In this report I will be looking at the representation of teenage girls in the films Harry Potter and Mean Girls. My argument is that films typically stereotype teenage girls into two categories; the popular superficial girl and the intelligent bookworm who doesn’t care about her appearance. Whilst these stereotypes can be viewed as positive, they are generally viewed as positive, they are generally simultaneously viewed as being negative and positive by different audiences. My report will be looking at how my chosen media franchises of Harry Potter and Mean Girls represent these stereotypes and the views the audience have on these. In films, female characters ‘reflect and perpetuate the status and options of women in today’s society’ and play …show more content…
an active part in creating female role models” (Kord at al., 2005). This highlights that young girls will watch these films and see the characters as role models. This links to the now largely discredited effects model or Hypodermic needle theory. The hypodermic theory suggests that when young girls watch Mean Girls, they will see how the girls act and dress, think that is how they should be and start to imitate what they have seen. A more suited way of analysing this would be the two-step flow which can refer to both products. This is because teenagers can watch the films and tell their friends about the stereotypes in the films and then they can choose to imitate these. Laura Mulvey’s (1989) concept the “male gaze” is another theory that links to the representation of teenage girls in Mean Girls. This fits mean girls as the characters’ wear revealing clothes and wear make-up in order to appear attractive to teenage boys. They also perform promiscuous dance moves when giving a performance of Jingle Bell Rock. Mulvey’s “male gaze” also fits Harry Potter as the actresses cast to play the girls are all attractive and so will appeal to males watching the films. This can bee seen in particular in Goblet of Fire when Hermione dresses up for the Yule Ball and Ron suddenly becomes romantically interested in her. John Berger, an artist and critic, wrote an important book and tv series called “ways of seeing” which looked at art. A main feature of it was western women and how they are represented.“Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at” (Berger., 1973). The first media product I am looking at for my research is the Harry Potter film franchise. This is a popular book-to-film adaptation that represents teenagers and is a fantasy adventure film. The main female characters are Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood and Lavender Brown who all represent different aspects of stereotypical teenage traits. Hermione is represented as a bookworm who values academics and cares more about school than her appearance. Ginny represents teenagers who care about standing up for themselves and who value family. Luna represents teenagers who like weird and wacky things aren’t afraid to be different to the norm. Lavender represents teenagers who have multiple crushes and value love and relationships. Any teenager can have a number of these traits but by separating them the author and filmmakers can explore and examine these representations individually. The representation is made to feel real by using stereotypes that many teenagers are categorized under. It also feels natural as it is set in a school which is a typical environment for teenagers. The purpose of representing teenage girls using these stereotypes is to appeal to teenagers and make them feel as if they can relate. According to Stuart Hall’s reception theory (1993), the audience reads and receives media in different ways. These are dominant or preferred readings which means the audience had a positive view of the encoding in the media product it is consuming. Negotiated view where the audience can see positives and negatives of the media and oppositional which refers to the audience only responding negatively towards the encoding of the product. When applied to Harry Potter, it can be said the dominant view is that they are all strong independent teenage girls with a mixture of personalities and talents which will encourage young girls to be proud of who they are. The negotiated view would be that while there are some stereotypes of teenage girls, some might not relate to the characters, however they are still good feminist role models for young girls to look up to. The oppositional view would be that not all girls are like this and that they are all secondary characters, with the exception of Hermione, implying that girls are not as important or as strong characters as boys in fantasy adventure films. However, the fantasy genre is loved equally by both boys and girls as can seen through the audiences of Twilight and Doctor Who. In the first few films Hermione is friends with Harry and Ron however is teased for being a smart bookworm but in the later films it is these traits that make her strong and help Harry defeat Voldemort. While Harry Potter shows more than just the two representations of teenage girls that I am focusing on, in the first few films all the female characters except Hermione were used as background characters and so weren’t very developed. This meant the audience didn’t really connect with these characters and so the stereotypes used for characters in the first few films didn’t evolve like Hermione’s did, making them seem less important. However Hermione is seen as an equal to Harry and Ron, representing that girls are just as important as boys. The second media product I am looking at is the film Mean Girls.
This is a popular movie with young girls and come under the rom-com genre. The film represents teenage girls in high school and follows the four main characters of Regina, Cady, Gretchen and Karen. Regina represents the stereotype of the popular girl who only cares about her status, appearance and relationship. Cady represents the stereotype of the shy girl who gets led astray by her friends. Gretchen represents the stereotype of insecure girls who will do anything for attention. Karen represents the stereotype that girls aren’t clever. The stereotype that girls are insecure about their appearance is also shown throughout the film. This can be seen in the scenes where the girls are talking about things they hate about their bodies and in the scene where Regina starts eating “diet bars” in order to lose weight. The girls can also be seen wearing pink a lot and even have a rule about wearing it one Wednesdays. This reinforces the idea that pink is a girly colour. The media interprets these stereotypes as realistic because the film is set in a school which is an everyday environment for teenagers. The purpose of representing these stereotypes is to poke fun at the main characters and to encourage teenage girls to not be like them, making the film have an aspect of morality. When referring to reception theory, the dominant view of these stereotypes is that a lot of girls are seen acting this way and the fact that the main characters are all female who are girly shows that teenage girls can be strong main characters. The negotiated view would be that not all girls act like this so it might not be realistic or relatable to some, however a few do and although it portrays some bad aspects of acting like this, it also shows positive aspects such as friendship, love and not being afraid to be yourself. The oppositional view is that the stereotypes aren’t realistic as not many girls act like this and that it is
teaching young girls to only care about superficial things such as how boys view them, their appearance and their social status rather than education or loyalty. One similarity between the two products is that they are both set in the present and they show representations of stereotypical teenage girls. Both products include the stereotype of teenage girls valuing love and relationships. They are also both set in school settings and the main characters are of a similar age. They are also both targeted at teenagers. Differences between the products are that Mean Girls focuses more on the stereotype that girls are superficial and value their social status more and popularity, Harry Potter focuses more on the stereotype that girls who are intelligent care less about their appearance. While these representations are shown as being negative in the films, in the last few Harry Potter films they start to be shown in a more positive light and become valued attributes. This is because Mean Girls is a rom-com aimed at encouraging teenage girls not to follow in the steps of the main characters while Harry Potter is aimed at teaching teenagers to believe in themselves. In conclusion, I have argued that the two films I have looked at stereotyped teenage girls into the categories of popular superficial girls and intelligent bookworms. My evidence suggests that the popular girl stereotype is seen as being more negative in Mean Girls whilst Harry Potter has a more positive view towards them. This is because it has a wider audience and wants to appeal to them. Although Harry Potter does portray more than just the two stereotypes I focused on, the other stereotypes are not as developed. The argument the films typically stereotype teenage girls into the categories of popular superficial girls or intelligent bookworms can be seen through applying the different media theories I have talked about. The “male gaze” and Berger link to the superficial popular girl representation as they are stereotyped as wearing promiscuous clothing in order to attract male attention. Kord’s idea that female’s in films represent today’s opinions and views of women in order to create role model’s reflects that many young girls idolise and look up to Hermione for being a smart bookworm. Hall’s reception theory shows how different audience’s have negative and positive views on the two stereotypes. Therefore, the films Harry Potter and Mean Girls represent teenage girls as fitting into one of two stereotypes; the popular superficial girl or the intelligent bookworm.
In the movie Mean Girls the role of conformity is important to the central plot. The plot of the movie is focused on new girl Caty, who moved from Africa to start a new life, and is forced to attend America’s high schools. She at first has two friends, Damien and Janis, two kids who consider being in the “outside” group. However, the popular girls, called the “Plastics” try to take Caty into their group, because of her she looks. The leader of the group is the most popular girl in school named Regina, who is really hated by a lot of people, but is still considered extremely popular. Caty falls for their deceptive kindness, not realizing that really it’s all just a show. She begins to become more like them, she starts to talk to boys and dress
Led by Laura Mulvey, feminist film critics have discussed the difficulty presented to female spectators by the controlling male gaze and narrative generally found in mainstream film, creating for female spectators a position that forces them into limited choices: "bisexual" identification with active male characters; identification with the passive, often victimized, female characters; or on occasion, identification with a "masculinized" active female character, who is generally punished for her unhealthy behavior. Before discussing recent improvements, it is important to note that a group of Classic Hollywood films regularly offered female spectators positive, female characters who were active in controlling narrative, gazing and desiring: the screwball comedy.
These are all stereotypes, a classification of a person or group based solely off of assumptions and opinion. Stereotypes lead to discrimination and harassment. This movie displays a wide variety of it, Janis is considered to be in the “outside group” and acts all tough against the plastics but in the end we find that it’s simply a defense mechanism because she blows up on Cady and you see that jealousy and anger from Janis. I thought that this went to show that forming these “secluded” groups that only certain people can be in actually brings people further apart. It creates a hostile environment for these young men and women and takes the focus away from why they are actually at school, and what person they truly want to
First, the film is associated with the concept of gender, which emphasizes the physical, behavioral, and personality traits that are considered to be appropriate for men or women. Males are expected to be strong, aggressive, and competitive while females should be beautiful, emotional, and especially sexually attractive. Many girls and women feel deeply depressed when comparing their bodies to the unrealistic models’ bodies on advertising which is edited by Photoshop in many hours or even in many days. Those female characteristics presented in daily TV shows, movies, advertising, video games have become normal and widely acceptable. Also, the film associates with the concept of patriarchy which believe in male dominance. According to the misrepresentation of female role on mass media, women often see themselves in the roles of mothers, workers, models, or gold diggers. Women are valuated via their beauty and sexuality rather than their capability. Conversely, the appearance of males in heroes, executives, or political leaders in mass media makes men more powerful than women. The media generates the gender stereotypes and makes people believe in their gender roles. Finally, the sociological relevance of Miss Representation is that the media plays an important role in shaping male and female’s belief in their role and value. As the result, it is understandable for gender behaviors and gender inequality in the
These movies allowed female characters to embody all the contradictions that could make them a woman. They were portrayed as the “femme fatale” and also “mother,” the “seductress” and at the same time the “saint,” (Newsom, 2011). Female characters were multi-faceted during this time and had much more complexity and interesting qualities than in the movies we watch today. Today, only 16% of protagonists in movies are female, and the portrayal of these women is one of sexualization and dependence rather than complexity (Newsom, 2011).
Despite the fact that the character of Phyllis as the “tough as nails” perpetual, intentional aggressor is a valid attempt to obliterate the image of women as the oppressed, one interpretation of this role is that she ultimately seems to misrepresent herself, and females in cinema, anyway. Janet Todd, author of Women and Film, states that, “Women do not exist in American film. Instead we find another creation, made by men, growing out of their ideological imperatives”(130). Though these “power girl”characters are strong examples of anything but submissive and sexual females,the...
Gender and the portrayal of gender roles in a film is an intriguing topic. It is interesting to uncover the way women have been idealized in our films, which mirrors the sentiments of the society of that period in time. Consequently, the thesis of this essay is a feminist approach that seeks to compare and contrast the gender roles of two films. The selected films are A few Good Men and Some Like it Hot.
Mean girls. Queen bees. Alpha females. Our culture is full of phrases that label or describe females who partake in behaviors that degrade and undermine other females. It is so prevalent in our society that filmmakers have used this underlying theme for decades. In 9 to 5, a woman draws the ire of fellow coworkers because they perceive her as dressing provocatively and they gossip and spread rumors she is sleeping with the boss. In Working Girl, a female executive encourages her assistant to contribute ideas by referring to them as a team, but then steals the idea of her assistant and tries to pass it off as her own. Mean Girls focuses on a clique of teenage girls who use meanness as sport to torment other females. Social aggression is a common act for females, and therefore it is easy to see why movies focus on the “mean girl” image (Behm-Morawitz & Mastro, 2008, p. 133). It is also easy to see why this depiction in media can be related to stereotypical ideas about female relationships, bias towards women, and the correlation of social aggression to social status (Behm-Morawitz & Mastro, 2008, p. 141), but is this an accurate reflection of reality?
Women’s roles in movies have changed dramatically throughout the years. As a result of the changing societal norms, women have experienced more transition in their roles than any other class. During the period of classical Hollywood cinema, both society and the film industry preached that women should be dependent on men and remain in home in order to guarantee stability in the community and the family. Women did not have predominated roles in movies such as being the heroin. The 1940’s film Gilda wasn’t an exception. In Gilda, the female character mainly had two different stereotypes. The female character was first stereotyped as a sex object and the second stereotyped as a scorned woman who has to be punished.
In the film Mean Girls, teenager Cady Heron was home-schooled in Africa by her zoologist parents. When her family moves to the U.S., Cady finally gets a taste of public school and learns a vital lesson about the cruelty involved in the tightly knit cliques of high school. She eventually finds herself being drug into a group of “the worst people you will ever meet”, The Plastics; and soon realizes how they came to get their name.
The area of expertise being discussed in this paper are the stereotypes found between young adults. The film The Breakfast Club, is a composition in the genre of 80s comedy-drama films which is a perfect representation of stereotypes passed within the generation of young adults. The composition’s attributes such as humor, romance, and emotional connections allow the audience to form bonds to each character by discovering the way teens are categorized throughout their early years.
Also, the film revealed women empowerment and how superior they can be compared to men. While demonstrating sexual objectification, empowerment, there was also sexual exploitation of the women, shown through the film. Throughout this essay, gender based issues that were associated with the film character will be demonstrated while connecting to the real world and popular culture.
Feminism is a movement that supports women equality within society. In relation to film, feminism is what pushes the equal representation of females in mainstream films. Laura Mulvey is a feminist theorist that is famous for touching on this particular issue of how men and women are represented in movies. Through her studies, she discovered that many films were portraying men and women very differently from reality. She came up with a theory that best described why there is such as huge misrepresentation of the social status quos of male and female characters. She believed that mainstream film is used to maintain the status quo and prevent the realization of gender equality. This is why films are continuously following the old tradition that males are dominant and females are submissive. This is the ideology that is always present when we watch a movie. This is evident in the films from the past but also currently. It is as if the film industry is still catering to the male viewers of each generation in the same way. Laura Mulvey points out that women are constantly being seen as sexual objects, whether it is the outfits they wear or do not wear or the way they behave, or secondary characters with no symbolic cause. She states that, “in traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote it-be-looked-at-ness.”(Mulvey pg. 715). Thus, women are nevertheless displayed as nothing more than passive objects for the viewing pleasure of the audience. Mulvey also points out through her research that in every mainstream movie, there is ...
Women have made progress in the film industry in terms of the type of role they play in action films, although they are still portrayed as sex objects. The beginning of “a new type of female character” (Hirschman, 1993, pg. 1). 41-47) in the world of action films began in 1976 with Sigourney Weaver, who played the leading role in the blockbuster film ‘Aliens’ as Lt. Ellen Ripley. She was the captain of her own spaceship, plus she was the one who gave out all the orders. Until then, men had always been the ones giving the orders; to see a woman in that type of role was outlandish.
Another major factor that influences millions of impressionable females and males is television. Not only does the television teach each sex how to act, it also shows how one sex should expect the other sex to act. In the current television broadcasting, stereotypical behavior goes from programming for the very small to adult audiences. In this broadcasting range, females are portrayed as motherly, passive and innocent, sex objects, or they are overlooked completely or seen as unimportant entities. Stereotyping women is not only rampant in the adult world; it also flourishes in the kiddie universe as well.