Gramsci's theory

Gramsci developed the idea of 'cultural hegemony'. This is the idea that one social class within a culture dominates society, therefore making their views and values acceptable and 'normal' behaviour. Gramsci believes hegemony is constantly causing problems within societies arguing what is actually a 'normal' way of life. For example, this arguing is shown through negative and positive representation of youths from different classes, most commonly underclass. The typical structure of a film, particularly 'hoodie horror' opens with a 'normal' way of life, which is then disrupted by something that goes against this normality. We see one point of view in Attack the Block, where we see the underclass youths as heroes. From this film about youths, we can see how society argues about what is a normal way of life.

Moreover, this means that low social classes will always be shown as negative as they are unable to have the same lifestyle as middle class people. This would effect representations as all representations of youth will always be contrasted with middle class youths. therefore meaning that if the lower class youths are not living up to the standard of the middle class youths then they will always be looked down upon withing society. By looking at this theory, we are able to see that the media always still with the hegemony of the higher classes as these are seen as more acceptable. Also, it further represents how they do not take into consideration how other people live in society.

In conclusion, this displays how the competition of class value will always create tension and inevitably end up with lower class youths acting out violently. This may express how due to the separation between classes in society, people do not understand each other or why they might act the way they do, which strongly relates to how the media has represented youths as 'monster's due to the fact that they do not know what it is like to be a teenager in this generation. Overall, in order for the class tension to disappear, people need to learn and understand each other so youths and adults can get along.