REVISION ACTIVITY BOOKLET

COMPARISON OF CASE STUDY TEXTS

THE REPRESENTATION OF TEENAGERS in BRITISH FILM & ONLINE MEDIA

TASK 1 – Using your mind maps from previous lessons to help you, compare the way in which the identity of teenagers is
constructed in general across the 3 case study texts.

Representation KIDULTHOOD FISHTANK IDENTITY BLOG

PHYSICAL IDENTITY
What similarities are there in the
representation of physical identity?
What do teenagers look like? How
do they dress? Can a collective
identity be seen through
appearance?

MATERIAL IDENTITY
What types of material possessions
are teenagers seen to have / be
interested in?

CREATIVE INTERESTS
What types of creative interests are
teenagers seen to have, if any?
How are theses interests
represented? What does it say
about teenagers?

SOCIAL ACTIVITIES
What social activities are teenagers
represented as taking part in / be
interested in? Is there a stereotype
represented? Is it the same across
all the case study texts?
COMMON SHARED
CHARACTERISTICS
What shared characteristics do the
teenagers appear to have with
collective representations of
teenagers in the Media in general?

INDIVIDUAL / UNIQUE
CHARACTERISTICS
What characteristics can be seen
that are individual or unique to each
character and not common to the
collective group? How do these
relate to representations of
teenagers in the wider Media in
general?

‘OTHER’ GROUPS AND

RESPONSES TO AND FROM
THEM
What other groups of people
(adults, parents, siblings, authority
figures etc...) are seen? How are
the represented in contrast to the
teenagers? How do young people
interact with them?
TASK 2 – Compare the case study texts in relation to some specific points about cultivated stereotypes, gender, age, ethnicity
and lifestyle.

Area of representation KIDULTHOOD FISH TANK IDENTITY BLOG

CULTIVATED STEREOTYPES
What are the main stereotypes seen?
(rebel / wild / vulnerable / confused / anti-
social / promiscuous / studious /
ambitious / polite etc...)

GENDER
How are men and women represented?
What are their roles seen to be and are
they traditional or untraditional? What do
they say about future aspirations for young
men and women?

AGE
Are young people represented as naive
and childlike or as knowledgeable and
adult? Is there a rite of passage or some
kind of development represented? How is
this seen to impact on a collective identity?

ETHNICITY
Does ethnicity affect the representation
constructed in any way? Can a sub-
collective identity for teenagers be seen as
a result of ethnic background?
LIFESTYLE
Is the representation of the lifestyle
experienced by teenagers seen to be
uptopian (ideal) or distopyian (bad). Is
being a teenager seen to be good or bad?
TASK 3 – Summary of representation across the 3 case study texts – Is there a ‘Collective Identity’? Do you identify with it?
How have you helped to create/ reinforce it?

Look back at your comparison tables from tasks 1 & 2 and identify any similarities or differences in the representations of teenagers. Use
the boxes below to summarise your ideas:

1. A summary of the main similarities in the representation of young people (this can include cultivated stereotypes / lifestyle /
representation of gender / physical appearance / material and creative interests / attitude to ‘others’ etc...)

2. A summary of the main differences in the representation of young people (this could focus on differences in the
representation of – e.g. gender, age, ethnicity or regional identity)

3. Briefly compare your own representation as a teenager in your identity blog with that constructed by writers / directors
in Kidulthood and Fishtank. Do you identify with / support a collective identity – if yes, how?
4. How do you think teenagers the representation of teenagers has changed over time?
a. What were the early stereotypes of teenagers?
b. Have these cultivated stereotypes changes to those that we see today?
c. Do you think current stereotypes of teenagers will change in the future?
d. What role do you think teenagers will have in constructing their own identity in the Media – will we be consuming those
made by adults in the Media or will we be busy prosuming our own?

5. Give a prediction of a collective identity for teenagers in 2025 (14 years time!)