Key Theories - Harry Brown

How can you apply the key theories of Cohen, Adorno, Hedbidge and Althusser to Harry Brown? 

Stanley Cohen

Stanley Cohen's theory about moral panic and folk devils states that when someone or a group of people rise up against something that can be seen as a threat against society and the interests and values that come along with it. The media plays a key role in this society by creating the illusion that the normal, everyday people are living a normal civil life, whilst alienating the people that rise up against that. They do this by isolating the groups through the newspapers, TV, radio e.c.t. and more often that not, over dramatising what the people are doing.
The media also have an agenda. Even if some news programs state to be neutral, there is an audience and the people controlling the news lean towards the police and giving the audience a sense of safety by knowing that the police have the situation under control
In Harry Brown, we see this kind of uprising from the people in one of the penultimate scenes, when the estate is on fire and the people have taken charge against the police. As the camera is behind the police, we see the group from their point of view, and have the wide shot of the group throwing bricks and fire bombs against the riot police. This specific shot emphasises the power that the group has and how outnumbered the police are. As the police fall back it goes against what the media portray, as the people have the power in the estate, not the police.

Althusser

 Althusser's theory touched upon the fact that he believed the media helped construct people's identities in a slow, subtle way so that the people are unaware of it happening and it can be slowly filtered into society and spread across the cities. He also believed that the people are being controlled by the ruling class (middle age, middle class white bloke). Because of this slow movement of media construction, Althusser believed that society becomes divided, and a lot of this can be seen from scenes in Harry Brown.
For example, the teenagers in Harry Brown are being portrayed as hard core criminals that run wild on the estate and are mean to old people. This view not only represents what people think of teenagers, but also that the elderly are innocent old victims. This film twists that theory by making Harry Brown (Michael Caine) a killer that murders teenagers, however, this film was predominantly targeted at older people (and a strong possibility just men) so the target audience are going to side with Harry as they view teenagers/young people exactly how they appear on screen.
We also see a glimpse of the media when the police hold a press conference and take credit for Harry's actions the night of the riots. Although the audience know the police did literally nothing, we watch as they lie and claim they got it all under control. This somewhat mocks the police force for being weak against the real people on the streets, as well as exposing the knowledge the police force have over the media, and are aware that the media hold control over what the public think about the police.