Using the theory of Stanley Choen and Robin Wood how are British youth demonized by the media?

Using the theory of Stanley Choen and Robin Wood how are British youth demonized by the media?

Throughout the media, representation of the youth has been extremely negative. This misrepresentation has been created from the large media coverage of a small minority. Stanley Choen’s theory on the youth’s representation in the media is based on two key elements; folk devils and moral panics. A folk devil is a member of youth sub-culture that is represented by the media. In Choen’s view the media points out the negative aspects of these youth sub cultures, this can be done by a verity of media platforms. The media then plays upon these negative aspects to create a negative representation of certain youth groups, to an extent where media consumers consider these youth sub cultures a threat. This is then related to the second element of Choen’s theory, moral panics. A moral panic occurs when this representation becomes so threatening to a large majority of the population that it begins to challenge their values. A modern day example of this in the media would be chavs. The chavs, according to Choen, would be the Folk Devils. Their representation in the media from papers such as The Daily Mail has been that threatening that a moral panic has been created. People feel threatened by the word ‘Chav’. The representation of this youth subculture has become so powerful, that this representation has become over generalized to youth in general, almost establishing a hegemonic representation. Members of the youth who fit in with this subcultures collective identity are therefore demonized because of the large representation of such a small minority. This is only one small example of the demonization of British Youth by the media.  

From a narrower perspective focusing solely on films, Robin Woods theory on the structure of horror films can be linked to the demonization of the Youth by the media. Robin Wood states that the basic formula for a horror film consists of the monster threatening normality. In many films the youth are seen as playing the role of the monster that threatens normality. This theory can be seen in films such as Harry Brown. The youth in the film Harry Brown are constantly harassing people that are represented as older and more mature. This is enforced through the juxtaposition. Harry Brown the chess playing ex-marine, and drug dealing members of the youth who have broken families. The youth in this film take part in horrific acts such as shooting a young mother and beating an old man to death. This representation is therefore going to have an adverse impact on the representation of the youth in the media even to such an extent that it creates a moral panic.

Another strong example from film would be Eden Lake. The main representation of the youth is again created by their violent actions and their lack of respect for underlying middle class values, represented as the norm in media. This therefore satisfies both Choen and Wood’s theories. The folk devils (the youth) have caused a moral panic through their representation, insulting a middle aged and middle class man. This therefore threatens a large and powerful section of society, members of which have powerful positions within the media. This representation therefore has a further impact. The ‘norm’ has therefore been threatened by a smaller group (the monster) which in turn satisfies Wood’s theory.

The demonization of British youth in the media has been a problem for a long period of time. Establishing a point from the last paragraph, the people who control the media are from higher economic bands and are therefore more powerful. The youth however, are from much lower economic bands and therefore have less power. Therefore it’s inevitable that the smaller powerless group who historically have had negative representations in the past, are going to be targeted by the more powerful group. It’s also inevitable that the media consumers will base their opinions on the representations they have been presented by the media. An example of demonization of British youth in the media from the past was demonstrated in the 1960’s. Due to the influx of power in the media from its key role in World War Two representations of groups became much more influential on media consumers. The realisation that fear and grief sold stories was also important. Therefore clashes between mods and rockers in the 1960’s were obvious opportunities to produce news stories. Headlines such as ‘Mods and Wreckers’ and ‘wild ones invade sea side-97 arrests’ cropped up on papers such as the Star and The Mirror. Stanley Choen’s theory was born using these examples as a case study. The folk devils being the mods and rockers are represented as violent and unruly, the repeated negative representations gave people a sense of moral panic. People thought they were at risk from the miss-represented youth.

To summarize, the British youth are demonized by the media through the over representation of the minority. The media has managed to create an ideological hegemony of the youth for a number of underlying factors. They are a minority and therefore do not have numbers or power to challenge this representation, media consumers create opinions based on the content they read and historically older generations have feared the changes the youth bring. These combining factors had created an underlying negative representation for the youth. Choen and Wood have been able to pin point exact ways in which the media has been able to create this representation.