Plan B// Ill Manors

“How Are Young People Represented In The Ill Manors Music Video?”

Plan B’s Ill Manors was written during the aftermath of the London riots of 2011. In the song Plan B talks about the way that the working class are repressed by the bourgeoisie and how class struggle is a result of this repression to see change in society; for example the London riots. However within the music video and the lyrics of the song Plan B subsequently portrays a widely stereotyped image of young people as dangerous, violent and delinquent.

Firstly; in the music video Plan B casts a lot of young children in black hoodies wearing clothes that make it very difficult to see their face; i.e. Balaclava’s. This fits a very widely believed stereotype that young offenders walk around in hoodies and commit petty crimes such as vandalism; however can also be believed to commit more serious crimes, mainly knife crimes, and Plan B shows this in the lyric:  “Oi look there's a chav, that means council housed and violent. He's got a hoodie on give him a hug, on second thoughts don't you don't wanna get mugged.” What Plan B is doing here is being ironic and using stereotypes, but talking about them as though they are fundamental and correct; in which he does throughout the song. This is effective as it shows the audience the common belief about these people; the effect it has upon the audience is that it makes them empathise with the kids and feel that the views society have upon them are unjust. For example every one of the viewers will know that every child they see in a hoody isn’t going to attack and mug them.

Secondly Plan B sites that ‘council estate kids’ or working class children are represented negatively in the press. This is shown in the lyric “Keep on believing what you read in the papers, council estate kids, scum of the earth”. This appears to be an attack on the middle and upper classes who are readers of such papers as the daily mail who give/ reinforce the working class kids’ negative stereotypes of all having ASBO’s and taking drugs among other common beliefs of council estate kids. Plan B is stating that the working class kids, him being one of them, don’t care about what is spread around about them by the media and the music video is almost a defence mechanism to try and employ a fairer playing field in the media, a fight back almost.

Likewise the lyric “we’re all drinkers, drug takers” uses another media generated stereotype in the frenzy of backlash towards the working class youths following the widespread riots originating in Tottenham late 2011. Although this was a wide spread stereotype well before the riots, it was rumoured that Mark Duggan (the victim who’s death sparked the riots) was a drug dealer, this was a false allegation. Therefore, the lyric used by Plan B intertwines with the riots as it uses a common stereotype thought of people who live in council owned houses and flats. It is also commonly believed that people live in accommodation such as this because of drug addiction; and that these people are living so close to the breadline because of their lack of money, which is due to it all being wasted on drugs, thereby creating an uncompassionate view of the working class. The affect Plan B’s use of this lyric and stereotype is that it will make the viewer realise how ridiculous the idea of this stereotype really is and that will, in turn, make the viewer question other stereotypes.

Another representation of youth in the video Ill Manors is that it creates an atmosphere of class warfare between the upper class and the working class. From a Marxist point of view this is a standard fact throughout societal history and Marxists would approve of this video as it shows revolt and class struggle to help bring about social change; like with the NHS and The Suffragette movement. This essence of class warfare is created within the music video by snippets of clips of rioting and revolt and showing the working class fighting with the police and attacking upper class, privately educated, politicians. One piece of cinematography that portrays this is the image of Cameron and Clegg stood arm in arm on a wedding cake, representing the coalition government; then a dog on a council estate eating the image and excreting them on to the pavement. This can be interpreted as the common view of the proletariat’s views of the government as a ruling power as a whole. This is why this imagery is effective; as it makes the viewer realise what the widespread view of the government and the way the country is being ran is.

Similar too this the lyric “politics, ain’t it all, smoke and mirrors, April fools” indicates that Plan B is attacking the politicians in the current government. The way this represents young people is that it gives the impression that young working class people are angry at the current government and that they have therefore given up on trying to cooperate with the government and want them gone, however can’t get rid of them as they  have too much power over them. The lyrics indicate that young people have no faith in their government as they are all liars and therefore can’t be trusted. The impact this has on the viewer is that it can either make the viewer empathise with the young people or resent them. This is because people will either agree or, at least, side with the kids that the government are liars and can’t be trusted or that the government aren’t liars and that the kids are the negative influences on society and that they are the undesirables in this situation.

The lyric “Give us free money and we don't pay any tax, NHS healthcare, yes please many thanks” is a reference towards successful benefits for the proletariat that Marxists would believe have only been earned through class struggle. This means that if it weren’t for the public suffering and fighting for some kind of benefit then it wouldn’t have been introduced in the first place. However Marxists believe that this is only used as a calming method and in England the NHS and the welfare system, the two things Plan B notes in the lyric, are slowly being taken away from the proletariat and have been since the leadership of Margret Thatcher in the 1980’s; which is what Plan B is referencing in his lyric; that the rewards of class struggle, i.e. the welfare system and the NHS, are being taken away. Plan B is also using irony to say that youths, in particular working class youths, enjoy the benefits of these rewards of class struggle without holding up their end of the deal, paying taxes and living off of the welfare state; because of this they are viewed negatively in the public eye and therefore people are more inclined to dislike them. Therefore Plan B’s lyric, like most, is to state that this is not the case and a gross stereotype. The reason Plan B has used this is to make the public realise the oppression and unfair bias against these kids and that they have difficult lives because of these stereotypes, the goal of this lyric in summary is to generate empathy from the viewer.

In conclusion young people are represented in a stereotypical way in the Ill Manors music video. Plan B cleverly takes stereotypes generated by media and politicians and creates a music video that almost makes a mockery of them. The reason Plan B does this is to try and show to the public how these stereotypes are not true and that young people are actually a lot different to what they are made out to be in an ironic way by mocking the stereotypes which then makes them seem silly and unrealistic. Also I feel that the music video is designed to generate some sympathy and empathy towards the young people of this country because of these stereotypes; which is then used to show people how damaging these stereotypes can be towards these young people’s lives; with the removal of housing estates, difficulty to find jobs and lack of things to do outside of school with the demolition of things such as community centres; as seen in the lyric “Who closed down the community center? I killed time there used to be a member, what will I do now 'til September?” Plan B’s music video is used as a defensive mechanism, to stand up for the young people represented in the music video who don’t have a voice in the way their country is ran; which is then used as another devise to create empathy from the viewer.