Welcome Back:
Collective Identity – Youth:
rebel without a cause interview
The Media’s Depiction of Youth in the 1950s
Harry Brown (2009) – Taken from Amy McDermott’s Blog
- How are youths being represented? (specific examples)
Youths are being represented negatively from the very first scene where we see a group of teenagers in hoodies taking drugs. Their stereotypical clothing makes the audience identify them as thugs that intend to hide their identity with their hoods. They colours are this scene are dark and dismal which also emphasises the negative image. At the end of this short scene we see the group attack a boy they were forcing up against a wall. There is next a more serious negative representation as two boys film as they drive on a motorbike shooting at a woman with a baby. This is dramatic and perhaps an over exaggeration of what youths would actually do. The rowdy teenagers are contrasted with the first scenes we see of Harry Brown where he is quiet and sad. The silence and emotion within the hospital emphasises the disrespect and drama we have previously seen of the teenagers. There seems to be a general fear of the youths we see in the film for both the characters and for the audience. We see the violent acts they commit and how the characters in the film react to them, most significantly when Harry Brown’s friend tells him how he is “scared” and threatens to kill them. There is also shock when we see the teenagers cause a fire in his flat, and in the next scene discover he was assaulted and killed. This is extremely shokcing to the audience and gives a very negative opinion of youths for the audience. When the characters are further introduced when they are being questioned by the police, they use abusive langauge that is disrespectful to the detectives. The main character that we saw get arrested is particularly focused on and most threatening and abusive which is shocking.
- How are the audience being positioned? (to identify with the characters)
The audience are positioned firstly to dislike the youths because of the negative representations we see. They are placed in the first scene very close the the group, as if they are part of it, which puts them directly in to the situation. They are again placed close to the characters as they see a point of view shot as they boy on the bike films, again placing them directly in to the situation to feel as if they are one of the characters, but they can do nothing about what’s happening which adds more of an effect to the drama. The audience is intended to feel sympathy for Harry Brown as when we first see him to extreme quietness creates the effect of loneliness. After this, the audience are placed throughout the film looking against the youths and being for the main character Harry Brown.
- What is the significance of social class?
Social class is very important in the film because it suggests that this is the influence that lead the characters to commit the crimes. Their upbringing is particularly significant and suggests all teenagers from the same sort of background will have this attitude. For example, the main thug character talks about his Dad in prison when he is getting arrested and tells the detective he is still out there, because he is his Dad and is carrying on his work. This is an bovious influence from parents and the boy feels he should carry on his father’s attitudes and crimes. The character Mikey in the gang is also questioned by the detective about his many foster homes and history of being seriosuly sexually abused which we also later see, which suggests to the audience this is what has led him to crime and drugs. We also see the main thug’s mother as the police raid the house and arrest the man. His mother wakes up from the banging as if she is hung over and lights a cigarette. This negatiive image of mothers from a lower social class also suggests this is what causes these youths top act in such a way.
A-Level Media Revision 