Group Task On Skinheads by Eleanor, D'Nai, Sam, Courteney and I

Hello, viewers! Here is our research into the subculture called 'Skinheads'. I'm sure most of you have heard about this popular subculture. However, do you know the real truth about them? Within our research, you will be given an in depth insight into their way of live and more!

 How are youth subcultures defined?

Youth subcultures are groups within young people, who may be defined by their clothes, work, home, school, family or friends. According to Jordaan in Man in Context (1984), "a subculture group is a social-cultural formation that exists as a sort of island or enclave within the larger society.” Sociologists believe that society is the one who defines the groups, instead of the groups themselves.

When and why do they emerge?

Many historians and sociologists argue about the way in which different sub cultures emerge. The main theory is that when they are forced to enter different social groups for example school, work, and going into a new location. Notice the word ‘forced’ is used meaning these subcultures don’t always desire to be formed.

How are they perceived by society and mass media ?

In 2007 the deaths of three Melbourne teenagers caught the media’s attention. The media exaggerated this issue by involving the EMO sub culture and social networking for the suicide and murders.

Also the language often used in the newspapers (controlled by the media) allows people to paint young people in a different way. This leads to constant stereotypes made by people about these youth subcultures.

 How were they perceived by society and by mass media?

In the song ‘London Skinhead Crew’ by Booze and Glory, it mainly highlights how skinheads are perceived in this day in age. Within the chorus, it talks about the personality and characteristics Skinheads have:

Coz we got nothing else to do – this line demonstrates that they might be quite lazy or feel as they do not have a purpose.

London Skinhead Crew – this line shows that they refer to themselves as a crew. Google’s definition of ‘crew’ is ‘a group of people that work closely together’. This shows that the subculture is quite close and operates together also.

Scars, tattoos, crombie coats, full of trouble – this line highlights the physical characteristics of skinheads and how they behave.

We grew up on dead end streets – definition of ‘dead end streets’ – ‘blind alley: a street with only one way in or out’. This shows that they think that once you’re a skinhead, you won’t be able to stop being one because you grew up with only one way to do things.

Lack of teeth - full of dreams – the phrase “lack of teeth” could mean they maybe get into a lot of fights. This means they could be quite violent at times.

Drinking beer and forever blowing bubbles – “drinking beer” shows that they enjoy alcohol but “forever blowing bubbles” contrasts on how skinheads are presented within the chorus

Booze and Glory - London Skinhead Crew Music Video:

 What images do you associate with the word “skinhead”?

Does this subculture still exist?

Skinheads do still exist. For example, there are underground neo-nazi skinheads that live in Canada. They are treated very unfairly because of the stereotypes and reputation skinheads have. In this article, you will find much more information of treatment of skinheads in Canada.

http://www.featureshoot.com/2013/02/underground-neo-nazi-skinheads-in-canada-photographed-by-brett-gundlock/

When, where and in which social, political and economic contexts did it start?

 

If you were a skinhead, you were a member of a subculture that originated, among the working class youths of London in the 1960s.When most people think of skinheads, the first thing that comes to mind is often a racist Nazi white male with  tattoos all over their body and a generally threatening manner. They might even think of someone like this being involved with the KKK. However originally these was not their intention...

 Lots of the young people, in the 1960s spent their money on high end fashion trends that came from American and  R&B groups, British rock bands, and even movie stars. These young people became known as mods, who would be known for their consumerism, devotion to fashion, music, and scooters, which were a major staple in this subculture. ( A subculture is a social group within a national culture that has a distinctive patterns of behaviour and beliefs)

However not everyone in this time could afford to keep up with these trends. The 'Peacock mods' were the people that always had the latest fashion trends, money and was known to be the least voilent. While the 'hard mods' was more working class: with less money. 

As a matter of fact it started as a reaction against the hippie movement, not race or politics. The first representatives of the movement were greatly influenced by black music imported by immigrants from former Caribbean colonies, Jamaican rude boys and British mods. But by the early 1980s skin heads started to identify them selves with racist/ facist ideas - influenced by the British National Front ( BNF). These views then spread to other parts of the world especially America. Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP), were different type of skinheads and would often fight with racist skinheads. Apart from the different views on politics both groups of skinheads listen to the same music and followed the same fashion trends.

 Did they have a distinctive style?
Hard mods, with the little money they had wore: boots, button down shirts, straight legged jeans and suspenders. If they happened to have money they would wear tonic suits and other classy outfits that they could wear to dance halls where they would enjoy Ska music, rocksteady, and reggae genres. Skinheads often had closely shaven heads (mostly for workforce reasons), which is where the term skinhead came from. By the late 1960s, it was what they were commonly known as.

We found this documentary about skinheads. It demonstrates how the mass media effects youth subcultures and helps us understand the history of skinheads:

4) Skinheads define themselves as superior and respected in the way that they can hate what they want and discriminate what they want without consequences. They also seem themselves as the bullies and that they can bully and hate any race they want. They began their idea of being racist in Scotland and Northern England.

5) The role of young men and women are that they need to show their differences between themselves and who they classify the` disrespectful one`.  The role of young men that were skinheads was leaders and intimidating. Whilst the female skinheads look like the servants that would cut their hair and buy there drinks and cigarettes.

6) Youth culture changed over the years because different skinheads joined together and formed different rules and opinions. There are quite a lot different groups of skinheads that had mixed together to form different parades. Some non-racist groups became racist because they were mixed with racist groups.

Fishers Exercise

Within the fishers exercise, there was a protagonist that we had to follow using peripheral vision whilst in a tight configuration in a group. We had to be organised in the way we followed them. If we couldn't see them, we would use our peripheral vision to watching others to direct us. The protagonist could be either in the centre of the group, on the side or at the front depending on which direction we were facing.

For example, Mr Rennison was at the front of the group. The group was arranged so that the shorter people were at the front and taller people at the back. Whatever Mr Rennison did, we had to follow. After copying a few things that he did, if he rotated 90 degrees clockwise, one of the people that would then be at the front would take on the role of the protagonist and so on. Afterwards, the protagonist could be someone in the middle of he group also.

This exercise really helps to evaluate how to move in synchronised motion and all in unison. Learning how to do this will be a great advantage for us when performing Blackout as the play involves a lot of physical theatre and requires us to work as an ensemble.  

Level 3 of The Game

Within this game, you have to be able to see failure as someone that is not negative.  For example, if someone does something wrong within the game, we should move past from it and carry on with the game.

Although I was absent from doing level 3, I was about to come in for 5 minutes at the end of the game and observe what was going on. As someone who was watching the game, I found it quite interesting as so much was happening all at once. I noticed that people used different voices to express different personas, they were moving around and a ball was being thrown across the room. As a viewer, this showed me that you must have focus on everything that is happening in the room as everything and everyone plays a part. 

I think this game is helpful when rehearsing for blackout as it helps us to get to working as a group and supporting each other. Having these qualities will allow us to perform to the best of our ability collectively and truly portray the character in the best way possible. 

Milling Exercise

During the milling exercise, you have to walk around the room using your peripheral vision and collective responsibility to filling the space. Try your best not to walk in a circle as the could make the exercise seem less realistic and flow less. In order to make the most out of the space you are given, cut through the centre, move sideways and backwards with your body and create spatial relationships with your peers in the room to work together in unison with this exercise.

There are different energy levels in this exercise that you will explore whilst moving around the room:

Level 1 - moving very slowly, observe the space, not slow motion
Level 2 - low energy without emotion
Level 3 - normal pace
Level 4 - frantic/excited
Level 5 - explosion, chaotic

This exercise was created by Jacques Lecoq (December 15th 1921 - January 19th 1999) 

Homework Tasks on 'This Is England' Film

What is your view of how masculinity is defined in the film?
Google's definition of 'masculinity': possession of the qualities traditionally associated with men.


My view of how masculinity is defined in the film 'This Is England' is that not only do the males take on masculine qualities but also the females because of the appearance and attitude of both genders. For example, the skinheads in this film have their hair shaved till they're nearly bald as this is what a skinhead does with their hair. A character that goes by the name Lol (actress Vicky McClure) followed the tradition by shaving her head too, but left a forehead fringe. Traditionally, men are known for shaving their heads but Lol took on this stereotypical male quality by shaving most of their hair too. This infers that masculinity wasn't just among the male characters but also the females.

Also, we see that a character named Shaun (actor Thomas Turgoose) was beginning to try act like a man at the age of 12 as the film went on. Within the film, you see Shaun's transition from behaving like a little boy by fighting in his school playground to him flirting and getting intimate with older girls and threatening those that are older than him. This tells me that masculinity was defined in the film by showing how Shaun grew up and developed so quickly within the film. As the film's duration increased, Shaun began to change the way he spoke, acted, appeared and even walked! The film showed Shaun's transition from a little boy to a young man.

Another observation I made is that there seems to be some sort of hierarchy between the skinheads. Characters Combo at the top, Woody second, Shaun third then the rest of the skinheads trail onwards. However, this hierarchy system soon changes as Shaun gains more of a status within the film than Woody. This shows to me that masculinity was defined in the film by having connotations of a hierarchy system. It showed that it was the men that were usually on top and in charge of things, not women,

Overall, I believe that the film used Shaun's change from being a little, cowardly boy with no friends to what seemed to be a young man going out with men that are twice or maybe three times his age to help define masculinity. Also, that masculinity doesn't always have to be defined with boys but with girls too. The film also included connotations of a hierarchy system between the characters.

Discuss the theme of loss-of-innocence/coming-of-age in the film
Google's definition of 'coming of age': the age or occasion when one formally becomes an adult.

 The theme of the loss-of-innocence/coming-of-age within this film is particularly shown with Shaun because of how he changes in the film. At the beginning of the film, you see him waking up half naked to go to school and staring at a picture of his father that died with compassion and love. When he arrives at school, he has a squabble with another pupil in the school's playground as young boys tend to do. However, you see him morph into a young man by changing his appearance (cutting his hair nearly bald and a change in his dress sense). As soon as he met the group of skinheads, Shaun began to feel more confident in himself and acted as if he was a lot older than he already was. From the beginning of the film, you could tell that Shaun was quite a boisterous character as he used a lot of foul language and had a cheeky sense of humour. As the film goes on, he starts to use more foul language and his cheeky sense of humour gets bigger by the second. 

Shaun grows into young man who is quite cocky but at least develops self confidence. He does transform into an older person in the way he acts but the actions he does is negative: a rapid increase in his swearing, violence and racism. Combo (the main skinhead in the film) brainwashed Shaun into making him believe any other race in England shouldn't belong there and that they should fight against them. In result to this, Shaun morphed into an angry, racist young boy who wanted to seize revenge. One thing that Combo told him was that he should fight for his father; that his father would be proud of him. This clearly gave Shaun the motivation to think what he's doing is correct; he was oblivious to the fault in it.

Overall, the theme of loss-of-innocence/coming-of-age in the film is negative as Shaun grows up to have a negative mindset and attitude based on the influences he has around him. 

In my opinion, I believe that 'This Is England' is a very interesting film that has mature and adult themes that causes you to think in depth about society and the country you live in. The use of racist themes, skinhead cultures and the theme of coming of age collectively works together to create such a tense yet outstanding plot to catch the viewer's attentions. I would recommend this film to anyone who wants to know information about different types of skinheads as I believe it covers everything you need to know about them. However, I would only recommend it to someone who is mature enough to watch it prior to the mature themes it contains. 

To conclude, I think the film is absolutely outstanding and I would definitely watch it again.