CJT edit!

In this Investigation, I will be analysing how my two chosen texts, 'Sun, Sex, and Suspicious Parents' and 'Shoplife', represents young people and question if it is accurate or conforms to stereotypical pre conceived notions of how young people behave. Secondly I will question how this construction of so-called reality could influence an audiences judgments and conceptions of young adults. I will support this by applying Cultivation Theory, along with Jaques Lacan's Gaze Theory and the development of this, Laura Mulvey’s the Male Gaze theory.




The History of Reality TV is something, which has crept into our national culture and rooted itself in the domain of national identity, says who? with endless formats and ideas thrown about and watched by Millions of the British public. Prove it.

Reality TV, or similar forms, can be dated back to 1940. 'The American Family', a 12 part docuentary, focussed on the marital tensions and issues experienced in family.

Is this needed? Link to texts - delete?

One could argue that young adults are represented in mainstream television and in my text Sun Sex and Suspicious Parents stereotypically. This would include being lazy and lethargic, being over-cared for by their parents and lacking the independence they need to progress into adult life. “The media tends to portray young people in an overwhelmingly negative light, according to a Mori survey”(1) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/3736156.stm