2. YOUTH SUB CULTURE:
SKINHEADS
Youth sub cultures are a product
of the era in which produces
them. They are born out of the
politics and events of their era or
as a reaction to these things.
ERA: 1980’S BRITAIN
• Falklands: whole country
swept up in nationalism.
• Thatcherism: ‘self’ over
‘community’. Goes against
working class values of
community
• England deindustrialising under Thatcher –
mines and steel works closing.
Massive unemployment.
Working class especially affected.
• Multiculturalism – immigrants
into the UK.

3. HOW IS THIS YOUTH SUBCULTURE REPRESENTED:
Gather evidence from the film.
HOW IS THIS YOUTH SUB CULTURE A PRODUCT OF ITS ERA?
You have some knowledge about how the youth sub culture originated and what was going
on in England at the time.
Remember that sub cultures are usually a reaction to what is going on in society.

5. Representations of youth / sub
culture:
The idea of working class Britain is
immediately introduced through the mise
Consideration of bedroom here as a
en scene of Shaun’s bullet points below
class who lived in poverty during this era.
It’s interesting that the very first
shots of this central character signify
to the audience two things about him.
Firstly, his class, as signified by the
mise en scene of his surroundings and
secondly, the fact that his family is a
broken unit due to his dad’s death.
This immediately signifies the ideology
of the film maker as he is dealing with
WHAT THE SIGNIFIER &
two aspects of British history: How
the working classes were affected by
SIGNIFIED TELL YOU ABOUT
policies during the Thatcher
THE REPRESENTATIONS OF
government of the 1980’s (poverty and
unemployment) / SUB CULTURE
YOUTH and how the Falklands
war affected the country as a whole.
Shaun wakes up.
Bedroom: peeling
SIGNIFIER /
walls, framed photo of a
man EVIDENCE as
in uniform, chair
bedside table.
The framed photograph
signifies someone important in
Shaun’s life – we later
discover that his dad has died
in the Falklands and this
SIGNIFIED
photograph then serves to
signify that Shaun is grieving
over his father and still
feeling his loss deeply.
With links to the bullet
It is worth notingideas below.
pointed here that the
working classes are perhaps the most
affected by war time as a great
number of troops come from the
working class.
Clearly, the film maker wanted to
explore how the government of the
1980’s affected British youth of the
time.
•
•
•
•
Violence / aggression
Family / sense of community (area live in)
Working class
Skinhead sub culture
•
England in the 80’s
•
The ideologies of Shane Meadows

6. Representations of youth / sub
culture:
The idea of working class Britain is
furthered here as Shaun uses violence to
sort his problems out. This could be due
to the fact he is grieving the loss of his
father and simply loses his temper, but
violence and aggression as a way of
solving problems is also a stereotypical
feature of the working classes.
In these shots youth is depicted
as cruel (to each other) and
bullying is highlighted as an issue.
Shaun is bullied because his
clothes are out of fashion which
signifies the importance of
fashion to youth sub cultures.
In the next scene , Shaun
is bullied at school
because of his flared
trousers and a comment is
made about his dad. He
jumps on the bully and
hits him.
•
•
•
•
Violence / aggression
Family / sense of community (area live in)
Working class
Skinhead sub culture
These shots have further
connotations of Shaun’s
isolation from any group. We
have yet to see him in a
friendship group.
•
England in the 80’s
•
The ideologies of Shane Meadows

7. Representations of youth /
sub culture:
I found it interesting that
when viewing this scene, I
immediately felt
apprehensive for Shaun as
approaching a group of
youths in such a confined
space is intimidating and I’m
so accustomed to the
stereotype of youths hanging
around, waiting to ‘start on’
innocent passers by. The
representations of this
group are immediately
favourable then as instead of
mocking or trying to hurt
Shaun, the group try to make
him feel better and even
befriend him.
•
•
•
•
The stereotype of British working class is
of ‘grafters’ or hard workers, but the
youth in this film are just hanging around.
This could be due to unemployment during
this era, but most likely, the youth within
this film are avoiding the responsibility
that comes with unemployment.
After Shaun is punished at
school, he walks home
through an underpass and
meets the skinhead group
for the first time. They ask
him what’s wrong and try to
make him feel better.
Violence / aggression
Family / sense of community (area live in)
Working class
Skinhead sub culture
In these shots, the audience’s
first impressions of the group
are formed. Woody in
particular, is the first
friendly character in the film.
•
England in the 80’s
•
The ideologies of Shane Meadows

8. Representations of youth /
sub culture:
During this scene broken
families are emphasised
with the conversation of
Shauns father passing
away.
The fact that Shauns mother can’t afford new
trousers for Shaun, shows that being a single
parent due to the men going off to the
forklands and dying in war and the
unemployment levels due to people coming
into the country and taking work, has a huge
impact and can create poverty.
When Shaun gets home his
mum is sat on the sofa
smoking a cigarette, she
asks him to come and talk
to her, she then discovers
Shaun had gotten into a
fight and had been picked
on because of his trousers.
•
•
•
•
Violence / aggression
Family / sense of community (area live in)
Working class
Skinhead sub culture
In these shots, the audience
come to understand that
Shaun’s dad has passed away
and Shaun’s mum is a single
parent that is unemployed.
•
England in the 80’s
•
The ideologies of Shane Meadows

9. A sequence of shots that starts with an extreme close up of a dandelion head could be a
signifier of the fact in this film something is going to become broken within time. This could
also be a signifier of broken families such as Shaun's as his dad has passed away in a war and
so is just left with his mum. There are a series of establishing shots that show the area in
which Shaun lives in, a lot of it is dirty and run down which would therefore signify an area in
which the working class would live. The close-up of Shaun’s face when eating his sweets has
been put in place in order to show the audience that he looks unhappy and lonely. The
sweets themselves are the old-fashioned pick and mix type and therefore would be a
representation of the 80’s era in which this film was set in. This shot then cuts to a high long
shot of Shaun sitting in an old and ruined boat eating his sweets, the high shot signifies that
Shaun has no significance, or possibly signifies that he feels like he has no significance, this
could therefore be a representation of the isolation Shaun is feeling. There are then
establishing shots of Shaun on the beach throwing stones, as well as establishing shots of
him riding his bike around a deserted car park. The beach has been made to look dull and
dreary as the sky is a grey sort of colour and the tide is out, showing all the grey and wet
sand that would usually be underneath the water this signifies the unhappiness that Shaun
feels, the car park has also been made to look dull and dreary as parts of it have started to
come away making it look up-kept, it is also deserted. The fact that the car park is un-kept
could again signify the that the area Shaun lives in is working class.

10. The establishing shot of the front of Shaun’s house, allows the audience to see that he lives
in what looks like an old and small house, this again could signify that he is of a working
class background. The film then cuts to a medium shot of Shaun’s bedroom in which the
audience is able to see how crowded and un-kept his room is, this is signified by the
wallpaper that is starting to peel off of the walls beside him sat on the bed, the size of the
room and the fact he is using a chair as a desk. His room is a signifier of the working class,
but also poverty as the medium shot shows his lack of belongings. The tracking shots of
Gadget, a boy much older than Shaun, walking to Shaun’s house in a weird combination of
clothes and lots of pots and pans hung over him that are making a lot of clanking noises.
The clothes are a signifier of immaturity this could connote the issue of high unemployment
that was going on in the 80’s due to immigration increasing, signifying that a lot of boys
didn’t have the responsibility of a job and therefore didn’t need to ‘grow up’.

11. The establishing shots of Woody’s skinhead gang and Shaun all dressed up in funny clothing
in a field again is a signifier of the immaturity this gang have, the fact this scene has been
shot in an open field signifies the freedom this gang have due to their unemployment. The
fact that they are out during the day would also be a signifier of their unemployment. The
fact that this field is also deserted and away from any of the public could signify the fact
that the whole skinhead group feel isolated from the public due to the skinheads becoming
a moral panic in the 80’s and the public not finding their culture or what they believe to be
original skinhead culture, sociably unacceptable. The establishing shot then shows the
group accidently breaking through a fence and falling over, the breaking through something
could be a signifier them breaking through their self control. This is because in the following
mid to mid-close up shots the group start to use weapons to smash up old un-used
buildings. The violence the group show towards the house signifies stereotypical working
class behaviour but could also signify their anger towards society due to their
unemployment and living conditions.