Introduction:
How accurately is youth culture represented 'The Inbetweeners'?
How accurately is youth culture represented 'The Inbetweeners'?
· Primary text- The Inbetweeners: sitcom
– reflects youth culture with comedy purpose
· Discuss how The Inbetweeners is a
differentiated comedy: sexual jokes over-exaggerated for comedy purposes
and how the show could represent topics which may cause moral panics – such as
excessive drinking - not a typical sit-com as their school journey remains
linear
· Hypothesis - 'The Inbetweeners' is the
only franchise which accurately presents how British teenagers are in terms of
their attitudes towards studies, work and taking on adult responsibilities.
· “Youth culture challenges
and sustains larger cultural norms and shapes young people’s identities”
· Today’s youth come to
understand and navigate their way through the world”
“The boys occupy that
twilight zone between adolescence and maturity, trapped frustratingly between
two freedoms: the innocence of childhood and the financial independence of
adulthood. Thrown in with that general angst is the awkwardness of
unreciprocated crushes and embarrassing drunken misdemeanours which almost
everyone can relate to.”
Couple of paragraphs
focussing on Primary text -
“Focal point of the comedy”
“The Inbetweeners
although it can be argued that comedy is subjective; a good deal of comedy on
our television screens draws on universal values and beliefs.”
Representation:
Accurate representation as the characters could relate a lot
to British school boys as elements of their lifestyle, such as going to
parties, pulling girls and drinking, are all stereotypical acts of an average
college boy.
Genre:
Film genre: through the sexual jokes made and awkward
conventions
For instance: Simon's continuing obsession with Carly
– refer to clip where Simon pukes on Carly’s little brother
MIGRAIN - Media Language:
Discuss features of sitcom -
· No canned laughter: not a typical
comedy, this differentiates it
· Modern and social school environment -
suburban and more realistic
British comedy more
releaxed
Lighting is kept fairly high key. This is to fit in with the
genre and humour of the programme, to appeal to and entertain the target
audience. The high key lighting, promotes general light heartedness, which
links to the crude humour in the show, as it connotes that it is not something
to be taken too seriously and is generally there to be laughed at. This light
hearted atmosphere achieved from the lighting, also helps to anchor the shows
in the comedy genre. This appeals to the target audience as they find that with
this they can simply watch this show, be entertained and laugh at it, without
taking it too seriously. This appeals to THIS shows target audience as they,
(young people aged 15-25), are people who are stereotypically thought to enjoy
comedy shows more than drama.
“Certain small number of characters” – a sitcom like The
Inbetweeners doesn’t need an excessive amount of characters to create comedy,
the banter between the boys is what creates humour.
“Choice of scenes is limited to your show’s standing sets
and maybe one or two swing sets or outside locations” – most of the filming
takes place in a high school, only in the movie there are multiple locations
because they are on vacation.
Masculine-dominated stories with little time for female characters
Steadicam movement with long flowing shots following
characters through their environment Theme song – Gone Up in Flames
– Rock song, reflects time era, how society is changing, upbeat, urban realism
Characterisation – how the features of each character as relatable in real life –
use Simon as an example
Hegemony - audience relates
to the four main characters because they have a feature they the share or
admire with the star. Some fans may attempt to replicate the star in their
behaviour, what they and what they do. But this could also be a negative impact
as some stars often are heavy drinkers and focussed on who can "pull"
the most girls.
As each narrative unfolds,
it becomes apparent that the Loser is, in fact, an individual who conceals a
profound lack of confidence, struggling as they do not only to overcome this
personality trait but also to prove themselves – e.g. Simon’s numerous attempts
to get with a girl
“Neil who usually is
submissive to the jokes the rest of the group make. He is usually the central
subject to the jokes that are made
Geoffrey Macnab
Theory for characterisation:
All
male cast: idea of patriarchal society –
Binary oppositions: male/female
“Humour derives from contrasting those values”
Difficult in sitcoms as they are too “excessive” to be
“realistic” - males are seen as creating banter, feature of female characters,
such as Carly as being too serious and temperamental.
Laura Mulvey and the male gaze: “females subject of their
(males) desiring gaze” – Carly, Simon’s crush, is displayed as an object of
affection. The fact she is white, has blond hair makes it more prominent that
she is a standard female that is used as an object of affection.
“Women are denied a viewpoint” – the all-male cast proves this.
Women are “positioned so that they admire the male lead for his
actions, and adopt his romantic/erotic view of the women.” – Carly seems to
make Simon appear more passionate and almost obsessed with her.
“Adolescents and young adults, particularly those of high school
and college age, engage in social situations which pressure participants to
drink far more alcohol than they would ever choose without that pressure.” This
is evident from the scene where Simon drinks too much and ends up puking on his
crush’s little brother. This creates awkwardness, yet comedy at the same time.
The superiority theory’:
laughing at the misfortunes of others. While this may appear cruel, think about
slapstick and also those ‘cringeworthy’ moments in British comedies like The
Office, Peep Show and The Inbetweeners in which the characters embarrass themselves
horribly or make a social faux pas. We squirm for them, but there’s catharsis
in thinking, ‘Thank goodness that’s not me.’ While these shows will often end
at the moment in which the failure or embarrassment reaches its horrible
pinnacle
“I would also argue
that it uses bricolage, in that it mixes comedy, drama, romance, realistic
issues and slapstick.”
Paragraph on critics – institutional information
“The Inbetweeners:
'Lad culture doesn’t represent young men in this country”
“This is essentially a
British rip-off of The Hangover 2, with four actors in their late 20s
impersonating 18-year-old half-wits going on a holiday in Greece, where they
get drunk, vomit and use foul language a lot — and unaccountably attract a
quartet of physically attractive young women by doing so.”
"The Inbetweeners’ is
successful not only because it works brilliantly as a sitcom, but because
people truly connect with it. For that reason alone, it fully deserves its
success.”
Sexist jokes are damaging
to society”
Compare to Secondary Text (TOPBOY)
Differences of
British youth culture – which one has more social realism
Issues and concerns
about the youth
Topboy - exploitation of children
Crime fell 18% in the 12
months ending in September 2011, and murders fell from six to three, according
to police statistics
BBC, Mark Easton: “Sex, drugs, booze, fags, crime - teenage
problems with these have all fallen hugely in the past few years.”
Issues and debates in further detail:
Moral panics - The movie could influence teenagers to be focussed on partying,
rather than studying
Hyperreality – a situation where images cease to be rooted in
reality
· • Fragmentation – used frequently to
describe most aspects of society, often in relation to identity
Historical Text
Saved by the Bell –
differences in American culture vs British
Explain why British
comedy is more explicit
-
“Comedy is a peculiar and subjective phenomenon”
-
Emma Louise Howard states how sitcoms now have a “narrow
audience”
-
Sense of humour: “The British and American sense of humour
is different”
-
Key concepts of ‘surrealism’, ‘oddities’ and ‘nuttiness’ are
seen as being “British”
-
·
“ Most comedy from The
Inbetweeners based around theme of sex. This is breaking social taboos but also
from transgressive behaviour that has sometimes fatal consequences. Some forms
of modern comedy ask us to enjoy the embarrassment and humiliation of others.
-
The superiority theory’: laughing at the misfortunes of
others. While this may appear cruel, think about slapstick and also those
‘cringeworthy’ moments in British comedies like The Office, Peep Show and The
Inbetweeners in which the characters embarrass themselves horribly or make a
social faux pas. We squirm for them, but there’s catharsis in thinking, ‘Thank
goodness that’s not me.’ While these shows will often end at the moment in
which the failure or embarrassment reaches its horrible pinnacle
Brief paragraph on American culture vs. British - discuss - US reports stated the language barrier was an issue
which prevented people from watching the movie
Bircolage –
The love of Simon (Joe
Thomas) for Carli is quite touching and romantic.
·
Neil (Blake Harrison) has an almost surreal spin on life. And the Dickensian
Head of Sixth Form Mr Gilbert is a sadist.
·
Series One, Episode Three, ‘Thorpe Park’, parodies the archetypally sleazy male
driving instructor, turning it
-
“I would also argue that it uses bricolage, in that it
mixes comedy, drama, romance, realistic issues and slapstick.”
-
“All of which creates a rich bricolage or layering of
meaning”
Entertainment
purposes –
Media technology and the digital revolution – the movie released
on Netflix, was huge success - the option to add subtitles makes it easier for
foreign audiences – discuss from an institutional perspective
-
Uses and Gratifications - escapisms and entertainment, also
building personal identity as the target audience can contextually relate to
certain aspects and incidents
Conclusion –
“Today’s youth come to understand and navigate
their way through the world” – the boys are seen as having more independence as
they are now young adults. They have more responsibility- such as pressure to
do well in order to go university and they have a lad’s holiday to mark their
freedom.
“Culture of exploitation” – youth exposed for what they
really get to. This relates to the majority of the target audience as they’d be
faced with the same obstacles and complications
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