Representation Task: Identification Of Stereotypes In Teen Films

A stereotype is a thought that may be adopted about specific types of individuals or certain ways of doing things.These thoughts or beliefs may or may not accurately reflect reality. Stereotypes are use in a vary of different sub-genre films, in majority stereotypes are used substationally in teen films. In teen films the main stereotypes are;

• Dumb Blondes
• The Jocks, who are good looking
• Geeks, wearing glasses, with a messy bun and braces
• Black kids, either making trouble or in a dancing group

There are many other stereotypes that are represented in teen films. Stereotypes are socially created, producers use stereotypes as it is easy to build a storyline and creating a character. Here are a list of films with their trailers that use stereotypes very well;

Boyz 'n' the hood (Black People);

 

White Chicks (White/Blonde girls);

 



 

 

 

 

 

An Analysis Of A Teen Film I Have Watched Over Christmas

Over the Christmas break, I watched a variation of different films, the majority of them were either Christmas films such as Bad Santa and New Years Eve or Teen Films such as American Pie, High School Musical and I could classify New Years Eve as a teen film.

The most recent films I have watched was American Pie and New years eve which I watched last night (Saturday 28th December 2013). These 2 films have different conventions in contrast to the film we all watched in class; Bling Ring.
The film American Pie is an American movie set in an educational setting where a group of teenagers are in senior year graduating from high school and these individuals have goals they want to achieve before they leave high school at their prom. The main goal in this film was becoming a non-virgin which was the main storyline. This occurs in reality especially in the male gender from the age of 16 when they start learning more about theirs and the opposing gender (female) bodies. Boys are statically more sexually frustrated than girls through the adolescent stage of life. The music in this is more set to the teenage age as its fast paced ad more up beat which has more of a connection to teenagers than adults.

This is due to the different openings and storyline but there are some similarities such as the music and binary oppositions.
Throughout the film there was some binary oppositions such as;
Girls vs. boys
Geeks/nerds vs. cool
Popular vs. unpopular
Virgin vs. non-virgin... and many more different binary oppositions.
These binary oppositions are similar to the binary oppositions in the film Bling Ring from the coolness, the popularity and the groups. There are some different oppositions between these 2 films like, the rich vs. poor and celebrity vs. normal. Another thing that makes these 2 films different is the opening. The opening is different in the Bling Ring and this is because it starts of with groups of pictures put together like an collage these pictures are pictures of shoes, designer clothes, celebrities and accessories and the music is a youthful, fast pace track sounding as if it was a hip hop genre.

CHRISTMAS PANTO!

Last night, on Thursday 19th December 2013, I went to watch my little sister's Christmas pantomime she played as a fairy named 'fairy nuff'. The play was called Cinderella & Rockerfella, this is a panto-style musical recreating the Disney story 'Cinderella'. This is not something a teenager would watch as it does not include any conventions that would make it aimed for teens, BUT whilst watching this play I noticed there were a range of different binary oppositions, for instance;

Good vs. bad
Fairies vs. witches
Songs vs. dialogue
Animals vs. humans
Fairy dust vs. poison

This pantomime also used mise en scene to express some stereotypical elements. For example the witch was wearing a black wig, dressed in black with black and green make-up. The fairies were dressed in pink with pink tutu's and ballerina shoes. Due to all Disney and family movies society has created this image on how these characters are presented. This can be through speech, dialogue, sound, lighting, mise en scene etc.

Here is a clip from last nights show;

 

 

 

The Bling Ring

Today we watched a film called 'The Bling Ring' it is a teen film and includes conventions which you will find in a teen movie. This film is about a group of teenagers who look up to well known celebrities such as lindsey lohan, paris hilton etc. and they basically want there lifestyle, with all the designer clothing, jewels/accessories, media attention the a lot. This group ends up robbing these celebrities homes and takes approximately $300,0000 worth.

The opening of this film had many teen conventions which made it very conventional. It had a montage title sequence which included; Facebook, shots of shoes, jewels, key characters and the news. The beginning also included a flash forward which my many films do therefore for this being at the beginning we can say it's foreshadowing the events that may occur later in the film. This opening plotted the storyline for the film as due to the montage title sequence we could suggest that it was going to be about girls, celebrities, designer clothing 'The Fab Life'

The music selected for the opening was aimed for the adolescent age group as it was face pace, I could suggest it was a pop genre.

The film did follow conventions in terms of location, characters, sound, storyline and binary oppositions. For the location it was mostly set in a club, school, kitchen and bedroom. In the teenage life these are the main areas you'll find them at a young age, in the home teenagers tend to spend most of there time in their bedrooms doing what they have to do like on social networking sites, homework, listening to music etc. and would come down to get something to eat in the kitchen and back into their bedroom you'll hardly find them downstairs in the living room. Teens also consists of school and education as they can't drop out until the age of 16 so they can relate to issues in school issues in films.

In terms of the characters there were a range of rich and the beautiful stereotype which does occur in reality for a teenager.  Teenagers have the highest percentage of being relative deprived when they want certain things like designer clothes to fit in. The music was mostly hip hop and RnB these 2 genres are mainly aimed for adolescents.

The storyline was about drugs, parties, clubs and being in a gang. These event mainly happen from the ages of 16-20+ this age group are mostly going to be involved with these things as they are still learning about themselves and what they enjoy in contrast to what they don't this then leads into the binary oppositions which are;

• Teens vs. authority (parents/law)

• Good vs. bad

• Right vs. wrong 

Reflection Blog

At the moment i am not up to date with my blogging and i haven't completed the blogging post on Audience task 2: analysis of 3 teen movies with different audiences and also storylines and plot blog. In order to gain the marks needed i will need to keep up to date with blogging and do this by completing all blog posts on time. i think that my voice hasn't been really heard in the blogs as most of my posts are group posts. i need to do extra blogs and also complete my own blogs also.

Reflection Blog

So far i have completed 6 tasks from my blogging checklist. Although, i have to catch up with 1 more task which is: "Audience task 2: analysis of 3 teen movies with different audiences." 

This post reflects what tasks i have completed and what i need to catch up with to make sure i am up to date with all the work i have to do. I think to improve our blog we should use a wider range of mix-media which could include: more videos, gifs and a vlog.

My Reflection Blog

Up until now, wednesday 18th December 2013. I believe that I am up to date with my blogging and have blogged all necessary things that I have been learning in class up until now and using the blogging checklist as a guide. I have also included an extra post defining 'teen films'. I believe that my voice is being projected across through my blogging and post. For a target that I am going to set myself is to use various different technologies to present my posts such as voice recorder, slideshare or prezi etc.

So i am going to carry on informing you what I have learnt in each lesson. Byeee

Creation Of Our Own Stereotypes

During this lesson we have learnt about stereotypes in teen films. So we have decided to create some of our own stereotypes

Here is Aydarus, acting out a stereotypical view of a black youth. We done this by covering his face so that no one can recognise him if he commits a crime and putting the hoodie over him, by dressing him in all black so that when he commits a crime at night he can easily run away and hide. Overall the gun is the main prop in this picture as it shows how young black boys are stereotyped as criminals

Jazzel, is acting out a stereotypical view of a black girl listening/dancing to RnB. Black people are stereotyped to have good rhythm and are excellent dancing, usually we will take this as a positive aspect, but today we had an open debate if its a good thing or if its really racism, we could classify this as racism as your giving a group or people a certain characteristic and saying they are physically good at something can suggest that they aren't intellectually as this is also binary opposition. We finally concluded the debate by puttng it down to how the individual perceives it.

Nia, is acting out a stereotypical view of a dumb blonde girl (the mise en scene doesn't match up with the picture and this is because there was a limited amount of props to use). So instead we improvised to try and act this out by using the dictionary but also by Nia holding the dictionary upside down. The use of having dictionary instead of an actual book shows how standard she is intellectually that she is looking up new words but the fact she's holding it up the wrong way round also shows that she isn't intellectually smart. Dumb blonde girls are very popular in teen movies as there is always that one who knows everyone but hardly knows anything.

Storylines, Openings And Binary Oppostions

During this lessons we was taking in knowledge of what story lines openings and binary oppositions do in a film. We watched 4 different openings with different story lines these were;

• Ferris Buellers day off
• 10 things I hate about you
• Romeo and Juliet
• Princess diaries

What i have learnt from this lesson is that binary oppositions create the whole story line in a film and mostly takes place in the opening if the film.

FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF

In Ferris Buellers day off, the main storyline i gathered from just watching the 5minute opening was it is about a young boy who resents school as he doesn't like going so instead he pretends to be sick to his parents by which they believe so lets him stay home, but his sister knows he is lying and thinks that the parent favours Ferris more than her. I also gathered that he just mainly wants to have fun as he invites his friend over who is genuinely ill, but Ferris believes that he actually isn't and it is just all in the boys head.

In this opening there is a range of binary oppositions such as;

Pretend vs. reality

Home life vs. school  life

Excitement vs. boredom

Sister vs. brother

*In the opening there is also the use of a sound motif, this means when there is a sound track reflecting a characters         feelings. in this case there is an energetic soundtrack to represent Bueller which has life and energy in contrast to his friend who has more of an dull and low base soundtrack as he is sick which reflects his lifelessness.

10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU

In the opening of this film I suggest that the storyline is about a girl who is new in a local school which has segregated groups, and finds it hard to fit in. She is aquatinted by a young boy who is dressed professionally as if he was an older man. There is also a teacher who doesn't behave in a teacher like manner as she swears in front of student who is also new to the school and needs guidance. We also get a glance of who is most probably one of the cool kids in the school.

There is a vary of binary oppositions such as;

Cool vs. nerd

Old vs. young

Rich vs. poor

Beautiful vs. ugly

Pop music vs. rock

Happy vs. dull

Bright colours vs. black

ROMEO AND JUILET
 

Due to the opening I Romeo and Juliet I can tell that there are 2 opposing families that don't see eye to eye with one another and they are called the Capulet's and the Montague. The mise en scene also gives us an understanding of the background to the 2 different families especially from the way they dress. In the opening of this film it starts of at a petrol station by which the two families go into conflict with one another which turns into a shooting outbreak.

The range of binary oppositions are;

Latin American vs. white American
Capulet vs. Montague
Sharp suits vs. Hawaiian shirts
Sophisticated vs. casual
Religious vs. non religious
                                                                                         Serious vs. comedy

PRINCESS DIARIES
                                                                        

The princess diaries opening is different in contrast to the other films I analysed previously. This is because in the opening of princess diaries we start seeing the life of an individual teenage girl as she goes about her daily life at school and at home which also sets the storyline for this film. This is different from the other films because immediately you'll see conflict in opposing to groups. In the opening we see a young girl awakening from sleep and getting ready to go school, she then reaches school and we witness a young boy and another girl being intimate with one another but then us as an audience gets a glimpse of how the main girl reacts to this and I assume this is foreshadowing an event which is going to happen by the ending of this film.

The binary oppositions are;

Popular vs. unpopular
Cool vs. nerds
Royalty vs. non royalty
Rich vs. poor
Beautiful vs. ugly
                                                                          Confident vs. nervous

Storyline, Openings and Binary Oppositions

I viewed a handful off movies and their openings, these movies being; 'Ferris Beullers day off', 'Twilight', 'Romeo & Juliet', '10 things I hate about you', and 'Princess Diaries'. These movies are all 'teenage movies' and have similar and very different aspects about them. I'll be analysing the opening to all these movies and will be summarising their plot, comparing and establishing their Binary Oppositions.

1. 'Ferris Beullers day off'       

In this movie the main protagonist is Ferris, who decides to fake a fever to have a day off school. In this movie the binary oppositions are quite clear. Firstly, we can see that Ferris has this idea that home life is much more exciting than school life, at home he has a pool, games, and the internet, whereas at school, he's made to work all day. This is a clear contrast which can be seen the minute the scene begins.

Although Ferris has the choice to stay at home, he decides to call his friend Carmen, who is actually suffering from a fever. This is another binary opposition, Ferris is faking being ill, whereas his friend has actually contracted a disease. Fake illness vs Real illness.

When Ferris is is trying to fool his parents into believing his lies, his sister walks in and immediately begins to quarrel with him. You can see that there is a strong rivalry between the two, which is expected when it comes to siblings. This is a clear binary opposition, which establishes the fact that this is a teen movie.

How are binary oppositions established in teen films?

Binary oppositions are a pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning. These are common in teen films and usually feature at least 3 binary oppositions. Common oppositions in teen films usually associate with popular vs unpopular, rich vs poor, beautiful vs ugly and old vs young. An example of binary oppositions in a teen film is in '10 Things I hate about you', where we see different groups of teenagers in high school which follow groups such as: popular group, clever kids, rasta's, coffee drinkers etc. We also see a clear divide in groups of people when a group of 'popular' girls pull up in a blue convertible whilst another character is driving an old car playing rock music and wearing all black, this is a clear opposite and a binary opposition. The colours and music also reflect the oppositions. Another example of binary oppositions in a different teen film is 'Romeo and Juliette" where we see 2 gangs montague vs capulete and the binary oppositions in these gangs are: Montague are white American whilst Capulete are Latin American and we also see a difference in costume, montague wear Hawaiian shirts and are casual and on the other hand Capulete are wearing sophisticated clothing and seem much richer. Binary oppositions are made to keep the story moving forward, it creates a sense of drama in the film because we see these oppositions going against each other creating a story line. 

Audience Task 2: Analysis of 3 Teen Movies With Different Audiences

Teen movies attracted different types of audiences from, young to old, male or female, a particular personality etc. The 3 teen movies I will be looking at is High School Musical (HSM), Mean Girls and 17 Again.


HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL (HSM)

High school musical is an American stereotypical assumption in what happens in secondary school/college. This teen movie is mostly attracted to a young audience mainly from the age of 9 upwards or even a lower age. we can also category this film as a family film as a selection of parents do watch HSM with their children. HSM is targeted at a younger audience due to all the dancing/choreography and singing it includes. Young children love singing along to songs in films and learning all the dance moves to every song. I also suggest this is targeted for the young because it was premiered on Disney Channel. Disney Channel is a channel that is also targeted for the young youths as it includes shows such as Ant Farm, Fish Hooks, Suit Life Of Zack And Cody etc.

Here is a scene from the movie, this is one of the most popular songs and dance routines that a majority of people know from this teen movie.

MEAN GIRLS
                                                                                   

Mean Girls is mainly targeted at a female audience. This is because the film is mostly about what teenage girls face going through in high school such as relationships, arguments, friendship groups etc. This film is based in a high school setting which immediately lets us easily relate to it. All the events which happens  in mean girls such as boyfriend troubles will all occur in our high school (secondary/college) because of this, this makes it more fun and enjoyable to engage in. This wouldn't attract a male audience and that is because this film doesn't consist of things a male would tend to enjoy but on the other hand there is some factors which may attract which could be the mise en scene which includes there costumes as they are really promiscuous.

 

 

17 AGAIN

 

17 again is a romance comedy teen film, which is about a man that turns back into a teenage version of himself. The ending of this film is how most teen films end.. "and they live happily ever after." I would suggest that this film is targeted to a female audience because of the protagonist Mike O'Donnell who is played by Zac Efron. Zac Efron is a popular male that most female teenagers love and this is because he is well known from the teen film high school musical but also he is sexually appealing to the female audience.