How are social groups represented in the film Quadrophenia?

This film is great for thinking about subculture. The film looks at ‘mods’ and their interaction with the ‘rockers’. Social groups are represented through their fashion, music, symbols and language. For instance, the Mods wear variations of suits, keeping a neat look. The only coats that the Mods were are also green parker style. Rockers are seen to wear more rough clothing, i.e. leather jackets, jeans and boots. This helps to clearly identify them away from the rest of society. Music is also a form in which social groups are created in Quadrophenia. The Mods listen to more indie bands, with slow tempos, whereas the Rockers listen to rock bands with fast tempos. This helps to further distance these two groups from each other, and define them more away from the rest of society. The Mods and Rockers use similar language to each other, however it is evident from seeing Quadrophenia that both groups use different language around their subculture, compared to when they are alone with their parents or other members of authority. This could be seen as them being rebellious when authority figures are not watching over them. Symbols in this film can also be seen as creating subcultures. The Mods for instance own mopeds; however they have tweaked and changed them to differentiate them from other models. This could be seen as trying to break away from mainstream society. This has also been done with their clothes, especially in the Mods case. They have altered their smart clothes, in order to show their alternative values. Sex and drugs are also used to represent these social groups. In the film both are shown aplenty, and so it can be assumed that the two types of subcultures shown are portrayed to be rebellious.