Introduction
In all American teen dramas ideologies of teenagers and youth are constructed in a way that their teenage target audience can identify themselves with. Most American teen dramas acknowledge their teenage target audience my constructing ideologies that can offer them escapism, sexual gratifications or educational purposes that the audiences are attracted to, since they yearn for these things. And the audience receive this with the all important entertainment value- that’s why American teen dramas are successful. American teen dramas can be responsible for constructing negative and positive ideologies of youth, which can shape the overall ideology of youth in society as a whole.
Paragraph 1
American teen dramas all possess ideologies that either shape or construct the overall ideologies of youth in the present society. American teen dramas seem to consist of the same ideological ingredients such as sex before marriage, anti-racism and superficiality. These common ideologies present in American teen dramas are what seem to make them successful and appealing to the target audience. Anti-racism and multi-culturalism are somewhat a new popular ideology that appears in American teen dramas. For example 90210’s Dixon, who is an adopted black child that lives with his white, perfect nuclear family. The fact that this perfect family have an adopted black child makes the matter seem as if it is normal and acceptable, shown through his school mates accepting his situation as well. So essentially this perfect, nuclear family is promoting an anti-racist ideology and therefore in terms of the hypodermic needle, is injecting this ideology into the audience and shaping new ideologies into youth culture. Sex before marriage is another popular ideology present in most American teen dramas because sex and love are very popular themes in teen media texts and also in youth culture on a whole, so American teen dramas try to incorporate this to appeal to the teen target audience. The fact that American teen dramas present the ideology of sex before marriage can affect the youth culture and even construct it because ‘’Teen sex is a ‘major public health problem’ according to the American Academy of Paediatrics. The physical, emotional, and social consequences of teen sexual activity include high rates of teen pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases including AIDS. Each year 25% of sexually active teenagers contract a sexually transmitted disease’’.
Frontier Mythology in American Teen Film
Rowena Harper
December 2008
Friday 24 December 2010
TASK 5
ESSAY PLAN
Paragraph 1/2/3
Sex before marriage , anti-racism, multi-culturalism, superficiality, equality in terms of homosexuality, pop culture
90210 and Glee how they present some of the common ideologies in contemporary American teen dramas
Media A-Z keywords
Stereotypes, escapism, cameo appreances and pop culture
Paragraph 4/5
Target audience of teen dramas are essentially teenagers aged between 13 to 19 and secondary audience of 20-25.
What do the target audience look for in teen American drama media texts?
Escapism (90210- the luxurious setting, being the most glamorous post code in the world and Glee allows the audience to escape with the uplifting songs and sense of being able to achieve no matter one skin colour (Ethnography) or appearance),
Entertainment (humour- innuendo, crude humour, humour assocaioted with sex and teenagers)
Pop culture, celebrity culture (cameo appearance in glee and 90210 such Britney Spears and Kim Kardashian)
Paragraph 5/6
Why are the ideologies presented in contemporary American teen drama constructed like that?
To appeal to their target audience
Sexual urges
Wanting to be accepted
Wanting to escape from their own life
Address the two articles I found
‘’Being good looking seems to be important’
‘’ Glee also seems to celebrate the fact that it is multicultural’’
‘’ Also glee ‘ditches’ realism in favour of escapism’’
Paragraph 7
Conclusion
Sex before marriage , anti-racism, multi-culturalism, superficiality, equality in terms of homosexuality, pop culture
90210 and Glee how they present some of the common ideologies in contemporary American teen dramas
Media A-Z keywords
Stereotypes, escapism, cameo appreances and pop culture
Paragraph 4/5
Target audience of teen dramas are essentially teenagers aged between 13 to 19 and secondary audience of 20-25.
What do the target audience look for in teen American drama media texts?
Escapism (90210- the luxurious setting, being the most glamorous post code in the world and Glee allows the audience to escape with the uplifting songs and sense of being able to achieve no matter one skin colour (Ethnography) or appearance),
Entertainment (humour- innuendo, crude humour, humour assocaioted with sex and teenagers)
Pop culture, celebrity culture (cameo appearance in glee and 90210 such Britney Spears and Kim Kardashian)
Paragraph 5/6
Why are the ideologies presented in contemporary American teen drama constructed like that?
To appeal to their target audience
Sexual urges
Wanting to be accepted
Wanting to escape from their own life
Address the two articles I found
‘’Being good looking seems to be important’
‘’ Glee also seems to celebrate the fact that it is multicultural’’
‘’ Also glee ‘ditches’ realism in favour of escapism’’
Paragraph 7
Conclusion
TASK 4
'Teen Film is developing, but it has been defined by critics as being- ostensibly- about and for youth.'
Frontier Mythology in American Teen Film
Rowena Harper
December 2008
Teen sex is a “major public health problem” according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP “Sexuality”). The physical, emotional, and social consequences of teen sexual activity include high rates of teen pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases including AIDS. Each year 25% of sexually active teenagers contract a sexually transmitted disease (STD)
Teens, Sex, and Media
The Influence of Electronic Entertainment on American Teen Sexual Culture
Eileen M. Hart, M.A
'By having souped-up karaoke renditions of well-loved hits (a recent episode was devoted entirely to Madonna songs) sung by a cast of good-looking American teenagers, Glee neatly manages to snaffle both the t(w)eenage market and the ever-growing demographic of so-called kidults''.
Glee: camp, fun, won’t change the world
David Bowden
May 2010
“The superficial teen stereotype depicts teenagers as consumed by unimportant school-related problems, such as playing truant, avoiding detentions and attending the prom with a dream date”
http://www.scribd.com/doc/20800200/35-Teenagers-Teen-Drama
Frontier Mythology in American Teen Film
Rowena Harper
December 2008
Teen sex is a “major public health problem” according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP “Sexuality”). The physical, emotional, and social consequences of teen sexual activity include high rates of teen pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases including AIDS. Each year 25% of sexually active teenagers contract a sexually transmitted disease (STD)
Teens, Sex, and Media
The Influence of Electronic Entertainment on American Teen Sexual Culture
Eileen M. Hart, M.A
'By having souped-up karaoke renditions of well-loved hits (a recent episode was devoted entirely to Madonna songs) sung by a cast of good-looking American teenagers, Glee neatly manages to snaffle both the t(w)eenage market and the ever-growing demographic of so-called kidults''.
Glee: camp, fun, won’t change the world
David Bowden
May 2010
“The superficial teen stereotype depicts teenagers as consumed by unimportant school-related problems, such as playing truant, avoiding detentions and attending the prom with a dream date”
http://www.scribd.com/doc/20800200/35-Teenagers-Teen-Drama
"Sex has achieved a normalised and often celebrated status amongst mainstream audiences
Elisha McIntyre"
Can True Love Wait? Christian Morality Meets Adolescent Sexuality in Teen Film
(Margaret R. Miles: Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies, Boston, Beacon Press,
1996, 109)
Teen films frequently use sex as
a source of comedy, drama, and even plot
Elisha McIntyre"
Can True Love Wait? Christian Morality Meets Adolescent Sexuality in Teen Film
TASK 3
Historical Text
I chose this scene from the drama film ‘This Boy’s Life’ which is set in the 1950 because it depicts the representation of a young homosexual character which can also be apparent in American teen dramas and presents an interesting representation due to its ‘spirit of the age’.
This scene shows three heterosexual young boys who come across another young effeminate boy who they assume is a ‘homo’. However the effeminate boy, Arthur Gayle seems to be very offended when one of the boys calls him a ‘homo’, yet later throughout the film he is shown to be in fact a homosexual. Arthur Gayle begins a fight with Jack, which depicts the homosexual character as somewhat violent which seems to be a opposing the stereotypes within that zeitgeist that homosexual are weak and not violent. This can be suggested due to the fact that homosexuality was not accepted and therefore he was not self accepting himself, which is very different from today’s contemporary representation of homosexual characters in media text who seems to be more self acceptant of themselves and proud, such as the character of Kurt in glee and Justin in Ugly Betty.
This Boy's Life 1993
I chose this scene from the drama film ‘This Boy’s Life’ which is set in the 1950 because it depicts the representation of a young homosexual character which can also be apparent in American teen dramas and presents an interesting representation due to its ‘spirit of the age’.
This scene shows three heterosexual young boys who come across another young effeminate boy who they assume is a ‘homo’. However the effeminate boy, Arthur Gayle seems to be very offended when one of the boys calls him a ‘homo’, yet later throughout the film he is shown to be in fact a homosexual. Arthur Gayle begins a fight with Jack, which depicts the homosexual character as somewhat violent which seems to be a opposing the stereotypes within that zeitgeist that homosexual are weak and not violent. This can be suggested due to the fact that homosexuality was not accepted and therefore he was not self accepting himself, which is very different from today’s contemporary representation of homosexual characters in media text who seems to be more self acceptant of themselves and proud, such as the character of Kurt in glee and Justin in Ugly Betty.
TASK 2
‘’Male sensitivity has become sufficiently accepted on television’’
‘’Masculinity was created in Classic Hollywood to keep the male superior’’
‘’As so often in mainstream entertainment, homosexuality is welcomed’’
''Masculine hegemony is formed from the people's common sense by, perhaps above all television, film, advertising and sports''
''Subordinated masculinities... gay,black and working class masculinities''
Kenneth MacKinnon
2003
Representing Men, Maleness and Masculinity in the Media
Arnold
‘’Multicultural societies are becoming recognised and positively represented in the media’’
Robert Ferguson
1998
Representing ‘Race’
Arnold
"A teen-utopian Hughesian world of adolescent pleasure and liberating hedonism"
"90210 justified their prurient focus on teenage sex on grounds of public service- that they were tackling important issues as part of noble campaign to raise awareness about sexual diseases and birth control"
Niel Campell,
2004,
American Youth Cultures,
Routledge
‘’Masculinity was created in Classic Hollywood to keep the male superior’’
‘’As so often in mainstream entertainment, homosexuality is welcomed’’
''Masculine hegemony is formed from the people's common sense by, perhaps above all television, film, advertising and sports''
''Subordinated masculinities... gay,black and working class masculinities''
Kenneth MacKinnon
2003
Representing Men, Maleness and Masculinity in the Media
Arnold
‘’Multicultural societies are becoming recognised and positively represented in the media’’
Robert Ferguson
1998
Representing ‘Race’
Arnold
"A teen-utopian Hughesian world of adolescent pleasure and liberating hedonism"
"90210 justified their prurient focus on teenage sex on grounds of public service- that they were tackling important issues as part of noble campaign to raise awareness about sexual diseases and birth control"
Niel Campell,
2004,
American Youth Cultures,
Routledge
"Characters are often too superficial"
Roger Ebert
2003
Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2004
Andrew McMeel
"through the characterization of its sympathetic and sensitive young hero"
Mark Bould, Andrew.M Butler, Adam Roberts, Sherryl Vint
2009,
The Routledge companion to science fiction,
Routledge
2009,
The Routledge companion to science fiction,
Routledge
"There are, regularly non-white characters in teen genre movies and television, though almost never in central roles"
"The boys are all handsome, the girls are all beautiful , even the one who wear glasses and talk of themselves as geeks and losers"
Roz Kaveney
2006
Teen Dreams, Reading Teen Film and Television from Heathers to Vericona Mars
I.B Tauris & Co Ltd
TASK 1
Close textual analysis
90210 – Naomi and Silver meet Teddy
In this particular scene, there is a common ideology of American teen dramas present, such as the cast being beautiful, and that good looking guys or girls should go out with other good looking people, as well as constructing the ideology that sex is not a taboo.
This scene allows the audience to gain sexual gratification from the characters, through the long shots used, which clearly shows the characters perfect bodies that are in short clothing.
Within the text the female characters Naomi and Silver are objectifying the male character, Teddy so there is a female gaze, however the audience can also ‘gaze’ at the female character s that have good bodies and dressed in short tennis dresses.
There are two distinctive representations of female characters in this clip. The blonde female seems to be represented in the stereotypical ideology that she is good looking and a bit slow for example not understanding Silver’s sarcasm and that she ‘doesn’t go by the numbers’, which shows that she isn’t intellectual . Also, the fact that she is somewhat yearning for the attention of the good looking boy represents her as ‘The Blonde’ since she seems to be boy-driven.
On the hand the other female character doesn’t seem to be that interested in the guy and seems more calm and collective over the good looking boy rather that being all over him, so to speak.
The fact that there is an injection of pop culture within Silver’s dialogue of the film ‘Vicky, Christina, Barcelona, shows that as well as the film, the show is mainstream, with a mainstream audience, who both have a good looking cast. Pop culture is another popular convention apparent in American teen dramas such as Glee and Gossip girl, because this youth generation seems to be very interested in pop culture.
The actual show, 90210 is a comedy-drama, which is a very popular hybrid genre within teen American shows. In this particular clip the characters use sarcasm and innuendo for humour, which are very popular types of humour in youth culture because of the fact they are very sexual and the youth culture are very interested in sex and other sex related things. The ideology presented here is that sex can be a topic that can be discussed, one which is not a taboo.
There can be a sense of escapism and utopia within this scene because of the luxurious and nice location and not forgetting the good looking cast, which seems a bit too good to be true; none of the supposed teenagers seems to possess the odd spot or excess fat. Escapism is yet another popular convention in American teen dramas, which somewhat paints a picture of the audiences and the youth culture. Maybe the young audience of American teen dramas do not have the perfect lives or perfect bodies and shows such as 90210 and Glee allows them to escapism which can explain their popularity.
90210 – Naomi and Silver meet Teddy
In this particular scene, there is a common ideology of American teen dramas present, such as the cast being beautiful, and that good looking guys or girls should go out with other good looking people, as well as constructing the ideology that sex is not a taboo.
This scene allows the audience to gain sexual gratification from the characters, through the long shots used, which clearly shows the characters perfect bodies that are in short clothing.
Within the text the female characters Naomi and Silver are objectifying the male character, Teddy so there is a female gaze, however the audience can also ‘gaze’ at the female character s that have good bodies and dressed in short tennis dresses.
There are two distinctive representations of female characters in this clip. The blonde female seems to be represented in the stereotypical ideology that she is good looking and a bit slow for example not understanding Silver’s sarcasm and that she ‘doesn’t go by the numbers’, which shows that she isn’t intellectual . Also, the fact that she is somewhat yearning for the attention of the good looking boy represents her as ‘The Blonde’ since she seems to be boy-driven.
On the hand the other female character doesn’t seem to be that interested in the guy and seems more calm and collective over the good looking boy rather that being all over him, so to speak.
The fact that there is an injection of pop culture within Silver’s dialogue of the film ‘Vicky, Christina, Barcelona, shows that as well as the film, the show is mainstream, with a mainstream audience, who both have a good looking cast. Pop culture is another popular convention apparent in American teen dramas such as Glee and Gossip girl, because this youth generation seems to be very interested in pop culture.
The actual show, 90210 is a comedy-drama, which is a very popular hybrid genre within teen American shows. In this particular clip the characters use sarcasm and innuendo for humour, which are very popular types of humour in youth culture because of the fact they are very sexual and the youth culture are very interested in sex and other sex related things. The ideology presented here is that sex can be a topic that can be discussed, one which is not a taboo.
There can be a sense of escapism and utopia within this scene because of the luxurious and nice location and not forgetting the good looking cast, which seems a bit too good to be true; none of the supposed teenagers seems to possess the odd spot or excess fat. Escapism is yet another popular convention in American teen dramas, which somewhat paints a picture of the audiences and the youth culture. Maybe the young audience of American teen dramas do not have the perfect lives or perfect bodies and shows such as 90210 and Glee allows them to escapism which can explain their popularity.
Thursday 2 December 2010
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