Generally, in media, teenagers and young adults are portrayed in a negative light. For example, the television programme Waterloo Road, set in a secondary school, throws at us a constant stream of story lines about the students being 'up to no good.' Some of the worst of these include:
- Student driving dangerously causes a major traffic accident that kills his best friend and puts his girlfriend into a coma
- Student expelled and arrested for sexually assaulting a teacher
- Two students arguing over a drug-deal. the fight becomes violent, friend attempts to intervene and is unintentionally, but fatally stabbed
- Student is shot by her boyfriend (diagnosed borderline psychopath) after attempting to break up with him
- an unruly student is shown to be using drugs on numerous occasions, as well as vandalising the school an bullying other students into vandalism too. This same student also spikes a teacher's lunch, which results in that teacher being in a serious car accident whilst driving his pregnant girlfriend to A&E
- Student reveals his homosexuality to his best friend, who reacts with anger and disappointment. Student is forced into an unhappy relationship with a female friend in order to keep his secret.
- Under age student having sexual relations with a teacher
- 2 female students becoming pregnant by the same boy
- Student's use of cannabis, later resulting in a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
This programme has been running for 10 series now, so almost anybody that watches television is likely to have seen at least one episode. Having spent 5 years in an average, comprehensive, mixed sex secondary school, I can safely say that I, nor anybody I attended school with, would be able to relate to a single story line presented within this programme. (With the exception of story lines referencing mental health, many teenagers will experience having/knowing someone with a mental illness during their time in school, just not with the consequences presented in Waterloo Road.)
It's programmes such as this that cast young adults in such a poor light. They've taken situations that occur within a tiny minority of teenagers, blown them widely out of proportion, and generalised them to ALL students.
In my A2 coursework, I've' tried to represent the teenage characters as good people.
A key point about the characters is the fact that the male/female friendship is purely platonic. The media makes a huge deal out of sex culture in teenagers and so we hope to show through our characters that sex is not the only thing teenagers think about. The male character attempts to save the female character, not because he hopes to get her into bed, but because she is his friend.
Other stereotypes we've ignored is the idea that a persons style of dress defines them and who they are allowed to be friends with. Typically, the male character's style of dress would see him classified as a "chav." This is the teenage stereotype that carries the majority of the negativity, as they are often seen as 'yobs' who hang about on the streets late at night, carrying knives, and committing petty crimes. The female character could expect to be called a 'goth' or an 'emo' and would usually be the target of bullying from 'chavs.' In my media product, we show these two characters to have a strong friendship, despite the differences they are expected to have due to how they look.
It's programmes such as this that cast young adults in such a poor light. They've taken situations that occur within a tiny minority of teenagers, blown them widely out of proportion, and generalised them to ALL students.
In my A2 coursework, I've' tried to represent the teenage characters as good people.
A key point about the characters is the fact that the male/female friendship is purely platonic. The media makes a huge deal out of sex culture in teenagers and so we hope to show through our characters that sex is not the only thing teenagers think about. The male character attempts to save the female character, not because he hopes to get her into bed, but because she is his friend.
Other stereotypes we've ignored is the idea that a persons style of dress defines them and who they are allowed to be friends with. Typically, the male character's style of dress would see him classified as a "chav." This is the teenage stereotype that carries the majority of the negativity, as they are often seen as 'yobs' who hang about on the streets late at night, carrying knives, and committing petty crimes. The female character could expect to be called a 'goth' or an 'emo' and would usually be the target of bullying from 'chavs.' In my media product, we show these two characters to have a strong friendship, despite the differences they are expected to have due to how they look.
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