Representations of age in television

Representations of age in television

Youth

 On the right hand side is a promotional image for the E4 youth drama Misfits; during the course of this analysis I will be breaking down how said image represents the youth demographic.

Mis en scene
In terms of Mis en scene i.e costume,props and the setting this photo was taken in, these features connote youths to be dangerous and reckless ; a common stereotypical portrayal of youths in the media. One example of this can be seen in the costume the characters are wearing; there all wearing bright orange community service jumpsuits, not only this but these jumpsuits are scruffy, dirty and the character on the far right hand side isn't wearing his jumpsuit as it has been intended to worn. The scruffiness of these jump suits connote how they don't care and may have little regard for how others see them. Furthermore the fact the character on the far right has is wearing his jumpsuit around his waist further emphases this reckless attitude. In addition the bright orange colour of these jumpsuits bear connotations of the orange prison jump suits seen in American media texts; this as an effect may connote how dangerous these characters are, associating them with the dangerous prisoners that can be seen in other media texts. Moreover the character on the far right has a tribal tattoo which because of other tattoo stereotypes that have been established in the media this presents the character as some sort of dangerous gang type.  In addition the characters are situated against a gritty and damaged locker room which further emphasises how these people may not be so pleasant.

Composition
All the characters in the promotion are situated near each other and are each posed in an intimidating way looking directly at the audience and laying back. Said pose and the close placement of these characters further emphasise the reckless attitude and also conveys a kind of gang like collective as evidenced by how close they are; they look intimidating individually but together they look dangerous. Additionally the photo uses a high contrast filter which exaggerates the darker areas of the environment and convey a gritty and more hazardous environment.  As an effect this emphasises how threatening these characters are placing them in an unwelcoming environment with the characters reacting with little to no concern.

Camera angles
The camera angle used in this promotion is a long shot and allows audiences to see the characters and the surrounding  environment they are interacting with.  This camera angle places the teen characters together in close proximity with each other similar to those of a group photo of family or friends. This presents these teens as a family or group like collective. One may argue that the way these teens are posed conveys an aggressive tone and represents youths as gang type youths.