Waterloo Road is a television drama which is based around teenagers in a Secondary School/6TH form in Scotland.

It is shown on BBC one which already suggests that the representations of teenagers are going to be negative since the BBC one is the main television channels which represents the views and beliefs of the dominant Ideology within the UK

The main target audience are people ranging from the ages of 18 to Mid 30’s.

• Underage Sex• Teenage Pregnancies• Drugs and Alchohol abuse• Anti Social Behaviour• Disrepectful Teenagers• Lying• Fighting• Lack of Morals

In this scene Gabriella (Student) purposely strips infront of her P.E teacher when hes training in the School Gym. He immediately tells her to put her clothes back on but she refuses.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQAb26wWSjI

This is a negative representation of teenagers since what happened in the scene is illeagal as well as morally wrong. The scene implies that most teenage females behave in this manor when in reality this i not the case. Since the program is shown the BBC, I am not suprised it feature these representations since the BBC represent and reinforce ideas and beliefs of the dominant Ideology

In this scene teenagers Barry and Kevin plan to kill a man called Steve since raped Barry sisters who is also Barrys sister. Instead Steve ends up getting set up and arrested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC67Wmz19n0

This can be seen as a positive and negative representation of teenagers depending on which teenager you concentrate on. For Kevin it is a negative representation since he is planning to commit murder which implies he lacks morals and is a criminal. However Barry never intended to kill Steve which is why he had cleverly rang the police so they come and arrest Steve before he is Murdered by Kevin. Over once again a negative representation is shown of teenagers.

In Waterloo Road and Harry Brown teenagers have been dressed in a way which is similar to how they dress daily, whether it being hoodies or regular school uniform. This makes it hard for the audience to distinguish between reality and the tv drama. The use of steroetypes is also used in both to reinforce the ideas of the dominant ideology, for example using Gabriella who is blond and making her strip infront of her teacher. Stereotypically this is something a ‘’blond girl’’ will do. In reality it’s untrue.

In Waterloo Road and Harry Brown both sets of teenagers are also represented as folk devils (someone who is thought to have a negative infuence on society). For example the boys in Key Scene 2 who plan to murder a man. The idea of moral panic is used since teenagers commiting murder will be extremely worrying for adult veiwers.