Dick Hebdige
Dick Hebdige is a British sociologist and media theorist. His most known theory was the meaning behind subcultures. He is best known for his influential book in subcultural studies, The Meaning of Style, published in 1979. Hebdige believed that it is clothing, music and drugs that determined the identity of youth. The subculture you belong to is a key way of determining who you are and who you are not.
Stan Cohen
Stanley Cohen is credited with coining the term moral panic in his 1972 study, Folk Devils and Moral Panics, of the popular UK media and social reaction to the Mods and Rockers phenomenon of the 1960s. This book is widely regarded by British criminologists as the most influential work in the field in the last forty years. The work applied the concepts of labelling, societal reaction and Deviancy Amplification and helped in widening the scope of Criminology to include the sociology of crime and Social Control. Cohen suggests the media overreact to an aspect of behaviour which may be seen as a challenge to existing social norms. However, the media response and representation of that behaviour actually helps to define it, communicate it and portrays it as a model for outsiders to observe and adopt. So the moral panic by society represented in the media arguably fuels further socially unacceptable behaviour. A moral panic is an intense feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. A deviancy amplification is a media hype phenomenon defined by media critics as a cycle of increasing numbers of reports on a category of antisocial behaviour or some other 'undesirable' event, leading to a moral panic.
Quadrophenia write-up
Quadrophonia is a 1979 British film directed by Franc Roddam, which follows the lives of a group of people who follow the subculture of being a 'Mod' and their infamous rivalry with another famous subculture, the 'Rockers'. The main character in the film, Jimmy, is represented as a stereotypical 'Mod' which is defined through two main features; his clothes and music taste. It is revealed at the start of the film that group identity is important to Jimmy as he wants to be part of a gang, part of a collective group. He reveals to Kevin, a rocker, that he enjoys to feel a part of something and to have similar people around him. However Jimmy is questioned by his friend Kevin, "Do you not have a mind of your own?"
To support the theory of Dick Hebdige, both the Mods & Rockers are stereotyped through clothing and music. In the Brighton beach scene which is the setting for the famous battle between the Mods & Rockers, each side are dressed all the same; the Mods dressed in green parkas and the Rockers dressed in leather. This shows their collective identity as two separate subcultures clashing.
In the scene at the start of the film in which Jimmy is seen having a bath in the room next to Kevin who, unknown to Jimmy, is one of his old friends. Kevin begins to sing an American rock song, in which Jimmy begins to retaliate by singing the The Kinks' 'You really got me', acting almost as a song battle. When Jimmy and Kevin both stand up to realise each other, they are both naked, taking away their collective identity, revealing them as friends. It is not until the next scene where they meet up in a cafe and realise that they are both part of a completely different subculture, shown by their clothes.
Kevin, a rocker, speaks about his time in the army. Kevin exclaims his feelings towards collective identity, it is discovered that he does not like wearing the same as everyone else, he likes to be his own free person. However, this contrasts with what we see because to the audience, Kevin is a stereotypical rocker. It is evident to the audience however, that Kevin is not participating the the battle between the Mods & Rockers, he just wants everybody to be friends.
Another main character, Steph, is stereotyped as a Mod. Her key features appear to be sexual freedom, an example of this is that she didn't really think about Jimmy's feelings after having a fling with him and then getting with his best friend straight away. In this film, Steph's loyalty is questioned as she is represented to be promiscuous throughout the film. This gives an unfortunate stereotype to teenage girls. Quadrophenia is shown to follow the theory of David Gauntlette, "Identity is not given, but constructed and negotiated", traces of this can be found throughout the film, portraying the mods and rockers in a way to build their own reputation, rather that create a moral panic, their stereotype is negotiated through seeing their point of view.
