Representation of youth in the 1960's: A different construction

Let's go back in time to 1961, just 3 years before the media in Britain represented its youth as being violence driven hooligans who were a threat to the very fabric of society.

1961 saw the release of the film 'The Young Ones' starring, amongst others, Cliff Richard.

The story is about the youth club member and aspiring singer Nicky (Cliff Richard)  and his friends, who try to save their club in western London from the unscrupulous millionaire property developer Hamilton Black, who plans to tear it down to make room for a large office block. 

The members decide to put on a show to raise the money needed to buy a lease renewal. The twist in the story is that Nicky in reality is Hamilton Black's son, something he keeps keeps secret from his friends until some of them try to kidnap Black senior to prevent him from stopping the show. 

Although he is fighting his father over the future of the youth club, Nicky can't allow them to harm him, so he attacks the attackers and frees his father. In the meantime, Black senior has realised that his son is the mystery singer that all of London is talking about, after the youth club members have done some pirate broadcasts to promote their show. 

So, although he's just bought the theatre where the show is to take place, in order to be able to stop it, the proud father decides that the show must go one. At the end, he joins the youth club members on stage, dancing and singing, after having promised to build them a new youth club.

TASK

Here is the trailer for the film - how is the representation of British Youth different here to what you have previously seen? 

In the Young Ones trailer they are represented completely differently by the fact that there is no violence  swearing or fighting. Which is what the media didn't show when writing about the Mods and Rockers. They made them out to be violent and rioting which made all youths look bad, however in this clip the youths look happy and relaxed and dancing which shows a complete different side to them. Them seem to enjoy music because they naturally enjoy it not because it is in trend or thats what you needed to listen to, to be in the group, which shows a different side to youths again. When the groups run past cars there are doing it for fun and having a laugh they aren't trying to  smash cars or deliberately trying to cause trouble, there just having fun. The teens group includes everyone not just teens which shows they are safe and welcoming unlike what the media showed, that they weren't safe. When dealing with the man they aren't violent about it they try to argue like adults and are then very passionate about their show and that they can't do it. Even the older man gets involved which shows something completely different to what i have seen in the way that the older generation wouldn't really get involved with the younger group but the trailer showed that they can get on.