How dose the representation of a particular social group change over tine? Refer to at least two media texts in your answer

In this essay I shall be referring to the two films “rebel without a cause” and “kidulthood” and will compare how representation of youths has changed between “rebel without a cause” (a old film), and “kidulthood” (which is a more recent film).

The first thing that strikes you when comparing the two films is the difference in language that is shown through out the films, as within rebel without a cause the language is very light and hardly ever bordering past our PG film ratings, however when watching kidulthood straight away you notice a dramatic rise in the language used and the frequency of it being used.

It seems that as time has progressed so has the image of youths through the medias eye and it appears that they feel that youths seem to use much fouler language and in more common situations, with rebel without a cause swearing at only certain points and yet there is kidulthood swearing just for the sake of it.

The second most noticeable change between the two films would be the violence within the films as within kidulthood the amount of threatening and abusive language aimed at people is so much higher then that presented in rebel without a cause.

As within kidulthood they use gun’s and baseball bats and knives and within rebel without a cause they only seem to use switch-blade knives, and yes this can be seen as a dangerous weapon but no lasting hard were meant to come from them, showing how over time the portrayal of violence and how violent youths have become has grown.

One of the main changes over the years has been the representation of class in association to youths and how within rebel without a cause the teens all seem to be from well raised backgrounds, and yes they were seen as the trouble makers of the day they still spoke with upper class language and around most adults showed respect and a sense of pride of being well educated people.

However when you compare this to the film kidulthood then you see how instantly the view of young people have changed and that most youths are now under educated, poorly dressed and always using constant bad language, as within rebel without a cause they did not need to wear uniform but they still kept themselves looking smart, if not casual smart. However in kidulthood they are made to wear a uniform yet try to make themselves look as un-appealing and scruffy as the possibly can, showing that over time the medias view of how youths see themselves has changed.

The only time within rebel without a cause aims to make its characters appearance more underdog like is where the main character puts on a red leather jacket, yet however if someone was cast to wear that within kidulthood they would stand out from the other characters and be regarded as well dressed.

Another noticeable change in the view of youths is pride and respect, for example within rebel without a cause James deans character accidentally steps on the schools crest on his first day and is scolded by another student about it, this can be related to henri tajfells theory relating to in and out groups and this scenario would make James dens character be seen on the first day as someone from the “out group”, which could be related to why he then tries to hard to fit in with what he would perceive as the “in group”. However within kidulthood the students seem to have no respect and pride for there school and apparently do not give a dam about it. This is seen where students will just fight within the classroom pushing each other up against the wall and in another scene you can see them spitting on the floor giving the image that they do not clear for property of any sorts. Yet at the same time relating this to tajfells theory one reason why all the students would do this is so that they feel that they as a collective identity would be part of the “in group” and anyone who did not act in the same way would be seen as the “out group” which could support the theory that the reason the girl at the beginning of the film is bullied is because she did not conform to the social standings of the so called “in group”/ rest of the school.

Another change within the medias view of youths would be family values and how within rebel without a cause the parents do seem to play some sort of role within there children’s lives, yet within kidulthood very few of the parents are seen within the film.

Relating to this is seems that the view of parents involvement within there children’s lives had also changed and how within rebel without a cause his parents are very much interested in his social life and yes they do allow him to do what he wants yet at the same time they do seem to show some sort of concern for his well-being. However within kidulthood the bullied girls parents at the beginning of the film do not seem to take an interest and left her upstairs in her room for hours without any social contact with her, although saying this on a spin it seems children’s opinions of there parents have also changed however this time in not such a negative way, in how within kidulthood Sam is outraged when the youths charge past his mother and almost hurt her, yet within rebel without a cause there seems to be no return f love or concern for the parents form the children and so in this view it dose seem that although the media give the representation that children’s morals and image should be decreasing there are some things that still matter greatly to the children of this generation.

Another change within the representation of youths would be the amount of technology that is used by young people of today and how it has grown so much in recent years, this can be seen mainly in kidulthood and how most of the characters are on there mobile phones or taking pictures and calling each other to spread the word easier, however looking at rebel without a cause it doesn’t seem like any of them used any bit of technology and thinking back a few problems could have been solved without the film if it was set just a few years later and if the characters has mobiles.

This can be related to Henry Jenkins theory that people create there identity through the use of uploading images and customizing themselves with the use of technology and this can as already stated bee seen within kidulthood and how they were constructing an identity of themselves through the use of taking pictures of each other ect.

Overall it seems that the view of youths has changed dramatically over the years and that when viewed in today’s society rebel without a cause seems almost lighthearted and almost fairytale like as in if this was the worst that kids of today got up to then there would be a lot less trouble within society.

However if people from around rebel without a causes era were made to watch kidulthood im sure many if them would see it as a horrific almost post apocalyptic type of film in how the scale of representation has soared over the years and made kidulthood into a film that way out-pasts rebel without a causes idea of the term “rebel”