Wednesday 2 February 2011
2nd Draft Critical Investigation
How do contemporary American Teen Dramas construct ideologies and why might this be so?
In all American teen dramas ideologies 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 personal identification, all of which essentially appeal to the audiences; because many teenagers and young adults yearn for such things. The audience receive this with the all important entertainment value- that’s why American teen dramas can be very successful. American teen dramas construct ideologies such as sex before marriage, anti-racism and superficiality. However American teen dramas can also be responsible for constructing negative ideologies as well as positive ideologies of youth, which can shape the overall ideology of youth in society as a whole.
90210 is a very successful American teen drama which airs on The CW Channel in the US and on E4 in the UK, which is a channel that is well known for its youth cultured television programmes. 90210 is one of many teen dramas that construct ideologies that I have mentioned earlier such as anti-racism and superficiality. 90210’s ideology of anti-racism is presented through the character of Dixon, an Afro-American teenager. Dixon is adopted by a wealthy nuclear family and attends West Beverly Hills High. He is accepted by everyone and has many friends, who are all well aware of his adoption. The fact that a rich ideal white family - that seem to represent the dominant ideology of a family, has adopted a black child is a perfect way to promote the ideology of anti-racism into society. So in terms of the Hypodermic Needle theory, 90210 is injecting the ideology of anti-racism into the target audience and therefore society through the character of Dixon and his family. However,"there are, regularly non-white characters in teen genre movies and television, though almost never in central roles"[1], this could show that there is a hegemonic structure within the show which subordinate the non-white characters from being the lead characters within teen dramas, so the white characters are presented as superior.
Navid is another character from 90210 which represents the ideology of anti-racism. Navid lives with his wealthy Persian family and is one of the characters from the main cast who also has many friends, a girlfriend and runs the school newscast. So in terms of his status in school he is well known and socioeconomically is in a high class. There doesn’t seem to be any racism against Navid or Dixon. In fact there doesn’t seem to be any racism within the entire show on whole, which constructs the ideology of anti-racism and that race isn’t an issue. In terms of Stuart Hall’s representation theory he has pointed out four key themes in racial representations which include the exotic, the dangerous, the humorous and the pitied. This representation theory cannot be applied to 90210 because the ethnic characters within the show are not stereotypically represented instead they are portrayed positively and as diversely as the white characters and that is how 90210 construct the ideology of anti-racism. This Ideology has been constructed for the obvious reason that the show is trying to appeal to a wide range of ethnicities and this creates a positive image for show which shows that any race is welcomed on the show and to watch the show as well. This will subsequently broaden its audience, as a result of the construction of this ideology.
Another ideology 90210 constructs is superficiality. To start with the entire main cast are very attractive and also beauty and popularity seem to be important aspects in their lives, "The boys are all handsome, the girls are all beautiful , even the one who wear glasses and talk of themselves as geeks and losers"[2]. In a particular scene from season 2 when Naomi and Silver meet the new character of Teddy Montgomery, shows how superficial the characters can be, especially Naomi, who doesn’t really know Teddy at all, yet flirts with him and pushes herself all over him. “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”[3]. One thing that an American teen drama is never without is the superficiality that it generates, presented through its characters behaviour, and story lines, which seem to be appealing to the target audience. In the current series of 90210 in one episode Silver holds a Bachelor auction, where most of the male characters of the show perform a dance routine top less and were sold in an auction to a group of females for the night. This scene presents some of the superficiality of the show since it only shows very attractive guys and women buying them only for their appearance and not at all taking into consideration their personality. This essentially highlights the shows superficiality and also how shallow the show can be and as Roger Ebert agrees since he has stated that "Characters are often too superficial” [4]. This Ideology can be seen as negative and not viable representation of teen life in school. Not all students in real life school are as attractive as the students in ‘West Beverly’ and can afford to spend the amount of money the women were paying for the male characters. However superficiality is very important in American teen dramas because the superficiality allows the audience to escape from their own lives, which mean they can draw themselves into their idealistic world were everyone is attractive and wealthy. The audience’s utopia so to speak is 90210 and the ideology of superficiality which it constructs appeals to the target audience. American teen dramas are essentially “a teen-utopian Hughesian world of adolescent pleasure and liberating hedonism"[5].
Glee is another teen drama that has had global success and is considered a phenomenon. It also airs on E4 and constructs ideologies through its characters. An obvious ideology Glee constructs is multiculturalism due the fact of its wide range of characters from different cultural backgrounds. Rachel and puck are both Jewish, Mercedes is Afro-American, Tina and Mike are both Asian and Santana is Hispanic. So this ideology is constructed so that many people can identify with these characters and so that is represents somewhat of an accurate image of high school students in America. Robert Ferguson has stated that ‘’Multicultural societies are becoming recognised and positively represented in the media’’ [6], and this can be the case in terms of Glee and also 90210. The representation of the multicultural characters are positive and they are not subordinated, in fact the Mercedes, Tina, Rachel and Mike are all talented and seem to be proud of their race because in many episode characters such as Rachel and Tine mention their race and religion and so therefore the show constructs the ideology that multiculturalism is normal and very well accepted. In terms of ethnography the audience are able to make sense of the media texts according to their identity in this case it’s their race. Glee’s and 90210’s multicultural cast which respectively creates the ideology of multiculturalism, could be constructed to reflect society and how many schools around the United States have multicultural students. Also another reason for the construction of this ideology is so it attracts audience from different backgrounds in terms of their race, religion and social position.
Both 90210 and Glee construct the ideology of sex before marriage. For example in one particular scene Quinn Fabray and Finn Hudson are about to have sex and Quinn mentions that she is in the celibacy club however continues and has sex with him. The fact that she is the head of the celibacy club and is opposing to the rules shows that religion and being in a celibacy club isn’t very important to her. Glee might be constructing this ideology to somewhat reflect society since the United States is becoming more and more secular as a nation and therefore sex before marriage would not be seen as a sin since religion is not essentially important anymore. Once again this teen drama could be promoting the ideology of sex before marriage to appeal to audience who are sexual aware and living in a society where sex before marriage isn’t seen as morally wrong anymore. In both Glee and 90210, there is one pregnant teen which once again enforced the shows ideology of sex before marriage. In 90210 the character of Adrianna was pregnant and had given up her baby to adoption and it’s the same story with the character of Quinn in Glee who has also been pregnant and given her baby for adoption. This portrayal of teenage pregnancy has somewhat been represented as somewhat negative due to the fact Adrianna was drug user who went to rehab. However the resolution to the problem has been positive since both the characters did not do the immoral act of abortion (which they considered) however chose a better life for their children by putting them up for adoption with other suitable parents. On the other hand others might see this representation as unrealistic and glamorised because the characters do not really seem to affected and their lives seem to be exact if they didn’t bring a human being into the world, which isn’t a true representation of teenage pregnancy. In an article by Eileen M. Hart called ‘Teen, Sex and Media’, said that, ‘Teen sex is a “major public health problem” according to the American Academy of Paediatrics, each year 25% of sexually active teenagers contract a sexually transmitted disease” [7]. Sex before marriage had become more and more popular over the years as sex on television is becoming less of a taboo and something that is somewhat fully accepted. Generally sex in “teen films frequently use sex as a source of comedy, drama, and even plot”[8], so it is not a surprise that sex before marriage is a popular ideology within American teen dramas such 90210 and Glee. The ideology of sex before marriage in 90210 could be constructed so that it could reflect society in someway. "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"[9]. So 90210’s frequent presentation of teenage sex can be seen as negative however it can be vital as it offer audiences surveillance in terms of the Hypodermic Needle. Margaret R. Miles also believes this since she has stated that "Sex has achieved a normalised and often celebrated status amongst mainstream audiences” [10]. In terms of Eileen M. Hart statement, that 25% of sexually active teenagers contract an STD, 90210 does in fact present a character with HIV which shows that 90210 is try to reflect society as much as it possibly could.
A growing trend in many contemporary teen dramas is the homosexual character. ’As so often in mainstream entertainment, homosexuality is welcomed’’ [11]. Homosexuality as whole has been more and more apparent in the media and on our television screens so therefore homosexual characters has also made it on to films and television programmes that are very successful and popular such as the box office hit Brokeback Mountain (2005) which has won four Golden Globes, and also the American teen drama 90210(2008) . 90210’s homosexual character is Teddy Montgomery who has recently come to terms with his sexuality; however his experience has been more difficult since he has been in denial about his sexuality, shown throughout the third series of 90210. In one particular scene Teddy calls his potential love interest a ‘friggin faggot’, which came out to surprise to his friends and girlfriend who called him a ‘homophobic jerk’. The fact that the other characters within than scene were shocked and somewhat appalled by Teddy’s homophobic behaviour shows that the show is constructing an ideology which shows that people shouldn’t be homophobic and therefore accepting homosexuality. Kenneth MacKinnon has stated ‘Masculinity was created in classical Hollywood to keep the male superior” [12]. However in contemporary Hollywood and most American teen dramas the term ‘masculinity’ is being questioned and challenged with characters such as Teddy Montgomery who isn’t represented as a stereotypical gay character who are usually represented as foppish and effeminate. 90210 could also be constructing the ideology that being masculine does not mean you have to be heterosexual. Keith McKinnon‘s statement taps into hegemony and how the male genders has been represented to keep their superior status. 90210 is challenging the hegemonic masculinity since their representation of a masculine character is in fact homosexual. Teen Dramas with homosexual characters are re-shaping the representations of masculinity to reflect the contemporary society that we live in, “Male sensitivity has become sufficiently accepted on television[13]’”, for example “through the characterization of its sympathetic and sensitive young hero" [14]. McKinnon also stated that the subordinated masculinities are ‘gay, black and working class masculinities’[15] , however in many teen dramas with black and gay characters are not subordinated such as Teddy Montgomery and Dixon from 90210. On the other hand working class masculinities can still be subordinated. ''Masculine hegemony is formed from the people's common sense by, perhaps above all television, film, advertising and sports''[16], so now that teen dramas such as 990210 are constructing alternative (positive) ideologies to do with homosexual characters, this can challenge the out-dated masculine hegemony of the media.
'Teen Film is developing, but it has been defined by critics as being- ostensibly- about and for youth” [17]. The primary target audience for American teen dramas such as 90210 and Glee generally range from 13 -19 and the secondary audience can range from 20-25+. ‘Glee neatly manages to snaffle both the teenage market and the ever-growing demographic of so-called kidult’’ [18]. These teenagers and young adults are attracted to the ideologies that teen dramas offer such multiculturalism, sex before marriage and superficiality. The ideologies that American teen dramas construct offer the target audience gratification such as personal identification and escapism. For example the ideology of multiculturalism within a teen drama such as Glee will allow the audience of Glee to personally identify with one of the characters from different ethnic backgrounds. Furthermore, 90210 have a superficial representation of characters within their show, where you find that the majority of the cast are flawlessly attractive and subsequently the ideology that the popular people in school are the attractive people. This ideology can offer the audience escapism since they can escape to the world of 90210 where mostly everyone is attractive, popular and wealthy.
Many American teen dramas construct the same popular ideologies so that they can appeal to their target audience of teenagers and young adults. As I have explored the various ideologies that American teen dramas construct in teen dramas such as 90210 and Glee, mostly all of the ideologies are constructed to somewhat reflect the society we live in today. Keeping in mind of their target audience, all teen dramas not just American ones construct ideologies that will appeal to their audience. Sex before marriage, the acceptance of homosexual characters, anti-racism, multicultural and superficiality are all ideologies within teen dramas especially the two that I have explored 90210 and Glee.
Words: 2,537
Bibliography:
Works Cited
Books
- Kenneth MacKinnon (2003), Representing Men, Maleness and Masculinity in the Media: Arnold
- Robert Ferguson (1998), Representing ‘Race’: Arnold
- Neil Campbell (2004), American Youth Cultures: Routledge
- Roz Kaveney (2006), Teen Dreams, Reading Teen Film and Television from Heathers to Vericona Mars: I.B Tauris & Co Ltd
- Roger Ebert (2003), Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2004: Andrew McMeel
-
Internet
- Rowena Harper (2008), Frontier Mythology in American Teen Film
- Eileen M. Hart, M.A (), Teens, Sex, and Media (The Influence of Electronic Entertainment on American Teen Sexual Culture)
- Margaret R. Miles (1996), Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies, Boston, Beacon Press,
- http://www.scribd.com/doc/20800200/35-Teenagers-Teen-Drama
- David Bowden (2010), Glee: camp, fun, won’t change the world: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/8855/
- Elisha McIntyre (1995) Can True Love Wait? Christian Morality Meets Adolescent Sexuality in Teen Film http://escholarship.library.usyd.edu.au/journals/index.php/SSR/article/view/717/711
Moving Image
- 90210 (2008)
- Glee (2009)
Works consultant
- Brokeback Mountain (2005)
- David Bowden (2010), Glee: camp, fun, won’t change the world: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/8855/
- 90210, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1225901/
- Glee, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1327801/
- Glee, http://glee.wikia.com/wiki/Glee_TV_Show_Wiki
- Glee, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glee_(TV_series)
- Stuart Hall, http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Modules/MC30820/represent.html
[1] Roz Kaveney (2006), Teen Dreams, Reading Teen Film and Television from Heathers to Vericona Mars: I.B Tauris & Co Ltd
[2] Roz Kaveney (2006), Teen Dreams, Reading Teen Film and Television from Heathers to Vericona Mars: I.B Tauris & Co Ltd
[3] http://www.scribd.com/doc/20800200/35-Teenagers-Teen-Drama
[4] Roger Ebert (2003), Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2004: Andrew McMeel
[5] Neil Campbell (2004), American Youth Cultures: Routledge
[6] Robert Ferguson (1998), Representing ‘Race’: Arnold
[7] Eileen M. Hart, M.A (), Teens, Sex, and Media (The Influence of Electronic Entertainment on American Teen Sexual Culture)
[8] Elisha McIntyre (1995) Can True Love Wait? Christian Morality Meets Adolescent Sexuality in Teen Film http://escholarship.library.usyd.edu.au/journals/index.php/SSR/article/view/717/711
[9] Neil Campbell (2004), American Youth Cultures: Routledge
[10] Margaret R. Miles (1996), Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies, Boston, Beacon Press
[11] Kenneth MacKinnon (2003), Representing Men, Maleness and Masculinity in the Media: Arnold
[12] Kenneth MacKinnon (2003), Representing Men, Maleness and Masculinity in the Media: Arnold
[13] Kenneth MacKinnon (2003), Representing Men, Maleness and Masculinity in the Media: Arnold
[14] Mark Bould, Andrew.M Butler, Adam Roberts, Sherryl Vint (2009), The Routledge companion to science fiction: Routledge
[15] Kenneth MacKinnon (2003), Representing Men, Maleness and Masculinity in the Media: Arnold
[16] Kenneth MacKinnon (2003), Representing Men, Maleness and Masculinity in the Media: Arnold
[17] Rowena Harper (2008), Frontier Mythology in American Teen Film
[18] David Bowden (2010), Glee: camp, fun, won’t change the world: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/8855/
In all American teen dramas ideologies 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 personal identification, all of which essentially appeal to the audiences; because many teenagers and young adults yearn for such things. The audience receive this with the all important entertainment value- that’s why American teen dramas can be very successful. American teen dramas construct ideologies such as sex before marriage, anti-racism and superficiality. However American teen dramas can also be responsible for constructing negative ideologies as well as positive ideologies of youth, which can shape the overall ideology of youth in society as a whole.
90210 is a very successful American teen drama which airs on The CW Channel in the US and on E4 in the UK, which is a channel that is well known for its youth cultured television programmes. 90210 is one of many teen dramas that construct ideologies that I have mentioned earlier such as anti-racism and superficiality. 90210’s ideology of anti-racism is presented through the character of Dixon, an Afro-American teenager. Dixon is adopted by a wealthy nuclear family and attends West Beverly Hills High. He is accepted by everyone and has many friends, who are all well aware of his adoption. The fact that a rich ideal white family - that seem to represent the dominant ideology of a family, has adopted a black child is a perfect way to promote the ideology of anti-racism into society. So in terms of the Hypodermic Needle theory, 90210 is injecting the ideology of anti-racism into the target audience and therefore society through the character of Dixon and his family. However,"there are, regularly non-white characters in teen genre movies and television, though almost never in central roles"[1], this could show that there is a hegemonic structure within the show which subordinate the non-white characters from being the lead characters within teen dramas, so the white characters are presented as superior.
Navid is another character from 90210 which represents the ideology of anti-racism. Navid lives with his wealthy Persian family and is one of the characters from the main cast who also has many friends, a girlfriend and runs the school newscast. So in terms of his status in school he is well known and socioeconomically is in a high class. There doesn’t seem to be any racism against Navid or Dixon. In fact there doesn’t seem to be any racism within the entire show on whole, which constructs the ideology of anti-racism and that race isn’t an issue. In terms of Stuart Hall’s representation theory he has pointed out four key themes in racial representations which include the exotic, the dangerous, the humorous and the pitied. This representation theory cannot be applied to 90210 because the ethnic characters within the show are not stereotypically represented instead they are portrayed positively and as diversely as the white characters and that is how 90210 construct the ideology of anti-racism. This Ideology has been constructed for the obvious reason that the show is trying to appeal to a wide range of ethnicities and this creates a positive image for show which shows that any race is welcomed on the show and to watch the show as well. This will subsequently broaden its audience, as a result of the construction of this ideology.
Another ideology 90210 constructs is superficiality. To start with the entire main cast are very attractive and also beauty and popularity seem to be important aspects in their lives, "The boys are all handsome, the girls are all beautiful , even the one who wear glasses and talk of themselves as geeks and losers"[2]. In a particular scene from season 2 when Naomi and Silver meet the new character of Teddy Montgomery, shows how superficial the characters can be, especially Naomi, who doesn’t really know Teddy at all, yet flirts with him and pushes herself all over him. “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”[3]. One thing that an American teen drama is never without is the superficiality that it generates, presented through its characters behaviour, and story lines, which seem to be appealing to the target audience. In the current series of 90210 in one episode Silver holds a Bachelor auction, where most of the male characters of the show perform a dance routine top less and were sold in an auction to a group of females for the night. This scene presents some of the superficiality of the show since it only shows very attractive guys and women buying them only for their appearance and not at all taking into consideration their personality. This essentially highlights the shows superficiality and also how shallow the show can be and as Roger Ebert agrees since he has stated that "Characters are often too superficial” [4]. This Ideology can be seen as negative and not viable representation of teen life in school. Not all students in real life school are as attractive as the students in ‘West Beverly’ and can afford to spend the amount of money the women were paying for the male characters. However superficiality is very important in American teen dramas because the superficiality allows the audience to escape from their own lives, which mean they can draw themselves into their idealistic world were everyone is attractive and wealthy. The audience’s utopia so to speak is 90210 and the ideology of superficiality which it constructs appeals to the target audience. American teen dramas are essentially “a teen-utopian Hughesian world of adolescent pleasure and liberating hedonism"[5].
Glee is another teen drama that has had global success and is considered a phenomenon. It also airs on E4 and constructs ideologies through its characters. An obvious ideology Glee constructs is multiculturalism due the fact of its wide range of characters from different cultural backgrounds. Rachel and puck are both Jewish, Mercedes is Afro-American, Tina and Mike are both Asian and Santana is Hispanic. So this ideology is constructed so that many people can identify with these characters and so that is represents somewhat of an accurate image of high school students in America. Robert Ferguson has stated that ‘’Multicultural societies are becoming recognised and positively represented in the media’’ [6], and this can be the case in terms of Glee and also 90210. The representation of the multicultural characters are positive and they are not subordinated, in fact the Mercedes, Tina, Rachel and Mike are all talented and seem to be proud of their race because in many episode characters such as Rachel and Tine mention their race and religion and so therefore the show constructs the ideology that multiculturalism is normal and very well accepted. In terms of ethnography the audience are able to make sense of the media texts according to their identity in this case it’s their race. Glee’s and 90210’s multicultural cast which respectively creates the ideology of multiculturalism, could be constructed to reflect society and how many schools around the United States have multicultural students. Also another reason for the construction of this ideology is so it attracts audience from different backgrounds in terms of their race, religion and social position.
Both 90210 and Glee construct the ideology of sex before marriage. For example in one particular scene Quinn Fabray and Finn Hudson are about to have sex and Quinn mentions that she is in the celibacy club however continues and has sex with him. The fact that she is the head of the celibacy club and is opposing to the rules shows that religion and being in a celibacy club isn’t very important to her. Glee might be constructing this ideology to somewhat reflect society since the United States is becoming more and more secular as a nation and therefore sex before marriage would not be seen as a sin since religion is not essentially important anymore. Once again this teen drama could be promoting the ideology of sex before marriage to appeal to audience who are sexual aware and living in a society where sex before marriage isn’t seen as morally wrong anymore. In both Glee and 90210, there is one pregnant teen which once again enforced the shows ideology of sex before marriage. In 90210 the character of Adrianna was pregnant and had given up her baby to adoption and it’s the same story with the character of Quinn in Glee who has also been pregnant and given her baby for adoption. This portrayal of teenage pregnancy has somewhat been represented as somewhat negative due to the fact Adrianna was drug user who went to rehab. However the resolution to the problem has been positive since both the characters did not do the immoral act of abortion (which they considered) however chose a better life for their children by putting them up for adoption with other suitable parents. On the other hand others might see this representation as unrealistic and glamorised because the characters do not really seem to affected and their lives seem to be exact if they didn’t bring a human being into the world, which isn’t a true representation of teenage pregnancy. In an article by Eileen M. Hart called ‘Teen, Sex and Media’, said that, ‘Teen sex is a “major public health problem” according to the American Academy of Paediatrics, each year 25% of sexually active teenagers contract a sexually transmitted disease” [7]. Sex before marriage had become more and more popular over the years as sex on television is becoming less of a taboo and something that is somewhat fully accepted. Generally sex in “teen films frequently use sex as a source of comedy, drama, and even plot”[8], so it is not a surprise that sex before marriage is a popular ideology within American teen dramas such 90210 and Glee. The ideology of sex before marriage in 90210 could be constructed so that it could reflect society in someway. "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"[9]. So 90210’s frequent presentation of teenage sex can be seen as negative however it can be vital as it offer audiences surveillance in terms of the Hypodermic Needle. Margaret R. Miles also believes this since she has stated that "Sex has achieved a normalised and often celebrated status amongst mainstream audiences” [10]. In terms of Eileen M. Hart statement, that 25% of sexually active teenagers contract an STD, 90210 does in fact present a character with HIV which shows that 90210 is try to reflect society as much as it possibly could.
A growing trend in many contemporary teen dramas is the homosexual character. ’As so often in mainstream entertainment, homosexuality is welcomed’’ [11]. Homosexuality as whole has been more and more apparent in the media and on our television screens so therefore homosexual characters has also made it on to films and television programmes that are very successful and popular such as the box office hit Brokeback Mountain (2005) which has won four Golden Globes, and also the American teen drama 90210(2008) . 90210’s homosexual character is Teddy Montgomery who has recently come to terms with his sexuality; however his experience has been more difficult since he has been in denial about his sexuality, shown throughout the third series of 90210. In one particular scene Teddy calls his potential love interest a ‘friggin faggot’, which came out to surprise to his friends and girlfriend who called him a ‘homophobic jerk’. The fact that the other characters within than scene were shocked and somewhat appalled by Teddy’s homophobic behaviour shows that the show is constructing an ideology which shows that people shouldn’t be homophobic and therefore accepting homosexuality. Kenneth MacKinnon has stated ‘Masculinity was created in classical Hollywood to keep the male superior” [12]. However in contemporary Hollywood and most American teen dramas the term ‘masculinity’ is being questioned and challenged with characters such as Teddy Montgomery who isn’t represented as a stereotypical gay character who are usually represented as foppish and effeminate. 90210 could also be constructing the ideology that being masculine does not mean you have to be heterosexual. Keith McKinnon‘s statement taps into hegemony and how the male genders has been represented to keep their superior status. 90210 is challenging the hegemonic masculinity since their representation of a masculine character is in fact homosexual. Teen Dramas with homosexual characters are re-shaping the representations of masculinity to reflect the contemporary society that we live in, “Male sensitivity has become sufficiently accepted on television[13]’”, for example “through the characterization of its sympathetic and sensitive young hero" [14]. McKinnon also stated that the subordinated masculinities are ‘gay, black and working class masculinities’[15] , however in many teen dramas with black and gay characters are not subordinated such as Teddy Montgomery and Dixon from 90210. On the other hand working class masculinities can still be subordinated. ''Masculine hegemony is formed from the people's common sense by, perhaps above all television, film, advertising and sports''[16], so now that teen dramas such as 990210 are constructing alternative (positive) ideologies to do with homosexual characters, this can challenge the out-dated masculine hegemony of the media.
'Teen Film is developing, but it has been defined by critics as being- ostensibly- about and for youth” [17]. The primary target audience for American teen dramas such as 90210 and Glee generally range from 13 -19 and the secondary audience can range from 20-25+. ‘Glee neatly manages to snaffle both the teenage market and the ever-growing demographic of so-called kidult’’ [18]. These teenagers and young adults are attracted to the ideologies that teen dramas offer such multiculturalism, sex before marriage and superficiality. The ideologies that American teen dramas construct offer the target audience gratification such as personal identification and escapism. For example the ideology of multiculturalism within a teen drama such as Glee will allow the audience of Glee to personally identify with one of the characters from different ethnic backgrounds. Furthermore, 90210 have a superficial representation of characters within their show, where you find that the majority of the cast are flawlessly attractive and subsequently the ideology that the popular people in school are the attractive people. This ideology can offer the audience escapism since they can escape to the world of 90210 where mostly everyone is attractive, popular and wealthy.
Many American teen dramas construct the same popular ideologies so that they can appeal to their target audience of teenagers and young adults. As I have explored the various ideologies that American teen dramas construct in teen dramas such as 90210 and Glee, mostly all of the ideologies are constructed to somewhat reflect the society we live in today. Keeping in mind of their target audience, all teen dramas not just American ones construct ideologies that will appeal to their audience. Sex before marriage, the acceptance of homosexual characters, anti-racism, multicultural and superficiality are all ideologies within teen dramas especially the two that I have explored 90210 and Glee.
Words: 2,537
Bibliography:
Works Cited
Books
- Kenneth MacKinnon (2003), Representing Men, Maleness and Masculinity in the Media: Arnold
- Robert Ferguson (1998), Representing ‘Race’: Arnold
- Neil Campbell (2004), American Youth Cultures: Routledge
- Roz Kaveney (2006), Teen Dreams, Reading Teen Film and Television from Heathers to Vericona Mars: I.B Tauris & Co Ltd
- Roger Ebert (2003), Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2004: Andrew McMeel
-
Internet
- Rowena Harper (2008), Frontier Mythology in American Teen Film
- Eileen M. Hart, M.A (), Teens, Sex, and Media (The Influence of Electronic Entertainment on American Teen Sexual Culture)
- Margaret R. Miles (1996), Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies, Boston, Beacon Press,
- http://www.scribd.com/doc/20800200/35-Teenagers-Teen-Drama
- David Bowden (2010), Glee: camp, fun, won’t change the world: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/8855/
- Elisha McIntyre (1995) Can True Love Wait? Christian Morality Meets Adolescent Sexuality in Teen Film http://escholarship.library.usyd.edu.au/journals/index.php/SSR/article/view/717/711
Moving Image
- 90210 (2008)
- Glee (2009)
Works consultant
- Brokeback Mountain (2005)
- David Bowden (2010), Glee: camp, fun, won’t change the world: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/8855/
- 90210, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1225901/
- Glee, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1327801/
- Glee, http://glee.wikia.com/wiki/Glee_TV_Show_Wiki
- Glee, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glee_(TV_series)
- Stuart Hall, http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Modules/MC30820/represent.html
[1] Roz Kaveney (2006), Teen Dreams, Reading Teen Film and Television from Heathers to Vericona Mars: I.B Tauris & Co Ltd
[2] Roz Kaveney (2006), Teen Dreams, Reading Teen Film and Television from Heathers to Vericona Mars: I.B Tauris & Co Ltd
[3] http://www.scribd.com/doc/20800200/35-Teenagers-Teen-Drama
[4] Roger Ebert (2003), Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2004: Andrew McMeel
[5] Neil Campbell (2004), American Youth Cultures: Routledge
[6] Robert Ferguson (1998), Representing ‘Race’: Arnold
[7] Eileen M. Hart, M.A (), Teens, Sex, and Media (The Influence of Electronic Entertainment on American Teen Sexual Culture)
[8] Elisha McIntyre (1995) Can True Love Wait? Christian Morality Meets Adolescent Sexuality in Teen Film http://escholarship.library.usyd.edu.au/journals/index.php/SSR/article/view/717/711
[9] Neil Campbell (2004), American Youth Cultures: Routledge
[10] Margaret R. Miles (1996), Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies, Boston, Beacon Press
[11] Kenneth MacKinnon (2003), Representing Men, Maleness and Masculinity in the Media: Arnold
[12] Kenneth MacKinnon (2003), Representing Men, Maleness and Masculinity in the Media: Arnold
[13] Kenneth MacKinnon (2003), Representing Men, Maleness and Masculinity in the Media: Arnold
[14] Mark Bould, Andrew.M Butler, Adam Roberts, Sherryl Vint (2009), The Routledge companion to science fiction: Routledge
[15] Kenneth MacKinnon (2003), Representing Men, Maleness and Masculinity in the Media: Arnold
[16] Kenneth MacKinnon (2003), Representing Men, Maleness and Masculinity in the Media: Arnold
[17] Rowena Harper (2008), Frontier Mythology in American Teen Film
[18] David Bowden (2010), Glee: camp, fun, won’t change the world: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/8855/
Sunday 30 January 2011
1st Draft Critical Investigation : How do contemporary American Teen Dramas construct ideologies and why might this be so?
In all American teen dramas ideologies 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 personal identification, all of which essentially appeal to the audiences; because many teenagers and young adults yearn for such things. The audience receive this with the all important entertainment value- that’s why American teen dramas can be very successful. American teen dramas construct ideologies such as sex before marriage, anti-racism and superficiality. However American teen dramas can also be responsible for constructing negative ideologies as well as positive ideologies of youth, which can shape the overall ideology of youth in society as a whole.
90210 is a very successful American teen drama which airs on The CW Channel in the US and on E4 in the UK, which is a channel that is well known for its youth cultured television programmes. 90210 is one of many teen dramas that construct ideologies that I have mentioned earlier such as anti-racism and superficiality. 90210’s ideology of anti-racism is presented through the character of Dixon, an Afro-American teenager. Dixon is adopted by a wealthy nuclear family and attends West Beverly Hills High. He is accepted by everyone and has many friends, who are all well aware of his adoption. The fact that a rich ideal white family - that seem to represent the dominant ideology of a family, has adopted a black child is a perfect way to promote the ideology of anti-racism into society. So in terms of the Hypodermic Needle theory, 90210 is injecting the ideology of anti-racism into the target audience and therefore society through the character of Dixon and his family.
Navid is another character from 90210 which represents the ideology of anti-racism. Navid lives with his wealthy Persian family and is one of the characters from the main cast who also has many friends, a girlfriend and runs the school newscast. So in terms of his status in school he is well known and socioeconomically is in a high class. There doesn’t seem to be any racism against Navid or Dixon. In fact there doesn’t seem to be any racism within the entire show on whole, which constructs the ideology of anti-racism and that race isn’t an issue. In terms of Stuart Hall’s representation theory he has pointed out four key themes in racial representations which include the exotic, the dangerous, the humorous and the pitied. This representation theory cannot be applied to 90210 because the ethnic characters within the show are not stereotypically represented instead they are portrayed positively and as diversely as the white characters and that is how 90210 construct the ideology of anti-racism. This Ideology has been constructed for the obvious reason that the show is trying to appeal to a wide range of ethnicities and this creates a positive image for show which shows that any race is welcomed on the show and to watch the show as well. This will subsequently broaden its audience, as a result of the construction of this ideology.
Another ideology 90210 constructs is superficiality. To start with the entire main cast are very attractive and also beauty and popularity seem to be important aspects in their lives. In a particular scene from season 2 when Naomi and Silver meet the new character of Teddy Montgomery, shows how superficial the characters can be, especially Naomi, who doesn’t really know Teddy at all, yet flirts with him and pushes herself all over him. “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”[1]. One thing that an American teen drama is never without is the superficiality that it generates, presented through its characters behaviour, and story lines, which seem to be appealing to the target audience. In the current series of 90210 in one episode Silver holds a Bachelor auction, where most of the male characters of the show perform a dance routine top less and were sold in an auction to a group of females for the night. This scene presents some of the superficiality of the show since it only shows very attractive guys and women buying them only for their appearance and not at all taking into consideration their personality which essentially highlights the shows superficiality and also how shallow the show can be. This Ideology can be seen as negative and not viable representation of teen life in school. Not all students in real life school are as attractive as the students in ‘West Beverly’ and can afford to spend the amount of money the women were paying for the male characters. However superficiality is very important in American teen dramas because the superficiality allows the audience to escape from their own lives, which mean they can draw themselves into their idealistic world were everyone is attractive and wealthy. The audience’s utopia so to speak is 90210 and the ideology of superficiality which it constructs appeals to the target audience.
Glee is another teen drama that has had global success and is considered a phenomenon. It also airs on E4 and constructs ideologies through its characters. An obvious ideology Glee constructs is multiculturalism due the fact of its wide range of characters from different cultural backgrounds. Rachel and puck are both Jewish, Mercedes is Afro-American, Tina and Mike are both Asian and Santana is Hispanic. So this ideology is constructed so that many people can identify with these characters and so that is represents somewhat of an accurate image of high school students in America. Robert Ferguson has stated that ‘’Multicultural societies are becoming recognised and positively represented in the media’’ [2], and this can be the case in terms of Glee and also 90210. The representation of the multicultural characters are positive and they are not subordinated, in fact the Mercedes, Tina, Rachel and Mike are all talented and seem to be proud of their race because in many episode characters such as Rachel and Tine mention their race and religion and so therefore the show constructs the ideology that multiculturalism is normal and very well accepted. In terms of ethnography the audience are able to make sense of the media texts according to their identity in this case it’s their race. Glee’s and 90210’s multicultural cast which respectively creates the ideology of multiculturalism, could be constructed to reflect society and how many schools around the United States have multicultural students. Also another reason for the construction of this ideology is so it attracts audience from different backgrounds in terms of their race, religion and social position.
Both 90210 and Glee construct the ideology of sex before marriage. For example in one particular scene Quinn Fabray and Finn Hudson are about to have sex and Quinn mentions that she is in the celibacy club however continues and has sex with him. The fact that she is the head of the celibacy club and is opposing to the rules shows that religion and being in a celibacy club isn’t very important to her. Glee might be constructing this ideology to somewhat reflect society since the United States is becoming more and more secular as a nation and therefore sex before marriage would not be seen as a sin since religion is not essentially important anymore. Once again this teen drama could be promoting the ideology of sex before marriage to appeal to audience who are sexual aware and living in a society where sex before marriage isn’t seen as morally wrong anymore. In both Glee and 90210, there is one pregnant teen which once again enforced the shows ideology of sex before marriage. In 90210 the character of Adrianna was pregnant and had given up her baby to adoption and it’s the same story with the character of Quinn in Glee who has also been pregnant and given her baby for adoption. This portrayal of teenage pregnancy has somewhat been represented as somewhat negative due to the fact Adrianna was drug user who went to rehab. However the resolution to the problem has been positive since both the characters did not do the immoral act of abortion (which they considered) however chose a better life for their children by putting them up for adoption with other suitable parents. On the other hand others might see this representation as unrealistic and glamorised because the characters do not really seem to affected and their lives seem to be exact if they didn’t bring a human being into the world, which isn’t a true representation of teenage pregnancy. In an article by Eileen M. Hart called ‘Teen, Sex and Media’, said that, ‘Teen sex is a “major public health problem” according to the American Academy of Paediatrics, each year 25% of sexually active teenagers contract a sexually transmitted disease” [3]. Sex before marriage had become more and more popular over the years as sex on television is becoming less of a taboo and something that is somewhat fully accepted. The ideology of sex before marriage in 90210 could be constructed so that it could reflect society in someway. Elisha McIntyre also believes this since she has stated that "Sex has achieved a normalised and often celebrated status amongst mainstream audiences” [4]. In terms of Eileen M. Hart statement, that 25% of sexually active teenagers contract an STD, 90210 does in fact present a character with HIV which shows that 90210 is try to reflect society as much as it possibly could.
A growing trend in many contemporary teen dramas is the homosexual character. ’As so often in mainstream entertainment, homosexuality is welcomed’’ [5]. Homosexuality as whole has been more and more apparent in the media and on our television screens so therefore homosexual characters has also made it on to films and television programmes that are very successful and popular such as the box office hit Brokeback Mountain (2005) which has won four Golden Globes, and also the American teen drama 90210(2008) . 90210’s homosexual character is Teddy Montgomery who has recently come to terms with his sexuality; however his experience has been more difficult since he has been in denial about his sexuality, shown throughout the third series of 90210. In one particular scene Teddy calls his potential love interest a ‘friggin faggot’, which came out to surprise to his friends and girlfriend who called him a ‘homophobic jerk’. The fact that the other characters within than scene were shocked and somewhat appalled by Teddy’s homophobic behaviour shows that the show is constructing an ideology which shows that people shouldn’t be homophobic and therefore accepting homosexuality. Kenneth MacKinnon has stated ‘Masculinity was created in classical Hollywood to keep the male superior” [6]. However in contemporary Hollywood and most American teen dramas the term ‘masculinity’ is being questioned and challenged with characters such as Teddy Montgomery who isn’t represented as a stereotypical gay character who is foppish and effeminate yet he is still a Homosexual. 90210 could also be constructing the ideology that being masculine does not mean you have to be heterosexual. Keith McKinnon‘s statement taps into hegemony and how the male genders has been represented to keep their superior status. 90210 is challenging the hegemonic masculinity since their representation of a masculine character is homosexual. Therefore the show is promoting the ideology that homosexual men should be subordinated or a be seen as an inferior as opposed to a heterosexual man.
'Teen Film is developing, but it has been defined by critics as being- ostensibly- about and for youth” [7]. The primary target audience for American teen dramas such as 90210 and Glee generally range from 13 -19 and the secondary audience can range from 20-25+. ‘Glee neatly manages to snaffle both the teenage market and the ever-growing demographic of so-called kidult’’ [8]. These teenagers and young adults are attracted to the ideologies that teen dramas offer such multiculturalism, sex before marriage and superficiality. The ideologies that American teen dramas construct offer the target audience gratification such as personal identification and escapism. For example the ideology of multiculturalism within a teen drama such as Glee will allow the audience of Glee to personally identify with one of the characters from different ethnic backgrounds. Furthermore, 90210 have a superficial representation of characters within their show, where you find that the majority of the cast are flawlessly attractive and subsequently the ideology that the popular people in school are the attractive people. This ideology can offer the audience escapism since they can escape to the world of 90210 where mostly everyone is attractive, popular and wealthy.
Many American teen dramas construct the same popular ideologies so that they can appeal to their target audience of teenagers and young adults. As I have explored the various ideologies that American teen dramas construct in teen dramas such as 90210 and Glee, mostly all of the ideologies are constructed to somewhat reflect the society we live in today. Keeping in mind of their target audience, all teen dramas not just American ones construct ideologies that will appeal to their audience. Sex before marriage, the acceptance of homosexual characters, anti-racism, multicultural and superficiality are all ideologies within teen dramas especially the two that I have explored 90210 and Glee.
Words: 2,217
Bibliography:
Works Cited
Books
- Kenneth MacKinnon (2003), Representing Men, Maleness and Masculinity in the Media: Arnold
- Robert Ferguson (1998), Representing ‘Race’: Arnold
Internet
- Rowena Harper (2008), Frontier Mythology in American Teen Film
- Eileen M. Hart, M.A (), Teens, Sex, and Media (The Influence of Electronic Entertainment on American Teen Sexual Culture)
- Margaret R. Miles (1996), Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies, Boston, Beacon Press,
- http://www.scribd.com/doc/20800200/35-Teenagers-Teen-Drama [1]
- David Bowden (2010), Glee: camp, fun, won’t change the world: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/8855/
Moving Image
- 90210 (2008)
- Glee (2009)
Works consultant
- Brokeback Mountain (2005)
- David Bowden (2010), Glee: camp, fun, won’t change the world: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/8855/
- 90210, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1225901/
- Glee, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1327801/
- Glee, http://glee.wikia.com/wiki/Glee_TV_Show_Wiki
- Glee, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glee_(TV_series)
- Stuart Hall, http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Modules/MC30820/represent.html
[1] http://www.scribd.com/doc/20800200/35-Teenagers-Teen-Drama
[2] Robert Ferguson (1998), Representing ‘Race’: Arnold
[3] Eileen M. Hart, M.A (), Teens, Sex, and Media (The Influence of Electronic Entertainment on American Teen Sexual Culture)
[4] Margaret R. Miles (1996), Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies, Boston, Beacon Press
[5] Kenneth MacKinnon (2003), Representing Men, Maleness and Masculinity in the Media: Arnold
[6] Kenneth MacKinnon (2003), Representing Men, Maleness and Masculinity in the Media: Arnold
[7] Rowena Harper (2008), Frontier Mythology in American Teen Film
[8] David Bowden (2010), Glee: camp, fun, won’t change the world: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/8855/
90210 is a very successful American teen drama which airs on The CW Channel in the US and on E4 in the UK, which is a channel that is well known for its youth cultured television programmes. 90210 is one of many teen dramas that construct ideologies that I have mentioned earlier such as anti-racism and superficiality. 90210’s ideology of anti-racism is presented through the character of Dixon, an Afro-American teenager. Dixon is adopted by a wealthy nuclear family and attends West Beverly Hills High. He is accepted by everyone and has many friends, who are all well aware of his adoption. The fact that a rich ideal white family - that seem to represent the dominant ideology of a family, has adopted a black child is a perfect way to promote the ideology of anti-racism into society. So in terms of the Hypodermic Needle theory, 90210 is injecting the ideology of anti-racism into the target audience and therefore society through the character of Dixon and his family.
Navid is another character from 90210 which represents the ideology of anti-racism. Navid lives with his wealthy Persian family and is one of the characters from the main cast who also has many friends, a girlfriend and runs the school newscast. So in terms of his status in school he is well known and socioeconomically is in a high class. There doesn’t seem to be any racism against Navid or Dixon. In fact there doesn’t seem to be any racism within the entire show on whole, which constructs the ideology of anti-racism and that race isn’t an issue. In terms of Stuart Hall’s representation theory he has pointed out four key themes in racial representations which include the exotic, the dangerous, the humorous and the pitied. This representation theory cannot be applied to 90210 because the ethnic characters within the show are not stereotypically represented instead they are portrayed positively and as diversely as the white characters and that is how 90210 construct the ideology of anti-racism. This Ideology has been constructed for the obvious reason that the show is trying to appeal to a wide range of ethnicities and this creates a positive image for show which shows that any race is welcomed on the show and to watch the show as well. This will subsequently broaden its audience, as a result of the construction of this ideology.
Another ideology 90210 constructs is superficiality. To start with the entire main cast are very attractive and also beauty and popularity seem to be important aspects in their lives. In a particular scene from season 2 when Naomi and Silver meet the new character of Teddy Montgomery, shows how superficial the characters can be, especially Naomi, who doesn’t really know Teddy at all, yet flirts with him and pushes herself all over him. “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”[1]. One thing that an American teen drama is never without is the superficiality that it generates, presented through its characters behaviour, and story lines, which seem to be appealing to the target audience. In the current series of 90210 in one episode Silver holds a Bachelor auction, where most of the male characters of the show perform a dance routine top less and were sold in an auction to a group of females for the night. This scene presents some of the superficiality of the show since it only shows very attractive guys and women buying them only for their appearance and not at all taking into consideration their personality which essentially highlights the shows superficiality and also how shallow the show can be. This Ideology can be seen as negative and not viable representation of teen life in school. Not all students in real life school are as attractive as the students in ‘West Beverly’ and can afford to spend the amount of money the women were paying for the male characters. However superficiality is very important in American teen dramas because the superficiality allows the audience to escape from their own lives, which mean they can draw themselves into their idealistic world were everyone is attractive and wealthy. The audience’s utopia so to speak is 90210 and the ideology of superficiality which it constructs appeals to the target audience.
Glee is another teen drama that has had global success and is considered a phenomenon. It also airs on E4 and constructs ideologies through its characters. An obvious ideology Glee constructs is multiculturalism due the fact of its wide range of characters from different cultural backgrounds. Rachel and puck are both Jewish, Mercedes is Afro-American, Tina and Mike are both Asian and Santana is Hispanic. So this ideology is constructed so that many people can identify with these characters and so that is represents somewhat of an accurate image of high school students in America. Robert Ferguson has stated that ‘’Multicultural societies are becoming recognised and positively represented in the media’’ [2], and this can be the case in terms of Glee and also 90210. The representation of the multicultural characters are positive and they are not subordinated, in fact the Mercedes, Tina, Rachel and Mike are all talented and seem to be proud of their race because in many episode characters such as Rachel and Tine mention their race and religion and so therefore the show constructs the ideology that multiculturalism is normal and very well accepted. In terms of ethnography the audience are able to make sense of the media texts according to their identity in this case it’s their race. Glee’s and 90210’s multicultural cast which respectively creates the ideology of multiculturalism, could be constructed to reflect society and how many schools around the United States have multicultural students. Also another reason for the construction of this ideology is so it attracts audience from different backgrounds in terms of their race, religion and social position.
Both 90210 and Glee construct the ideology of sex before marriage. For example in one particular scene Quinn Fabray and Finn Hudson are about to have sex and Quinn mentions that she is in the celibacy club however continues and has sex with him. The fact that she is the head of the celibacy club and is opposing to the rules shows that religion and being in a celibacy club isn’t very important to her. Glee might be constructing this ideology to somewhat reflect society since the United States is becoming more and more secular as a nation and therefore sex before marriage would not be seen as a sin since religion is not essentially important anymore. Once again this teen drama could be promoting the ideology of sex before marriage to appeal to audience who are sexual aware and living in a society where sex before marriage isn’t seen as morally wrong anymore. In both Glee and 90210, there is one pregnant teen which once again enforced the shows ideology of sex before marriage. In 90210 the character of Adrianna was pregnant and had given up her baby to adoption and it’s the same story with the character of Quinn in Glee who has also been pregnant and given her baby for adoption. This portrayal of teenage pregnancy has somewhat been represented as somewhat negative due to the fact Adrianna was drug user who went to rehab. However the resolution to the problem has been positive since both the characters did not do the immoral act of abortion (which they considered) however chose a better life for their children by putting them up for adoption with other suitable parents. On the other hand others might see this representation as unrealistic and glamorised because the characters do not really seem to affected and their lives seem to be exact if they didn’t bring a human being into the world, which isn’t a true representation of teenage pregnancy. In an article by Eileen M. Hart called ‘Teen, Sex and Media’, said that, ‘Teen sex is a “major public health problem” according to the American Academy of Paediatrics, each year 25% of sexually active teenagers contract a sexually transmitted disease” [3]. Sex before marriage had become more and more popular over the years as sex on television is becoming less of a taboo and something that is somewhat fully accepted. The ideology of sex before marriage in 90210 could be constructed so that it could reflect society in someway. Elisha McIntyre also believes this since she has stated that "Sex has achieved a normalised and often celebrated status amongst mainstream audiences” [4]. In terms of Eileen M. Hart statement, that 25% of sexually active teenagers contract an STD, 90210 does in fact present a character with HIV which shows that 90210 is try to reflect society as much as it possibly could.
A growing trend in many contemporary teen dramas is the homosexual character. ’As so often in mainstream entertainment, homosexuality is welcomed’’ [5]. Homosexuality as whole has been more and more apparent in the media and on our television screens so therefore homosexual characters has also made it on to films and television programmes that are very successful and popular such as the box office hit Brokeback Mountain (2005) which has won four Golden Globes, and also the American teen drama 90210(2008) . 90210’s homosexual character is Teddy Montgomery who has recently come to terms with his sexuality; however his experience has been more difficult since he has been in denial about his sexuality, shown throughout the third series of 90210. In one particular scene Teddy calls his potential love interest a ‘friggin faggot’, which came out to surprise to his friends and girlfriend who called him a ‘homophobic jerk’. The fact that the other characters within than scene were shocked and somewhat appalled by Teddy’s homophobic behaviour shows that the show is constructing an ideology which shows that people shouldn’t be homophobic and therefore accepting homosexuality. Kenneth MacKinnon has stated ‘Masculinity was created in classical Hollywood to keep the male superior” [6]. However in contemporary Hollywood and most American teen dramas the term ‘masculinity’ is being questioned and challenged with characters such as Teddy Montgomery who isn’t represented as a stereotypical gay character who is foppish and effeminate yet he is still a Homosexual. 90210 could also be constructing the ideology that being masculine does not mean you have to be heterosexual. Keith McKinnon‘s statement taps into hegemony and how the male genders has been represented to keep their superior status. 90210 is challenging the hegemonic masculinity since their representation of a masculine character is homosexual. Therefore the show is promoting the ideology that homosexual men should be subordinated or a be seen as an inferior as opposed to a heterosexual man.
'Teen Film is developing, but it has been defined by critics as being- ostensibly- about and for youth” [7]. The primary target audience for American teen dramas such as 90210 and Glee generally range from 13 -19 and the secondary audience can range from 20-25+. ‘Glee neatly manages to snaffle both the teenage market and the ever-growing demographic of so-called kidult’’ [8]. These teenagers and young adults are attracted to the ideologies that teen dramas offer such multiculturalism, sex before marriage and superficiality. The ideologies that American teen dramas construct offer the target audience gratification such as personal identification and escapism. For example the ideology of multiculturalism within a teen drama such as Glee will allow the audience of Glee to personally identify with one of the characters from different ethnic backgrounds. Furthermore, 90210 have a superficial representation of characters within their show, where you find that the majority of the cast are flawlessly attractive and subsequently the ideology that the popular people in school are the attractive people. This ideology can offer the audience escapism since they can escape to the world of 90210 where mostly everyone is attractive, popular and wealthy.
Many American teen dramas construct the same popular ideologies so that they can appeal to their target audience of teenagers and young adults. As I have explored the various ideologies that American teen dramas construct in teen dramas such as 90210 and Glee, mostly all of the ideologies are constructed to somewhat reflect the society we live in today. Keeping in mind of their target audience, all teen dramas not just American ones construct ideologies that will appeal to their audience. Sex before marriage, the acceptance of homosexual characters, anti-racism, multicultural and superficiality are all ideologies within teen dramas especially the two that I have explored 90210 and Glee.
Words: 2,217
Bibliography:
Works Cited
Books
- Kenneth MacKinnon (2003), Representing Men, Maleness and Masculinity in the Media: Arnold
- Robert Ferguson (1998), Representing ‘Race’: Arnold
Internet
- Rowena Harper (2008), Frontier Mythology in American Teen Film
- Eileen M. Hart, M.A (), Teens, Sex, and Media (The Influence of Electronic Entertainment on American Teen Sexual Culture)
- Margaret R. Miles (1996), Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies, Boston, Beacon Press,
- http://www.scribd.com/doc/20800200/35-Teenagers-Teen-Drama [1]
- David Bowden (2010), Glee: camp, fun, won’t change the world: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/8855/
Moving Image
- 90210 (2008)
- Glee (2009)
Works consultant
- Brokeback Mountain (2005)
- David Bowden (2010), Glee: camp, fun, won’t change the world: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/8855/
- 90210, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1225901/
- Glee, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1327801/
- Glee, http://glee.wikia.com/wiki/Glee_TV_Show_Wiki
- Glee, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glee_(TV_series)
- Stuart Hall, http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Modules/MC30820/represent.html
[1] http://www.scribd.com/doc/20800200/35-Teenagers-Teen-Drama
[2] Robert Ferguson (1998), Representing ‘Race’: Arnold
[3] Eileen M. Hart, M.A (), Teens, Sex, and Media (The Influence of Electronic Entertainment on American Teen Sexual Culture)
[4] Margaret R. Miles (1996), Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies, Boston, Beacon Press
[5] Kenneth MacKinnon (2003), Representing Men, Maleness and Masculinity in the Media: Arnold
[6] Kenneth MacKinnon (2003), Representing Men, Maleness and Masculinity in the Media: Arnold
[7] Rowena Harper (2008), Frontier Mythology in American Teen Film
[8] David Bowden (2010), Glee: camp, fun, won’t change the world: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/8855/
Friday 24 December 2010
TASK 6
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
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
TASK 5
ESSAY PLAN
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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
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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)
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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’’
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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
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