Youth subcultures appeared to form after the struggle to deal with changes after the war in Britain and so they developed these 'deviant' subcultures and began to deal with these changes in a rather aggressive way (Willis 1977) Dick Hebdige said that "Members of a subculture often signal their membership through a distinctive and symbolic use of style which includes fashions, mannerisms and music." this can also be known as hegemony, which means a leadership or dominance within a social group. “Subcultures try to compensate for the failure of the larger culture to provide adequate status, acceptance and identity. In the youth subculture, youth find their age-related needs met.” (Tittley) This quote tells us that youth culture feel the need to try and fit in, this way they are less likely to be an outcast and they are receiving the attention that they truly want.
In 1972 Cohen suggested subcultures are a “compromise between two contradictory needs: the need to create and express autonomy and difference and the need to maintain identifications to the culture within whose boundaries the subculture develops.” This quote demonstrates the contradiction between individuality from mainstream society, and so says that by 'rebelling' and trying to become and individual, you are just being the same as everyone else. In 1993 Jordaan & Jordaan gathered information from other studies of youth subcultures and found that these groups shared the same characteristics such as interests, musical influences, fashion and even mannerisms (For example the Mod's would typically wear Parka jackets, Listen to The Who and ride scooters)
Following this, The Mods and the rockers were possibly the most mediated youth subculture of their time, there was an extreme rivalry for dominance, or so the media suggested, This however was not exactly the case. The media and films worked together in a way which portrayed various sub-cultures as being dangerous, Particularly the "Mods" and the "Rockers" They associated them with Drugs, Sex and a whole lot of violence. They made it appear as though, If you did not belong to a particular stereotype then you would amount to nothing- This is supported by the quote from 'Jimmy' In "Quadropenia" when he is questioned bout being a Mod and this quote, in a way, seemed to inspire the youth culture of the time to fit in and become 'something' He says "I don't wanna be the same as everybody else, that's why I'm a mod" Young people are represented as being a danger to society as they are often thought to be the ones starting riots etc, they may start these riots to fit into certain groups; The mods would often follow one another and form larger gangs, Bad behaviour is often highlighted in the media (London Riots etc) and so people may feel that they are in some ways famous if they commit a crime, Stereotyping youths can cause them to lash out on society, for example if you stereotype someone who wears a hoodie and a baseball cap as a thug, they are more likely to feel the need to fit in with that stereotype. Music has a large impact on youth subculture and many previous generations feel that the violence in music plays a large part in the violence in day to day life.
David Buckingham suggested that "The media do not just offer a transparent window on the world but a mediated version of the world, they don't present reality they represent it." and this is exactly what happened during the riots of 1964 in Brighton, Bournemouth and Margate. The film "Quadrophenia" portrays the youth subculture (The mods/The Rockers) in both a positive and a negative light, towards the beginning of the film 'Jimmy' - a young mod meets an old friend, who he laters discovers to be a rocker and so turns his back on him, This supports the facts that you would follow a crowd f people and what they believed rather than just following how you felt. Towards the end of the film however, Jimmy discovers that it is not about trying to fit in to a subculture and he 'frees' himself of this by riding his scooter off a cliff which is a way is a metaphor for his 'Mod' identity, and so it says that eventually youths will grow out of there stereotypical ways. The violence in the films was extremely over the top and took over the majority of the film in a way, the newspaper articles described it as 'The Battle of Brighton' or 'Charge of the Mods' and referred to the youths as 'The Wild Ones' when in fact, 91 arrests were made, which was no different to any other weekend
The media finds a way to show what they want to show about what they know, and so because of this we can never get a honest view of what has happened, everything is re-presented in a way to change peoples beliefs.
