Stereotypes in Teen Movies

Introduction

Motion pictures have become one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the world. They tell us stories that transport us away from our own lives if only for an hour or so. It is no surprise that teenagers and the youth attend movies more often than any other demographic in America. This fact reflects in the box office at the sheer amount of movies being produced that are targeted at teen audiences. Though most of these films may not be taken too seriously by the general public, I have found through research and observation that these movies may merit a deeper look. The messages being sent through these films are much deeper than one would suspect of a teen flick.  The most prominent way I have noticed these messages are presented is through the portrayal of characters and how each character is stereotyped.  Which leads to this question: What role do the portrayal of stereotypes in teen movies play?

In order to answer this question, one must first understand what a stereotype is. A stereotype, in the social sense, is defined as a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing (Oxford Dictionary). This could apply to many aspects of a person’s identity, whether it’s their age, gender, race, religion, political affiliations, or personal interests. In the case of teen movies, the most typical stereotypes involve gender, race, and personal interests. Not only that, but the actual stereotypes present in the film are essentially universal.

The answer to this question can also be found in the way one examines a movie of this particular genre. Because this genre of film is made in the form of a narrative, teen films can be examined as texts. In fact, in the late nineteen-sixties a group of high school English teachers headed by Gay E. Menges- the writer of the article that details their procedures entitled “Movies for Teens”, used movies in their remedial classes in place of literature in order to teach the subject.  They approached each movie from the actual narrative and took additional note of any choices the filmmakers took in lighting and set design to further analyze what the movie was trying to convey. The advantage in examining teen films in this matter is that the Teen Film is a set genre.

Just as with any other form of media, each genre has its own characteristics and qualities that define it from the rest. Teen movies, when broken down to their purest forms, focus on the issues of growing up. The situations presented in these films often mirror the struggles and fears teenagers and young adults face in the process of maturing into adults. In analyzing teen films, it is best to look at the story as a fable. The actions of the characters have a direct impact on the outcome of the narrative. This much is true for any movie, novel, or story that has ever been told. In the case of teen movies, they have become “how-to” manuals on circumnavigating the road to adulthood, with each film focusing in on its own lesson. 

Methodology

I began my research by using Jstor and came across a course outline by a film professor named Timothy Shary about teens and how they are portrayed in movies. This became my “base article” for a variety of reasons; it became the source of my initial question as well as a starting point for my article based research. In addition, this article proved helpful as it split teen movies into different subgenres which made some early genre analysis possible.

The next few articles I found were “Movie-going, "Home-leaving", and the Problematic Girl Protagonist of "The Wizard of Oz" by Ina Rae Harking, “Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film” by Carol Clover, and “The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family” by Pat Gill, which also dealt with youth and how they are portrayed in movies. These articles, however, introduced the idea of stereotypes in movies which aided in further shaping my question. These provided a couple of different angles with which to answer my question using horror movies and an example in the Wizard of OZ. Harking and Clover framed their claims through the lens of gender. They both examine how female stereotypes and gender roles are portrayed, and sometimes reinforced, through movies- horror in particular in Clover’s case. Gill’s article framed her claims from a more family-oriented angle. Not only did she examine how the teens were portrayed, but how the adults played into the story as well in both how they treated the(ir) children and what hand they may have had in creating the monster.

I used four pieces of primary sources of information. The first was an interview with Professor Robert Jones, a UCF professor of Film History. He answered my question from both a genre-based perspective and from the perspective of film in general. He mentioned how youths lack common sense and wisdom in certain genres, such as comedy and horror, while in others they are portrayed as capable and intelligent. The other form of primary research was reminiscent of Menges’s aforementioned classroom experiment. Just as Menges and his students broke apart movies as if they were literary texts, I examined three films of the Teen Movie genre that were either centered around or relied heavily on stereotypes. These movies were The Breakfast Club (1985), Mean Girls(2004), and Final Destination 3 (2006).

Contributions

After reading various articles and examining the three movies listed above I have concluded that stereotypes are used in two ways. The first is to reinforce the stereotype being portrayed. I find this to be particularly true when discussing gender roles.

In her article “Movie-going, "Home-leaving", and the Problematic Girl Protagonist of "The Wizard of Oz", Ina Rae Harking discusses how at the time of the film’s release, it was not expected- or socially acceptable- for a film (or any story regardless of the medium) about a journey outside of the home to have a female protagonist (Harking 28). Therefore it was imperative that Dorothy’s story followed the status quo. As a result, MGM Studios had to change the original story and render Dorothy’s journey to Oz nothing more than a dream (Harking 26). Throughout this movie, Dorothy is depicted as the typical young female; gentle and delicate, winding up in trouble whenever she decides not to follow orders. While she does possess a certain curiosity and willingness to stand up for herself and others, she is ultimately inept and in way over her head. When kidnapped by the Wicked Witch of the West, she is reduced to a sobbing damsel, doing absolutely nothing to attempt an escape. It is up to her three male companions to come save her.  During the climax when she kills the Witch, she does so by accidently splashing some water on her. Even in Dorothy’s strongest moments, she is still portrayed as weak and helpless. In order to further reinforce this social view of femininity, the entire point of her journey was nothing other than finding her way back to the safety of home and Auntie Em (Harking 28). As Harking puts it: “The girl’s coming-of-age story is about relinquishing the world outside the home.”

While the films geared towards teens today are nowhere near as restrictive when it comes to females, they still present a double standard for males and females, or rather for Masculinity and Femininity. In “Final Destination 3” and “Mean Girls”, the genderization of the characters has much to do with how sympathetic the audience finds them. In “Final Destination 3”, Wendy is the main protagonist. While she is biologically female, she tends to act in ways that are not completely feminine. She is portrayed as intelligent, cautious, and ready to take action in order to save her life and the lives of her classmates. Her sister, Julie, and two other girls, Ashley and Ashlyn, however, are much more feminine. These characters tend to be petty, airheaded, helpless, and bratty. The same could be said about “Mean Girls”. As the movie progresses, Cady Haron, the protagonist, goes from being mildly feminine to hyperfeminine. The ‘girlier’ she becomes, the less sympathetically she is portrayed until finally, she becomes exactly like the antagonist, Regina George. During the falling action, her actions become more masculine and with that regain masculinity comes redemption. The same thing actually happens to Regina George, who at the beginning is the epitome of femininity. At the end of the film, she too finds redemption after joining the girls’ lacrosse team. Both of these movies portray femininity in a negative light while promoting more masculine behaviors.

The second way in which the portrayal of stereotypes is used is to further the overall lesson of the movie. They are used more as storytelling tools than societal ones. This is true for all of the stereotypes portrayed throughout teen films.

Aside from gender, one is almost always guaranteed to come across eight specific stereotypes when watching and examining teen films. Mikaylah Murphy, a student of Communications and Media, sets up these stereotypes in a blog entry entitled “Character Stereotypes of the Teen Comedy Genre: Smells like Teen Stereotypes!” According to Murphy, the characters that reccur the most often are: The Cheerleader, The Ugly Pretty girl, the “Unattainable Jock”, The Nerd, the Token Black Guy, the Pretty Girl, the Prep, and the desperate virgin. As stated above, teen movies can be analyzed as modern-day fables with the character’s actions deciding the outcome.

The video clip above is from the horror parody “Scream”. In it, Randy Meeks illustrates how the actions of the characters ultimately decide their fate. In teen horror films, sin equals death.  In the film “Final Destination 3”, the two beauty queens, while kind to the main protagonist, exhibit a certain bratty-ness to their character. They are petty and stuck up when visiting the tanning salon in which they are doomed to parish. It is important to note that their actions- the refusal to comply with the salon’s ‘no drinks’ policy- plays a part in their demise shortly after. The petty attitude and vanity of these girls are their sin. In the same film, Lewis Romero, the jock, is approached by the main protagonist who is trying to warn him of his imminent death. He scoffs at Wendy, continuing to lift weights and proclaim his invincibility all the while. It is at the end of this prideful monologue that death indeed comes for him, in the form of his own weights. This scene gives a grizzly spin to the phrase “pride comes before the fall”.

These images are strong enough to teach that certain flaws can lead to your undoing, however, a deeper meaning can also be applied: you are your own worst enemy. While the sins perpetrated by these characters directly influenced their deaths, it can also be noted that overcoming these character flaws could have saved their lives. The enemy, in these cases, was not some external force. It was the very flaws within the characters, their inner demons that ultimately sealed their fate. The moral characters in these films are generally mature enough to recognize that their own actions have an impact on what happens to them, therefore they watch themselves. They keep their flaws in check and their wits about them as they work to stop the killer. They know they are not perfect and that one wrong decision could cost them their life. In a nutshell, it is their fight for survival that keeps them moral.

In this case, stereotypes are used to illustrate the different flaws found in human nature with each stereotype representing its own flaw. The Jock in these movies tends to symbolize pride, and the fate of the Jock is an example of what happens to those who are prideful. The same goes for the Beauty Queen, who tends to symbolize vanity and promiscuity. That’s not to say that being either vain or prideful will cause your untimely death, but that these characteristics are poison to one’s own personality and that one must recognize these flaws if they are to do anything about them, as is the case with the character portrayed as moral, who survives until the very end of the film (Spoiler Alert: this being a film about the inescapability of death, Wendy dies at the very end, demonstrating that even the good must die, but that is rather beside the point. What’s important is that she survives the longest.)

School-based films are the most common type of teen film. These movies, as the subgenre’s name suggests, focus on the various clichés and situations of school life. In these movies, stereotypes are split up and grouped together into cliques. Cliques are a cornerstone in the world of the school-based teen film as far as the actual adolescent characters go. In these films, parents, teachers, and other authority figures have stereotypes of their own. They are either The Oblivious; parents tend to fall into this category the most- prime examples being Mr. and Mrs. Bueller from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and to a certain extent, Principal Vernon from “The Breakfast Club”; or they are Overly Suspicious. This group is made up mostly of authority figures outside the home such as Principal Rooney, also from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, who is obsessed with catching Ferris and co. red-handed.  Finally there is usually one adult that the students view as sane, usually a teacher or a guidance counselor that tries to identify with them, such as the Janitor Carl from “The Breakfast Club”.

The main adversaries in school-based films are either students, teachers and authority figures, or a combination of the two. The cliques and stereotypes featured in these movies are exaggerated versions of the real-life stereotypes they are based on. These cliques are often times pitted against each other in pseudo-class warfare where each clique has a place on the social ladder. The Nerds and Geeks are usually at the bottom rung with the Jocks, Partiers, and Beauty Queens at the top.

What is interesting to see in these films are that those characters that belong to a low ranking clique are most commonly portrayed as more sympathetic, while those characters at the top are much more unlikeable. Those at the bottom are often bullied and ostracized by those at the top, who are only concerned about keeping their social status intact. If you look at this more closely, this could be illustrating the ways in which power can corrupt. The more status is obtained, the less humility and humanity the character tends to exhibit. Mean Girls is a perfect example of this. At the beginning of this movie, Cady Haron is without a label and without status. By the second act, she has been accepted into The Plastics, the top clique at the school. By the third act, she has dethrowned the Queen Bee and become vain and obsessed with power.  In this same movie, however, the lower ranking characters are equally as vengeful and petty as The Plastics, going to great lengths to humiliate them.  These nerdy characters, however, are after revenge as opposed to power. What I find much more interesting is how these cliques and characters evolve as the story progresses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzWh4sXZyYE

The video clip above is the audio track of the movie The Breakfast Club. The first part of the letter is read aloud by Brandon at the very beginning of the film. He describes how each character viewed the others based only on which clique they belonged to or which stereotype they filled. This can easily be applied to a number of other school films. The following is a similar clip from the movie Mean Girls which also takes place early in the film.

In both of these films, the cliques are established and their behaviors embellished within the first few scenes. By the end of these films, however, the way these characters see each other changes completely; hence the second part of the Breakfast Club letter. The same can be said about Mean Girls. Somewhere between the first scene and the final credits, these characters have learned that labels do not make a person. As the story goes on, one may notice how the intensity with which these cliques are portrayed diminishes as the characters learn more and more about one another, particularly in the Breakfast Club. This is done on purpose.

In these movies, the stereotypes are used against themselves and more as an educational tool than an actual characterization. They are merely there to establish the differences between the characters in a graphic, relatable way. Once that is done, they are slowly played down until they are only a minor part of the action. This is how stereotypes work to get the writer’s and director’s points across. It is a perfect illustration of the way all people, not just teenagers, interact with others.  It is not until the characters really talk to each other and listen that they can begin to see the person behind the label, just as it works in real life. Once the characters are interacting on an equal plane and begin to understand each other, the more they learn that their old way of thinking is a childish view of the world. They learn that in order to effectively communicate with others now and later in life, they must think and act differently from the way they did at the beginning of the movie; the way the movie suggests most adolescents act.

Conclusion

Stereotypes in teen films are nothing more than tools that filmmakers use to their own ends. The role they play is completely up to the masterminds behind the camera. Stereotypes in film can work either as medicine or poison depending on the person using them. While we discussed the roles stereotypes play in teen movies, it would be interesting to study the roles they in other genres geared towards broader audiences.