How has the way the media has represented and/or created collective identity changed over time?

Over time, the representation of youth culture has changed dramatically due to different medias. There are many differences between contemporary and historical representations of youth over the last centry. Youth have be negatively represent in the last couple of years whereas in the past much more positive representations are made. However, negative depiction have been legated toward youth in the past but not as consistently of darkly as it is in present day.

Two films that show opposing representations towards teenagers  from different time periods are, the  1986 - Ferris Bueller's Day Off and the 2011 - Attack the Block. Ferris Bueller's Day Off represents the life of a teenager in 1980s New York. This film shows youth to be both good and bad; they are considerate, accepting and free willed people, but also fight authority (Ferris skips school and regular defies the head master). The representation of this character is fictional but could be applied to real life individuals. This representation in almost the opposite of Attack the block, a film that takes place in a block of flats in which violent, anti-sociale teenagers fight off an alien invasion. The characters are also depicted as drug related people who aspire to run the block through a marijuana farm. This shows that over time the representation of youth has changed negatively over time. They have done this by stereotyping youth as reckless, anti-social people in the present media whereas in the 1980's youth where much more considerate towards others and were more low abiding then the present day representations. Saying this however, Ferris, in Ferris Bueller's Day Off drives a car that is not owned by hime and also breaks school rules. This is not as dramatic as the crimes that are committed by the characters from Attack the Block, who deal drugs and mug civilians.

The Breakfast Club, a 1985 coming of age film, represents youth differently. It shows youth to be influenced by their parents making them behave differently, in this case getting into trouble at school (one character tried to kill himself due to stress).

Dog Town - Youth are shown at law breaker, careless, trespassing, Skater dude.