit in and try to find love. These teenagers don't cause any problems and aren't anti-social. In the first episode of series 1 the group go to the pub after the first day of sixth form and try to get served for alcohol while using fake IDs, this is an example of where the Inbetweeners are doing what normal teenagers are doing while not causing any problems for anyone else.
Television is not the only media outlet which gives different views to the representations of teenagers, newspaper articles also represent teenagers and some focus upon the positive things that teenagers do rather than the negative things. An example of this is a article from the Telegraph from 16th February which was wrote by Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett and has the headline ‘’From hoodies to goodies: today's teenagers have the makings of model citizens’’. This shows that stereotypes of teens need to be updated as although teens may have deserved their bad reputation past, it now needs to be changed as they have changed themselves. Another newspaper article which shows the change in teens is also from the Telegraph and has been written by Richard Garner on 13th March 2009, ‘’Hoodies, louts, scum': how media demonises teenagers". This article discusses how teenagers have been made to out by the media to be a bad group of people and how every teenager is grouped to have the same characteristics of the minority of teenagers who misbehave. Although the headlines shown here are positive it could also be said that the newspapers are only exploring the lives of a small group of teenagers. The newspapers aren't looking at the lives carried out by the rest of the teenager population so as a result of this a fair perception of teenagers cannot be given by this particular media outlet.
