Beyond delinquency: The portrayal and perceptions of troubled young students in Steve (2025)

Abstract

This study examines the portrayal of troubled young students and the societal and institutional perceptions of them in the film Steve (2025). It aims to show that troubled young students do not entirely lack the qualities needed for their personal development and that perceptions of them can be reductive. This study employs a descriptive qualitative method using a multimodal approach. It draws on the theoretical framework of Petrie and Boggs’s (2022) characterization, supported by Goffman’s (1963) concepts of actual vs virtual identity, and the cinematography concept by Barsam and Monahan (2015) to investigate how the film cinematically depicts the selected issues. The results reveal that there is a discrepancy between the portrayal of the troubled young students and the perceptions of them. They are portrayed as complex individuals whose negative and positive traits coexist. Meanwhile, society perceives them as socially undesirable, educational authorities perceive them as incapable of change, and family perceives them as an emotional liability. In conclusion, these findings disclose how societal and institutional perceptions are predominantly reductive, thereby underscoring the importance of nuanced portrayals of troubled young students in cinema to move beyond deleterious assumptions that these students are inherently and entirely delinquent.