Theory table

Theorist	Year	Concepts	Your explanation	How it fits into the films that we have studied
Giroux	1997	Youth as empty category	Giroux’s theory suggests that youths are just empty and they are not actually bad but the fear from the adults is then what society focus’ on.	This theory fits into the three films we have studied because in Harry Brown the adults and police fear the youths because of the way that the youths they have witnessed and dealt with have behaved in this way. In Eden Lake the adults are cautious because they have an idea about how they behave. In Attack the block the Police and girl they mug have an automatic fear because as soon as she sees them and they approach her she begins to panic. The police do not realise that Moses has done good and arrest him.
Acland	1995	Ideology of protection; deviant youth and reproduction of social order	The 'badly behaved' youths cause a boundry between how to behave and how not to behave. A state of re-ordering society and keeping the good and bad seperate.	This fits into the three films that we have studied because it shows the different relationships between the adults and the teenagers and how this can provoke fears or behaviour.
Gramsci	1971 (1929-1935)	Cultural hegemony	Gramsci’s theory suggests that it is cultural hegemony and culturally-diverse society can be ruled or dominated by one of its social classes. This also suggests that the ruling class is seen as the ‘norm’ and this is perceived to benefit everyone.	This fits into the three films that we have studied because in Harry Brown it is the working class that destroy the lives of others and they try to rule their territory. In the other two films in it seen as the adults being the weaker class because the youths are the dominant class.
Cohen	1972	Moral panic	Cohen’s theory suggests that there are certain time periods of moral panic, when a new condition , person or group of person’s becomes recognised. And we are presented with this through mass media.	This fits in with the three films that we have studied because it shows how the adults are very fearful and aware of the different problems that arise from the awful behaviour of youths. We are also fed this through media.
McRobbie	2004	Symbolic Violence	Symbolic violence against the working class is a form of social reproduction. Creating a symbolic link between the lower classes and violence.	This fits into the three films that we have studied because it shows how they use violence to make a point and to show that they are the dominant ones.
Gerbner	1986	Cultivation Theory	The repetitive pattern of television’s mass-produced message and images influences people’s understanding of the world. The more the media produce about the representation of youth the more it gets embedded in our heads.	This fits into the three films that we have studied because it shows how people are fearful because of the messages that the media are influencing us and our fears.