Representation - Teenage stereotypes

Stereotype (brief definition):

'a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing'.

Are teenagers represented in a fair way in the media?

Find a variety of images representing the  typical teenager. Is it easy to find positive images or are most of them negative? What are the reasons for this?

Research Task:

1. Collect a range of images (at least 10) of teenagers, both positive and negative. Make a mood board or poster using these images. (use Photoshop). Print out and stick in your book.
2. Find three news articles which involve teenage stars. Copy and paste the headline and relevant text from these. Print out and stick in your book.

Using these images and articles as your evidence, answer the following questions:

• What you think the key stereotypes are that teenagers have to cope with? 
• Do you think these are fair or not? 
• In your opinion are teenagers represented accurately in the media? Give reasons for all your answers.

Extension Task:

Can you think of anywhere in the media where teenagers are presented in a really positive light. 

Add this to your work to try and balance your argument about teenage stereotyping.

The Amazing Spiderman - Oscorp Tower Fight Scene

The Amazing Spiderman - Peter's High School Life

Analyse this clip using the same criteria and terminology that you employed on the scenes from The Hunger Games here.

This clip is shorter and more action packed - so it should be quicker and easier to do.

Remember to include details on the representation of Peter Parker as a teenager.

The Hunger Games - Forest fire scene

Analyse this clip using the same criteria and terminology that you employed on the Reaping scene here.

This clip is shorter and more action packed - so it should be quicker and easier to do.

The Hunger Games - Reaping scene

Hunger Games – Reaping Scene YR10

Representation of teenagers in action films

You have one lesson to complete this task (period 1 Monday 16th January). You should be able to complete at least one female and one male representation. Students who fail to do so will receive a detention.

• Think about the representation of teenagers in action films (e.g. Maze Runner, Divergent, Spiderman, The Hunger Games etc). 
• Are the representations stereotypical or not? Offer examples from any films you can think of.
• Think about how male and female representations differ. Write down some of the differences from the films you have seen.
• Is there anything in particular that you notice about the representations?
• Do this work in your books - illustrate with images.

In The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen is represented as being very resourceful. One example is that she is highly skilled at climbing trees. This helps her numerous times in the film, most notably when she flees from Cato's group whilst injured. She has the sense to tie herself to the branch so that she won't slip and fall if she drifts asleep. This shows the audience she is adept at surviving outdoors and that she should be taken seriously by the other competitors in the Hunger Games.

This should be one of many things you could write about Katniss. You need to do this, or similar for all the characters you write about. Some characters will require less detail than others depending on how important they are to the plot of the film.

10W - Work to do

Do the following:
Finish the 'What are the codes and conventions of Action Adventure Film?' task by the end of this lesson.
If this is unfinished then complete for homework (It's already on SMHW).
If you finish, move on to the extension task.

Extension task:

• Think about the representation of teenagers in action films (e.g. Maze Runner, Divergent, Spiderman, The Hunger Games etc). 
• Are the representations stereotypical or not? Offer examples from any films you can think of.
• Think about how male and female representations differ. Write down some of the differences from the films you have seen.
• Is there anything in particular that you notice about the representations?
• Do this work in your books - illustrate with images.

In The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen is represented as being very resourceful. One example is that she is highly skilled at climbing trees. This helps her numerous times in the film, most notably when she flees from Cato's group whilst injured. She has the sense to tie herself to the branch so that she won't slip and fall if she drifts asleep. This shows the audience she is adept at surviving outdoors and that she should be taken seriously by the other competitors in the Hunger Games.

This should be one of many things you could write about Katniss. You need to do this, or similar for all the characters you write about. Some characters will require less detail than others depending on how important they are to the plot of the film.

Representation Mood Board

This week your lessons are with Miss Marvin (Monday period 1) and Mr Ford (Wednesday period 5)

In Miss Marvin's lesson you will continue with the creation of a mood board which represents YOU. In Mr Ford's lesson you will finish the mood board. 

The rules

A MINIMUM of 20 images MUST be included.

Categories you could cover are:

• Food
• Fashion
• Music
• Sport
• Celebrities
• Films
• Games
• Hobbies

Open an A3 page in Photoshop and get started (alternatively you can collect the images on a word doc. - print them out and stick them in your exercise book). Remember a good mood board has no gaps.

YOU HAVE TWO LESSONS TO FINISH THIS TASK.