http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk3L_3zygOw&feature=related
asians represented as trying to be english and losing their cultural identity, as they are incorporating english tradition into their lives
in a way they are taking the mic out of the english and how they spend their christmas
english tradition is mentioned alot
talk about the religeous part of christmas as being not important, reflecting british society
questioning whether there is more to christmas than alcohol and sex
Sunday 24 February 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whzc98PJNB0&feature=related
-parents find it unacceptable for their son to chnage religeon, reinforcing the stereotype of religeous asians
-tradition roles are portrayed as the mother is cooking in the kitchen, but there is a role reversal towards the end as the father is cooking in the kitchen too
-the mother is seen as an emotional wreck creating her as a weak character
-there is an overweight asian boy which could be reflecting the asian society as mothers feeding their sons too much food and an obesity problem amongst asians
-women are treated as sex objects and things that can be bought
-the two asians in the club, they think that men are checking the out but in fact they are in a gay club, shows post modern society where gays are more excepted and asian girls are shown as somethnig that doesnt attract males
-parents find it unacceptable for their son to chnage religeon, reinforcing the stereotype of religeous asians
-tradition roles are portrayed as the mother is cooking in the kitchen, but there is a role reversal towards the end as the father is cooking in the kitchen too
-the mother is seen as an emotional wreck creating her as a weak character
-there is an overweight asian boy which could be reflecting the asian society as mothers feeding their sons too much food and an obesity problem amongst asians
-women are treated as sex objects and things that can be bought
-the two asians in the club, they think that men are checking the out but in fact they are in a gay club, shows post modern society where gays are more excepted and asian girls are shown as somethnig that doesnt attract males
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPjo0TfYG6M&feature=related
-an asian women is seen at the bar and the man who approached her automatically assumes she is pure and innocent
t-he male also refers to the asian woman as being exotic and spiritual, a typical stereotpye veiw of an asian
-stereotype at the end is challenged when she turns out to be a prostittute, this represents an asian woman not being sweet and innocent and that they have a darker side to them which you wouldnt expect to see
-there is a male doctor, typical profession of a asian man
-traditional veiws of asains are put across as the doctor turns the lack of indian culture asian into a traditional asian and also tells her to clean the doctors room while he goes out to drink with his friends, a typical role of tradition male and female asians
-an asian women is seen at the bar and the man who approached her automatically assumes she is pure and innocent
t-he male also refers to the asian woman as being exotic and spiritual, a typical stereotpye veiw of an asian
-stereotype at the end is challenged when she turns out to be a prostittute, this represents an asian woman not being sweet and innocent and that they have a darker side to them which you wouldnt expect to see
-there is a male doctor, typical profession of a asian man
-traditional veiws of asains are put across as the doctor turns the lack of indian culture asian into a traditional asian and also tells her to clean the doctors room while he goes out to drink with his friends, a typical role of tradition male and female asians
Self Evaluation
Self Evaluation
Attainment 1
Attainment is as good as it can be in media lessons Effort 2 i put most of my effort into media but it could be a bit better
Punctuality 2
i attend most lessons but there are some which i have missed out on, although i had good reasons for it, im not just being lazy
Submission and quality of homework 2
i need to improve a bit on handing in homework on time as i sometimes forget to do it, need to organise myself more on that aspect
Ability to work independently 1
my ability to work independantly is good as i prefer to work independantly as a student
Quality of writing 1
quality of writing is to the best of my ability at all times
Organisation of Media folder 3
its quite poor as i dnt have a folder for all my media sheets, but i do keep them all in one place, but i need to sort them out
Oral contributions in class 3
its not as good as it should be, need to contribute more
Standard of Module 5 blog 1
all tasks are complete and i complete tasks to the best of my ability
Standard of Module 6 blog 1
same situation as module 5 blog
Three achievements (www)
1. my quality of writing
2. the standard of my med 5 blog
3. the standard of my med 6 blog
Three areas of improvement (EBI)
1. attend all lessons and on time
2. answer more questions in class
3.improve my media folder, organise it more
Attainment 1
Attainment is as good as it can be in media lessons Effort 2 i put most of my effort into media but it could be a bit better
Punctuality 2
i attend most lessons but there are some which i have missed out on, although i had good reasons for it, im not just being lazy
Submission and quality of homework 2
i need to improve a bit on handing in homework on time as i sometimes forget to do it, need to organise myself more on that aspect
Ability to work independently 1
my ability to work independantly is good as i prefer to work independantly as a student
Quality of writing 1
quality of writing is to the best of my ability at all times
Organisation of Media folder 3
its quite poor as i dnt have a folder for all my media sheets, but i do keep them all in one place, but i need to sort them out
Oral contributions in class 3
its not as good as it should be, need to contribute more
Standard of Module 5 blog 1
all tasks are complete and i complete tasks to the best of my ability
Standard of Module 6 blog 1
same situation as module 5 blog
Three achievements (www)
1. my quality of writing
2. the standard of my med 5 blog
3. the standard of my med 6 blog
Three areas of improvement (EBI)
1. attend all lessons and on time
2. answer more questions in class
3.improve my media folder, organise it more
Monday 11 February 2008
bibliography
bibliography
BOOKS
Jackson, Stevi (1993): Women’s Studies, A Reader. Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire: Harvester Whealsheaf.
Wall, Peter, (2002), p.g. 48
Laura Mulvey handout
representation hand out
Laura Mulvey -Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975)
The cinema book: pam cook
Cook, Pam (1993): Women and film, a sight and sound reader. 5 Montague Road, London: British Film Institute.
Wood, DR. Gary W. (2005): Sex, Lies and Stereotypes. Edgewere Road, London: New Holland Publishers
Kaveney, Roz (2006): Teen Dreams: Reading Teen Film and Television from 'Heathers' to 'Veronica Mars'. 6 Salem Road, London: I.B Tauris & Co Ltd.
Walter, Natasha (1998): The New Feminism. Lancaster Place, London: Little Brown.
WEBSITES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Wiseman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teen_film
http://www.meangirls.com/indexflash.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/little-women-novel-5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_sells
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_Girls#Box_office
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=1325&p=.htmLl
http://www.mediaknowall.com/alevkeyconcepts/audience.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsay_Lohan#_note-mgbox
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freaky_Friday
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_disorder
BOOKS
Jackson, Stevi (1993): Women’s Studies, A Reader. Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire: Harvester Whealsheaf.
Wall, Peter, (2002), p.g. 48
Laura Mulvey handout
representation hand out
Laura Mulvey -Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975)
The cinema book: pam cook
Cook, Pam (1993): Women and film, a sight and sound reader. 5 Montague Road, London: British Film Institute.
Wood, DR. Gary W. (2005): Sex, Lies and Stereotypes. Edgewere Road, London: New Holland Publishers
Kaveney, Roz (2006): Teen Dreams: Reading Teen Film and Television from 'Heathers' to 'Veronica Mars'. 6 Salem Road, London: I.B Tauris & Co Ltd.
Walter, Natasha (1998): The New Feminism. Lancaster Place, London: Little Brown.
WEBSITES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Wiseman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teen_film
http://www.meangirls.com/indexflash.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/little-women-novel-5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_sells
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_Girls#Box_office
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=1325&p=.htmLl
http://www.mediaknowall.com/alevkeyconcepts/audience.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsay_Lohan#_note-mgbox
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freaky_Friday
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_disorder
Sunday 3 February 2008
independant study
"You need to stop calling each other sluts and whores...it just makes it okay for guys to call you sluts and whores".How and why are females represented the way they are in contemporary teen movies with particular reference to mean girls?
Teen Movies have been around for many decades but the representation of women from the 60's to now has changed vastly. This is all due to the issues and debates that swarm around us in today’s society and the many problems that exist are reflected by the media into movies and portrays the zeitgeist which is present in teenage lifestyle. Most current issues that involve youths and teenagers are incorporated into teen movies and stereotypical representations are put across to us which may be true to a certain extent but not always. Females are slowly beginning to get noticed in the media after all these years but are being represented in negative ways as will be proved in my study of 'Mean Girls' which is a interpretation of Rosalind Wiseman’s 'queen bees and wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence[1] . Directed by mark waters in the USA in 2004 Mean Girls[2] in many eyes is a significant film of its genre as it features women and includes female voices, females who are not just subjected to the 'male gaze' according to Mulvey’s theory[3]. Although it is labelled as a teen movie it is set out to challenge those stereotypes most associated with teen movies and not to follow every convention a teen movie usually has. It had been an influential movie of its time for films such as ‘Bratz‘, and ‘Pretty Persuasion’ and had close connections with 1990's hit ‘Clueless’ and in a way reinvigorates it with a fresh look on the teen genre in the sense of representations of females and the ideologies they give out to its audience.
A typical teen movie consists of the pretty, aspirational character or ‘clique’ whereby people fight over to gain popularity and acceptance into the longed lifestyle of the ‘popular’ girls. "I’m sorry people are jealous of me. I can’t help it that I’m popular."[4]It also conventionally involves a girl working her way to get the ‘jock’, the guy that every girl wants and would do anything to get him and other conventional themes such as coming of age, first love, rebellion, conflict with parents, teen angst and alienation[5]. Mean Girls carries a lot of these narrative conventions and structures the ‘Queen Bee’s to their stereotypical form whereby they are labelled as ‘popular’, ‘bitchy’ and ‘pretty’ and according to critic Roger Ebert, “it is not only funny but smart. Its about cliques gossip and popularity”[6]. The ‘Queen Bee’s’ consist of three teenage girls: Regina George, the leader of the ‘pack’, Gretchen Weener, Regina’s follower and Karen Smith, the stereotypical ‘blonde bimbo’ Together they are known as the ‘plastics’[7]. That’s were Kady (Lindsay Lohan) comes into the picture and goes through the stages of adolescence through high school and is created to challenge the stereotype of female teenagers and lifestyle in which teenagers like the ‘plastics’ are portrayed in living in. She does this by getting involved with the plastics but then turning into a regular two faced female and is divided between two groups. The other being the ‘outcasts which turn out to be better friends to Kady then the plastics would ever be suggesting that the lifestyle they lead involves so much of themselves and materialistic objects and guys that they have distorted ideas on what friendship is. The difference with Kady going through these stages and changes is that the resolution of the narrative eventually challenges the role she is put in as she decides that living the life of the plastics is meaningless.
Representation is a concept whereby it provides a model of how wee see gender’ social groups, individuals and aspects of the world we inhabit. They are ideological in that they are constructed with a framework of values and beliefs and ‘its views are selective, schematic and constructed‘[8] . Representations are therefore mediated and reflect the value systems of their sources. No representation is ever real, only a version of the real [9].The idea that representations are mediated means that directors are consciously aware of how a certain group or individual should be represented and is there to sell, which created the idea that ‘stereotypes sell‘* as audiences like to watch things that they are familiar with thus being provided with these stereotypical ideas in the past, it has stuck with them and has become integrated into our minds and our consciousness is shaped[10]
Over the years women’s representations in film have always been changing since the early 1990’s until now but somehow the stereotype of women in particular groups or generations still remain in a certain way for example blonde women with blue eyes are, and have always been represented as dumb and bimbo-like, also upper class women have always been stereotyped as snobbish and stuck up. These haven’t changed up until now but representations in Tv are constantly changing and for the better in the view of a women. There are many reasons why these representations of women in Tv have changed and are still changing and this due to the change that women have made throughout history in order to break away from their restricted lives and become free independent women. During the war when the soldiers left for the war, the women were there to take over their jobs just while they were away, the women assumed larger roles in the social structure[11] and once the soldiers returned they took their jobs back. The war was over and traditional roles were resumed. This left the women wanting to take men’s roles in the workplace and were effected by the fact they had to resume back to their housewife duties when they wanted to do more once they had known they were able to take on these roles
Laura Mulvey questions about the place of women in the media in terms of broadcast and production and also the place of women in films and their role.[12] It is evident that in recent decades starting form the early 1900’s females in the media and on Tv had been subjected to the ‘male gaze‘ and used for males voyeuristic pleasures to satisfy themselves. They have also been portrayed as house wives who stay at home and cook for the men and take care of the children This linking with how historically women have fought for their rights and fought against these representations and roles they are put in, after the war had taken place. This eventually led towards a backlash against women from the men in the 80’s where films and other media texts further subjected females to the male gaze. This has now lead to a new term being created after the backlash which is referred as the ‘new women’ which has become the new media cliché overtaking the traditional domestic image of women[13]. Thus creating films where women are being portrayed and superior to men and independent, not depending on a man. Films such as Erin Brokovich and Charlies Angels display this. They are independent strong women taking on masculine roles and playing leading female roles but are although still subjected to the male gaze. Sexuality is considered one of the most powerful tools of marketing and particularly advertising [14] which in its simplest form is the theory that ‘sex sells’ therefore the only way for a Hollywood movie to be a success it needs to include sexual content of some kind. Mean Girls involves mild sex and teenage girls wearing short skirts and tight tops. Although the target audience is not male it may use shots of sex to entice males into watching the film and therefore entering the world of female teenagers
The clear representations that are portrayed through the movie of mean girls is different for each character. ‘The film tries to keep its teen movie element by including ‘The plastics’, therefore maintaining the typical representation of the popular boy hungry girls. Regina, the queen bee of the clique is blonde with blue eyes, skinny and pretty, portraying a negative ideology amongst teenage girls who aspire to be popular as the message that is being given out to young teens is that in order to be popular and pretty you need to be skinny and pay on interest in school work and instead pay more attention on how you look. This is emphasised when Kady gives Regina a bar that she says helps her lose weight because she needs to fit into a prom dress which she had ordered. The bar actually makes her more fat and because she has gone up in size the shop where she got her prom dress for wouldn’t allow her to sop there as they sizes were too small for her when in fact she wasn’t even fat. This makes viewers think that even if you are skinny you are still not skinny enough.
Since Mean Girls declared an instant success after its opening weekend made the film $24.4million and the #1 film in America [15] it is safe to say that it would have been a massive influence on the many young American teens that watched it.‘75% of Mean Girls' audience was female, while 50% was under the age of 18‘, according to Paramount's research.[16] This is an over welming majority of the audience who are young female teenagers. Researchers Blumer and Katz (1974) [17]stated that individuals might choose and use a text for the following purposes (I.e. uses and gratifications) which are: diversion as a form of escapism and escaping from your everyday problems and routines, Personal relationships which is using the media for emotional and other interaction (mainly focusing on soap opera’s), Personal identity which is finding yourself reflected in texts and relating to characters where learning behaviour and values and lastly Surveillance which is using the media for information that you might need e.g. weather reports and the news. The uses and gratification theory that is most relevant to Mean girls would be Personal identity where young teenagers would act upon the behaviour they see in teen movies to try and become like them as they aspire to their lifestyle which is why these representations are not such a good thing
However as I stated before that the representation of the teenagers in Mean Girls is different for every character. Kady Heron(Lindsay Lohan) is the character that challenges stereotypes and promotes a positive ideology amongst teens "cementing her status as the new teen movie queen," wrote Brandon Gray[18] .She is the female protagonist of the movie and therefore we see the film from her point of view so the audience is made to identify with her the most which is why she challenges stereotypes and most effectively creates a positive influence on the audience as she decides for herself that you don’t need to be pretty and skinny to be happy and popular. She also gives a message that being teenager isn’t about being popular, its about finding yourself as a person and using it to your best ability for yourself and no one else. It is important to have a female protagonist playing this role as it injects female lifestyle and ideas into people who may not be aware of it or even use to it as ‘the media is already dominated by males therefore portraying mostly their views and opinion’s on things[19]. Mean Girls studies a different aspect of teen life and movies on the whole
Being an established actor, Lindsay Lohan herself by starring in this role would have a major influence on young teens and her fans as “The media industry relies heavily on the concept of celebrity”[20] as people would go and see a movie just because they like the actor who is starring or leading in it and also gives them an idea of what kind of film it is going to be because the audience associates different actors with certain genre’s of movies. This is a way of selling a movie and we would associate Lindsay Lohan with teen comedy movie so the same type of audience would watch, and previously playing a leading role in the film Freaky Friday[21] which is based on a children's novel by Mary Rodgers first published in the USA in 1972,[22] in which a teenage girl switched bodies with her mother so that they understand each other and the teenage point of view is therefore exaggerated and magnified through the eyes of an older generation, her mum which made her character stand out more in a comical way. Although this movie is classified as a teen movie (which could be due to the fact that Lindsay Lohan is associated with teen movies) it didn’t have many of the conventions of a teen movie such as the poplar clique and the issues of weight and gaining a popular lifestyle, however it id have the factor of the teenage girl falling in love with the perfect guy and trying to win him over which is not necessarily a negative convention in the way that It happens in most girls lives today. The movie encourages you to be yourself around a guy which is the best way to have him which is the same in Mean Girls as Kady learns that it is best to be yourself and not become a popular ‘Plastic’. This was shown through the realisation that by Kady becoming a plastic she still never ended up with her crush Aaron Samuels. It was only when she showed her true colour that she got him.
Unlike Grease[23] which portrayed opposite ideologies to that of Mean Girls and Freaky Friday. Sandy was originally a shy, good girl that fell in love with a bad boy, Danny but for him to officially be with her she needed to look sexier and become a bad girl. The message was that to get the guy you want you need to suit his needs and become what he wants you to become. Mean Girls has come along way in terms of teen movies from Grease and it is clear that female voices are more important and morals has been changed to the advantage of younger women to create ideologies that do not cause them to feel insecurities within themselves but to feel good about who they are and that they are fine the way they are.
Other media texts are still not compromising to this and the effects that these ideologies have on young women For example Americas’ next top model[24] promotes an ideology that in order make money and be successful in the media industry, you have to be skinny, pretty and be a certain way. This may be more effective than movies as this is a reality Tv show and although still mediated audiences automatically assume that this is what really goes on. It is commonly understood that eating disorders can be attributed to the pressure society puts an women to be thin[25] which is influenced by these Tv programmes and which is why the representations that are shown of women are becoming a more dangerous thing rather than something that feminist go against as it subjects women.
T o conclude women’s representations are not just something that we have to consume as audiences, it is something that controls some women’s lifestyle habits or eating habits. The media has a huge impact on its audiences and the change in representation of women over the years has proved that as lifestyle of women today in society is reflected upon in the media and whether the negative representation is a form of backlash from males or something that is a microcosm of today’s lifestyle of women it is providing women with false ideologies but Mean Girls could be the catalyst to female representations being positive and to the advantage of the female and carry forward the genre of Teen Movies to challenge more of the stereotypes we see in them today.
Word count: 2714
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Wiseman
2 Mean Girls (2004)
3 Laura Mulvey handout
4 Mean Girls (2004)
5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teen_film
6 http://www.meangirls.com/indexflash.html
7 Mean Girls (2004)
8 Jackson, Stevi (1993): Women’s Studies, A Reader. Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire: Harvester Whealsheaf.
9 representation hand out
10 Jackson, Stevi (1993): Women’s Studies, A Reader. Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire: Harvester Whealsheaf.
11 (http://www.answers.com/topic/little-women-novel-5)
12 The cinema book:2nd edition (Pam Cook)
13 Jackson, Stevi (1993): Women’s Studies, A Reader. Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire: Harvester Whealsheaf
14 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_sells
15 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_Girls#Box_office
16 http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=1325&p=.htm
17 http://www.mediaknowall.com/alevkeyconcepts/audience.html
18 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsay_Lohan#_note-mgbox
19 Jackson, Stevi (1993): Women’s Studies, A Reader
20 Wall, Peter, (2002), p.g. 48
21 Freaky Friday (2003)
22 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freaky_Friday
23 Grease (1978)
24 America's Next Top Model (2003)
25 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_disorder
Teen Movies have been around for many decades but the representation of women from the 60's to now has changed vastly. This is all due to the issues and debates that swarm around us in today’s society and the many problems that exist are reflected by the media into movies and portrays the zeitgeist which is present in teenage lifestyle. Most current issues that involve youths and teenagers are incorporated into teen movies and stereotypical representations are put across to us which may be true to a certain extent but not always. Females are slowly beginning to get noticed in the media after all these years but are being represented in negative ways as will be proved in my study of 'Mean Girls' which is a interpretation of Rosalind Wiseman’s 'queen bees and wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence[1] . Directed by mark waters in the USA in 2004 Mean Girls[2] in many eyes is a significant film of its genre as it features women and includes female voices, females who are not just subjected to the 'male gaze' according to Mulvey’s theory[3]. Although it is labelled as a teen movie it is set out to challenge those stereotypes most associated with teen movies and not to follow every convention a teen movie usually has. It had been an influential movie of its time for films such as ‘Bratz‘, and ‘Pretty Persuasion’ and had close connections with 1990's hit ‘Clueless’ and in a way reinvigorates it with a fresh look on the teen genre in the sense of representations of females and the ideologies they give out to its audience.
A typical teen movie consists of the pretty, aspirational character or ‘clique’ whereby people fight over to gain popularity and acceptance into the longed lifestyle of the ‘popular’ girls. "I’m sorry people are jealous of me. I can’t help it that I’m popular."[4]It also conventionally involves a girl working her way to get the ‘jock’, the guy that every girl wants and would do anything to get him and other conventional themes such as coming of age, first love, rebellion, conflict with parents, teen angst and alienation[5]. Mean Girls carries a lot of these narrative conventions and structures the ‘Queen Bee’s to their stereotypical form whereby they are labelled as ‘popular’, ‘bitchy’ and ‘pretty’ and according to critic Roger Ebert, “it is not only funny but smart. Its about cliques gossip and popularity”[6]. The ‘Queen Bee’s’ consist of three teenage girls: Regina George, the leader of the ‘pack’, Gretchen Weener, Regina’s follower and Karen Smith, the stereotypical ‘blonde bimbo’ Together they are known as the ‘plastics’[7]. That’s were Kady (Lindsay Lohan) comes into the picture and goes through the stages of adolescence through high school and is created to challenge the stereotype of female teenagers and lifestyle in which teenagers like the ‘plastics’ are portrayed in living in. She does this by getting involved with the plastics but then turning into a regular two faced female and is divided between two groups. The other being the ‘outcasts which turn out to be better friends to Kady then the plastics would ever be suggesting that the lifestyle they lead involves so much of themselves and materialistic objects and guys that they have distorted ideas on what friendship is. The difference with Kady going through these stages and changes is that the resolution of the narrative eventually challenges the role she is put in as she decides that living the life of the plastics is meaningless.
Representation is a concept whereby it provides a model of how wee see gender’ social groups, individuals and aspects of the world we inhabit. They are ideological in that they are constructed with a framework of values and beliefs and ‘its views are selective, schematic and constructed‘[8] . Representations are therefore mediated and reflect the value systems of their sources. No representation is ever real, only a version of the real [9].The idea that representations are mediated means that directors are consciously aware of how a certain group or individual should be represented and is there to sell, which created the idea that ‘stereotypes sell‘* as audiences like to watch things that they are familiar with thus being provided with these stereotypical ideas in the past, it has stuck with them and has become integrated into our minds and our consciousness is shaped[10]
Over the years women’s representations in film have always been changing since the early 1990’s until now but somehow the stereotype of women in particular groups or generations still remain in a certain way for example blonde women with blue eyes are, and have always been represented as dumb and bimbo-like, also upper class women have always been stereotyped as snobbish and stuck up. These haven’t changed up until now but representations in Tv are constantly changing and for the better in the view of a women. There are many reasons why these representations of women in Tv have changed and are still changing and this due to the change that women have made throughout history in order to break away from their restricted lives and become free independent women. During the war when the soldiers left for the war, the women were there to take over their jobs just while they were away, the women assumed larger roles in the social structure[11] and once the soldiers returned they took their jobs back. The war was over and traditional roles were resumed. This left the women wanting to take men’s roles in the workplace and were effected by the fact they had to resume back to their housewife duties when they wanted to do more once they had known they were able to take on these roles
Laura Mulvey questions about the place of women in the media in terms of broadcast and production and also the place of women in films and their role.[12] It is evident that in recent decades starting form the early 1900’s females in the media and on Tv had been subjected to the ‘male gaze‘ and used for males voyeuristic pleasures to satisfy themselves. They have also been portrayed as house wives who stay at home and cook for the men and take care of the children This linking with how historically women have fought for their rights and fought against these representations and roles they are put in, after the war had taken place. This eventually led towards a backlash against women from the men in the 80’s where films and other media texts further subjected females to the male gaze. This has now lead to a new term being created after the backlash which is referred as the ‘new women’ which has become the new media cliché overtaking the traditional domestic image of women[13]. Thus creating films where women are being portrayed and superior to men and independent, not depending on a man. Films such as Erin Brokovich and Charlies Angels display this. They are independent strong women taking on masculine roles and playing leading female roles but are although still subjected to the male gaze. Sexuality is considered one of the most powerful tools of marketing and particularly advertising [14] which in its simplest form is the theory that ‘sex sells’ therefore the only way for a Hollywood movie to be a success it needs to include sexual content of some kind. Mean Girls involves mild sex and teenage girls wearing short skirts and tight tops. Although the target audience is not male it may use shots of sex to entice males into watching the film and therefore entering the world of female teenagers
The clear representations that are portrayed through the movie of mean girls is different for each character. ‘The film tries to keep its teen movie element by including ‘The plastics’, therefore maintaining the typical representation of the popular boy hungry girls. Regina, the queen bee of the clique is blonde with blue eyes, skinny and pretty, portraying a negative ideology amongst teenage girls who aspire to be popular as the message that is being given out to young teens is that in order to be popular and pretty you need to be skinny and pay on interest in school work and instead pay more attention on how you look. This is emphasised when Kady gives Regina a bar that she says helps her lose weight because she needs to fit into a prom dress which she had ordered. The bar actually makes her more fat and because she has gone up in size the shop where she got her prom dress for wouldn’t allow her to sop there as they sizes were too small for her when in fact she wasn’t even fat. This makes viewers think that even if you are skinny you are still not skinny enough.
Since Mean Girls declared an instant success after its opening weekend made the film $24.4million and the #1 film in America [15] it is safe to say that it would have been a massive influence on the many young American teens that watched it.‘75% of Mean Girls' audience was female, while 50% was under the age of 18‘, according to Paramount's research.[16] This is an over welming majority of the audience who are young female teenagers. Researchers Blumer and Katz (1974) [17]stated that individuals might choose and use a text for the following purposes (I.e. uses and gratifications) which are: diversion as a form of escapism and escaping from your everyday problems and routines, Personal relationships which is using the media for emotional and other interaction (mainly focusing on soap opera’s), Personal identity which is finding yourself reflected in texts and relating to characters where learning behaviour and values and lastly Surveillance which is using the media for information that you might need e.g. weather reports and the news. The uses and gratification theory that is most relevant to Mean girls would be Personal identity where young teenagers would act upon the behaviour they see in teen movies to try and become like them as they aspire to their lifestyle which is why these representations are not such a good thing
However as I stated before that the representation of the teenagers in Mean Girls is different for every character. Kady Heron(Lindsay Lohan) is the character that challenges stereotypes and promotes a positive ideology amongst teens "cementing her status as the new teen movie queen," wrote Brandon Gray[18] .She is the female protagonist of the movie and therefore we see the film from her point of view so the audience is made to identify with her the most which is why she challenges stereotypes and most effectively creates a positive influence on the audience as she decides for herself that you don’t need to be pretty and skinny to be happy and popular. She also gives a message that being teenager isn’t about being popular, its about finding yourself as a person and using it to your best ability for yourself and no one else. It is important to have a female protagonist playing this role as it injects female lifestyle and ideas into people who may not be aware of it or even use to it as ‘the media is already dominated by males therefore portraying mostly their views and opinion’s on things[19]. Mean Girls studies a different aspect of teen life and movies on the whole
Being an established actor, Lindsay Lohan herself by starring in this role would have a major influence on young teens and her fans as “The media industry relies heavily on the concept of celebrity”[20] as people would go and see a movie just because they like the actor who is starring or leading in it and also gives them an idea of what kind of film it is going to be because the audience associates different actors with certain genre’s of movies. This is a way of selling a movie and we would associate Lindsay Lohan with teen comedy movie so the same type of audience would watch, and previously playing a leading role in the film Freaky Friday[21] which is based on a children's novel by Mary Rodgers first published in the USA in 1972,[22] in which a teenage girl switched bodies with her mother so that they understand each other and the teenage point of view is therefore exaggerated and magnified through the eyes of an older generation, her mum which made her character stand out more in a comical way. Although this movie is classified as a teen movie (which could be due to the fact that Lindsay Lohan is associated with teen movies) it didn’t have many of the conventions of a teen movie such as the poplar clique and the issues of weight and gaining a popular lifestyle, however it id have the factor of the teenage girl falling in love with the perfect guy and trying to win him over which is not necessarily a negative convention in the way that It happens in most girls lives today. The movie encourages you to be yourself around a guy which is the best way to have him which is the same in Mean Girls as Kady learns that it is best to be yourself and not become a popular ‘Plastic’. This was shown through the realisation that by Kady becoming a plastic she still never ended up with her crush Aaron Samuels. It was only when she showed her true colour that she got him.
Unlike Grease[23] which portrayed opposite ideologies to that of Mean Girls and Freaky Friday. Sandy was originally a shy, good girl that fell in love with a bad boy, Danny but for him to officially be with her she needed to look sexier and become a bad girl. The message was that to get the guy you want you need to suit his needs and become what he wants you to become. Mean Girls has come along way in terms of teen movies from Grease and it is clear that female voices are more important and morals has been changed to the advantage of younger women to create ideologies that do not cause them to feel insecurities within themselves but to feel good about who they are and that they are fine the way they are.
Other media texts are still not compromising to this and the effects that these ideologies have on young women For example Americas’ next top model[24] promotes an ideology that in order make money and be successful in the media industry, you have to be skinny, pretty and be a certain way. This may be more effective than movies as this is a reality Tv show and although still mediated audiences automatically assume that this is what really goes on. It is commonly understood that eating disorders can be attributed to the pressure society puts an women to be thin[25] which is influenced by these Tv programmes and which is why the representations that are shown of women are becoming a more dangerous thing rather than something that feminist go against as it subjects women.
T o conclude women’s representations are not just something that we have to consume as audiences, it is something that controls some women’s lifestyle habits or eating habits. The media has a huge impact on its audiences and the change in representation of women over the years has proved that as lifestyle of women today in society is reflected upon in the media and whether the negative representation is a form of backlash from males or something that is a microcosm of today’s lifestyle of women it is providing women with false ideologies but Mean Girls could be the catalyst to female representations being positive and to the advantage of the female and carry forward the genre of Teen Movies to challenge more of the stereotypes we see in them today.
Word count: 2714
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Wiseman
2 Mean Girls (2004)
3 Laura Mulvey handout
4 Mean Girls (2004)
5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teen_film
6 http://www.meangirls.com/indexflash.html
7 Mean Girls (2004)
8 Jackson, Stevi (1993): Women’s Studies, A Reader. Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire: Harvester Whealsheaf.
9 representation hand out
10 Jackson, Stevi (1993): Women’s Studies, A Reader. Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire: Harvester Whealsheaf.
11 (http://www.answers.com/topic/little-women-novel-5)
12 The cinema book:2nd edition (Pam Cook)
13 Jackson, Stevi (1993): Women’s Studies, A Reader. Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire: Harvester Whealsheaf
14 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_sells
15 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_Girls#Box_office
16 http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=1325&p=.htm
17 http://www.mediaknowall.com/alevkeyconcepts/audience.html
18 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsay_Lohan#_note-mgbox
19 Jackson, Stevi (1993): Women’s Studies, A Reader
20 Wall, Peter, (2002), p.g. 48
21 Freaky Friday (2003)
22 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freaky_Friday
23 Grease (1978)
24 America's Next Top Model (2003)
25 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_disorder
Sunday 6 January 2008
introduction
"You need to stop calling eachother sluts and whores...it just makes it okay for guys to call you sluts and whores".How and why are females represented the way they are in contemporary teen movies with particular reference to mean girls?
Teen Movies have been around for many decades but the representation of women from the 60's to now has changed vastly. This is all due to the issues and debates that swarm around us in todays society and the many problems that exsist are reflected by the media into movies and portrays the zeitgeist which is present in teen lifestyle. Most current issues that involve youths and teenagers are incorporated into teen movies and stereotypical representations are put across to us which may be true to a certain extent but not always. Females are slowly beginning to get noticed in the media after all these years but are being represented in negative ways as will be proved in my study of 'Mean Girls' which is a interpreatetion of Tina Feys 'queen bees and wannabes'. Directed by mark waters in the USA in 2004 Mean Girls in many eyes is a significant film of its genre as it features women and includes female voices, females who are not just subjected to the 'male gaze' according to Mulveys theory. It had been an influential teen movie of its time for films such as Bratz, and pretty persuasion and had close connections with 1990's hit clueless and in a way reinvigorates it with a fresh look on the teen genre in the sense of representations of females and the ideologies they give out to its audience
Teen Movies have been around for many decades but the representation of women from the 60's to now has changed vastly. This is all due to the issues and debates that swarm around us in todays society and the many problems that exsist are reflected by the media into movies and portrays the zeitgeist which is present in teen lifestyle. Most current issues that involve youths and teenagers are incorporated into teen movies and stereotypical representations are put across to us which may be true to a certain extent but not always. Females are slowly beginning to get noticed in the media after all these years but are being represented in negative ways as will be proved in my study of 'Mean Girls' which is a interpreatetion of Tina Feys 'queen bees and wannabes'. Directed by mark waters in the USA in 2004 Mean Girls in many eyes is a significant film of its genre as it features women and includes female voices, females who are not just subjected to the 'male gaze' according to Mulveys theory. It had been an influential teen movie of its time for films such as Bratz, and pretty persuasion and had close connections with 1990's hit clueless and in a way reinvigorates it with a fresh look on the teen genre in the sense of representations of females and the ideologies they give out to its audience
Essay Plan
-Introduction
introducing the title of my independant study,introducing the text and summary of topics, issues and debates i will be talking about.
-paragraph 1
i will start with the main representation of females in Mean Girls which overall is for them to be looked at (sex objects) (voyeurism) link to mulveys theory
individually represented, Kady a good girld who is easily corrupted therefore has no mind of her own
Regina (villian) obsessed with the way she looks and how her body is, weight concious, hungry for boys and sex
Gretchen isa follower who would do anything to be popular and thinks that popularity is everything and is seen as having no brains
Karen is a blonde bimbo and people only lie her for her boobs (sex object) she acts dumb in the movie and there is no positive representation of her
-paragraph 2
arguably there is a female protagonist of the film and the film seems to be dominated by females showing a female veiw point of the world and female domination
This can be linked to historical information such as the wave of feminism and the growing number of women in the media and how men and women are more equal in this period of time compared to decades ago and this is represented in the movie
Book to refer to: Backlash: Susan Faludi
-paragraph 3
Other texts that i will be referring to :
Americas next top model as the show os telling the contestants that they have to be beautiful in order to win and have the lifestyle that they have always wanted, this is the same in Mean Girls if you want to be in Regina's clique and stay in there you have to remain beautiful and stick by the rules and therefore not be yourself
related to Regina being image conciouse and trying to lose wight to fit into a prom dress, americas next top model promotes getting in shape and having the perfect body in order to be successful
-Paragraph 4
the idea of the media today and how there is so much pressure for teenagers to be a certain weight and look a certain way,growing number of anorexic females because they are image obsessed , this is caused by the pressure of the media
refer to the cinema book
introducing the title of my independant study,introducing the text and summary of topics, issues and debates i will be talking about.
-paragraph 1
i will start with the main representation of females in Mean Girls which overall is for them to be looked at (sex objects) (voyeurism) link to mulveys theory
individually represented, Kady a good girld who is easily corrupted therefore has no mind of her own
Regina (villian) obsessed with the way she looks and how her body is, weight concious, hungry for boys and sex
Gretchen isa follower who would do anything to be popular and thinks that popularity is everything and is seen as having no brains
Karen is a blonde bimbo and people only lie her for her boobs (sex object) she acts dumb in the movie and there is no positive representation of her
-paragraph 2
arguably there is a female protagonist of the film and the film seems to be dominated by females showing a female veiw point of the world and female domination
This can be linked to historical information such as the wave of feminism and the growing number of women in the media and how men and women are more equal in this period of time compared to decades ago and this is represented in the movie
Book to refer to: Backlash: Susan Faludi
-paragraph 3
Other texts that i will be referring to :
Americas next top model as the show os telling the contestants that they have to be beautiful in order to win and have the lifestyle that they have always wanted, this is the same in Mean Girls if you want to be in Regina's clique and stay in there you have to remain beautiful and stick by the rules and therefore not be yourself
related to Regina being image conciouse and trying to lose wight to fit into a prom dress, americas next top model promotes getting in shape and having the perfect body in order to be successful
-Paragraph 4
the idea of the media today and how there is so much pressure for teenagers to be a certain weight and look a certain way,growing number of anorexic females because they are image obsessed , this is caused by the pressure of the media
refer to the cinema book
Saturday 5 January 2008
Historical text: Grease
Grease
Facts:
Year of release: 1978
Classification: PG
Director: Randal Kleiser
Starring: John Travolta, Oliver Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway
Plot: a guy and a girl fall in love over the summer on the beach, they return to school after the summer and discover they are from the same highschool.
Genre: Teen Movie, Love Story
Similarities: (M)
-Setting is in high school which is the same as Mean Girls. A generic convention of a teen movie is to be set in a high school where the audience can see that it is targeted at them as school is the centre of a teenagers life and contains other teenagers for the audience to relate to.
-Close up shots used to highlight male of female feelings towards another male or female, this shows the love story that is being created between the two main characters. For example.... in Mean girls there is a close up of Kady admiring Aaron from the back showing her likeness for him similarly on Grease when they are both songing and at the end of the song there are close ups of both of their faces and we can see their love for eachother through these shots because they are singing about eachother also.
-The Mis-En-Scene is similar in its props such as fancy cars only change in time and technology reflect the veiws of what a good car is at that period of time but in both the props that are used are concidered something to show of about. (Difference) However in Grease the boys are seen with a car and they make doing up a car a very manly thing and something that a women doesnt take part it whereas in Mean Girls it is Regina (the female character who is seen with the car and the girls are shown driving around in it and no guys.This shows women taking on male roles in more recent years and that in the 70's girls werent shown doing manly things (Backlash)
Differences: (M)
-The sound and music in both of the movies is very different from eachother and grease is a musical and mean girl isnt. Grease is more theatrical and has a rock edge to it whereas mean girls encorporates different types of music into it such as rock, pop ,and rnb, this shows the music industry was dominated with the rock genre in the 70's whereas nowadays there are more different types of music which are popular and as popular as eachother that appeal to teenagers.
-The costume is very different for both males and females in the 70's compared to the 00's. in Grease the females are wearing long skirts and fully covered tops, they are not being objectified in their everyday dress whcih is different in Mean Girls as the girls are all wearing mini skirts and tgght tops showing of half their body
-Similarity: (I)
Both hollywood produced (american), and both distributed by paramount pictures
-Similarity: (G)
Both teen movies and have love stories to them however Grease's main focus was the love story whereas in Mean Girls the main focus of the narrative was social lifestyle and popularity
-Difference: (G)
Grease is a musical and Mean Girls have no songs incorporated into it
-Similarity: (R)
The females are represented as boy obsessed and spend most of their time with boys or thinking about boys, and therefore dress to impress which is why they wear mini skirts and tight tops in Mean Girls and the end of Grease Sandy dresses in a sexy outfit to get Danny to go out with her as she used to be a good girl and Danny would lose his respect from his boys if they thnik he's fallen for a good girl. the males are very image concious as much as the girls are and allways like to look their best
-Difference: (R)
The boys are more open to love and relationships and the way peers talk to eachother about relationships in Mean Girls whereas in Grease Danny is embaressed to tell his firends he is in love and is only comfortable in talking about things that they did which is degrading the female cos he is exploiting their secret moments together
-Similarity: (A)
both the audiences are the same, they are targeted at teenagers
-Difference (A)
However Mean Girls is targeted mainly at female teenagers whereas Grease is more for both gendres but still mainly females
-Similarity: (I)
Similar ideologies are portrayed in these movies such as being hetrosexual although Mean Girls displays a bit of gay acting within one of their characters but this is not major, there are no homosexuals in Grease showing the 70's to be less unacceptable to gays than they are now
-Differences: (I)
Grease displays the ideology that if you like someone you need to change your image that will suit them in order to be able to go out with him however this is different in Mean Girls as it shows that you dont need to impress a guy to get them, just be yourself and there will be a happy ending for everyone
-Similarities: (N)
The story line is similar is both films as the main characters are falling in love with with a guy and are trying to get with them by impressing them
-Differences: (N)
Grease doesnt use any villians or heroes, the charcaters are just friends whereas Mean Girls has a hero (Kady) and a villian (Regina) and the protagonist is the hero only whereas in Greas there is no protagonist. Danny and Sandy are both the main characters. By Kady playing the leading female role it could reflect the ways that women are more active in society and are noticed more whereas in the 70's it had not totally been the case as both a male and female were the main characters showing them to be equal
Facts:
Year of release: 1978
Classification: PG
Director: Randal Kleiser
Starring: John Travolta, Oliver Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway
Plot: a guy and a girl fall in love over the summer on the beach, they return to school after the summer and discover they are from the same highschool.
Genre: Teen Movie, Love Story
Similarities: (M)
-Setting is in high school which is the same as Mean Girls. A generic convention of a teen movie is to be set in a high school where the audience can see that it is targeted at them as school is the centre of a teenagers life and contains other teenagers for the audience to relate to.
-Close up shots used to highlight male of female feelings towards another male or female, this shows the love story that is being created between the two main characters. For example.... in Mean girls there is a close up of Kady admiring Aaron from the back showing her likeness for him similarly on Grease when they are both songing and at the end of the song there are close ups of both of their faces and we can see their love for eachother through these shots because they are singing about eachother also.
-The Mis-En-Scene is similar in its props such as fancy cars only change in time and technology reflect the veiws of what a good car is at that period of time but in both the props that are used are concidered something to show of about. (Difference) However in Grease the boys are seen with a car and they make doing up a car a very manly thing and something that a women doesnt take part it whereas in Mean Girls it is Regina (the female character who is seen with the car and the girls are shown driving around in it and no guys.This shows women taking on male roles in more recent years and that in the 70's girls werent shown doing manly things (Backlash)
Differences: (M)
-The sound and music in both of the movies is very different from eachother and grease is a musical and mean girl isnt. Grease is more theatrical and has a rock edge to it whereas mean girls encorporates different types of music into it such as rock, pop ,and rnb, this shows the music industry was dominated with the rock genre in the 70's whereas nowadays there are more different types of music which are popular and as popular as eachother that appeal to teenagers.
-The costume is very different for both males and females in the 70's compared to the 00's. in Grease the females are wearing long skirts and fully covered tops, they are not being objectified in their everyday dress whcih is different in Mean Girls as the girls are all wearing mini skirts and tgght tops showing of half their body
-Similarity: (I)
Both hollywood produced (american), and both distributed by paramount pictures
-Similarity: (G)
Both teen movies and have love stories to them however Grease's main focus was the love story whereas in Mean Girls the main focus of the narrative was social lifestyle and popularity
-Difference: (G)
Grease is a musical and Mean Girls have no songs incorporated into it
-Similarity: (R)
The females are represented as boy obsessed and spend most of their time with boys or thinking about boys, and therefore dress to impress which is why they wear mini skirts and tight tops in Mean Girls and the end of Grease Sandy dresses in a sexy outfit to get Danny to go out with her as she used to be a good girl and Danny would lose his respect from his boys if they thnik he's fallen for a good girl. the males are very image concious as much as the girls are and allways like to look their best
-Difference: (R)
The boys are more open to love and relationships and the way peers talk to eachother about relationships in Mean Girls whereas in Grease Danny is embaressed to tell his firends he is in love and is only comfortable in talking about things that they did which is degrading the female cos he is exploiting their secret moments together
-Similarity: (A)
both the audiences are the same, they are targeted at teenagers
-Difference (A)
However Mean Girls is targeted mainly at female teenagers whereas Grease is more for both gendres but still mainly females
-Similarity: (I)
Similar ideologies are portrayed in these movies such as being hetrosexual although Mean Girls displays a bit of gay acting within one of their characters but this is not major, there are no homosexuals in Grease showing the 70's to be less unacceptable to gays than they are now
-Differences: (I)
Grease displays the ideology that if you like someone you need to change your image that will suit them in order to be able to go out with him however this is different in Mean Girls as it shows that you dont need to impress a guy to get them, just be yourself and there will be a happy ending for everyone
-Similarities: (N)
The story line is similar is both films as the main characters are falling in love with with a guy and are trying to get with them by impressing them
-Differences: (N)
Grease doesnt use any villians or heroes, the charcaters are just friends whereas Mean Girls has a hero (Kady) and a villian (Regina) and the protagonist is the hero only whereas in Greas there is no protagonist. Danny and Sandy are both the main characters. By Kady playing the leading female role it could reflect the ways that women are more active in society and are noticed more whereas in the 70's it had not totally been the case as both a male and female were the main characters showing them to be equal
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)