This article examines how television represents youth. I will be investigating the
‘Fictional’ series Buffy the Vampire
Slayer (1997) and showing the
connections that youth have with this television programme, their feelings
towards the programme and the reasons why this kind of representation is
broadcast. I will observe how the youth programme obtains the genre of youth
and the varying audiences that watch this type of television genre. I will also
be investigating the ‘factual’ documentaries on youth, for example Young Mum’s Mansion (2008) and Underage and Pregnant (2009) and
reviewing how these programmes represent youth and deter the typical stereotype
of why underage pregnancies occur. I will consider whether the documentary is a
representation of ‘real-life truth’ or the ‘truth’ of the white middle-class
male view. Are all programmes centred around youth either ‘fictional’ or
‘factual’, or is there a balance in-between? I will explore this further.
Buffy and her
co-students fight vampires whilst going through the ‘many traumas and occasional
joys of growing up, maturing from teens to young adults and facing the moral,
emotional, intellectual, sexual and spiritual quagmires of contempory life.’
(Levine and Parks, 2007, pg 2) Buffy The
Vampire Slayer (1997) represents different struggles in teenager’s everyday
life, and sometimes represents extreme cases of death, evil or tragedy. It also
has an element of comedy and represents the good nature of some young adults.
Audiences of different ages watched the programme due to the feel of
“youthfulness’’. ‘An identity that transcends age and instead calls upon a
‘’teen’’ sensibility to draw pre-teen and adult viewers valued by advertisers.’
(Mary Celeste Kearney, 2007 in Levine and Parks, 2007, pg 12) Even though this
series is centred around teenagers in high-school, it was watched by both the
’pre-teen’ and the ‘adult’. Frith (1993) wrote an article about British
Television in the 1980’s
To devise a
form of youth programming that could float quite free of any structural base.
In this model ‘’youth’’ became a category constructed by TV itself, with no
other referent: those people of whatever age or circumstance who watched
‘’youth’’ programmes became youth....’’Youth,’’ in this account, no longer
described a particular type of programme but, rather, describes an attitude, a
particular type of viewing behaviour.
(Levine and Parks, 2007, pg 21)
Adults can feel ‘’youthful’’ and
have ‘’youthful’’ interests, so some adults do watch programmes that are aimed
at the youth audience- possibly these adults are trying to impede the
responsibilities of being an adult. As consumers use this ‘’youthful’’
awareness then ‘viewers who are not chronologically young will gravitate toward
programmes that encourage a youthful viewing behaviour.’ (Levine and Parks,
2007, pg 21) Adolescence has expanded and can be one reason for the term
youthful sensibility. ‘Adolescence now extends into both childhood and
adulthood, thus blurring the boundaries traditionally associated with these
stages of life.’ (Levine and Parks, 2007, pg 21) Due to nutritional and
healthcare developments, over the years children mature to adolescence quicker;
they start to take on more responsibility for example household chores.
Children as they come closer to adolescence, start to inquire about different
cultural and social directions for example fashion. Buffy and the other
characters are dressed in ‘trendy’ and ‘cool’ clothes. ‘There’s a real
sophistication going on with this generation.... My daughter moved from Disney
to Buffy the Vampire Slayer by age
7.’ (Levine and Parks, 2007, pg 22) As Zollo (1995) states ‘Teens are important
because they are trendsetters....Younger children, being aspirational, look up
to teens....’ (Levine and Parks, 2007, pg 23) Buffy is used as a role model for
the younger generation- showing the different problems youth go through in
their years of education.
The older
generation are ‘being encouraged to identify with teens and adopt a youthful
sensibility,’ (Levine and Parks, 2007, pg 23) this is due to the adults having
a feeling of youthfulness, as previously mentioned- to halt the
responsibilities of adulthood. Youth can identify with characters that these
kinds of programmes portray. For example
One young fan
noted that she identifies most with Buffy’s character because ‘’it seems all
the things that she’s gone through at the time I [sic] had too or ended up
going through’’.... Real-life teen experiences such as schoolwork, dating, the
prom, and graduation are represented.’
(Levine and Parks, 2007, pg 31)
Buffy shows an authentic
representation of teenager’s everyday activities and this allows the viewers to
make connections with their experiences. Buffy (1997) portrays the characters
as upper-middle-class and shows the dominance of youth in society. ‘Girls find
pleasure in Buffy’s persona because it is a radical move away from not only the
stereotypical teen-girl characters on TV, but also the reality of our own
lives.’ (Levine and Parks, 2007, pg 31) Even though Buffy is a fantasy
based programme it also mixes with other genres.
While there
is little doubt that Buffy can be read as a text about youth, for those viewers
with more life experience and cultural capital it can also be read as a program
that deals with real-life issues that are virtually universal.
(Levine and
Parks, 2007, pg 32).
The issues that are raised in Buffy
are not only issues for teenagers, but they are issues for all of us for example
friendship, power, community and roles and responsibilities. Buffy explores
ideas of different cultures and represents them to the viewers ‘often
prohibited, by conservative adults’ (Levine and Parks, 2007, pg33) for example
the Wiccan religion and magic is the path Willow, Buffy’s friend, eventually follows. Homosexuality is also
evident in Buffy as the two characters Willow and Tara start a homosexual
relationship, so Buffy demonstrates
not only alternative religions and cultures but also different sexual
orientations to the youth audience.
Buffy’s
constant problem of balancing her personal desires and professional
responsibilities, as well as her dual roles as lone hero and community
organiser, resonates with many adult females viewers, particularly mothers who
work outside the home.
(Levine and Parks, 2007, pg 34)
Buffy portrays responsibilities
in a different way, for example Buffy is a schoolgirl and a vampire slayer. She
has to juggle these responsibilities, showing us that as we grow up we gain
more and more responsibility, school and household chores or university whilst
raising a child and keeping a household. Buffy incorporates the rock music
scene in the programme which helps to ‘reinforce the show’s overall aesthetic
as hip, cool and youthful (not to mention ‘’white’’).’ (Levine and Parks, 2007,
pg 36) The music that is used in Buffy is a kind of rebellion music that fits
in with the gothic image of the show and the costumes that the actors wear.
Therefore ‘those who attire themselves in rock fashion are typically assumed to
be teenagers.’ (Levine and Parks, 2007, pg 28)
Another
element of Buffy shows the relationship between young females and the
importance of friendship and loyalty.
The hero Buffy grows stronger when she has her friend with her, fighting
at her side. Representing that you should be there for your friends when you
need them. Buffy and her friend Willow always talk about a situation or a problem
before they act. They always listen to each other before they speak and
sometime the help of other females is also needed in their quest for justice
and complacency, for example Faith and Tara.
Friendships
between females are an important element of popular culture in the United
States. While many depictions of female friendships have been presented as
secondary in narratives concerning the nuclear family or the workplace, shifts
within visual media industries have encouraged the viability (in terms of
popularity and profit) of films and television shows focused on female
friendships.’
(Sharon Ross, 2004, pg 233)
We all know how important
friendships are, not only for the younger generations, but for all of us
throughout our lives. So seeing this portrayal on television, helps guide the
youth into making bonds with others, trusting them and being there for them too
in a time of need. In Buffy this is shown as Willow and the others, being there
to help her fight the vampires.
Children are
conceived of as being unable to make rational and informed social, sexual,
political, economic and intellectual decisions and are therefore dependant on
adults to make these choices for them.
(Casey et al., 2002, pg 21)
This indicates how adults and
consumers decide what to broadcast on television for the youth audience in
order for them to mature into ‘’well-rounded’’ adults. Children are protected
from ‘adult’ material on television, as they can be vulnerable and
impressionable, so the consumer has to create the ‘right’ impressions. Watching
television is ‘an important aspect of our lived culture- but the programmes
themselves are the texts emerging from dominant cultural values, ideas and
beliefs. (Casey et al., 2002, pg 60). For example, the consumers and
broadcasters being ‘white-middle-class’ men.
Documentaries
are made to inform the audience of current affairs and problems within society,
for example Young Mum’s Mansion
(2008) a show about single mothers struggling to survive on their own, so this
programme takes a group of single mothers and they all live in a mansion in the
countryside, where they help each other with everyday tasks for example
cleaning, childcare, taking it in turns to go out to work, and also arranging
activities for them to do as a team-building exercise. Another documentary
programme Underage and Pregnant (2009)
follows underage mothers through their daily activities, sharing problems and
difficulties with the audience in order to represent the life and struggles of
a young mother. It also shows the views of the father and the way in which both
teenagers cope with the difficulties of being a young parent and Juggling
school with raising a baby. Documentaries are factual ‘representations’ of real
events. I highlight representation because of the way a documentary is made. To
get a definite account that has not been edited in any way, would be to watch
the news, but this has also been edited and cut in a way in which, we only see
what the white-middle-class men want us to see. ’The aim of a documentary is to
inform viewers of occurrences within society by offering them a convincing and
balanced account of events. (Casey et al, 2002, pg 67) When they present ideas
in television programmes, they use a ‘closed’ text narrative that goads us into
interpreting the meaning that they are representing.
Documentaries
use the camera to ‘document’ events, recording them with facts to prove the
necessity of the documentary. Narratives organise the order in which these
‘facts’ are presented in a documentary. ‘In the process of building a
narrative, which essentially involves making a story out of the materials
available, claims of objectivity are difficult to sustain.’ (Casey, 2002, pg
68) This is indicating that as the documentary is edited, cut and put-together
in an order, the claim of objectivity cannot be sustained due to the editors
‘choosing’ what to show in the documentary and in what order it should be
shown. This implies that if they do not like a certain point that the
‘real-life situation’ presents then they could decide not to include this in
the finished edit. Therefore the documentary could be flawed, and could end up
being just another ‘white-middle-class male’ perspective.
Despite
concerns about impartiality, many documentaries are made with an educational intention in mind and are
perceived as having a crucial role in stimulating discussion and debate around
important topics. Chapman (1998) has argued that this had led to a perception
of the documentary as a ‘progressive’ political instrument, particularly by
those on the political left who celebrate them as a way of providing a critical
voice on society.’
(Casey et al., 2002, pg 68)
For example the view of how the
government portrays single parents and young teenage mothers is different to
that in which we see on television in documentaries. Documentaries are usually
mixed with other genres for example documentary and history, documentary and
family. The examples I am looking at incorporate documentary with drama.
In
particular, distinction between information and entertainment, and fiction and
non-fiction, are gradually collapsing (see drama), as evidenced by the
emergence of the ‘drama documentary’ (dramadoc) and the ‘documentary drama’
(docudrama).
(Paget, 1998 in Casey et al, 2002, pg 70)
A documentary drama uses
influential ideas to show ‘realistic’ events. For example, The Blair Witch Project (1999). Using handheld cameras and having
conversations-as in real-life, and not using any artificial lighting. This
makes the film seem like a documentary. Some ‘documentary dramas’ incorporate
comedy, Borat (2006) for example or Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee (2009). But what I
am investigating is the ‘drama documentary’. Caugie (1980) distinguishes
between the two. The ‘drama documentary’ takes ‘facts’ from real social
situations and uses recorded ‘facts’ and material from ‘the social situation’
itself to show the viewer the ‘truth’ about this social situation. For example Underage and Pregnant (2009), this
‘dramadoc’ shows the struggles, good times and bad times of the young mothers
everyday endeavours, and questions them about it, in an interview style. Drama
is linked with ‘imitation or representation of reality.’ (Casey et al., 2002,
pg 71)
Genres are
used to categorise television programmes and film. Steve Neale (1980) ‘defined
genre as patterns, forms, styles or structures which transcend individual
films, informing both their construction by the film-maker and their reading by
an audience.’ (Casey et al., 2002 pg 109) Documentaries are controlled by
hegemony, the power the white-middle-class men have over what is broadcast on
television. Television only represents a controlled range of views of society
and the issues involved. Documentaries usually show issues that we all need to
think about and try to help in some way or stop it. For example to get more
help for pregnant teenagers, and in the hope that more youth will not venture
down this path. News and documentaries can influence the issues we talk about
therefore, spreading the word about these issues, and discussing them and
interpreting them. ‘News has also been criticised for reproducing a white male
world view’. (Casey et al., 2002, pg 146)
Polysemy is
used in most television programmes usually a ‘closed’ text. A ‘closed’ text
incorporates ‘words, images or texts,’
(Casey et al., 2002, pg 166) into meanings. The ‘closed’ text restricts the
meaning and prevents uncertainty. Therefore only presenting one meaning, in
this case, the struggles of young underage mothers. This fits in with the idea
that broadcasting companies are still run by white-middle-class males, as the
‘closed’ text indicates that they are showing us issues that they want us to
know about and as previously mentioned, goad us into interpreting meanings.
Documentaries are observations of ‘reality’ and ‘the camera is a tool for
interpreting reality’ (Casey et al., 2002, pg 193) Documentary is useful when we
want to see how the world is represented, but these documentaries still have to
be edited and put-together, especially in the case of the ‘fly-on-the-wall’
documentary, as there will be a lot of material that is not relevant. But this
questions whether some of the material that was cut included views they did not
want us to see or witness.
Stereotypes
have been used a lot in documentary narratives, looking at how
Stereotypes relate to the reality
of people, issues and concerns. The representation that is shown in the example
of Underage and Pregnant (2008) is
not one that rises to the stereotype and the ‘gossip’ surrounding these girls.
They do not have babies to get a flat and some money, but they are accidents,
issues with contraception and just naivety. This representation suggests that
the youth of today are producing more teenage mothers all the time and this is
a problem for society and the rising population. These young mothers struggle
with juggling responsibilities like school and education and looking after the
baby, not to mention trying to ‘be a teenager’ and have a social life, for
example see their friends. Most of these girls are supported by their mothers,
and in some cases the father of the baby.
The important
point here is that representations are produced and circulate within a context
of meaning (such as ‘common sense’) but this is governed by a system of power,
offering legitimacy to some to dominate while others are left out. The
predominance of white middle-class males within the media industries could lead
to certain values, ideas and views of the world being over-represented on
television and being put forward as ‘normal’ or ‘common sense’.’
(Casey et al,
2002, pg 200)
This statement suggests that the
white middle-class man interprets the recorded evident material and looks at
the facts himself, and then he represents the ‘truth’ in his view. So the
documentary is not ‘reality truth’ but the ‘truth’ of what the white
middle-class man sees. This kind of person sees things in a stereotypical way. For
example the series Skins (2007)
represents teenagers as naughty, hedonistic, drug-taking, rude youths, and
incorporates over-dramatised consequences for entertainment. Also Shameless
(2004) can be seen to represent teens in the same way but it also shows the
responsibilities the young girl Debbie has to take on, due to her mother
leaving and her father being an alcoholic.
After
all I have taken into account I have concluded that teenagers are represented
on television as ‘fictional’ heroes in programmes such as Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997). Vampires do not exist yet it is a
good representation of the struggles and issues teenagers go through in their
transformation from childhood to adolescence. Children are inspired by Buffy
and follow fashion trends that the characters set. Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997) deals with the issues of both
heterosexual and homosexual relationships, giving teenagers a range of views
and not ‘closed’ text meanings. All the teenage characters in Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997) seem to
be well mannered and well behaved, I would say that this is a view the white
middle-class man tries to imply- that all youth should act in this way.
Documentaries also support my conclusion that, youth are represented on
television as ‘factual’ problems for society. The young mothers in Underage and Pregnant (2009) show how
‘easy’ it is to fall pregnant and subtly warns the viewers of the struggles
hoping to deter them from going down the same path. They do this by using a
‘closed’ text format to produce one meaning for the viewers to construe. I have
also concluded that Underage And Pregnant
(2009) shows the young mothers and fathers as not only problems for society
but also victims of society, as contraception is easy to obtain from a doctor
now, more underage pregnancies occur due to the lack of information provided by
the healthcare system and educational institutions.
Bibliography
Abercrombie, N. (1996) Television and Society. Cambridge:
Polity.
Barthes, R. (1988) The Semiotic Challenge. New York: Hill
and Wang.
Casey, B., Casey, N., Calvert,
B., French, L., and Lewis, J. (2002) Television Studies: The Key Concepts.
London: Routledge
Caugie, J. (1980) ‘Progressive Television and Documentary
Drama’. Screen, 21 (3), pg 9-35.
Chapman, D. (1998) ‘Downloading the Documentary’, in Wayne,
M. (ed.) Dissident Voices: The
Politics of Television and
Political Change. London: Pluto Press.
Frith, S. (1993) ‘’Youth/Music/Television’’, in
Sound and Vision: The music Video Reader. (eds.) New York: Routledge.
Inness, S. A. (2004) Action Chicks: New Images of Tough Women in
Popular Culture. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Levine, E. and Parks, L. (2007) Undead TV. London: Duke University Press.
Neale, S. (1980) Genre. London: BFI.
Paget, D. (1998) No Other Way to Tell It: Dramadoc/Docudrama
on Television. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Zollo, P. (1995) Wise Up To Teens: Insights into Marketing
and Advertising to Teenagers. New York: New Strategist Publications.
Filmography
Borat (2006) Larry Charles [FILM] USA: Four by Two
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, (1997) Joss Whedon et al. [TELEVISION
SERIES] USA: Mutant Enemy.
Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee (2009) Shane Meadows. [FILM] UK: Big Arty
Productions
Shameless, (2004) Paul Walker et al. [TELEVISION SERIES] UK:
Company Pictures.
Skins (2007) Adam Smith et al. [TELEVISION SERIES] UK: Company
Pictures
The Blair Witch Project, (1999) Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez.
[FILM] USA: Haxan Films
Underage and Pregnant, (2009) BBC. UK: BBC3
Young Mum’s Mansion, (2008) BBC .UK:BBC3
Online Resources
IMDB (1990) IMDB. [ONLINE] http://www.imdb.com/ (Accessed 12/11/2009)
By Lea Weller
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