How does the representation of popular high school students affect teenage girls?
The typical stereotype of a popular girl high school student is a blonde bombshell, mean, bitchy, intimidating, perfect, slim, upper class and rich. The media has obtained this image of a popular high school student as in movies such as mean girls, Regina George, who plays the popular high school student follows through this typical stereotype. The audience age group of the movie "Mean Girls"ranges from 10 to 18 years of age. The representation of the popular high school student being a blonde bombshell, mean, bitchy, perfect, slim and upper class could give girl high school students the idea that this is the ideal image and as a younger age group watch this movie, it gives the impression that this is what teenage girls are supposed to be like. You don't have to be mean, bitchy, intimidating, perfect, slim, upper class and rich to be 'popular'. By the media to be popular is to have a lot of friends, not because they have good and kind qualities, but that they are intimidating and/or mean and people are scared of them. Usually these kind of people aren't actually "liked" by people, but people are "friends" with them they don't want to be made fun of. The media portrays being popular in this kind of way and as a result of this it can affect real teenagers to make them think that to have friends and to be popular you have to be mean and intimidating. For Teenagers who are popular it should be because they have kind and caring characteristics and therefore people want to be their friends because thats the kind qualities which people look for in a friend. The media portrays popular people in such a way because it is more interesting as a viewer of a movie and keeps the audience engaged. If the media portrayed popular girl high school students to be caring, smart, involved in sporting and academia and have kind characteristics this may give young girls and teenagers the idea of what a "popular" person should be rather than a blonde bombshell, mean, bitchy, intimidating, perfect, slim, upper class and rich. Regina George shows classic examples of bullying within a school. As young girls this gives us the idea that bullying is acceptable and is "cool" in order to be popular. As the representation of popular high school students by the media is shown in a negative way, this affects teenage girls negatively rather than positively.
How does the representation affect todays society's perception and/or attitude towards teenage girls?
The movie "Mean Girls" portrays a wide range of stereotypes such as the Jocks (sporty people), Plastics (popular girls), Nerds, Emo/goths and out casts. The way these stereotypes are portrayed though out the movie could give audience watchers the perception of all high school students to be like this and have to have these strong stereotypes and groups though out schools. As the image of the "plastics" represents what most teenage girls want to be like beautiful, popular, slim and well known this can give viewers that are not teenage girls for instance teenage boys, older men and woman that this is what the younger generation of teenage girls is like. As viewers such as young teenage boys may watch the movie "Mean Girls" could them to have high expectations of what todays teenage girls image should look like being a blonde bombshell, pretty, slim and pretty much perfect. From movies such as Legally Blonde, Wild Child, Bring It On and Cow Bells the main actors are all blonde, pretty, slim, perfect complexion and perfect looking. This can affect teenage girls attitude towards their self image as it makes us think that this is the ideal and "perfect" looking girl and therefore we try to look like the "perfect" girl and in the movies it shows that these girls get boys and are popular. The representation of teenage girls in chick flick movies is once again beautiful, slim, perfect complexion and perfect looking as well as bitchy, intimidating and back stabbing snobby girls. For older men and woman this gives them the perception that this is what real teenage girls look for in their self image and is what they act like within their schools and peers. This is not what teenage girls should be thought of as the media overly exaggerates what the teenage girls act like in mean girls compared to what teenage girls really act like in real life, as it is more interesting for audience viewers and keeps them entertained. The representation of teenage girls can affect todays societies attitude towards teenage girls in a negative way as older men and woman may think that they attitude that teenage girls have is negative and rebellious. This negatively affects teenage girls as is isn't a positive perception of what teenage girls should be thought of.
What is the effects of the representation of teenage girls?
- Perception of teenage girls from older men or woman in a negative way in such that they may think that teenage girls are slutty, un responsible, bitchy, rude, only care about their appearance and what people think of them and not so much about sporting and academics.
- The representation of teenage girls in “Mean Girls” affects teenage girls because girls are looking into the media for guidance on what to wear and how to act. When they see the girls behaving the way they do in mean girls in such a way that they party, rebel, have lots of boyfriends, get around a lot, care about appearance and are bitchy, snobby and/or intimidating they start to behave the same way as the actors in the movie such as Regina, Cadi, Karen and Gretchen.
- For teenage girls to feel pretty and be popular they need to be slim, busty, and wear revealing clothing. The way the plastics talk to one another is rude and inappropriate. Calling each other whore's and biaach, this dialogue is showing that people can call you all types of names and is not offensive. In reality if you were to call someone a whore or biaach, it is rude and disrespectful. The representation of the way the girls in the movie act and speak to one another is turning into reality, making teenage girls think that this is appropriate and normal.
- In mean girls the representation of the perfect girl is to be slim, pretty, busty, attractive towards boys and popular or well known. As the plastics clearly represent what “perfect” looks like, we constantly hear the girls complaining and fussing about their appearance which shows that they have very low self esteem even though they are clearly what most girls would dream to look like. This affects teenage girls in such a way that if they don’t believe that they are beautiful, then what are we and what do they think of us? It makes teenage girls worry about their appearance much more than they need too as we must not be pretty enough if they truly don’t believe that they are.
Video from the movie mean girls
In this clip from the movie mean girls we can see that from a young age the media reflects that its not socially accepted for girls to be content with their own complexion, figure, and them selfs. As Regina, Karen and Gretchend look into a mirror and point out their flaws. Their "pores", "man shoulders", "big ass" and bad morning breath. This shows us that no teenage girl is really happy with them selfs as we can clearly see that these three girls are the perfect and ideal looking teenage girl, they should be happy with them selfs. At the start of the clip we also see Reginas younger sister as she watches a music video off T.V. She holds her top up and does sexual moves. This gives us an understanding that at a young age younger children get the idea that they have to be slutty, sexual and seductive. Reginas mother also wears pink, tight fitting, slutty clothes and acts like a teenager. When Regina was younger she would have thought that it is acceptable for her to act in this type of manner being slutty. Regina is a teenager who also gets what she wants. She orders her parents for the bigger bedroom, as she gets it, this gives younger teenagers the idea that it is acceptable to talk to older people and parents in this type of manner when in reality if a child was to ask for the master bed room of the house they would not get it as the type of manner she asked in is innappropiate and rude.
Consequences for differences between the medias representation of teenage girls and in reality.
Consequences for differences between the medias representation of teenage girls and in reality what teenage girls are like is that teenage boys have expectations of what the typical teenage girl should look like due to the appearances of how the media portrays teenage girls. In reality, teenage girls don't wear short skimpy skirts and exposing clothes. For one: This probably wouldn't be allowed in schools and students would be advised to wear something different as it is disrespectful for male teachers. In the movie mean girls the "plastics" are made to wear exposing, pink clothing as we can easily distinguish who the plastics are and it helps the audience have a clear understanding of what the plastics are like.
In reality there isn't such obvious school groups such as the Jocks, Plastics, Nerds, Emos/Goths and Out Casts. People are not catergerised such a way, but place them selfs with people that they have similar interests with and easily associate them selfs with.
What are the reasons/implications/consequences for why the stereotypes/messages and/or values have been created by the representation?
The film "Mean Girls" was produced to show teenage girls how easily people can change due to the influence of other people. A classic example of personality modification in the film is Cady, when she first arrived at North Shore High School. When Cady first enters high school she was friendly, knew who she was as a person and knew her potential goals in life. Through out the duration of the film Cady is negatively influenced by her pairs who change her views on school work, her values and morals and the way she is perceived by other people and manipulate her. Cady gradually loses her friendly, caring and individual personality and restyles herself in the image of Regina, the "queen bee". Due to the influence of Regina, Cady's personality modification is then perceived as being rude, ignorant and self-absorbed. Towards the end of the film Cady identifies her true self again as she has an understanding of how much she has changed for the worse, and how much it has effected the people around her. She is then perceived as being thoughtful, understanding, friendly, caring, and is generally a happy girl seeking long lasting relationships with family and friends. The Director, Mark Waters, is a male who's opinion and perception on teenage girls may be different to how teenage girls and woman see themselves as. Mark portrays teenagers in the movie to be two faced, ignorant, and rude as this is true that as teenage girls go through their high school years they have difficulty finding who their true selfs are and who they want to be. But to the extreme exaggeration of how the plastics act within the film is not realistic. The film mean girls was produced to show the changes a teen can have on their opinion of themselves, other people, life, school and the way they treat other students, family or friends. The book Queen Bees And Wannabees focuses on the way teenagers look at themselves and helps self guide teens though their high school years. The consequences of the film mean girls being produced is that young girls between the ages of 9-12 may not get the fact that this is a movie and not understand the real meaning of the movie. Young girls could start acting bitchy, bully other students or people, be rude towards their family and friends and not respect them self or others. The message the director and producer wanted to get across to the audience was that teenage years are tough and showing the consequences of acting horrible towards ones peers, friends and family could result in bad grades, loss of trust from family and friends, and what goes around comes around, others will treat you how you treat others. The director wanted young girls to understand that in the movie Cady realizes what she has done wrong and learns as well as acts wisely upon her past decisions, hoping that this would put a positive impact on how young teenager deal with real life situations.
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