Representations Of Stereotypes

Stereotype: A person or thing that conforms to a widely held but oversimplified image of the class or type to which they the belong.

High Schools and College  are renowned  creating multiple stereotypes in the society that it has. The way you look, dress and act defines who you are and where you fit in to the social pyramid that it creates. Not Another Teen Movie (2001) uses the stereotypes in a obvious way by using other teens films and making it their own, this is called intertextuality. Intertextuality is the interrelationship between texts, especially works of literature; the way that similar or related texts influence, reflect, or differ from each other. 

Throughout Not Another Teen Movie uses different stereotype from different films  such as 10 Things i hate about you, American Beauty, American Pie, Can't Hardly Wait, Cruel Intentions, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Jawbreaker. The Script writers do this by making out that there isn't any "clicks" in high school but make it obvious by the way they are dressed and grouped with. 

The Typical Stereotypes in high school

The Jocks: These are the sporty guys that are very arrogant and feel that they are the greatest looking guys in school and no other guy can compete with them. They usually wear baggy baseball jackets. 

The Nerds: They are regarded as the unpopulars due to their advance knowledge, (the majority of the school usually has average or below average grades), they are never invited to parties and always dress in a tacky formal way. The Nerds are also prone to being bullied by Jocks and being used by the dumb blondes. 

The Dumb Blondes: As beautiful as they might be, the blondes usually have nothing amazing going on upstairs. They usually rely on their looks and the way they dress to get the guys and sometimes girls attention. If they're not book smart they're smart enough to know how to manipulate every guy in doing what they want.  

Social Network 2010

The social network is a teen film that presents the stereotype in a different way to Not Another Teen Film. The Jocks are still cocky and arrogant but they're actually well educated and have ideas with what they want to do in life, unlike not another teen film they have no ambition just focusing on how many girls they could have sex with. The nerd is the protagonist and is seen as a legend for his knowledge, when you think of an nerd you think they have massive glasses and no social skills but the social network goes against the characteristics of a nerd and turned him into a person everyone to be then to a arrogant jock but without doing sports. 

  

Representation Of Stereotypes

Teenage Stereotypes in film 

What does stereotype mean?

A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.

Stereotypes in movies are used to create characters we are most likely to relate to. For example in Not Another Teen Movie the story develops as the characters personalities are exposed. This allows the director to create a story based on the stereotypical characteristics; the sporty jock, the socially awkward geeks and the dumb rich blonde chick.The movie has many references taken from other typical teens movies such as;Ferris Bueller's day off, Brick and Mean girls. 

The movie uses a lot of intertextuality to humour its audience it does this by using so many of the stereotypes and imports them into one movie that it becomes comedy. It also allows the audience to relate to each character. Or allows the audience to pick a character that they like the most. 

By having different personality in one movie is allows the writers and directors to branch out the story.This means if the writers wanted to explore the theme of bullying in a high school the Bully will be shown the most. Another example is if romance was used as a theme the director would show more of the couples in the movie.

Representation Of Stereotypes

A stereotype is used to categorise a group of people. People don't understand that type of person so they put them in classifications thinking that everyone who is that needs to be like that, or anyone who acts like their classifications is one.

A good example of a movie which contains a variety of stereotypes is 'Not Another Teen Movie' directed by Joel Gallan. The purpose of this movie is to parody other Hollywood teen movies that have met great box office results. These stereotypes consist of the Nerd that is generally intelligent, lacks power and may wear glasses, the jock who wears a varsity jacket and is quite dominant, the popular girl that every other girl wishes to be like and the cheerleader who is a dumb blonde rich LA girl. These stereotypes stem from movies such as American Beauty, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Jawbreaker and The Breakfast Club including many more which 'Not Another Teen Movie' decided to include.

The intertextuality humours the audience as it over exaggerates and mimics the way their favourite teen movies represent teens within society.

 

Breaking Sterotypes ; The Social Network

There are many re-enforced stereotypes in teen movies such as the geek being a loser,  playing chess and dresses like a dork however there are some teen films that break the conventional stereotypes of different characters. This allows the teen film to be different but to see teen films in a new light and perspective for example The social network.

Characters 

The Social Network breaks the stereotypes by its characters and their personalities. Jesse Eisenberg who plays Mark Zuckerberg is established a non stereotypical geek who's friends are also 'losers' like him. The social network is set in Harvard one of the top universities in the word. Instead of the typical themed characters where they are outcasts and lonely, Mark has a girlfriend which we see in the first shots and instead of him being this shy quite type he is portrayed as a confident person through how he carries himself and how he speaks. Although this comes across as cocky, this personality is usually seen through the people who are higher up within the high school chain such as the preps.

Mes-En-Scene

Mes-En-Scene allows the audience to connect on a deeper level with the characters through lighting, costume, props and setting.

Within The Social Network the conventional costume of mark is broken. While nerds (intelligent people) are the people who wear smart clothes as they take everything seriously Mark is seen wearing slippers to a court case. within teen films we expect to see the intelligent one being dressed appropriately to the serious occasion however we see him in Loose jeans, jumper and slippers this suggests he is not taking this court case seriously. This breaks the conventional view.

Posture also allows the audience to see the characters personality. Going back to not taking the situation seriously by the picture above we can see the difference in hand gesture. Where the lawyers have their hand together to signify the hard work. On the other hand Mark's hands are dangling like he hasn't a care in the world which is portrayed throughout the film.

Cinematography

Cinematography is used to show the contrast in characters however  the use of cinematography allows the audience to see how the film breaks the stereotype. In The Social Network the shots with Mark are mostly two shots where as with other films such as '16 Candles' and '10 Things I Hate About You' we see there are many single shots to show isolation. The Social Network use two shots to show his not alone - he has friends and girlfriends. This establishes in this movie his the normal guy with the regular life shown by directors in other teen films.

Sound 

When it comes to sound we definitely see a difference in music compared to other teen movies. For example when his at his campus home the music is quite mysterious but we hear techno. The music reflects what his doing but does not reflect him as a person the music has different waves which connotes him hacking into other peoples surfers.  Within most teen based movies such as 'Sixteen Candles' they use music which reflects the characters personality. In the scene below we see the boy walking up to the girl however the first shot used is a tracking shot of his feet which shows mystery. The music used is also used in the film Star Wars. From this we can see which category of the social pyramid he fits under. Although the music signifies danger. Its almost like his taking the mick out of him.

Representation Of Stereotypes

Stereotype: A widely held but fixed & over simplified image or idea of a particular type pf person or thing. 

Teen movies consist of many stereotypes but the most commons ones are the cheerleaders, jocks and nerds. The use of these stereotypes in  teen films allows certain features of their personality and appearance to get highlighted and are often exaggerated when it comes to constructing these representation. 

Not Another Teen Movie uses intertextuality. This incorporates all the well known movies into the movie such as the teen films from the late 1950's. The intertextuality humors the audience as it over exaggerates and mimics the way their favorite teen movies represent teens within society.

     

    The Cheerleader            

The cheerleader is usually part of the popular Klan, they believe their superior compared to everyone else, therefore do not socialise with people who are not on their level such as The Nerds. The uniform represent who they are in teen films the audience rarely see a cheerleader without their uniform this shows how they are simplified to only being a cheerleader.

The Jock 

The jocks usually play a popular sport such as basketball and American Football or other sports which are The Nerds. Jocks are stereotyped to be aggressive, mean, arrogant  and unintelligent. Nevertheless they are good looking, charming and admired for their athletic ability and are usually popular within their social circle especially with the girls. They are known for bullying the less popular such as

The Nerd

Within Teen Movies 'The Nerds' are categorized by their hobbies, interests, and abstract qualities such as social skills and physical appearance.  Stereo typically interests include technical hobbies,  intellectual and topics related to science,  maths or technology. Hobbies include immature and obsessive gaming such as trading cards, comic books and video games. Appearance wise, stereotypical look would be very large glasses, braces and pants highly lifted up. Nerds are quite low on the social pyramid just before the outcasts. 

Easy A

Easy A is about a high school student played by Emma Stone who relies on the schools rumor mill to advance her social and financial standing. The genre of this film is a teen movie however its sub genre is romantic comedy. The film features actors such as Amanda Bynes, Emma Stone and Aly Michalka.

Like most teen comedies it begins with olive a normal insecure teen who hides her sexual inexperience. She lives below the schools raider, gets good grades and spends weekends alone.

Easy A displays many conventional codes throughout the film including themes, stereotypes, locations and binary oppositions. Starting with the characters although they are not in their teens Olive played by Emma Stone is known for her teen movies such as House Bunny, Super bad and Zombie Land. Emma Stones acting as a teen has adds a sense of realism. She speaks with confidence and expression which our generation is full of. This makes what she says believable such as the 'Rumor Mill'.

The codes and conventions of teen film vary depending on the context of the film. Within Easy A it includes the conventional themes and settings such as high school, Basketball Court, Lunch Hall, Bedroom, Kitchen and then you have the common films such as alcohols, parties, love, sorrow and the occasional lose of virginity.

Cliques are a key element to any teen film which is the main reason most teen films are set around a high school. However within Easy A the characters are not in a clique however you could easily assign them a clique. Although the extras within the movies are part of cliques. You have your cheerleaders, Jocks and an unfamiliar clique called Marianne's religious clique. Most teen movies often skim pass characters who are gay/lesbian or working class teens, However it is the gay guy within the film which drives the narrative forward by saying they had sexual interaction at a party even though they didn't just so he could stop being teased.

Different themes are explored throughout the film such as relationship between the two friends ; loyalty and honesty which sadly was not the case which lead to the rumor. Alcohol is another common theme expressed although it wasn't an individual theme as she only drank a sample at a party which comes to our next theme. Parties within teen movies reflect our teenage culture it shows teenagers as irresponsible and childish. The party scene leads to the narratives escalation.

Love and sorrow are two themes which go hand in hand. This theme is explored within every teen film in some way. Whether it be a love for something or passionate love. It is inevitable.  You can't have love without sorrow.  In Easy A there are two different types of love. The love for being noticed & wanted, and the thirst for true love and not the constant ask for fake intimacy which only med things worse for Olive as she then had to experience sorrow, for what seemed 'Cool' at first spiraled into her being protested against. Olive lost her friend, her dignity and social life however as it goes from equilibrium to disequilibrium finally she finds a love interest rates shes always wanted "I want John Cusack holding a boombox outside my window. I wanna ride off on lawnmower with Patrick Dempsay".

Easy A establishes stereotypes throughout the film. For example olive the protagonist is invisible within the school. Shes the student every teacher wishes to have,  she gets good grades and study's hard. Then throughout the film we notice the goofy parents who have slight issues who love and want to spend time with their children however in some circumstances olive pushes them away. We then go on to see 'good girl gone bad' when after refusing to repudiate her sexual promiscuity, she sews a capital 'A' onto her clothing, an allusion to Hawthorns - The Scarlet Letter. However the biggest stereotype personally I believe are the 'rumors'. A classic input within most teen films. By having these rumors it makes it easier for the film to be more interesting as the audience nearly always know the truth and they want that truth to come out which of course does, but as well as that it adds a sense of mystery when the audience don't know. Within Easy A we immediately know the rumors are false which then gives us a thrill to see how fast the 'Rumor Mill ' is and the up coming effect of it.

Finally Binary oppositions are included within Easy A. This allows the film to be more interesting for the audience as they get involve by choosing what side they are on for example Team Jacob or Team Edward in Twilight. In Easy A's case it consists of the war between Marianne's religious clique and Olive. Being a religious clique it consisted of going by the laws of God which Olive was suppose to have gone against by losing her virginity. Both clash as both are different that go against each other. Marianne's religious clique decide that olive will be their next project which builds up towards the conflict rather than get upset about it Olive embraces her title.

Carrie

Carrie 2013 is the remake to the original Carrie. Carrie 2013 directed by Kimberly Peirce and produced by Kevin Misher Carrie mainly rotates around the social aspect of being bullied at high school. A socially deprived girl is pushed to her limits by bullies and her extremely religious mother which forces her to develop telekinetic powers. As one of her bullies decides to get revenge for making her miss her prom she plans to embarrass Carrie in front of the whole school. Which causes Carrie to rage havoc using her newly found powers. 

Although Carrie is mainly seen as a Horror,Thriller and Drama based movie its main cast is over run by everyday stereotypical teenagers. In the movie we see a mix of hierarchy from the nerds to the jocks, geeks and daddy girls, Carrie and the rest of the school. The movie touches the theme of bullying in school as most the time other teens are talking about Carrie or calling her names. This movie also has Teen Movie factors by exploring relationships; Carrie has a tense and sometimes abusive relationship with her mother. Which also leads her to becoming the 'weirdo' or 'freak' of the school. Adolescence is used as a theme in the movie as it shows the changes a teenage girl goes through in the movie, but smartly enough uses it to show how most teenage girls will bully and exclude one another for being "different"

"What did Carrie White ever do to you?"

This movie is a very good example of how teen films have developed to a genre, but also how the genre has created more sub-genres for example horror. Even thought the movie does have a lot of bloody scenes it still develops its story line through stereotypical teen mishaps. Carrie is ridiculed in front of the school which represents the embarrassing moments a teen goes through whilst growing up. There is always a couple that are in a relationship, the movie uses the problem of having to find a date for the prom, also being suspended from high school, and most of the time the shots are being located in the high school.

Carrie White played by Chloe Moretz is the stereotypical weirdo in the movie. She plays the geek/nerd/psychopath with supernatural powers.The writes use the stereotypical teenagers as a basis for each character in the movie. This means Carrie is the one excluded and bullied by other kids because she is the 'freak'

Sue Snell played by Gabriella Wilde is the stereotypical popular girl in the movie. She plays the girlfriend of the jock and the girl everyone is friends with. However in the movie her behavior doesn't necessarily stick with her stereotype because she doesn't proceed to bully Carrie as the other girls do.  

Chris Hargensen played by Portia Doubleday is the stereotypical bully in the movie. She is the one who mainly creates all the embarrassing moments for Carrie. Chris also plays innocent around the adults as a way to hide her intentions, always begging her father to help her out at school. However this character is stereotyped by depending on the other girls for help and is shown to be weak when she is by herself.






Tommy Ross played by Ansel Elgort is the stereotypical Jock in the movie.The boyfriend to the popular girl he plays the same role as a popular student. He is the stereotype of a good looking, friends with everyone, cool dude. This type of character is mostly ,if not always, used in American teen movies.

" You Will Remember Her Name"

Trailer to Carrie 2013

The Hunger Games

A teen movie that I watched and found interesting was The Hunger Games. The reason why I found it so interesting was because it's very unique and presents teens through unusual conventions. It is an action packed science fiction teen movie. Rather than having the teens in a school or college they're in a fictional world called Panem. Panem consists of a wealthy Capitol which rules twelve poorer districts and as punishment for rebellion in the past, each district must provide two tributes. One being a boy and one a girl. The ages for tributes must be between 12 and 18 (basically a teenager). They're selected by lottery, called the Reaping, once every year to compete in the Hunger Games, a televised show, where they must fight to the death in an arena, with the sole survivor rewarded with fame and wealth.

In District 12, when Primrose Everdeen is chosen in her first Reaping, her older sister Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence, who happens to be an expert archer, volunteers to take her place. Peeta Mellark, played by Josh Hutcherson, a baker's son, is selected as the other district tribute. Katniss and Peeta are taken to the Capitol accompanied by their mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, a past District 12 victor. The reason why this teen film in particular is so unique is because it still contains the element of competition amongst teens, whereas competition in this fictional world is more brutal than ours. The simple fact that Katniss stepped in for her sister raises the stereotype of family in teen movies. Furthermore, you can pick out elements of bullying and young romance. The bullying element is implied from the way that the Capitol not only rules these twelve districts but forces them to battle each other. Young romance stems from the way that one boy and one girl is selected. To reinforce this idea of there being young romance, later on in the film Peeta expresses his love for Katniss. 

Please find below the official trailer for The Hunger Games:

Below are top moments of Peeta and Katniss together:

Hairspray

Hairspray is a 2007 film based on a 2002 musical called hairspray. The film was set in America in 1962 in the times when the struggle for equality for blacks was gradually improving but there's still segregation. Throughout the film there's many binary oppositions, stereotypes and themes in the film which presents the society teenagers lived in back in the 60's. I think the film is good for several reasons: its fun as its a musical, it shows the reality of life for black teenagers in schools and hang out places and finally it goes against the typical stereotype that they had.

Themes

The themes in hairspray:

• Relationships: the dreamy guy falling for the "ugly" girl, interracial relationship, jealousy. 
• Celebrities: in the film the main characters are the celebrities of the TV station's teen school Corny Collins Show they are seen as role models to the other students in the school for example Lil Inez who envy's Tracy for getting onto the show. 
• Fame: link mainly has fame on his mind instead of his happiness, he didn't want to be part of the protest the black people did as he felt it was interfere with his theatrical career. 
• Locations: The film is set in the high school where it was segregated showing the struggle for equality, there's always hang out areas where the black people chilled out and had fun it contrast with where the white people hung out because the black people seemed to have more fun which represents what teenagers do in their spear time.  
• Music: the music for the film was fun and catchy and music that teenagers would think is worth downloading, all the tracks all had meaning to them and told a story about themselves. 
• The characters: in the film there's several characters that make hairspray a teen film. There's a good looking guy that every guys likes which is Link, there's a princess that is stuck up and gets what they want which is Amber, there's a cool, calmed and collected guy that understands things from both perspectives which is Seaweed and finally there's a larger girl that has ambitions but being hated on by everyone which is Tracy. 

Stereotypes 

The leading actress in the film is Tracy Turnbald, she's not the slimmest of actress and they are not seen to be able to do much because of their size but it contradicts the typical leading actress for the film. Usually teen films have the all so attractive female actor and the larger girls are constantly bullied and can't get the "dreamy guy's" attention. In the "Run and Tell That" scene, on the bus Link, Tracy and Penny (the white kids) was sitting at the back of the bus and the black teenagers are at the front, at the time where people sat on the bus was an major issue for America, so by the film having the black people sitting at the front of the bus and the white people at the back it goes against the stereotype. Another Stereotype in the film is white people in especially Velma Von Tussle felt that black people shouldn't be integrated with white people in anything. This is shown when Velma cancels negros day on the rock 'n' rock Corny Collins Show. In the film is black people constantly get into trouble as they are always in detention, this was the case as back in the 1960's some white teachers refused to teach black students as they thought it was morally wrong. 

Binary Oppositions 

In Hairspray the black  people are supportive with one another whereas the white people there's a sense of rivalry and selfishness between them. When times was hard or something good happened for the people you saw them stand together for example when negro day was cancelled of the show and they started to do their peaceful march. you saw how they stood together and believed in what each other had to say unlike the black people the white people have split personalities for one another. In the classroom scene before Tracy and Link get sent to detention Amber heavily insults Tracy to the class and then gets her in trouble. If she supportive of her peer and colleague she would have been saying nice things about her and welcoming her onto the show etc, this shows the split personality she has and represents how all the white kids act in the film, they're all going for fame, and glory instead of helping others succeed with them. 

The Bling Ring.

The Bling Ring is based on a true story about a group of common LA teenagers that break into the houses of some of the top models in Hollywood. Their robberies simply consisted of them unlocking the front door to celebrity mansions and stealing what they desired. All of their brake-ins happened between a period of a year from 2008 to 2009. The value of their stolen items was believed to reach

3 million dollars.This movie explores the themes of teenagers that look up to celebrities. But the face that their obsession pushes them to entering a life of crime changes the stereotypical teen movie.

Stereotypical Teens?

The movie is mainly dominated by female characters, however they are joined by a boy. The main story follows the girls around where they get up to stereotypical girly stuff, such as; shopping, hanging out at each others houses, going to parties together, talking about other girls. By making the teens do usual things it allows the majority of the teen audience relate with the movie characters.

 Therefore making the teenage audience more interested in the plot and story-line.

Themes of the movie.

The teenagers life mainly revolves around who has the best clothes, car and most friends. Their life is very materialistic, which for some teenagers and be familiar theme.

However throughout the movie we see the teenagers drinking and smoking weed. This touches on the theme of drugs. This can also be a familiar point for some teenagers. However I find it weird to include crime as a sub-genre to teen movies; as it isn't usually related to teenager. This makes this teen movie different to other teen movies; because its not a familiar story.

Relationships is also a common used theme among teen movie; this is because we can all relate to friends we have had or had. This also creates a stereotypes that teens can have problems with friendships and other types of relationships. As this is seen in the movie.

Music teens listen to.

In the movie most of the songs used are talking about sex,drugs and crime. This in some way reflects the way the teenagers live their life. However the teens do not seem to realize their life is similar to that of their music. There is also a lot of club music which is stereotypical for teens because it suggest we are familiar to clubs and drinking. It stereotypes teenagers as party people.

The Bling Ring

The Bling Ring 2013

The Bling Ring is a teen film based on a true story based on true story about a group of fame-obsessed teenagers use the internet to track celebrities' whereabouts in order to rob their homes. Marc (the guy in the right) arrives as a new student where he becomes friends with Rebecca (the girl next to the guy). Marc mentions that one of his wealthiest friends he knows is out of town Rebecca suggests that they should they rob his house. Going along with the robbery, Rebecca continue with her antics and Marc continues to hang out with as she's the only friend he has. While they was hanging out Rebecca was idolising Paris Hilton about her fame, fortune and her clothes. Knowing that Paris was at a party they searched her address and went to her house and stole some stuff and took photos. As they went to parties they kept bragging to people how they went to Paris Hilton's house to steal things when Nicki, Sam and Chloe joins in to the act where they start to steal Audrina Patridge, Rachel Bilson, Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr, Brian Austin Green and Megan Fox and Lindsay Lohan homes stealing $3million worth of money and belongings. When they was finally captured Rebecca denied that she was involved in the crimes but all of them was finally sentenced. 

Alexis Neiers (Rebecca) was sentenced to 180 days in jail; served 30 days with three years probation and $600,000 restitution to Bloom. 

Nick Prugo (Marc)was sentence for a year in jail 

What Makes The Bling Ring A Teen Film?

Themes

• Relationships: difficulties in fitting in, 
• Drugs, Alcohol, Parties 
• Celebrities, fashion, money, fame and fortune.

Locations

• High school 
• Beach 
• Family Home 
• Celebrities Home 

Music

• Hip-hop
• Rap 
• Loud 

Characters

• Stereotypical teens: needy, greedy, popular, good looking
• Teen characters 
• Teachers/Parents: Dumb, annoying, naive, gullible

The Bling Ring presents teenagers as wreck-less, mindless, dependent and greedy as they feel that the have to be like celebrities even if they don't know who they truly are. they are mindless as they didn't check if they was any cameras around in the house and not thinking what the consequences of the actions will do for their futures.