Written Task: ill Manors and Collective Identity

In your opinion, how does the representation of youth in 'iLL Manors' affect the collective identity of British youth?

Personally, I believe the representation of youth in 'iLL Manors" is approached with much more empathy compared to the way youth is depicted within other realms of the media. This is due to the film's director, Ben Drew, who had close ties and personal experience with the environment in which he depicts in his directorial debut. Drew commented, "I think the reason why we didn't have respect for authority was that we felt that we were ignored by society, that we didn't belong to it." This is a factor that Drew attempted to highlight and used as an explanation as to why youth become involved in crimes and violence in 'iLL Manors'. One way he achieves this is through the music he created, which accompanied certain characters' story arcs and offers the audience insight into how the characters became involved in their respective situations. In addition, integral plot points showed the characters to have some semblance of a moral compass and sense of community. For example, throughout the film the character of Ed is portrayed as a drug-dealing and violent criminal, but ultimately he commits a heroic act by saving a baby from a burning house - an act he sacrifices his life for. An audience who watched this could have shifted their views on the collective identity of British youth as it portrays them youth to be caring and fundamentally moral. Playwright Bola Agbaje supported this aspect of the film, "These people are not heartless or uncaring; underneath the violence, the film showed they have a softer side." On the other hand, 'iLL Manors' arguably reinforces many of the audience's views of the collective identity of British youth, as Drew does little to subvert stereotypes or expectations. For instance, one shot depicted two teenage girls in their school uniform, although their skirts were short, they were wearing hoop earrings and made frequent use of expletives. An audience would most likely have this pre-conceived idea of youth as rebelling against authority, and the film did little to disperse those stereotypes. Former MP and novelist Edwina Currie identified that every character had the opportunity to turn their back on trouble and make the ethical choice, using the character Jake as an example, "But at the same time he could have made a different choice, the choice to walk away." This interpretation could indicate that certain audience members thought that the choices that the youths made were solely their own, and ultimately they had the choice to pick the moral path. Therefore, the collective identity of British youth in this instance could not have been dramatically changed, as the audience may have experienced a lack of sympathy for the choices the characters made, and believe that youth are responsible for their own actions - this makes the violent and criminal acts they commit inexcusable.