To what extent do media texts represent adolescence as a period of identity formation, self-discovery and conflict? (Essay)

To what extent do media texts represent adolescence as a period of identity formation, self-discovery and conflict?

The journey a young person takes from the transition from child to adulthood is the subject of many media texts. The viewer enjoys viewing and reading about the struggles one faces, the hurdles they overcome and the lessons they learn as they are able to confide and identify with the protagonist as the journey from adolescent to adult is one that every person will take; no matter who they are or what their background may be.

Firstly a well displayed adaptation of the journey to maturity is shown in the 2006 film ‘This is England’. Here we see a young boy, Shaun, mourning the loss of his father, a member of the Great British military who has recently perished in the Falklands conflict of the early 1980’s; at the tender age of 13. Shaun comes from a low income, single earner, one parent, female headed household. The politics of the time show that this is a difficult household to belong too as it saw the birth of the New Right ideals headed by such politicians as Thatcher and Reagan. These ideals include the idolisation of the nuclear family as the best kind of household to belong too, as well as the crippling of the working class by the lack of empathy towards them and the drying funds received by the welfare state under Thatcher’s government.

While his home-life is in tatters Shaun is also struggling with a bullying problem at school, not helped by his recent loss and the lack of empathy received from his peers. Shaun is mourning and alone at the beginning of the film and it is clear to see he has hit rock bottom.

However one walk home for Shaun turned into one of those milestones that the viewer identifies with in these kinds of media texts. Shaun meets Woody; the leader of the local skinhead gang, as well as the rest of the gang and after a conversation with Woody, the lads pick on Shaun and he turns his back on them also. However they later invite him along with them and he becomes an integral part of the gang.

Trouble then brews when Combo, the ex-gang leader, returns to the lads after he is let out of prison. Combo then uses Shaun’s grieving for his father to manipulate him into joining his nationalist group with highly racist views. We then follow Shaun’s story with this alternative group of skinheads in which he ultimately turns his back on and carries of living his life alone.

The representation of adolescence in This is England is profound and moving. The audience identifies with Shaun in his struggle to fit in and his obvious wanting to live a life that he feels his father would be proud of. However in the bigger picture the film can be criticised as an over dramatization of the adolescent period for the sake of gaining more viewers and selling more cinema tickets. For example not many young people have the misfortune of meeting an ex-convict, using him as a father figure, then having to drag a man almost 10 years his older to the hospital after this ex-convict has beaten him half to death. Therefore This is England can be praised for its representation of the struggles of adolescence in the sense of fitting in, being a loner and the need all people of all ages have of needing someone to have in their life to be yourself with; however the themes can be criticised for being far-fetched and over-dramatized to maintain an audience.

The themes in This is England and the representation of adolescence would be discounted by Baudrillard as another example of the Hyper-Real. This is because although the film is said to be based upon the experiences of the director Shane Meadows, the viewer doesn’t realise while watching that it has been scripted and tampered with to create a better viewing experience to ultimately achieve the main goal of the production company and make money. Therefore people such as Baudrillard would say that there is no real representation of what it is to be an adolescent in any media text. Just, however, the over dramatized, glamorization of one director’s experience, stroke, dream.

Another media text that has received great criticism and acclaim for these ideas of over dramatization and unrealistic themes is the teen TV drama Skins. Skins ran 7 series from 2007-2014 including a spin off “where are they now” series of three of the show’s most popular characters (who aren’t already dead) and showed how they had unrealistically fallen on their feet after doing nothing but take drugs and sleep with each other through their sixth form years, doing little to no work in the process.

An example of this is Effy. Effy is the younger brother of the main protagonist from the preliminary series of Skins, Tony. Effy then becomes the main character of series 3-4 when her brother leaves to university. Effy indulges herself with drugs, alcohol, sex and partying for the next two years of her life from 16-18 years old.

Midway through series 4 Effy suffers from a mental disorder which includes self-harm and efforts of suicide. Through this period Effy is unable to sit her A-Level exam. However instead of resitting the year. The school offers her 3 A’s in her subjects to improve the schools image.

Thus the complaints for unrealism in Skins can be backed up with a large amount of evidence of over exaggeration and hyper realism.

Similarly Baudrillard’s ideas of simulcra can be seen from Skins. This is because Skin’s created the “my life’s so much like Skins” subculture. These teens believed that Skins created an almost identical representation of their lives as it depicted everything that they themselves do; i.e. take drugs, have sex, underage clubbing.

However these teens were snubbed by the hyper reality Baudrillard talks about as they grew up with skins between the years 08-14 and where they thought they themselves were being replicated; they were actually replicating Skins. Something they thought themselves to be fathomable and real, in reality was a large picture with a small frame that did not show the fact that skins was written by two 40 year olds, and the characters were depicted by actors whose lives are nothing like the characters they depict.

However, I feel that Effy’s “mid-teen crisis” is an accurate representation of youth. This is because the rise in cases of suicide and self-harm cases from young people aged between 13-18 has risen considerably over the past decade however is still a taboo subject for the older generation, of whom are the parents of these suicidal children.

I believe that these rises in suicidal cases from teens is partially media driven. With such shows as Geordie Shore and TOWIE showing a fast paced lifestyle of parties, booze and sex, theorists such as Hebdige have shown that subcultures can be persuaded massively by media; and as such, these are today’s subcultures.

However the young, innocent teens of today, especially girls, can’t keep up with such a fast paced, lonely lifestyle and therefore do not realise what dangers they face in this race to grow up teens find themselves in these days. Being a kid is no longer cool and the sooner you can act like a mid-20 year old the better if you want to be seen as cool.

In conclusion media texts can represent the struggle every young person in the 1^st world has today. However these texts are manipulated to make good viewing which in turn can create dangerous out comes for the teens that watch them. For example Call of Duty is a war based video game aimed at young males. The game is highly invigorating however it creates a very false and marginalised view of what life as a serviceman consists of. COD, as it is commonly called, can make young boys want to join the army as they complete the missions on the game and want to enhance the experience further by enjoying it in real life. However they do not realise that their vision is clouded by the smokescreen that Baudrillard described as simulcra.

Similarly shows such as Geordie Shore and Skins depict a fast paced party fuelled lifestyle of drugs and sex that young people wish to replicate as is the subcultures of present times. However these can come with dangerous consequences as it can show the ugly side of humanity as the clubs they find themselves illegally inside do not care if they are using said clubs illegally, so long as they have the money to spend, likewise, for girls, they are full of men nearly twice their age also trying to fit the “laddish” subcultures of today’s society who will seek out the most vulnerable young girl they can and try to have sex with them with or without consent in the hopes they can then gloat to their friends the next day in order to score more “lad points” and find recognition amongst their peers.

Therefore, to summarise, I do feel as though media texts can represent the development, conflict and self-discovery young people face in the modern world. However the gross over dramatization and heavy influence upon party culture and getting “notches on your belt” can have dangerous outcomes for young people who will develop drug addictions and will have close shaves (if they’re lucky) with date rape and sex abuse within the new party culture generated by television shows and the music industry simply for the benefit of being seen as “cool”. The media isn’t just to blame, but the representation of young people today can have dangerous consequences for people simply trying to impress a crowd of people, when these young people are simply trying to find love and happiness and instead are having to live with drug addiction, self-harm, suicidal thoughts and depression.

Luke Keeler