In your opinion, how does the
representation of youth in 'ILL Manors' affect the collective identity
of British youth?
Ill manors is
a film which intends to portray a message about British youth and why they behave in the way that they do.
The director of the film, Ben Drew, establishes the preferred reading that the
environment the youth have been bought up in, is what causes youths to behave
in this way. However, it could be argued that the film itself defies this
impression. Viewers of the film could be seeing the characters in a negative
light due to their portrayal on screen, especially by people who haven’t seen
the film. It appears watchers could quite easily view the shocking actions and
believe that representations of the youth are true. This again is another point
that Ben Drew aims to revert in this
picture as he believes ‘that there is a demonisation of the
youth throughout the media’. Drew
created this film in order to suggest that representations and the youths
aren’t to be blamed. The juxtaposition between characters also shows how there
is evidence of good qualities in characters, particularly the character Aaron. People
who haven’t seen the film might take opposed readings from the film and will
not interpret the film how it was intended. If a person has not seen the film
then again the media might influence their decision and encourage them to
believe that there views of the youth is correct and that youths are a danger
to society and this collective identity is exemplified. These negative views
are portrayed by Journalists such as Anna Minton who claims ‘some
people will walk out of screenings’ due to the shocking activities in the film.
After reading this, many people might believe that the collective identity that
they have and that has been developed within the media is correct and supported
by this film.
