Supakarn Bamrungtin
Teenage Representations in Media
In today’s media teenagers tend to be portrayed in a negative manner. Therefore influencing how a majority of the general public feel towards the teenage population, emphasising the stereotypical image of an everyday teenager in which is associated with traits such as being lazy, immature and disrespectful. But what if the different types of media/text affect the way the public views their opinion on teenagers? For instance a newspaper article on “Teen Party Goers”, a magazine feature on one of “Australia’s most exciting teenage basketball prospect” and finally a TV show called “Summer Heights High”
Newspaper Article – “Teen Party Goers”
“Police Minister appalled by Teen Party Goers” published and written by ABC news is an informative newspaper that covers breaking and important news, the newspaper is often targeted towards the older general public. The article is about the disgraceful behaviour of teenagers at a party in Piara Waters, Perth’s South East which attracted 500 teenagers. Where Police were pelted with objects such as rocks, bricks and bottles, one teenager was stabbed and nearby properties were damaged. The incident also called upon the Police Minister saying “I think it’s absolutely disgraceful behaviour”, “I mean teenagers continue to surprise me with the way that they conduct themselves, and I’m just astonished”. In his article teenagers are once again generalised for the actions of a majority, this portrays a negative image of teenagers and therefore the older targeted audience associates the “DISGRACEFUL” behaviour with teenagers.
The author tries to persuade the target audience by using emotionally waded words such as “DISGRACEFUL” that impact the reader’s opinion and persuades them to the author’s negative beliefs. This creates a negative stereotypical image towards every teenager instead of the select majority.
“I chose this article due to the fact, newspapers usually emphasis and target the negatives and wrong doings of teenagers and generalises a whole young generation, rather than praising the positives of teenagers, since a majority of the older generation would rather be entertained by how poor the certain young kids of tomorrow are conducting themselves, to sell their paper”.
Magazine Feature Article – “Melbourne Teen Basketball Player”
“Dante Exum, Melbourne teenage talent, nominates for NBA draft” published by the “The Bleacher Report” and written by Nick Smart. “The Bleacher Report” is a sports magazine targeted towards a range of ages from (12-60) year olds, mainly attracting sport enthusiasts. The feature article is about Melbourne teenage basketball talent ,Dante Exum whom was the youngest member inducted to the Australian National Basketball men’s team which he was 16 years of age at the time. Now in 2014 at the tender age of 19 he will achieve his goal of being drafted into the NBA (Largest Basketball Association) where he was nominated late last month in January. The article highlights the talents of Dante and his dedication, hard work and humbleness which have allowed him to be successful in achieving his dream. Dante in this text is portrayed as the complete opposite of a teenager in the Newspaper article above, due to his positive traits and his talents, rather than being a “DISGRACEFUL” teenager.
Author Nick Smart persuades the audience to view Dante in a positive light due to using quotes from Dante’s Interview for example; Dante was asked a question on which specific team he would like to get selected by if he had the choice? Dante replied with “I don’t really mind being selected would be a great honour in the first place, but a team that wants me there and needs me there, somewhere I can learn and improve on my skills and somewhere I can get some playing time” this reply emphasises the positive trait and value of humbleness which a positive teenager could be stereotypically associated with. Also
