Youth on Screen. David Buckingham

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Youth on Screen: Representing Young People in Film and Television

      DAVID BUCKINGHAM

      polity

Copyright page

      Copyright © David Buckingham 2021

      The right of David Buckingham to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

      First published in 2021 by Polity Press

      Polity Press

      65 Bridge Street

      Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

      Polity Press

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      Medford, MA 02155, USA

      All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

      ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-4525-4

      ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-4526-1 (pb)

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

      Description: Cambridge [UK] ; Medford : Polity Books, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “A star scholar’s exciting history of young people in film and TV”-- Provided by publisher.

      Identifiers: LCCN 2020049118 (print) | LCCN 2020049119 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509545254 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509545261 (paperback) | ISBN 9781509545278 (epub) | ISBN 9781509548705 (pdf )

      Subjects: LCSH: Youth in motion pictures. | Youth on television.

      Classification: LCC PN1995.9.Y6 B836 2021 (print) | LCC PN1995.9.Y6 (ebook) | DDC 791.43/65235--dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020049118

      LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020049119

      Typeset in 11.25 on 13 Dante

      by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NL

      Printed and bound in the UK by TJ International Ltd

      The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.

      Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.

      For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com

Acknowledgements

      Most of the chapters in this book were originally developed as essays in my online project Growing Up Modern: Childhood, Youth and Popular Culture Since 1945. This material has been substantially edited and revised for this volume. Other essays in the series (including several others on youth film, and on youth culture) can be accessed at https://davidbuckingham.net/growing-up-modern/.

      I would again like to thank my editors at Polity, Mary Savigar, Ellen MacDonald-Kramer and John B. Thompson, for their continuing encouragement and careful support.

1 Introduction

      As I was completing the outline of this book in late 2019, a news story about youth and screens briefly hit the headlines. ‘Police attacked during machete brawl at Birmingham cinema,’ it proclaimed.¹ Apparently, a group of Asian youth – possibly queuing to attend a new British film called Blue Story – had been involved in a fight in the foyer of the Star City multiplex at around 5.30 one November afternoon. About 100 people were involved, several police officers were injured, and five young people were arrested. The cinema chain Vue promptly withdrew Blue Story from its theatres across the country, although it eventually relented, and the film went on to enjoy reasonable box-office returns.

      Directed by the young Black British director Andrew Onwubolu (also known as Rapman), Blue Story is set in the mean streets of Peckham in South London. It focuses on two young African-Caribbean men and their steadily deepening involvement in drug-related gang violence. The film was Onwubolu’s first feature and was a developed version of a short drama series he first created for YouTube in 2014; his subsequent YouTube hit Shiro’s Story (2018), reportedly shot for just £3,000, had gained around 8 million views for each of its three episodes. While Blue Story was financed by the BBC and eventually picked up by Paramount for global distribution, its origins reflect the changing