How has the representation of youth changed over time?

Teenagers have changed dramatically over time. I have looked at four different shows about teenagers from the last 60 years and have noticed the similarities and differences between teenagers then and now, and how adults like to portray them.

In Portrait of a School; made in 1957, I noticed the young teenage boy’s manners. They were very polite, quite cheeky to the teachers and tried to use correct pronunciation. However behind this we see that the young boys have a lot of respect for their elders and take pride in the fact that even thought they are still quite young, the teachers try to treat them like adults. Notice the student’s attire; they were uniforms that are very neat and clean. In those time students were expected to look and act presentable so as not to show the school and the headmaster up. We also find out that they will leave school with the little qualifications that they have earned and will go strait to work. This was the norm in those days and the boys didn’t mind anything of it.
When we look at today’s teenagers in such dramas as Skins, we see the major difference. In the first episode we see a sort of role reversal, with the teacher crying over a man and a student trying to console her. This shows us that teenagers are no longer shown as almost-adults, but a true adult. When we look at the clothing the student wear we see that they are not wearing uniforms like the boys in Portrait of a School does. The students wear a verity o clothes such as shorts, shirts, hoodies and hats. In the 50’s, hats were not to be worn in school as it shows a lack of respect for the institution. We also notice that they have not got very much respect for other teachers as the main character, Tony, cheekily argues with a teacher and walks swiftly away from him whilst he is still shouting at Tony. This shows us that there is not a lot of respect for teachers now unlike the in the 1950’s.

When we looked at Student Power, made in 1968, I noticed the similarities between the 60’s youth and now. This show talks about how teenagers are standing up for what they believe in and will do practically anything to get it. However, the punishments were severe but they took it all in their stride and carried on protesting.
When we look at Skins we can see that when they go to parties and clubs, we see that they are doing exactly what parents teachers and the law forbids them to do, which is to take illegal drugs, stealing cars and throwing all night parties with lots of noise. They don’t care about the consequences and carry on doing it until they grow tied of their tradition.

To look at the differences in profiles, I looked at Blooming Youth; made in 1973, a television drama about a group of friends at college/university. We see the main head of the gang, Geoffrey, a lazy, tactical but very rude bored teenager who takes no pride in his learning; whereas his friend is rather smart, very clueless and quit child like compared to his leader of the pack.
We see the same thing but with reversed personalities in Skins with Tony and his best friend Sid. Sid is the typical representation of a useless, untidy, lazy, teenage boy who happens to be Tony’s side kick. Whereas Tony is very tidy, intellectual and takes pride in his healthy lifestyle; he is very leader like and sees this as a gift as he thinks he can get anyone to do what he wants.
The difference between the character in Skins and Blooming Youth is that in the 1970’s people were not too fussed with their lifestyle and were quite happy and content with what they had. But if you look in the new millennia era, you would see that people are happier with gaining more than what they had before. For example, in Blooming Youth, the house the two boys lived in was a complete mess but they liked it that way; however in skins we see that even though Tony is miraculously spotless and very sexually active, he frowns down upon his untidy and dirty best friend as he has not yet had sex like every one else in their social group. It is all about gain with today’s youth.

I have also watched Three Minute Hero’s to get a better look at the way teenagers in the 1980’s spoke to their friends and what they talked about mostly. From the information I have gathered it is quite clear that they focus their time talking about having sex and how they plan on getting it from their basic and blunt speeches. However there is a note of self consciousness with both the boys and girls in this drama.
When we see skins we don’t really acknowledge that they have much to be self conscious about. However they too discuss their options about how they plan to get on e of their friends to loose his virginity. However they are not very blunt with their discussions as they say certain things in codes so that others can’t understand them.

Over time we have seen the similarities and the major differences of teenagers from the different clothes they wear to the bold statements they made. But what we see the most is the way teenagers have been represented through the years and the names given to them such as cheeky, Trotskyite anarchists, vulgar mouthed and irresponsible hoodlums with no sense of decency or common sense. Teenagers were also shown as followers of each other and that they have had no mind of their own. But if truth be told, how else will teenagers learn to grow up and try to teach their children the ways of right and wrong?