How can you apply the key theories of Cohen and Hebdige to Harry Brown?

Stanley Cohen- Moral Panic and Folk Devils

A moral panic is an intense feeling about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. Within the film Harry Brown their are various scenes as to what could have easily created a Moral Panic.  The most obvious and typical one was the riot scene, within this scene the police appear very vulnerable in which at this point the teenagers seem to have all the control. This creates a sense of fear for particularly older people who only have an idea of what is happening through the media. Another scene which could be used as an example is the underpass. Throughout the film the only people we see using the underpass is teenagers, all older people take the longer way round regardless of the situation (when Harrys wife was dying in hospital). It appeared the underpass was out of bounds for others, that is until Harry eradicates the estate of vermin (the teenagers) until it is safe.

A folk devil is a person/group of people portrayed within the media as being deviant, they are usually blamed for crimes and other social problems. Within the film the youths act as a collective group and do in fact threaten social order. For example right at the beginning an innocent by stander with her baby is shot. Throughout the film adults have this preconceived idea about the behaviour of youths within the film, this is partly due to some of the scenes which set the youth up as being folk devils, they generally have a lack of understanding behind their behaviour.

Richard Hebdige- Youth Sub- Culture

A youth subculture is a group of people in which share distinct interests, style and behaviour.  Youth subcultures generally offer participants an identity outside of ascribed institutions, such as school,family and the home.  Within the film Harry Brown, there is only one way in which teenagers are represented which is violent,disrespectful rude etc. The youth subculture within the film all share the same sense of interests style and behaviour. For example they all wear a Hoodie and continue to use slang throughout the film. The teenagers are always shot as a collective group, they are always together and rarely do we see them individually. In terms of the youth using slang, this enabled the members of the subculture to understand what they were saying. However made it difficult for the adults. The use of swearing is also popular among the youths where as not once to the adults within the film swear, this gives the impression the youth are the villains.