“Media representations are complex, not simple and straightforward”. How far do you agree with this statement in relation to the collective group that you have studied?

Media representations are complex, not simple and straightforward’, media appear to reflect identity, whilst in fact they construct it (Stuart Hall).

For example, in the London Riots the media tabloids and broadsheets created and further constructed an ideology for youths for society. This led to a negative and stereotypical view of youths as loud, reckless thugs that downgrade society. Lives were lost. “Parents had to carry children out of burning homes, leaving a lifetime of possessions behind to be destroyed" this quote on The Independent gives a moral panic to society as they are threatened by what occurred. As the News showed varies clips of teenagers destroying properties and starting fires, this caused the media and society to construct a stereotype of teenager’s collective identities. However, media representations are complex as there have been many articles about teenagers that have done good for society, thus, it juxtaposes with the negative representations.

‘A star is an image constructed from a range of materials’ (Richard Dyer 1979). Stars such as Rihanna, constructs a hegemonic view, as her music videos allow her to construct and create her collective identity and persona through her lyrics, actions and clothing.  Rihanna subverts to the stereotypical views of women, and shows her independence through her music videos. Many fans of Rihanna have created a subculture where they follow her independent carefree ways, which represents youths in a negative way. Rihannas sexual outfits and lyrics cause a dissonance towards society and media as it can cause moral panic to young mothers. Lyrics from one of her recent music videos are ‘Sex in the air, I don't care, I love the smell of it’ this is seen to be obtrusive in society, as it is very explicit and sexual and many young girls sing this song and don’t know the meaning to it. Therefore, it states that stars are allowed to create and construct their representations in the media through many different things that are seen to be influential to others; this may cause a negative or positive representation towards youths.

We need to interact in order to form our identity with other people or with the media (Richard Jenkins). Youth interactions can cause a negative or positive representation depending on their actions; therefore, it makes it very complex for media to represent youths. However, it has been noted that there are many negative representations of youths as one of ‘The Guardian’ articles by John Naughton on 12^th November explains how youths don’t like the media as the article is about “Young people don’t like us. Who can blame them” in this article it explain how media have constantly represented youths in a negative representation, therefore, youths have started to cause a dissonance with the media. Therefore, youth interaction allows the media to represent youths in an ideological representation towards society. The way youths interact with each other allows them to create their collective identity, one way they do this, is through the many uses of communication, mainly through the interaction with Web 2.0 which has no regulations. Social networking companies such Facebook, Twitter, MSN etc… have no regulations therefore, it allows people to interact freely with each other, creating and constructing their own collective identity. Through Web 2.0 youths create their own representations for themselves, this allows the media to exploit youths and give them negative representations, for example, during the London Riots, many youths used Web 2.0 to communicate with each other about the riots, and due to some comments that may have been sent through twitter and Facebook that linked with the London Riots, youths had got prison sentences from it, which creates moral panic for families with young children.

A focus on identity and representation requires us to play closer attention to the ways in which media and technologies are used in everyday life and their consequences for social groups.

‘Sexualisation harms young girls’, the media’s portrayal of young women as sex objects harms girls mental and physical health (BBC News). Sexualisation is said to lead to lack of confidence with girl’s bodies as well as depression and eating disorders. This creates a negative representation for women; however, it is more complex then that, as it doesn’t always cause problems for other women. Sexualisation doesn’t necessarily harm girls, but can motivate them to be more like the sexualised model, therefore, it is showing that at a young age girls are exposed to sexual images of role models and may inspire to be like them. “We need to replace all of these sexualised images with ones showing girls in positive settings – one that show the uniqueness and competence of girls” – Dr Eileen Zurbriggen

This also links with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, as girls may seem they need to improve their social needs and self esteem in order improve their representation for people to notice them more. This would negatively represent girls in the media, and can cause uproar in society.

The Hypodermic Needle Model suggests that youths socially accept the messages they receive through the media and accept it. For example, they may see their role models or music stars smoke weed, or act sexual and believe that it is socially acceptable to act this way, therefore, they begin to act this way.

I believe that representations of youths are very complicated and complex as there are many positive and negative aspects to the representation of youth through media. However, I do believe that the media represent youth in a more negative way than positive. There are many different aspects when considering the representation of youths in the media, as many different factors effect the representations for example, environment, celebrities, peer influence, past experiences etc….