Youth Representation

In 1904 Stanley Hall wrote Adolescence in 2 volumes, in this text he puts forward a theory known as the ‘Storm & Stress Model’, despite being written over 100 years ago it is still relevant to modern youth stereotyping in music magazines. In short, Hall argues the following: 

“Adolescence is inherently a time of storm & stress when all young people go through some degree of emotional and behavioural upheaval, before establishing a more stable equilibrium at adulthood."

Bill Osgerby argues that the portrayal of ‘youth’ in the media has not really altered much in the last 100 years (interestingly repeat patterns occur e.g. 1980s hooliganism and the recent riots) and is by-en-large pessimistic; “We do not have to search too hard to find negative representations of youth in postwar Britain. Crime, violence and sexual licence have been recurring themes in the media’s treatment of youth culture, the degeneracy of the youth depiction as indicative of a steady disintegration of the UK’s social fabric” (Osgerby, 1998).

However, Osgerby goes onto argue that; “The portrayal of youth is not entirely pessimistic,” he argues that “Mixed metaphors” appear when analysing the representation of youth. He claims; “Dual stereotyping of youth,” creates these mixed metaphors that Dick Hebdige (1988) termed; “Youth as fun,” and “Youth as trouble maker.”

Not all young people, especially younger teens, will want to read about extreme rebellious stars, this is where parent friendly magazines like Top of the Pops come in, because they present a different stereotype of youths, Hedbridge's idea of; "Youth as Fun."