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

iLL Manors was a film produced by Ben Drew, also known as Plan B, which shows the events happening in deprived areas of London. The reason for the production of this film was to bring awareness to the struggle that young people in these areas are experiencing. In an interview, Drew said "I want to get a copy of this film and deliver it to the prime minister and say: This is another bit of your country that you don't talk about, you don't see, but nevertheless, large numbers of children and young people are trapped in this life." This indicates that Drew wanted to make the powerful members of society aware of the happenings in deprived areas, and try and bring help.

Drew goes on to say "I believe that there is a demonisation of the youth throughout the media. And people are falling for it, because if you'd had no direct contact with the kids that I'm talking about how the hell can you judge them?". This is an effect of the Cultivation Theory, a study taken by Jennings Bryant and Dorina Miron in 2004. It means that the more negative representations of the British Youth that the population see in the media, the more likely they are to believe it. In my opinion, without seeing any background interviews with Drew on his intentions to produce this film, iLL Manors aids this representation and portrays the British Youth in a negative light.

On the other hand, Camila Batmanghelidjh, the founder of Kids Company, believes that the film iLL Manors can have a positive impact on the British Youth. In a review of the film, she said "These children are living with such dark secrets. That's why it's so important." This indicates that she believes the film is helping the British Youth, by showing the wider world what they struggle with in everday life, and how much it contrasts to the lives of others in the UK.

Overall, I think that the film iLL Manors represents the collective identity of British Youth as thuggish and trouble. However, after watching interviews with Ben Drew on the intentions he had while making the film, I started to believe the film could have a positive impact on the British Youth, and bring awareness to the struggles they experience.