Today's teen's in the media. in the form of a feature article

Essay by Poison_ivyHigh School, 12th grade August 2004

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TODAY'S youth is seldom represented accurately in the media; the way that teenagers are depicted depends of the discourse of the text and also the audience.

The writer of the text has a choice to portray the youth in which ever light they see fit. The articles written in such texts as the newspaper are generally written by adults and therefore swaying their judgment and writing the negative aspects of teen life. There is an example of this represented in the article 'Gangs Crackdown.' An article which is found in the courier male where judgments are made regarding teens as a whole rather then just the few who cause the trouble. A movie that contrasts this dominant negative representation is a film called 'The truth about youth' written by young people for young people, it shows how dramatically situations can be shown differently in different cultural contexts. Representations can change quite drastically depending on the audience, in the family movie 'Pleasantville' youth are shown in their simple life and although many issues about teenagers are silenced it shows teenagers in general as positive judgment.

As this is a movie for the whole family, it is intended to entertain rather than to criticize youth.

The article 'Gangs Crackdown' shows teens in a very negative light, as they are writing about all teens in general rather than just the few who are participation in these activities. The quote in this article from a well respected adult in our community QPU general secretary Gary Wilkinson shows how the closed mindedness of adults can disadvantage the youth of our society as it encourages all adults to get the wrong impression of teenagers from when a few teenagers do the wrong thing. "These kids arrive in this city full of booze and dope and cause...