Stereotypical representations of teen in movies

There are many stereotypes that are included in teen films, this makes it much easier for film makers to make the film successful, another main reason for this is it relates to the target audience which the majority of the audience are teenagers.

The stereotypes that are in teen movies are the following;

Jock 

This character is one of the first to be introduced in teen movies, they are normally a tall, hunky and vulgar blonde guy who are usually seen wearing the schools football team letterman jacket. A jocks main role in teen movies are to bully the geeks/nerds and to have a relationship with the popular girl of the school. However in teen movies the role of a jock is to normally be humiliated throughout the film and in doing so become more humble and welcoming towards the geeks, they also fall in love with the more unpopular girl and seems to befriend many of the geeks at the end.

Mise en scene:

Baseball jacket

Jeans

Flashy car

Tall

Geeks

This character is also introduced fairly early to the start of the film. Stereotypical characteristics that they contain include the following, they are smart, they are only allowed to associate with other geeks, very unpopular and always picked on by other popular members of the community. They're normally rejected by girls but do adore the popular girl when she walks by. However throughout the movie the geeks will become popular mainly from humiliating the popular guy but in doing this they also make him more humble and end up befriending him.

Mise en scene

Glasses

Tight clothes

Small in stature

Weak

Quiet

Unconfident

The popular 'girl clique'

 The popular 'girl clique' are always introduced together, it'll normally consist of one ring leader who'll stand out a little more from the others, this girl is normally in a relationship with the main jock and will have other people, such as the geeks, run around for them. Throughout the movie the clique will begin to fall out and the ring leader will be humiliated either by the jock when humble or the geeks. This would either lead to two outcomes either the popular girl and her clique will end up realising the bad they've done and befriend the unpopular girls and maybe even getting in a relationship with the geeks or they'll be left alone and have to no-one, this also making them reflect on how they've treated others bad when popular.

Mise en scene

Make up

Pink

Barbie like

Very pretty

Tight clothes

Jewellery

Flashy clothing and accessories

Teen movies that involve these types of characters are as follows:

High school musical

Mean girls

Not another teen movie

A cinderella story

A walk to remember

conventions for Bling Ring

Summary:The film Bling Ring Inspired by actual events, a group of fame-obsessed teenagers use the internet to track celebrities' whereabouts in order to rob their homes. The teenagers are extremely materialistic and shallow, their main objectives seem to be partying, taking drugs and simply enjoying their teenage hood.The film is set in the rich upper class state of california, however the crimes take place in the celebrity town of beverly hills

why is Bling Ring a teen drama?: The film has , many connotations of a teen film, this is because of the many themes that relate to teenagers of the current era, such as ; fashion, relationships,peer pressure and finally the obsession with celebrities. And most importantly the main characters are teenagers

Themes: The main themes in this film are a direct stereotype of teenagers, and these are; crime, this is apparent from all the burglaries the clique commit, partying, the clique spend most of their nights in night clubs dancing and drinking, drugs & alcohol, the group are affected by a lot of drug abuse from class A drugs to marijuana furthermore they are constantly drinking on their nights out, rebellion, the teenagers are extremely rebellious due to the fact they do not conform to societies views on what 'normal' and 'wrong' such as committing major acts of theft and drug intake they also show rebellion towards their parents, greed, the materialistic clique don't stop at one mansion, they continue to move from one mansion to another unsatisfied by the already 'rich' lifestyle they live and finally peer pressure,  the group seem to act in such way in order to fit in the society they live in. And finally a really popular theme in this current era which is social networking, the teens seem to project their flashy lifestyle simply through Facebook.

settings/location: The main locations the viewer see's are of course the different celebrity mansions that they burgle, the teenagers high school, the night clubs that the teenagers party in and finally their own bedrooms in their parents house.

Music: The music we hear throughout the movie is upbeat and loud, it is new and current to the generation of teenagers, the main genre's of music we hear are; urban, hip-hop+dance trance

Characters: The main characters of course are teenagers, the authorities and the parents of the teens

Conventions Of The Bling Ring

The Bling Ring is a movie based on fictional events that occurred in the USA, a group of teenagers who sought the celebrity lifestyle pursued their desires and broke into various celebrity houses to obtain their belongings.

The main themes of the movie are crime, drugs and peer pressure. These themes are stereotypical of teenage behaviour as teens are represented as people who follow a code of misconduct. This is a teen drama because of the many conventions which are relative to teenage life. The audio used is typical of a teenager, its fast paced and relevant to the modern social group of teens. Hip hop and trance are the most common form of music used and are relatively popular amongst teens in todays society. The theme of rebellious attitude becomes present after the characters are exposed to drug abuse, the use of drugs cause them to adopt a specific type of behaviour which is contrasting to their norm. This further causing differences in their character as it leaves them vulnerable to peer pressure due to them not being in the right mind frame. The themes in this  movie are relative to that which occurs in our modern society, the abuse of drugs and alcohol lead to wrong decisions being made and more opinionated stereotypes being created. This is different from other teen dramas as it only focuses on the wrong doing of teens and doesn't serve any significant purpose in expressing their positive ideals or representations, it is only a representation of the minority of teenagers.

The main characters are teenagers, these teenagers are strongly influenced by stereotypical views within our modern society. They are represented as nothing more than people who have no interests other than partying and only valuing expensive materials. However, the adults are presented as innocent and unknowing as they are unaware of the issues and activities which their children are faced with. 

Conventions of The Bling Ring.

The Bling Ring is what happens when a group of fame-obsessed teenagers use the internet to track celebrities' whereabout in order to rob their home because of there own materialistic greed. The film is inspired by actual events.

Trailer for The Bling Ring.

The main themes involved in the teen drama, The Bling Ring, are crime, celeb influences/culture, fashion, relationships and friendships and peer pressure. These are all popular themes within teen dramas as well as The Bling Ring.

The film plays of the stereotypes of teenagers nowadays, it portrays them as rebellious, alcoholic, drug obsessed party animals that only care about appearance. This stereotype is reflected on the modern culture and how drinking underage and taking drugs emphases the rebellious life style.

The clique within the film all have the stereotypical characteristics of teenagers, they are very materialistic and cared a lot about fashion. All of the friends within the clique were peer pressured into the robberies. This links with other teen films such as Kidulthood, the people involved in that film were also seen as very rebellious and materialistic (not as much as this film) but were highly peer pressured into committing life daring tasks.

This film is very different to teen films in the past, such as Grease.

Grease also shows a rebellious attitude teenagers had, however the other stereotypes were different, there was no drugs, alcohol or partying to extent which led others any different to them sober selfs. Grease was also a musical meaning a load of dancing and singing was involved throughout the film, unlike films today such as The Bling Ring which leaves the singing to the radio, this is mainly because they play songs that are really popular and teenagers will know.

The boy in The Bling Ring is one of the protagonist within the clique. His talks about his past and explains how he thought he was not good looking and would not meet others standards. It could be suggested that he was the one who started the robberies because he would always located the celebrity houses and times they were out the house. This is similar to other protagonist such as in Kidulthood, Trife would lead the others and his two friends would rather just follow than expressing their opinion. The film shows how consumerism, social networking and modern stars are all highly important within the lives of teenagers today, everyone looks up to someone and will try to follow their footsteps if they can. It also shows how social networking can have a major impact on our lives, in the film the girl has a picture on Facebook with a purse she had stolen. If it wasn't for Facebook police may have not been able to get hold of this picture and find out the girls identity.

Genre and Convention

Teen films is a film genre targeted at teenagers and young adults in which the plot is based upon the special interests of teenagers, these are also known as sub genres, such as coming of ages, romance rebellion and conflict with parents.

Teens had only been first introduced in the 1950s the post war meant that a lot of "teenagers" had disposable income, this meant that they could be used as a market category and would be sold different music and fashion. This had led to the start of teen films, Rebel Without a Cause had been one of the first movie to be from a teenager perspective, it played of many of the stereotypes of teens and had contained a lot of common sub genres such as romance and conflict with parents.

The trailer shows both of the common sub genres and for the audience at the time it could of been highly entertaining.

Mainly teen films are set in the same general locations. For example within a home the main rooms will most likely be the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom, although sometimes there may be the occasional living room. Other popular locations would be class rooms in school, a park or cinema if they're doing sports or hanging out and quite recently in teen films alley ways or on a block of flats is a common location.

Above is a picture of kidulthood, a more up to date popular teen film, as you can see all the characters are just relaxing on a wall probably in their local area.

As well as location, the characters found in teen films are usually based on strong stereotypes.

Target Audiences

Attack The Block is a movie aimed at teenage boys. Its story revolves around a teenage gang with predominantly consists of male teens. The movie is relative to its target audience as it incorporates the stereotypical views of teens; the colloquial language, ignorant behavior and actions of misconduct, in order to make it as relative as possible to its audience.

St Trinians is a movie aged at teen girls. Its story is set in an all girls school were the girls must work in accord in order to save the school from bankruptcy. Characters within the movie are burdened with issues that all girls can relate too and a comedic twist on it making it both informing and funny for its audience.

Genre and Convention

Teen film:

A teen film is a film that revolves around the teenage figure. Teen movies came about after the world war, when the country was at a stage of restoration the economy faced a large boom. Jobs provided teenagers with the first source of disposable income of which film makers sought the opportunity to exploit, thus creating movies which were relative to teenage live in attempt to provide them with a spending opportunity. Teen films are targeted mainly at teens as they can relate to the themes; love, violence and family issues. These are the most common themes as they are interlinked with the issues which teens face on a daily basis. This is what makes it appealing to teens, they gain a sense of relief and also gain a greater sense of morality as the issues presented in these films always have a rational solution. The main locations which are presented in teen movies are mostly high schools, family households or the blocks; which are more common in gang related movies. The characters found in teen films vary; there are a variety of different characteristic which character must adopt depending of the theme of the film. If the genre is conflict and violence then the characters would include a rebellious teen, someone who is against the norms of which the other characters follow. However a film with a genre such as comedy would involve a character that is humorous in the eyes of a teen.

Kidulthood: A movie on gang and violence

Scary Movie: A comedy 

genre and convention

Teen Film:

The term teenager applies to young people aged 13-19. Teenagers, arguably, usually receive bad press, this is because of the stereotypes that are based about them. The main stereotypes are that teenagers tend to be ; rebellious, loud, wild and irresponsible. Teenage-hood is the transitional period from childhood to adulthood. Its also a period of physical growth, and at this time teenagers learn and acquire new skills. The term and concept of teenage hood was quite recent, it came to attention in the 1950's, this is because there was a teenager marketing category  after the second world war because after the mass destruction a lot of post war redevelopment  had to happen which mean the economy  grew and many teenagers were working, this meant it was the first time young people had disposable income, so film makers gave them something to spend on

There are many sub genres that are common with teenagers, these are ;

• Sci-fi
• Horror
• Comedy
• Teen Drama
• Musical 
• Thriller
• Crime
• Romance
• Rom-com       

Audience Research Task

Summary of findings

We interviewed a variety of people, some between the ages 16-18 and others between 30-40, it appeared both age groups preferred teen comedies, the film that was popular within both age groups is 'American Pie', many said this was because they can relate towards the characters and found the film enjoyable.

Characters within the films had different effects on people, some teenagers had felt inspired from characters such as spider-man, where as other people were entertained and remembered characters such as Stifler for being the popular 'joker' because of his funny behaviour and how he made the audience laugh(from the film American Pie).

When the question "what was the latest movie you had watched?" was asked, many had said dated films, from this we could interpret that there are only a small amount of good teen films and they only attract a minor audience,teen films have a 'niche' audience.

Summary of findings

We interviewed a variety of people, some between the ages 16-18 and others between 30-40, it appeared both age groups preferred teen comedies, the film that was popular within both age groups is 'American Pie', many said this was because they can relate towards the characters and found the film enjoyable.

Characters within the films had different effects on people, some teenagers had felt inspired from characters such as spider-man, where as other people were entertained and remembered characters such as Stifler for being the popular 'joker' because of his funny behaviour and how he made the audience laugh(from the film American Pie).

When the question "what was the latest movie you had watched?" was asked, many had said dated films, from this we could interpret that there are only a small amount of good teen films and they only attract a minor audience,teen films have a 'niche' audience.

What we would expect to see in the opening of a movie

• we see the production company (as seen above)The title of the movie (king kong)

introduction to main character (james bond skyfall)

introduction to the setting (Zombie land)

story set-up ( this is England)

09. PRELIM - Harrison , Tom, Alicia, Solange, Aimee from 283goswell on Vimeo.

07. PRELIM - Jaya, Luke, Steve, Duygu from 283goswell on Vimeo.

06. PRELIM - Youssof, Nawd, Chenny, Nadia, Jakir from 283goswell on Vimeo.

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