Critical & Linked Production . . .

Critical Investigation . . .

My critical investigation is to "investigate into female teenagers, looking at how far stereotypes in movies are true in today's media." This will involve looking at teenage films such as Mean Girls and others to find out how far stereotypes of females in movies are true.

Linked Production . . .

My linked production is to produce "the start of a documentary exploring teenage life at High School." This will involve seeing how teenagers behave and whether stereotypes in the media of teenagers are true.

MIGRAIN analysis on my critical investigation && linked production . . .

* Media Language:

- Close up/long shots of teenage females when wearing revealing clothing? This will connote whether females are being used as sexual objects to attract a wider audience such as males rather than just females. For this I can look at Superbad (2007) and Mean Girls (2004).

- Is there a use of high key lighting on females or low key lighting? This will show whether females do have a importance in the movie or not and is this a common pattern or not?

- The use of sound when females appear in movies, is it villain type music or soft music?This will show what roles females are usually given and if they are usually villains in teenage films or the princess that needs to be rescued.

* Ideology:

- The ideology that females are mainly used in films for sexual objects to attract a male audience and that is the role that females are mainly given in movies?. This will involve looking at teenage films such as High School Musical (2006), Mean Girls (2004) and 10 Things I Hate About You (2009).

- Females have a less importance in movies? Are they given the less important roles that involve being rescued by the heroes? This would create the ideology that females always need rescuing and are vulnerable and this will mean looking at movies and seeing whether females are rescued by the heroes in the movie.

- The ideology that female teenagers are shown as bimbos in movies and are not interested in anything else other than fashion and do not have an interest in education but want to look good. This will mean looking at teenage films such as 17 Again (2009).

* Genre:

- One of the genre of this critical investigation will be looking at films with the genre of high school and looking at how females are represented within high schools and what their roles usually involve in this genre of films. For example, I can look at 17 Again, Mean Girls ans Superbad (2007).

- Another genre of this critical investigation can be romance as I can look at teenage films and see how romance is shown in teenage films and then compare it to adult films and see the difference in how females are represented in different ages. For example, I can look at Superbad as a teenage film and then Just Like Heaven (2005) as a adult film.

- For this critical investigation, I can look at the genre drama and see whether females are involved in a lot of drama or if they are given a less important role. For example, a teenage film may have a drama of the teenage female becoming pregnant which I can look at in 17 Again.

* Representation:

- Are teenage females represented as sexual objects? This can be seen through the use of teenage females clothing in movies and whether they are mainly used as having the attractive role in the film to attract teenage males. For example, Mean Girls and Superbad.

- Are teenage females represented as needing to be rescued and need someone to rescue them at all times? I can look at if teenage females are being rescued and if this is a common pattern in teenage films.

- Are teenage females represented as not having an interest in education? Do females only care about looking good and being popular in school? For this I can look at the films Mean Girls and High School Musical and see whether females are being represented as not having an interest.

* Audience:

- A mass audience can be attracted which will mainly happen if females are shown as sexual objects as a teenage high school film does not mainly apply to males such as Mean Girls would not apply to males whereas a film such as Superbad will. The audience can be both males and females depending on the genre of the film.

- A primary audience from the ages 12 - 16. This will apply to films such as Mean Girls and High School Musical as it is more comedy and based on attracting a young audience. The secondary audience of teenage films will be 17 - 21 as this will apply to students who are either in college or university. For example, Superbad will attract this audience and so will American Pie: Band Camp (2005).

- The socio-economic class that will be attracted to these kind of films will be students mainly who can be unemployed and can b employed too. This connotes that mainly students may be attracted due to the film being related to them.

* Institution:

- Many different institutions will be looked at in order to find out this point and see whether females are being stereotyped negatively or not.

- The institutions that can be looked at are Walt Disney, Columbia Pictures and many more. This will help me compare the way that different institutions are representing teenage females.

- The institution will hold a important factor in the way that teenage females are represented due to different institutions portraying teenage females differently. For example, Walt Disney may represent teenage females as innocent whereas Columbia Pictures may represent teenage females as bimbos which shows that it depends on the institution.

* Narrative:

- Teenage films will mainly have a narrative of teenage drama so for example, this may involve teenage pregnancy, teenagers taking drugs and teenage gangs. This will look at how teenage females are being represented today which will reflect in movies.

- The narrative can also be looking at females trying to become popular within school and not have an interest in education. This will also relate to females today because of this being the case with some females today. This connotes that females are more interested in making themselves look good and become popular rather than focusing on education. For example, Mean Girls.

- Another narrative can be looking at females being sexual objects and interested in gaining a boyfriend and losing their virginity to boast to friends to gain popularity which can be shown in some movies.

How my critical investigation && linked production links to SHEP . . .

* Social - This will be a sociable point as this will be something that will be popular in the media as if there is a lot of negative stereotypes of teenage females in movies and newspapers it will relate to a moral panic and relate to people becoming worried about female teenagers.

* Historical -This will be a historical factor as it is not something that has been present in the past as there was not many underage pregnancies in the past which shows that attitudes and beliefs have changed over time as female teenagers are a issue now.

* Economical - This will be a economical factor as this is based on how it will be funded and distributed and we will be producing a documentary that is low budget and will be using low budget areas and equipment.

* Political - This will be a political factor as it is quite a important issue as if for example there are more underage pregnancies, it will result to there being underage parents which will make it a political factor.

The issues and debates that relate to my critical investigation && linked production . . .

*Representation - This is because I will be looking at how female teenagers are represented in movies and whether they are represented negatively of positively and whether the representation is realistic or not.

* News and different realities - This relates to my critical investigation as I will be able to look at newspapers in comparison to movies and see whether teenagers are being represented in the same way as in movies.

* Who controls the media: audience or producers - This issue and debate will relate to my critical investigation as it will involve looking at if female teenagers are beginning to behave the way that they are represented in movies. For example, if they are stereotyped as getting involved in teenage pregnancy, is it happening in reality which will mean that the producers are controlling the media.

The media theories that relate to my critical investigation && linked production . . .

* Gender theory - This relates to my critical investigation as I will be looking at only females and I will be able to see how females are in movies according to the gender theory. This relates to my critical investigation as is is based on theory and I will be looking at one gender.

* Audience theory - This will relate to my critical investigation as I will need to see how the audience is attracted to watch teenage female movies and whether it is because of a specific audience theory.

* Semiotics - This theory relates to my critical investigation as it involves studying the codes or languages and the signs from which they are made. This theory will relate to my critical investigation as I will need to see whether the codes shown connote something about teenage females. For example, portraying them negatively.

* Feminism and Post feminism - This theory relates to my critical investigation as I will be able to see whether females have progressed in movies and are now being given a better role and a importance in movies. This will mean that I will need to see whether feminism is taking place or post feminism.

This study fits into the contemporary media landscape because it is an issue which is recent as there is a lot of negative representation taking place in the media on teenage females such as teenage pregnancy, drug taking and etc. This would relate to many theories as it is something that is taking place now and is based on whether females are moving on from their past stereotypes and progressing in to becoming more individual and intelligent. This will make the study contemporary as it will mean that I will be looking at recent news on female teenagers and looking at how females are being stereotyped in movies.