A Working Class Inner City Teenage View of Entertainment

According to the dictionary, entertainment is an agreeable occupation for the mind, a diversion, amusement, or something affording pleasure .

For some, this might mean watching a movie or going to a concert, listening to music, reading a good book, doing a crossword, or even taking a walk in the country.

For a teenager living in the inner city however, where money is tight and the options for entertainment are more likely to be found on the street, than in fancy restaurants, concerts or even going out to the movies.

This article is inspired by a classic song by The Jam, with lyrics by Paul Weller, which was originally released as a single in the UK in 1981. For those of you who are not familiar with this song, you can hear a live version on You Tube .

Although this song may be unknown to many in the USA, there are many commonalities in the lifestyles of teenagers growing up in western countries around the world, in particular the trend of hanging around in shopping malls, a way to meet up with friends from school or from the neighborhood, without necessarily having to spend any money.

A police car and a screaming siren -
A pneumatic drill and ripped up concrete -
A baby waiting and stray dog howling -
The screech of brakes and lamplights blinking -
that's entertainment.

Living in a working class neighborhood, where boredom is part of a teenage lifestyle, crime is evident through the frequent sound of police sirens, babies crying as they wait for mothers who are otherwise occupied. All these things act as distractions to the mind and interrupt the boredom, if only for a while.

A smash of glass and the rumble of boots -
An electric train and a ripped up 'phone booth -
Paint splattered walls and the cry of a tomcat -
Lights going out and a kick in the balls -
that's entertainment.

For a teenager growing up in a bad neighborhood in the 1980's, much was the same as it is today, constant evidence of vandalism, like someone breaking glass on the street, the sound of a gang of youths running up the road, either giving chase or themselves being chased. It's the sound of a train passing by, yet another vandalized phone booth, cans of paint thrown at a building, or an alley cat ending up on the wrong end of a boot because it didn't move out of the way fast enough.

Waking up from bad dreams and smoking cigarettes -
Cuddling a warm girl and smelling stale perfume -
A hot summers' day and sticky black tarmac -
Feeding ducks in the park and wishing you were faraway -
that's entertainment.

Waking up from a bad dream, maybe caused by having to run from a gang the day before. Slumped in a chair and smoking cigarettes because there is nothing else to do. The frustration of being continually bored and having no obvious means to escape the life that has become your lot, just makes him wonder what life is all about.

Above all the last line gives a clue as to what the dreamer is looking for, daydreaming during a trip to the park to feed the ducks, visualizing a world where things were different. A chance to escape the humdrum inner city life, wishing you were faraway from here, maybe on a tropical beach or living a Hollywood lifestyle.

Some things have changed since this song was written though.

In today's world there are more television channels, many teenagers have video game consoles, but these only serve to lessen the boredom, they don't cure it and they don't change the lifestyle for someone who is trapped in that world and doesn't know how to escape.

The difference these days is that most teenagers have cell phones, and can communicate with their friends 24 hours a day if they wish, making the organization of rendezvous simpler, but yet you still find teenagers in the city on the streets and in the shopping malls, constantly bored, and clueless as to what to do for entertainment.

For many though, one new form of entertainment has appeared, social networking. Whether they are alone at home, or forming a group hanging out at the mall, the majority of teenagers in the city can be found texting to others on their phones, or using social networking sites like Facebook.

But this new technology merely provides new distractions and a way of passing the time, it's still not at the end of the day real entertainment.

Sources:

The Jam Lyrics