QUADROPHENIA

S T E P H

HOW DOES STEPH REPRESENT BRITISH YOUTH CULTURE?

Steph is a young girl, who hangs around with the Mod boys. Her actions include:• Taking drugs• Switching boyfriends• Riding on the back of their scooters • Getting drunk • Going to clubs • She has a part-time job • She associates herself with a gang (Brighton)She has a very attention seeking personality (hence why she switches boyfriends a lot) she represents British youth mainly in a negative way, making this social group appear reckless, uncaring, and disrespectful. She treats Kevin well, until she leaves him for his friend and causes tension between them. Although she has a part time job, you can tell that she is likely to be very sneaky, as she lives for the weekend and often gets boys to drop her home on the back of their scooters after she finishes work. • A big part of the genre in this movie is acceptanceAnd to feel this within a group, and most of the timeSteph seeks this acceptance by becoming inRelationships with the boys as its easier than trying to just become one of the group naturally.

HOW ARE THESE REPRESENTATIONS STEREOTYPICAL?

It is very typical that British youth is often presented badly. Stereotypes of taking drugs, being uncontrollable, unfriendly and doing illegal things e.g. beating people up, and taking part in the Brighton riots. This is all seen in Steph’s character. Girls are usually represented slightly better than boys, however they are still seen to be doing the same stuff they just don’t get caught e.g. Lola and Nina in human traffic. This makes them appear more sneaky, and again creating negative connotations of British youth. Steph has a job with is not stereotypical, she also cares about the way she looks and looking after herself e.g. B&B but she does appear to be a bit of a ‘player’ when it comes to boyfriends, as she likes to use them to her advantage, again giving an untrustworthy stereotype of this social group.

STEPH’S RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER CHARACTERS?

• As an audience we never see Steph’s relationship with her family. However, on a few occasions we see that she makes sure that she is home in time after work, showing that she does not want to disrespect her parents wishes. Which is unstereotypical, and reflects youth positively.

• The audience never sees her with any girl friends, this could suggest that she is different to most of the girls in British youth, in that the other girls do not like to take part in these activities. Or she only wants a boyfriend and doesn't’t care about having friends as she doesn’t need them.

• Throughout the film, we see Steph with three different men. She doesn’t usually have a break between them. Steph likes to feel safe and protected, and fit in with a group and feel accepted, she just wants to have fun, and she doesn’t care who she hurts along the way.