With Reference to at least The Inbetweeners and Glee discuss the extent to which representations of young people in the Media can be viewed as Post-mo

In an ever changing technology world young people in the media is also changing fast. The way the media see the youth now is different to how they see the youth of yester years. Because of the vast media outlets now the way we picture the youth now is changing quicker than ever before through different social networking sites and the media in general. This is also a challenge to the television media to represent there age category (target audience) accurately. If they don’t then the audience will go elsewhere and as the media expands the likelihood is that you would loss that audience forever or having a smaller audience.

As young people are part of this technology generation the youth have an bigger say over how they are represented. Just 20 years ago this wasn’t possible as the media which were available were 5 TV channels and there news, newspapers and the start of the internet. But then the internet hadn’t taken off and print media had a lot of power over the representation of the youth. But if we look at the world now this has significantly changed. The print media is in decline we have many different TV channels, including 24 hours news channels, internet and dot com boom and now a technology youth, like Facebook, Twitter, MSN etc, and the media outlet has changed drastically. by getting news on the phone or the IPAD or the latest gadget. By having this new power it is sometimes a double edged sword if the young people are viewed in good or bad light but a shift is happening and we can see the young people in the Media are viewed as Post-modern.

But all these changes haven’t always changed how the TV media has represented youth in dramas. True there are soaps now for teenagers (Hollyoaks) and they have given a new dimension to soaps but there are a lot of shows which have used old media into modern day texts. If we compare Grange Hill 20 years ago this was a break through into young audience and raising issues that hasn’t been raised before such as young love, anti-social behavior and problems based on growing into an adult. Now shows like “The Inbetweener” have used that concept and have devolved into wider problems. Now it is more socially accepted to have difficult issues tackled on youth problems and deeps of them. What the media has done is highlight it and maybe make it easier for people to come out. What has changed is what is socially expectable to be seen with the media as it is now. By this concept it has allowed TV explore deeper issues without fear of a backlash.

By making it easier is has also made it more expectable to look at issues in a number of different ways. Take “The Inbetweeners” as an example it looks at young teenage boys and there problems of life is general but through a tongue and mouth way of making fun of it without becoming too offensive. Now that would be not too offensive now but maybe 20 years ago it was probably not get to the airwaves as these issues would become too controversial to talk about and made fun of.

Options are also vast in this generation. The TV has expanded significantly over time and options are so much more then they were just 10 years ago. To find your identity maybe easier and harder at the same time. Easier as in you have choice in what you watch but harder because there may be more than one represents you and it might be harder to explain your identity.

Skins is an modern text. What the success of Skins is that they represent most of the teenagers in society. Each characters represents a hope group and what the hope of Skins is that you can relate yourself to one of the characters and understand them properly and know what they are going through. So we can all go on this journey together.

But A show like Glee is a very different show to “Skins”. Glee is an club within a high school in America and they have these story lines where teacher and pupil have issues to sort out and the show goes with convention with drama. Having a start setting the picture, a middle where the crisis point happens and an end where there is a resolution to the problems to get back to start where everything is rosy. It goes through the Wheel of Fire when you go in you have to do the full circle to get out. It has a bit of a feel like Hollywood type glamour. Another difference between the two are that Skins is an British drama and Glee is American drama. By being from different countries cultural would be different. British drama are based on more “real situations” and American style is more on convention which goes on start building a picture, middle creating problem and ending with a solution and normally an happy ending. British shows have such as Grange Hill, Biker Grove and more recently Skins traditionally gone on real life issues then going on Hollywood blockbusters which are unrealistic and shows go on that convention and American shows such as High School Musical or Glee go on more fantasy lines. Even though they are more realistic then Hollywood blockbusters but not as real as British sitcoms.