How are Teenagers and Young People in the media portayed?

How are Teenagers and Young People in the Media portrayed?

The media generally portrays teenagers and young people negatively. They do this by making the majority of teenage and young characters fit a typical stereotype based on the actions of a small minority of teens in society. This makes all teens and young people look bad. The typical stereotypes which are used to portray teenagers and young people to make these characters into criminals, ill mannered youths, trouble makers, vandals, promiscuous party animals and so on. A recent example of youths being portrayed negatively in the media is the London riots. Although there was a large variety of age groups rioting and not all teenagers and young people were involved in the rioting, many headlines were labelled 'Teenage Riots' and so on. Camera shots of the riots shown on the news were close ups of youths and all interviews shown with the rioters were of youths, however when wideshots were shown of a larger crowd many adults could be seen amongst the rioters. This will affect the way in whch teenagers and young people will be seen in society. This backs up Henri Tajfel's social identity theory, making the 'Teenage' rioters seem like the in-group for other potential rioters which could be the reason for why the riots spread from Tottenham to the surrounding areas so quickly. This also backs up Stuart Hall's theory that the media creates an ideological and politically contstructed represantion about specific demographics, in this case age.

Not only are teenagers and young people portrayed negatively in the news and in reality but they are also portrayed negatively in fiction television programs. An example of a program in which there is a negative portrayal of young people and teens is Misfits. Each of the main characters are young people who are criminals doing community service. None of them have manners or respect for each other or anybody else other than themselves. They insult others without any care for their feelings, the character Nathan in particular. Early on in the series, the youths also gain supernatural powers which they do not use