Kidulthood

• What representation of young people in London do we see in the opening of Kidulthood?
• Is it a fair representation?
• Is it a good example of verisimilitude (think of realism or being true-to-life)?
• Has a process of mediation taken place with the filmmakers concentrating on one aspect of youth culture?

The opening scene of Kidulthood we, as the audience, are able to see the different groups of people within the school which are normally shown in American teen films that follow an individual in a school. For example, you are able to see the popular kids who in America, tend to be the good-looking bunch and also quite affluent compared to others. This is subverted through the opening of Kidulthood because this film is based in London and the filmmakers have decided to portray a lack of wealth in these individuals. The film reinforces the stereotype of chavs that some people have about London youth and continues to negatively portray these groups of people.

During the opening of Kidulthood, we see a group of young students in a school who have been portrayed extremely negatively. The reason why it may seem this way is due to the fact that the director/writer has decided to put all the bad things associated with London youth, into one opening scene of the film which is then negatively received and could then cause people to criticise this representation. This then makes this an unfair representation because there have been many events that have been squeezed into once scene; for example, drugs, bullying and sex. This is an example of a form of verisimilitude and is not a positive one because most London youths do not experience what happens in the first film and therefore makes some of the acts irrelevant to them such as the smoking of marijuana. Some people may argue that the true representation of London youth lies beyond verisimilitude because it should challenge the realism of the representation. If the audience believe that the representation is challenging the norms of society and makes sense, this then makes the audience question the particular representation and therefore make their own judgement.

The reason why it is only partly credible for being true to life is because most of these behaviours don’t apply to the mass London youth and therefore becomes a form of mediation. The filmmakers seem to have wanted to portray the lives of young Londoners by showing the things that they go through during their time at academic schools. It focuses more on social aspects as one of the young girls in the film makes fun of the girl being a virgin thus, suggests that having sex at the age of 15 is something that is now ‘normal’ for Londoners however this again does not apply to all London youth but it makes this individual ‘virgin’ has become a social outcast and as a result, is bullied. Mediation has taken place in the sense that the filmmakers have chosen to represent the London youth in what they believe will either challenge stereotype or heavily reinforce and in this case, the latter point applies to Kidulthood. It can be understood why they have decided to do this which can again relate to the money which the controversy will cause to boost because more people will be intrigued to watch the film. This could relate to the writer himself who may come from a similar background to those of the characters in the film and therefore just exaggerate the lives of the characters to appeal to audiences.