Plan B Activity

- Does the video fuel negative representations of youth collective identity?

Or does the video and lyrics together attempt to challenge these negative views?
The characters used in this video are seen as the typical 'youths' with the stereotypical "hooded clothing" and "violent personalities" that society slates them for having, but I believe they have got into these characters precisely to record this music video because throughout the song Plan B exclaims "feed the fire that's what we've learnt" this means that all young people are now trying to go along with what society and the media says about them just to keep the peace. The 'youth' characters used in the video I believe are trying to portray what the usual teenager is represented as in the media, however I don't think they are in anyway fueling a negative outlook of them, it's just genuinely their interpretation, which in fact is exactly how the public eye sees these 'youths. For example the lyric 'he's got a hoodie on give him a hug on second thoughts don't you don't wanna get mugged' shows realistically that people in 'hoodies' are automatically targeted as bad people who commit crimes mainly to do with attacking others and hiding their identity, a scene is then shown in the video to portray the lyrics however it's shown in a more creative way and not violent which suggests the rapper and the characters he has chosen to use are showing that this isn't a common thing to happen and not everyone who wears a hoodie is a bad person, so everyone should be given an equal chance, this is challenging the usual 'negative representation' of the youth culture of today and I think this is the exact point that the artist wants to get across, that these youngsters are targeted in such a bad way that many of them 'play up' to what they are shown to be like instead of being able to be themselves.

- Can you offer textual examples of how young people are represented in the video?

Most of the people represented in the 'Ill Manors' video are shown wearing the same type of clothing; hooded tracksuits and some wearing bandannas over their faces which was used a lot in the London Riots in order for the badly behaved youths to hide their identity to stop them getting caught. Throughout the video you see all of the young people joined together as 'one' because they are part of a group they are all there to look out for each other encase of any situations occurring. Each one of them has a lot of confidence which is shown every time the camera is put onto them, this is because many youngsters these days don't let anything faze them and they always know that violence can be the answer if anything goes wrong. However not all the shots of the young people through the video are negative, most of them show the whole group on a council estate having dance off by completing different hip hop moves; they range from a young age to teenagers showing off their unique moves, this shows that these people have other hobbies and shouldn't just be known for the bad things that happen in their areas. There is one scene that shows the groups beating people up with a female recording it (happy slapping) which is a commonly thought about attack to do with these young people, the expression in her face shows she thinks what is happening is funny and should be going ahead, which is the exact feelings of most of the teenagers as the person they are attacking could have done something to them previously.
Overall I think the people in the video are represented and shown in the correct light just like the real types of 'youths' are shown today, by the artist choosing to add in real life footage from the London Riots and political events it shows the behavior from these young people is exactly the same and the clothing/attitudes they have can also be easily identified.

- Are there any instances in the video which show authority abusing their power?
There are small parts in the video which show the public services taking immediate action over what the young people are doing, in one scene a person is shown getting pushed back from the crowd by a police officer which looks like a street protest to do with the London Riots, although he looks very angry and stern about what he was doing I believe it was the correct thing to do in order for the young people to take what they are doing seriously.
However the rest of the footage throughout the video shows the young people roaming free around the streets and taking part in any sort of attack or violent act they want without any sort of authority being had over them, this is why I believe most of them are not scared of the police force or any other public service because they are never usually seen when the major events take place so these young people would then know how to stick up for themselves and defend what they have done because the truth could never really be found, especially the scenarios to do with the London Riots as too many people were involved.

- What was Plan B trying to challenge through his lyrics and video for Ill Manors?
- What does Plan B hope to achieve through his music and film?
I think Plan B wanted to challenge the way that young people are seen in society today and hopefully spread the word that not every 'youth' is the same and each and everyone of them can have good qualities that are positive and make them seem just like any other person in society that isn't getting criticized just for the way they look and the way that some of the other people in their age group act like. So for the music video he tried to show an interpretation of how the mass media and the public eye see these young people and show their negative attitude to life and authority, however the lyrics show that really these young people are being portrayed in the wrong way and actually some of them have no violent background and just wish to be seen as everyone else.

I think Plan B hopes to achieve a positive response to both he's music video and he's film from the public eye and also the media because he wants them both to realise that the young people of today should be respected for who they are and should get the chances they deserve to speak up and explain their backgrounds and show their true identities without people creating them on a very unprofessional level because it's very biased. But the artists's main idea is to help with financial worries of social workers and other youth facilities for the youths of today in order to keep them out of trouble and help them be represented in a better light, this is needed because of the harsh government cuts this age group has been totally ruled out because of the London Riots trouble and how badly they have been talked about many have believed it which would then make the government think 'why do these violent gangs deserve somewhere to spend their nights.' so Plan B aka Ben Drew wants to change that an raise awareness and money for more youth centers and social worker teams to be set up once again to give these teens something to do and look forward to in life because as a teenage living on a council estate he didn't have that so he wants to give something back which will hopefully remove the controversial reports away from the youths and give them time and chance to show the real them.