- To what extent and how are youth/teenagers being represented (?)
- To what extent does "The Duff" change the stereotypes of youth and is it same nationally (?)
- Does "The Duff" truly demonstrate the stereotype of youth in society or it is misleading (?)
- The representation of teenagers in the movie "The Duff" (?)
[youth/teenagers]
Angle
What impact are the stereotypes on teenagers having on their target audience?
Do the stereotypes that are expressed into the movie have alternative reading on its audience?
Hypothesis
Stereotypes on teenagers are usually so negative, which then changes the behaviour/views of the audiences about teens.
Linked production piece
- Movie trailer
- Documentary
- split screen clip
- Print..?
MIGRAIN
Apply the Key Concepts to your texts/topic by using the questions from the Summer Research Project to help you. (Include at least five bullet point/key concept). Include as many keywords as you can.
Media Language:
- Low key lighting
- Classroom, Bedroom, Party, Shopping centers scenes mostly.
- Parallel music/soundtracks
- Causal western clothing - trendy e.g. - jumpsuits.
- close up/ medium close up shots mostly.
Institutions
- CBS Films
- Vast Entertainment
Wonderland Sound and Vision
; distributed by - Netflix, Amazon Prime, Telepool, Odeon, Future Films, Eagle Films.
Genre
- Comedy + romance
- Does the text feature a star, a director, a writer etc who is strongly associated with the genre? What meanings and associations do they have?
The director himself -Ari Sandel, he has also directed other comedy movies such as, West Bank Story, When Ee First Met. Ken Jeong is another big star that is strongly associated with the genre, he has done movies such as "Hangover part 2" "Ride Along 2".The characters in the movie have also came in some other comedy movies but they are not strongly associated with the genre.
- Teenage girls mostly and young adults possibly (13 -19 )
- Mainstreamers, reformers and aspirers
- C1 and below?
- Personal relationships + personal identities.
- Dyer: Self- importance & successful love and romance
- 12A
Ideology & Values
- self importance
- successful love & romance
Narrative:
- End message shows to the audiences that labels don't matter, however throughout the movie, this is reinforced rather than challenge the stereotypes.
- Character props (villains and heroes)
SHEP
Social:
- Stereotypes of some of the bad stereotypes of teenagers then reflects on all by the older audiences.
- Slowly are teenagers becoming a better influence & trying to challenge the stereotype?
- Is popularity everything teenagers should reinforce in school life?
Historical:
- The Breakfast Club - most successful movie pigling the teenage experience at school.
- Labels were always existed - some were direct others done it indirectly.
- Teenagers were always bold in their message / or how they wanted to come across (Back to the Future?)
Economic:
- Box Office budget (estimated) $8,500,000
- Opening weekend on 2,575 screens - $10, 809,149
- Grossed income : $32.5 million
Political:
- Teenagers are seen as distributive towards society.
- In the society, teenagers are not seen as hard workers or seen as "too free"
Issues/Debates
Select at least five and say how each relates to your study, using the Media A-Z to help you think about this:
- Representation and stereotyping
- Majority of the cast are white females and males.
- very little other Ethnic groups/ non- white.
- Reinforce the stereotypes but also challenges the stereotypes - especially at the end.
- Shows the open minded the teenagers are and how open they are with one and other even at explicit things.
- Media effects
- Media effects can have relate to my study through the recent issues the movie has focused on:
- how things can go virtual in matter of seconds - this is due to the fast developments in the technology today.
- This can also change the attitudes of the teenagers quickly depending to things they see within the media - change their attributes?
- Moral Panics
- How teenagers are growing so fast? is it hindering their opportunities or reinforcing it
- is the media to blame for this? - reinforcing a certain type of "image" from the teenagers
- Regulation and censorship
- explicit content? but it could be seen as a norm for the audience.
- Media technology and the digital revolution – changing technologies in the 21st century
- having mobile phones to record anything and everything and having a mobile phone as convergence can be useful as shown in this movie as things can be accessible but also things to go viral very quickly - this is both good and bad.
Theories
- Semiotics
- both enigma & action codes followed throughout the text.
- Structuralism and post-structuralism
- Postmodernism and its critiques
- Gender and ethnicity
- mostly females within this - only few males.
- Majority of the cast were white males and females .. very few other ethnic background.
- Marxism and hegemony
- Liberal Pluralism
- Colonialism and Post-colonialism
- Audience theories
- Teenage girls mostly and young adults possibly (13 -19 )
- Mainstreamers, reformers and aspirers
- C1 and below?
- Personal relationships + personal identities.
- Dyer: Self- importance & successful love and romance
- 12A
- students mostly
- Mainstreamers, reformers and aspirers
- C1 and below?
- Personal relationships + personal identities.
- Dyer: Self- importance & successful love and romance
- 12A
- students mostly
- Genre theories
- Contemporary Media Landscape
Media texts
What your main focus will be:
"The Duff"
- stereotypes of teenagers
Other media texts
- Pitch Perfect
- Prom
- The Breakfast Club
- Mean Girls/ Mean Girls 2
- LOL
TV documentaries
- Educating Yorkshire, Educating Cardiff - Channel 4; http://www.channel4.com/programmes/educating-yorkshire
- Teens - Channel 4; http://www.channel4.com/programmes/teens
Academic texts/books
- Gauntlett
- Jenkins and the classic youth stereotypes book (from the 70s) is Hebdige – Subcultures.
- Kaitlin Bell Barnett: Dosed: The Medication Generation Grows Up (2014)
1. At least FIVE from Media Guardian or Guardian Culture or another newspaper website.
- http://www.detroitnews.com/story/entertainment/movies/2015/03/25/teen-movies-mattered-breakfast-club/70455400/
- https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/mar/15/british-teenagers-among-least-satisfied-in-western-world
- https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/sep/24/teenagers-generation-in-crisis
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/19/weve-grown-up-with-some-frightening-events-teenagers-generation-k
- https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/22/teenagers-social-skills-not-social-networks-work-ncs
- https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/16/hoodies-goodies-teenagers-makings-good-citizens-young
- http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/behind-the-stereotypes-the-shocking-truth-about-teenagers-421295.html
2. At least FIVE from university websites/academic papers online. Use Google Scholar as a starting point.
- http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14733280600577517
- https://storify.com/AlixRMCSTUDENT/the-media-portrays-teens-in-stereotypical-ways
-https://princetonsummerjournal.com/2014/08/11/teens-arent-fairly-portrayed-in-media/
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deborah-s-dunham/heres-what-the-media-is-d_b_5541462.html
- https://www.reference.com/family/teens-portrayed-media-900764a94cd5a21e
3. Any other relevant sites/articles - the more the better.
- https://scenariosusa.org/2015/03/its-not-about-popularity-or-is-it-what-the-duff-is-really-about/
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1666801/
- http://www.teenink.com/opinion/discrimination/article/150008/A-Stereotypical-Teenager/
- http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/teenage-job-hopes-ruined-by-negative-media-stereotypes-9137147.html
Use our archive of previous top-grade Critical Investigations to help you.
