Kidulthood Questions

Kidulthood

The general representation that is conveyed of young people in London through the film Kidulthood is overall negative as it portrays them in the stereotypical manner as they are shown to be feral through the violence, such as the fight scene between the two girls, the drug taking as the opening scene showed two youths smoking a 'zoot' (weed). They also show the youths to be very intimidating through their clothing as they wear hoodies and baggy trousers, this was shown through the opening scene as one of the main characters 'sam' was seen as the ring leader who wore this type of clothing.

It can be argued that this is a fair representation of youths within London as the events shown within the opening scene are common amongst youths such as bullying and the violent behavior, however it can be argued that these events have been over exaggerated, as they have all been condensed into one opening scene, also it can argued that its not a fair representation of youths within London as not all youths are like the people that are shown within the opening scene of Kidulthood, as you do get youths that show a positive attitude towards school, who would rather catch up on work before school rather than smoking weed and be deviant.

The opening scene from Kidulthood is a good example of verisimilitude as it shows the groups that typically form within schools, for example you have those that play football, those that hang around in gangs who cause trouble and those that stay quiet and do their work. Also the language used within the opening scene is typical of teenagers as they talk in an restricted language code as they use slang words such as 'sket' and 'blud', therefore being a good example of verisimilitude as its what the language and the behavior which is shown is what the audience expects. It can be argued that audience have formed these interpretations from the dominant ideologies which the media has presented of youths within London, this can be  linked to the theory of hegomony.