An investigation into how Black British teens that become involved in street crime are represented in the media.

"My Bro from down the road yeah...Got sent away for 7 and a half Years for holding his Fork... Justa Fork Blud, he was feeding his baby."

This essay will argue how black British teens that become involved in street crime are represented in the media. This essay will also dispute why these young black British adolescents are involved in street crime in the first place. We can agree that street crime has become an increasing talking point over the past year or so having seen a dramatic increase of both gun and knife. “We won’t stop this by pretending it isn’t young black kids doing it,” he said[1] this suggests that it is actually the young black British teens who are in the driving seat and are the main ones to blame. Therefore finding out how much of that statement is actually true. At the same time, the dramatic increase in street crime would not have happen if there were more and more police on road to make the public feel safer and not to worry about any young teens.

Ever since the slavery days black people have been somewhat subject to controversy for many years. In this day and age, there is still negative label which lingers over the black culture. Stereotypes have occurred to black people because of the ways that they conduct themselves on the streets, and the way in which they draw attention. Stereotypes within the black ethnic group transpire because of the way they dress, for instance wearing big black hoodies, baseball caps and have their trousers somewhat low down. “US gangster films such as Get rich or die tryin has countless features which enable young adolescents to replicate” starring the likes of 50 cent who is known to be a global icon for young youths today. These conventions are artificial for the black British teens to convey on our streets and commit these streets. “Wars, murders, racist attacks are part of the seemingly endless flow of media representation of black British teens” [2]. On the other hand, a cultural theorist and sociologist Stuart Hall talks about the misrepresentations of black people go through from the media along with the negative representations which are illustrated in society. This highlights the impact of the media on people and may not address the negative representations. This essay will argue the ways that black people are being represented in the media and whether they are true or not.

Historically, black people have been represented in the bad light and rarely ever spoken highly of. Having said that, only recently has the world witnessed the most powerful person in the world and has been a breakthrough with having a new black president. But how does this have a positive impact on the British society? Historical references show how the media uses images of black thugs in order to impose moral panic upon society. "It’s not possible to know why black people are serving longer sentences than whites, other than that a high proportion of black people are convicted of offences involving drugs, street crime"[3] a panic which was lead to a great deal of injustice and racism society and a at unease that remains today. This corresponds to the issue of the misrepresentation as it is seemed to be very difficult to label all black people by images. In addition, it further shows that the ways where which black British teens have been treated in the past has been unacceptable whereas white people have never been shown in this light as “thugs” or convicted murderers.

"Overall black workers earn less than white workers"[4] black people have largely portrayed as part of the mainstream low class/middle class which does not accurately reflect the lives of the black people who which consider find themselves barred from such a life as highly developed. This connotes as a further stereotype as it is known that the working class black people are according to the stereotype is more likely to cause controversy with others. To fully understand stereotypes held against black characters and how these representations might have changed. “Blacks are natural causes of tension within films”[5], this creates a momentous importance as to why black British teens were given a tough upbringing in terms of the media having to deal with the repeatedly negative news reports. However, this soon moves on as blacks understand their rights and create their own opinions on other black people when they see other black reported in the media in a negative way. Moving on from the negative vibes from the media that the blacks have been receiving the rise of black entertainers and performers changed the way they were portrayed as they moved from an obvious to a slight representation as the comedy era become famous within the black ethnic group. From this we had performers such as Richard Pryor who is known to be one of the funniest comedians of all time which shows that the blacks are slowly but surely have their grip in society as positive consumers.

When looking at the genre of some films that black British teens play is typically gangster as well as being action packed movie genres. Some of the genres have been represented in gangster and comedy is both leading categories. “Comedy success has also come from more recent generation of black performers such as Will Smith, Chris Tucker, and Chris Rock to what extent of that statement do you believe is true?”. Well, the new beckon of comedy era changed the way black people, actors; actresses were being portrayed as it has changed them from being represented as servants, uncivilised and Niggers to be more a happy thoughtful and funny people as all American comedy shows i.e. Are We Done Yet? (2007) and Daddy Day Camp (2007). This emphasis that institutions for instance Warner Bros still transmit black people as interior to white people as they have distorted their image which does not give permission to the audiences to realise with the black actors in the film. New York, Oprah Winfrey has reclaimed the title of being the most popular celebrity on TV in a new poll. Oprah Winfrey is one of the fairly minority women to have establish a personal as a distinctive, characteristic as well as being extremely wealthy. Oprah Winfrey has also established herself as a bit of a Hollywood comedian in recent years in her talk show. Therefore, Oprah Winfrey unquestionably can be an iconic figure to many black British teens that watches her show and follows her every move as there are loyal fans and want to aspire to be like her. She is portrayed very wealthy, very sophisticated and elegant women who are going against the dominant stereotypes of black people in general and in the media.

Bibliography..

1) Robert Ferguson, First published in (1998) By Arnold (Hoddle Headline Group)
2)Striniatic, Dominic - First published (1995) by Routledge
3)Race, And Unemployment - Donnellan, Craig - Published by Independence (2003)
4)Gifford, Clive - Gang (2006), London - Evans Brothers Limited.