Evaluation Of Representation of specific social groups

Evaluation of representation of Teenage Girls

• Two highly stereotypical types of teen girl representation- shown through characters of Rosie and Charlie.
• This dictated by genre - chick flick / teen high school drama highly formulaic and relies on stereotypes as kind of 'shorthand' to convey narrative (Adorno).
• Charlie - stereotype of girls that like to wear make-up, have hair done,  dress in ‘girly’ clothes - suggestion is more likely to be horrible
• Girls who don’t wear make-up , have glasses, intelligent,  more likely to be bullied by people of the other stereotype and have no friends but represented as 'nicer'.
• These stereotypes are a re-presentation of  media products. For example this representation is clear in ‘The Princess Diaries’ - Amelia wears glasses,  does not spend much time on her hair, compared to the Cheerleaders who do. Cheerleaders are presented as bullies.
• In most American Teenage Drama/ Chick Flicks, the ‘popular’ girls are often cheerleaders. This is the case in ‘Princess Diaries’ and ‘Glee’.
• Implications - could be seen as undermining stereotypes about female vanity by associateing with bullying, could also be seen more negatively as suggesting women judge each other in shallow ways.
• Depends on audience understanding - if see it as 'joke' or not - although some feminist critics e.g. Sue Thornham suggest humour actually reinforces negative stereotyping further as we react less and are not outraged.
• Therefore potentially some feminist issues with our piece.
• Pickering and Althusser - repetition of stereotypes in media helps reinforce them and audience may perceive them as 'real'
• Our piece therefore potentially damaging?
• Dyer - audience reaction counts. If they recognise stereotype for what it is, will not be harmful.
• We are hoping this is the case in our film.

Streotypical cheerleaders in media

Stereotypical 'geek'

Our piece contrasts two

Cheerleaders associated with 'meanness'

Geeks associated with 'uncool'

Geek stereotype expressed through mise-en-scene

 
• Split screen highlights the difference between both girls, as  bedrooms  totally different.  Props used connote each of  girl’s characteristics: Rosie with school books surrounding her in the bed,  plain room,  white sheets;  Charlie with colorful pillows,  make-up and perfume on  bedside table.

• The props and split screen classic media techniques for this kind of extreme stereotyping.

Use of mise-en-scene to establish character

Creating this in our piece

Inspiration

Use of Techniques to Create our Representations

• Cross-cutting shows both girls getting ready in bathroom;  allows  viewer to identify differences in girls. Charlie’s bathroom includes loads of beauty product,  Rosie’s just includes  toothbrush. Charlie spends a long time doing  make-up and hair, and Rosie doesn’t put on any make-up, spends seconds on her hair.
• Dialogue conveys the stereotypical representation of girls with these personality traits. Charlie,  is represented as a rude and stroppy person as she rudely answers her mum. Rosie is represented as sweet, kind and childish as she answers kindly to her mum calling her ‘mummy’.
• Similar representations used in films like ‘Princess Diaries’ and ‘Mean Girls’. In ‘Princess Diaries the popular girls are represented as the bullies, and in ‘Mean Girls’, Regina, the stereotypical popular/girly girl is rude and has no respect towards her mother. 
• During school scene, Charlie is in  corridor with her friends and Rosie is alone. Composition of shot is another stereotype, suggesting that girls who care more about looks likely to have more friends than teenagers who are intelligent.
• Rosie given more screen time to allow the viewer to sympathise with her. Although, in a viewer’s perception, they would rather be Charlie than Rosie, as Charlie seem to have a more positive situation. The contrasting stereotypes mean that the viewer’s perceptions are balanced out.
• Overall, it represents teenagers as needing to be socially accepted.

Summary

• Media stereotypes, in the teen genre of Hollywood films, are clichéd or predictable situations or characters (also known as stock characters in film theory), which are “purposefully constructed and repeatedly enacted and disseminated via media” (Lester and Ross 2003).
• Loukides and Fuller (1990), along with Macedo and Steinberg (2007), believe that Film-makers of the teen genre rely heavily on these stereotypes because they provide relatable characters or situations, in which the teen audience will recognise immediately.
• Macedo and Steinberg state that film-makers use teen stock characters- that are based on the collective characteristics and mannerisms of American teenagers- in order to reach this audience as quickly and effectively as possible.
• Some may state that these media stereotypes may carry negative connotations. However, our piece, although it portrays stereotypes of teenagers, it is not damaging because of its exaggeration. The exaggeration indicates to the audience that this is a media piece, and should not be taken literally.