By examining the cultural spaces occupied by youth―spaces represented in texts produced for youth, about youth, and in some cases by youth―contributors to this volume present challenging ways of applying critical ideas and theoretical frameworks to the crucial issues that surround youth and the cultures they inhabit as evidenced in their literature, magazines, computer games, films, television programs, popular music, and fashion. Many of the writers in this unique new collection write from provocative standpoints drawing on film and feminist theory, psychoanalytic criticism, semiotics, and literary theory, providing useful ways of thinking about the issues, texts, and practices that circulate within youth cultures, indicating their underlying tensions and contradictions.

Providing a cross-cultural analysis of these texts, Youth Cultures provides scope for a wide readership open to unorthodox readings and bold interpretations. Many of the writers in this unique new collection write from provocative standpoints drawing on film and feminist theory, psychoanalytic criticism, semiotics, and literary theory, providing useful ways of thinking about the issues, texts, and practices that circulate within youth cultures, indicating their underlying tensions and contradictions.