Youth essay research

The war years: 

The 1930's was a time where the youth culture was promoted this was because, the country was at war. This meant that there was lots of propaganda, and promoting youth culture to go to war, and help Britain beat Germany essentially. Not only were young men being promoted to go to war and fight, but also young women to help produce weapons, farming and taking on the everyday roles that men would typically on. Therefore it could be said that this was one of the only times that the youth culture was promoted. Therefore, it could be said that the theories used, do not support the view of youth culture in the war years.

1950's:

The 1950's was when there was moral panic about topics such as nuclear war, after the war ended and Hiroshima attacked with a nuclear bomb by America, it meant that there was a political and social storm of whether there was going to be a nuclear war. It could also be said at this point there was points about the contraceptive pill, although this did not affect the youth culture as much in the 50's in the 60's, because it was only being trialed on married women. There was also the Teddy Boys and flip knives, this was a trend where young boys would wear Edwardian suits and cause havoc as the newspapers put it. This would support Stanley Hall's theory (1904).

1960's:

In the 1960's it was a year where bands such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones

1970s:

The 1970s was a decade where youth culture, was seen as a negative thing. There was a small group magnified these were 'punks', and were portrayed badly in the media. A good example of this is Sid Vicious, he was the bassist and vocalist of the Sex Pistols and they only had one studio album (which ties in with the whole punk bands go bust after one album.) He was a massive drug addict and stabbed his girlfriend in which they were in an abusive, drug, dependant relationship. Vicious later committed suicide by having a heroin overdose, while on bail. This is a prime example of how youth culture was represented and seen as in the 1970's, also the article to the right. The 1970's was not a good time for youth when it came to the media, and a lot of political changes and terror attacks happened, it was definitely a time of storm and terror. This would support Medhurst's theory (1998).

1980s:

The 1980s was a decade of violence rebellion and was also a point where the British film industry started to fail. There was the miners strikes in 1984 which caused loads of rebellion police brutality and riots. There was also corruption in the public services. Punks and skinheads were a thing in the 80s, and as always the youth culture were portrayed as these anti-social, drug taking individuals.


1990's:

The 1990's could only be best described as the era for rave culture. Also a time where drugs such as ecstasy and acid, became a huge part of the rave culture also. However there was a downside to this, as Leah Betts for example took an ecstasy pill one night and drank 12 pints of water in less than 90 mins. This became the poster for anti-drug campaigns and to try and make the problem more aware.  Films such as Transporting came into the scene and was rated an 18 because of how graphic it was, also the drug use in it reflects on the 90's. Human traffic however was a film that portrayed drugs as not so negative. Instead it portrays a typical youth's weekend in the 90's, however this may of caused moral panic within the older generations.

Youth essay

Over the course of history in Britain, youth culture has changed massively. This can be seen in many positive and negative ways, however when we look at films and media from the 1930's onto the present day we can see how the portrayal of youths has changed. To support my argument on how youths image has changed throughout film history I am going to use the theories of: Dick Hebdige (1988) "youth as fun" and "youth as trouble maker", Bill Osgerby (1998) “We do not have to search too hard to find negative representations of youth in postwar Britain. Crime, violence and sexual licence have been recurring themes in the media’s treatment of youth culture, the degeneracy of the youth depiction as indicative of a steady disintegration of the UK’s social fabric,” and Stanley Hall's theory (1904) “Youth must have excitement and if this is not at hand in the form of moral intellectual enthusiasms it is more prone to be sought in sex or drink,” and “adolescence is inherently a time of storm & stress when ‘all’ young people go through some degree of emotional and behavioural upheaval, before establishing a more stable equilibrium at adulthood." 

During the war years of the 1930's in Britain, it can be considered that this was one of the only periods when youth culture was portrayed in a positive light. This is because of the time period and the fact that we were involved in the second World War. Britain was full of propaganda, promoting every aspect of people coming together and helping the country succeed victory. This is where youths were portrayed as strong, crucial parts of the war. If we look at posters from this decade promoting young men to fight with posters stating "together" and "your country needs you." This was positively promoting young people as it would have drawings and pictures of youths, and trying to use propaganda to show how important they were. This would clash with theories such as Dick Hebidge (1904) "youth as trouble maker" as they were seen as such a crucial part within this time period. 

The 1950's was a time where youths were portrayed differently, the time period of when youths were portrayed as young strong men changed after the war and instead this was a period when there was moral panic about nuclear war, but there was groups such as teddy boys. This was men dressed in edwardian suits and nice hair but essentially were known for carrying flip knives and for violence. Which the media made headlines about and magnified it. For example headlines referring to teddy boys "teddy boys hold up postmistress with gun" this is portraying youths in a negative light and as thugs. Another point to make is another headline "1 dead, 2 hurt in teenage war" this is again portraying youths in a bad light, as if they go to war and are spending their time threatening and killing people. This would support Bill Osgerby (1998) “We do not have to search too hard to find negative representations of youth in postwar Britain. Crime, violence and sexual licence have been recurring themes in the media’s treatment of youth culture, the degeneracy of the youth depiction as indicative of a steady disintegration of the UK’s social fabric.”