Icons in the hood - how working-class youths became chavs – Media Magazine

https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/media-magazine/articles/16872

Is this the beginning of the end for the word 'chav'? British rapper Plan B has criticised the label for being 'a derogatory phrase no different to the ones concerning race or sex'. But some argue being a 'chav' is about attitude and behaviour, not race, sex, class or education. Pete Turner looks at recent representations of modern youth's controversial icons.

·         “The typical representation of contemporary young people in Britain is the iconic image of the 'chav'. The chav has become a symbol of David Cameron's 'broken Britain' and a cultural movement of young people that is easy to recognise.”

– The representation of modern young people comes from the upper class and middle class. They are the ones labelling people socially beneath them. The youths that are been called ‘chavs’ have no choice and act in the way the media represents them. They could be the ones showing ‘the people with power’ that they are wrong to call the youths ‘chavs’. Also the quote above says that “The chav has become a symbol of David Cameron's 'broken Britain'” This shows that even their leader has lost hope and placing the youths of today in a position where they’re limited in life. 

·         “Hooded, tattooed and often anonymous due to a covered face, 'chavs' wear tracksuits and trainers and often sport some dazzling golden jewellery, commonly referred to as 'bling'.”

·         “These are supposedly the youth of British streets; uneducated, poor but covered in labels and logos, and above all aggressive, most likely waving gun and gang signs around, hands stuffed down the front of their trousers just like Ryan Florence did behind David Cameron's back.”

·         “However, many have criticised the label 'chav', and particularly its use by the mainstream media. Tom Hampson of the Fabian Society argues:”

·         “71% of articles from a range of tabloid, broadsheet and local papers involving young people were negative in tone, and a third were crime-oriented.
Heath, 2011”

Odd Future, Stranger Past - Issues of Representation in Contemporary Hip-Hop- Media

Magazine

https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/media-magazine/articles/16889

·         “The landscape of contemporary music is changing. The use of the internet as a tool for both distribution and marketing has resulted in an explosion of new artists, fragmenting audiences and causing shifts in every aspect of the industry, from genre to production to image construction.”

·         “Whichever topics you are working on, representation is certain to be central to your response, and being able to write convincingly and with sophistication about how an artist's image utilises existing stereotypes and how technical codes and mise-en-scène contribute to this construction will have a huge impact on your grade”

There’s a riot going on - Media Magazine

https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/media-magazine/articles/16831

·         “In August of this year, a wave of civil disturbances spread across Britain's inner cities. Following a peaceful demonstration against the death of a black man, Mark Duggan, at the hands of the police in Tottenham in North London, police officers beat a teenage protester on the street.”

·         “The disorder that ensued subsequently spread to other areas of the capital and thence to several of England's major cities. Newspapers, TV screens and the internet were flooded with reports and images of crowds rampaging through the streets, setting buildings and vehicles alight, fighting with police and smashing and looting from shops.”

·         “In particular, it's interesting to look at how the participants were described. In most of the tabloid media coverage, the rioters were consistently and repeatedly identified as young people. These were the 'feral youth', the 'hoodies' and 'yobs' who apparently rampage uncontrolled in our cities, bent simply on destruction for its own sake.”

·         “In fact, many of the people ultimately convicted for crimes during the rioting were by no means young. Youth offending, youth detention and reoffending have declined in recent years. Meanwhile, just a few weeks later, young people achieved record passes in their GCSE and A Level exams. Those involved in the disturbances were obviously a small minority. Yet in much of the media coverage, they came to stand for Young People - or particular categories of young people - in general.”

Is it Cos I is British?! Issues Around Black Britishness – Media Magazine https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/media-magazine/articles/16890

What does it mean to be Black British? Why has it taken so long for us to see representations of and by black British artists, producers and creatives as more than just 'issues'? Jennifer G Robinson explores the diversity and range of the Olympic Opening Ceremony, and wonders how far it reflects the media's role in constructing black British identity.

·         “Part of the problem when analysing black culture in the UK today arises from our dependence upon American popular culture as a model for critiquing representational issues.”

·         “Brick Lane (2007) and Small Island (2009) all discuss these writers' experiences through immigration, inter-racial love and racism. However, these adaptations still posit a representation of 'otherness' which must continually explain itself. It is anchored in pain, struggle for identity and a demand for acknowledgement of presence. These adaptations appear as updated versions of earlier 'race' films such as Borderline (1930), Sapphire (1959) and Flame in the Streets (1961). With all the other narratives documenting black and Asian life, which mirror universal human experiences,”

Black Ink - Black Press in Britain - Media Magazine 

https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/media-magazine/articles/16203

• "Black is a loaded word. It may work on some level politically, but less so culturally; what exactly is Black and more insidiously 'Black culture'? Using this terminology to define people with a little colour plays into the idea that they are from one homogenous jelly-mould with no variation in language, customs and traditions."

• "This is certainly a large area to cover and one which can only be touched on here. It is important to investigate the contextual issues that this complex subject area presents. This article will primarily focus on the discussion of people of African/Caribbean, British-born descent. In this overview of the titles which dominate what is a niche market, we'll try to examine some of the history of Black publications"