Research

Applying theory

Applying Theory

Theorist	Year	Concepts	Your explanation	Application to film
Giroux	1997	Youth as empty category	This theory is where adults create their own impressions of youths which is why most impressions are not realistic. Youths are given an immediate impression and are widely stereotyped.	This theory applies to the film Harry Brown, as this film portrays all youths as violent, abusive, drug-taking thugs. This is a view of other people (the director/the media) and is an un-realistic portrayal of youths as a whole. This applies to the trailer we saw for Eden Lake in a similar way. The trailer groups all youths together as violent gang members being aggressive towards adults which show that this is how adults perceive all youths. This applies to Attack the Block differently, as this film shows the youths ending up to be the hero’s. This film puts the message across that not all youths are violent and if people didn’t stereotype them all the time then they could see how normal most youths are.
Acland	1995	Ideology of protection; deviant youth and reproduction of social order	Order has a key function: to reproduce itself.  Youth in crisis, youth gone wild, is a central site in which this activity of reproducing order takes place.  It involves the constitution of the normal, adult, the normal youth, and the relation between the two.  The deviant youth is thus a crucial trope of this relationship; it helps patrol the boundaries
Gramsci	1971 (1929-1935)	Cultural hegemony	Cultural hegemony is that a culturally diverse society can be dominated (ruled) by one social class, by manipulating the societal culture (beliefs, explanations, perceptions, values) so that its ruling-class worldview is imposed as the societal norm, which then is perceived as a universally valid ideology and status quo beneficial to all of society, whilst benefiting only the ruling class.	This theory is shown in Harry Brown, as in this film the lower class dominates in the specific location. The lower, non-working class rules the area of the council estate and if you are not a part of this class then your life becomes very difficult, if not impossible to live. The higher class characters in the film (the police) are shown as threatened by the lower class and are beaten and murdered by them, showing the power the lower class possess here.
Cohen	1972	Moral panic	Society is subjected to periods of moral panic every now and again. This is when an episode, person or group of people seems to become a ‘threat to normal society.’ (E.g. the London riots) This is then presented in a stereotypical and stylised fashion by the mass media. This groups whoever caused the disruption as a whole and gives a bad name to those people in general.	This theory applies to Harry Brown, as the group of youths in this film are seen taking drugs, abusing women and others, using weapons, fighting and rioting in London. They are shown as a big threat to the rest of the ‘normal society’ as they are not acting how a ‘normal’ person would be expected to behave. This groups all youths together in these situations and is picked up by the media and stereotypes all youths as thinking this behaviour is acceptable which is not the case.
McRobbie	2004	Symbolic Violence	Creating a symbolic link between the lower classes and violence, violence against the working class is a form of social reproduction.
Gerbner	1986	Cultivation Theory	Influencing society through mass media. Cultivating an attitude about youths and how they behave. If youths are shown as aggressive and violent enough in the media then this how the majority of youths will believe this is how they should act in reality.