Age Theory

OLD AGE

It is seriously worth noting that theory concerning disability can be applied to the elderly with ease. According to Evans (1998):

“Old people in our culture are also segregated and treated as though they are waiting to die. There are close associations between dependency, illness, dying and death. It seems that increasingly in our culture there are pressures that encourage a reversion to infantile feelings which have to be madly defended against.”

 

 

 

 

How is Age Represented in the extract?

 

In 1904, Stanley Hall argued that all young people are “inherently a time of storm & stress when all young people go through some degree of emotional and behavioural upheaval, before establishing a more stable equilibrium at adulthood." The media language in the extract supports Hall’s theory in a number of ways but also opposes it by conforming to Osgerby (1988) and Hebdige’s (1998) theories concerning the mixed metaphors of “Youth as trouble and youth as fun.”

 

The clip starts with the opening sequence displaying a montage edit of various shots that conform to Stanley Hall’s youth theory (1904). The editing is fast paced with lots of medium to medium close shots of youth participating in activities that relate to teenagers being depressed, criminals and needing excitement through drugs, drinking and sex, as the theory states. Specifically, the content of these shots includes youth smoking, wearing minimum clothing, kissing and also participating in fun activities like trampolining. However, the montage also includes shot of characters participating in activities that have higher reputations that oppose Hall’s youth theory for example playing instruments. In this sequence, the sound is in the form of non-diegetic music that using Ronan Bathes’ theory of binary opposition to  create a juxtaposition of sound and image, making the youth being represented look rebellious, emotionally unstable and stereotypically bad behaved, however also happy and  fun through the jolly, upbeat music. This conforms to Osgerby (1998) and Hebdige’s (1988) you theory of “Youth as fun” and “Youth as trouble maker.” Finally, the opening sequence contains a lot of CGI in the form of abstract shapes in different colours and the montage is put together with dissolves and faces to and from black. This also follows the Osgerby and Hebdige youth theory because it shows “youth as fun” due to the different colours and more modern technology, of which the younger generation are often related with.

 

After the opening sequence, the camera begins in a close up shot in a bird’s eye angle and then zoom’s out with a zoom that could be considered the Hitchcock zoom to a full shot, still at the bird’s eye angle. The lighting in this shot conforms to Ronan Barthes’ binary opposition theory, demonstrating the good and the bad of the way teenagers are represented with chiaroscuro.  All of this is done in the opening five seconds so that the viewer instantly forms a judgement of the character, with the high angle indicating that the character has a lower social status, which as the camera zoom’s out conforms to Hall’s theory of the youth being “prone to sought in sex” due to the mise-en-scene, specifically the character’s bed cover. However, from this bird’s eye angle you can also see that the mise-en-scene also opposes Hall’s youth theory because the bedroom is shown to be very tidy, which goes against the stereotypes of teenagers having very messy and unorganised bedrooms. In terms of sound, you can hear church bells until an alarm goes off. This alarm tells the viewer that this character was awake before their alarm, another stereotype opposition due to teenagers usually being expected to be lazy and not wake up with their alarms in the morning, let alone before they go off. The editing of the extract from the end of the opening sequence becomes continuity editing to show the narrative of the program.

 

After the alarm goes off, there is a cut away to the stereo button and the scene picks up pace in editing, sound and action. The stereo is turned on and some upbeat, sexualized hip-hop music begins to play as a sound bridge throughout the characters work out routine. This music conforms to Stanley Hall’s theory of youth being “prone to sought in sex” due to the sexual nature of the song lyrics, for example “I like the way you look in those pants.” This is also shown through the visuals, with the action in the scene a work out which is shown by the camera with a range of shots and angles, for example medium and full shots and high and low angles. This gives the viewer different impressions that the character, with the angles giving the character different levels of status, although the fact that he is working out conforms to Stanley Hall’s youth theory in that youth’s like to look good, which connotes sex. This is furthered through the mise-en-scene, where the character is just wearing his underwear, a sex connoting visual. This part of the clip ends with the character looking at his self in the mirror, with the camera in an over-the-shoulder shot. The fact that he is admiring his own appearance conforms to Hall’s theory, as mentioned before, of the youth wanting to look good and sexually desirable.

 

At this point, the music continues and some parallel editing takes place, following the movement of another young character walking down the street. This is shown through a tracking shot from behind a hedge to the pavement and then a full, long shot to show her movement towards the camera. From here is it clear that character conforms to a lot more teenage stereotypes in terms of the mise-en-scene due to the character’s lack of clothing, messy hair and running make up. This connotes that she has been partying, drinking and having sex during the night and thus conforms exactly to Hall’s theory. Then we go back to the bedroom where you can hear another alarm go off, this time coming from the character’s watch. His movement to the window and the indicates that this alarm could be for the female character’s return, however the eye line match across the street to another female character who is nude in a bedroom across the street make it look like the alarm could also be for perving across the street at this female every morning which conforms to Hall’s theory of youth being “prone to sought in sex.” Furthermore, the naked woman across the street indicates that the old generations are no better than the younger ones due to her obvious awareness of the male character’s gaze being in her direction and thus she is seen to be “egging him on” and purposely making him sexual frustrated, of which you can see from his facial expression. The use of different heights, and thus alternate high and low camera angles, shows the different levels of status between the two young characters in the scene, the male have the most status and the female have little status.

 

Once the young female character finally gets the male’s attention, it is clear that they have some sort of plan. The male change’s the music to heavy rock music and turns it up to maximum volume. This creates a distraction and the female enters the house, whilst some dialogue begins to take place through an adult male’s shouting from outside of the room and then an eye line match to the door is used as an action code, connoting that the shouting is going to come into the room. Then eye line matches are used to form the dialogue between these to characters. The dialogue shows the man shouting things like “TONY!” and “EVERY FUCKING MORNING” which indicates again that the older generations are no better than the younger ones at all. This is furthered through the mise-en-scene with the character wearing the same clothing as Tony.

 

Simultaneously to this, you see the young female coming into the house, leaving the door open, climbing the stairs, checking the argument between the males and then entering her bedroom and getting ready for school. To convey this, the camera angle uses a high angle from the top of the stairs as she walks through the front door to make the audience think of the character as having a low social class, however when she is in her room the camera is at a low angle to show the change in class that the audience is meant to think of her due to the plan succeeding. All of this follows Hall’s and Osgerby and Hebdige’s youth theories of youth being rebellious trouble makers. Furthermore, you can clearly see the messy make up on her face and you can see that her room is really dark which connotes Hall’s theory of youth being depressed.

 

The last part of the extract sees the end of the argument between Tony and his dad, with his dad storming out of the room and Tony successfully turning off the stereo after knowing that the plan had been completed. This is shown through a finally eye level, over the shoulder shot to see the adult leave the room and then a medium shot from near the door to see Tony, an extreme close of Tony turning off the stereo. This follows Hall’s theory of youth seeking exciting activities. The clip finished with Tony picking out a t-shirt via a high angle shot looking down at his drawer of shirts, which goes against the youth theories mentioned because it shows Tony to be smart and tidy as opposed to messy and unorganised. The sound at this point is just foley, diegetic sound, for example Tony opening the drawer.

 

To conclude, youth in this extract is represented as mostly conforming to the youth theories of Stanley Hall, Osgerby, Hebdige and Ronan Barthes, however at times opposing them. This shows that the stereotypes that are put on young people as whole are not entirely true. Furthermore, it is indicated that the adults are no better than the younger generation, showing that all stereotypes put on adults as being responsible and more intelligent is compromised and that the contrast in behavior between the young and old is actually a lot less of a contrast than it is shown to be. That said, this extract is fictional and therefore cannot completely represent everyone in these age groups.