REPRESENTATION

Representation is certain features or qualities and characteristics such as:
- Appearance ( dressing styles)
- The way they speak (quietly/ confidently ..)
- Attitude ( rude/show off/ tedious)
- IQ level
All these aspects are mostly highlighted and emphasised to create the typical characters which is very popular in teenage movies. Certain characteristics and featured constructed together end up resulting a stereotypical character which you will find in majority of the teenage movies and films.
 The most popular ones which are impossible to avoid are:

THE NERD:



- Big, thick glasses
- Out dated dressing sense
- Oblivious of their terrible sense of fashion and style
- Up-to date with every subject  in school
- Come backs with their responses are too intellectual and long to            understand.

THE MEAN GIRL:

- Dresses the most extravagant with the latest fashion style

- Has the adults wrapped around her finger

- Dates the hottest jock

- Short skirts

- Pink clothes

- Air headed, big headed

- blonde

THE JOCK:



- Is the best looking male in the movie
- Rich
- Dates the mean/popular girl
- Gets the lowest grades
- Nice car
- Always wears a baseball jacket

- Always has a group of boys and cheerleaders around him

- Ends up falling for the' perfect girl'


THE PERFECT GIRL:



- Naturally pretty
- Smart and innocent
- Bullied by the mean girls
- Always has one loyal friend
- Ends up falling for 'the jock'
- Puts 'the mean girl' in her place

  

BINARY OPPOSITIONS

BINARY OPPOSITIONS
The simplest way to define the term 'binary opposition' is when two opposites are shown on the same concept, this is very popular in teen films to emphasise the differences between the characters and themes, mainly between the central characters such as the jocks and nerds, 'goodies and 'baddies' etc.

 TWILIGHT:
In Twilight there are multiple examples of binary oppositions, one good example is the establishing shots of the two cities where Bella moves from Arizona to Folks. The Mise en Scene of both cities are completely contrasting to each other as the weather of Arizona is very sunny and green with the lighting very natural unlike the gloomy and cold city of Folks. The camera takes a wide shot of the two contrasting settings which picks up the obvious differences in the weather, it also gives the audiences a hint of the treason behind the significance of the binary opposition  of the two cities, it foreshadows the danger that lays ahead for Bella as she moves from the bright happy life in Arizona to the snowy, gloomy Folks hiding a dark secret. Another technique which emphasises the binary opposition is the Diegetic sound used when Bella is in Arizona of her voice- calm and quiet, but  deadly Non Diegetic sound is played when showing Folks emphasising the danger and drama that will be held in this dark city
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10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU

In this teen film there also numerous cases binary opposition is explored, one very good example is at the very beginning when a group of girly, perfectly groomed, dancing girls listening to pop live music in their open roofed car which totally contrasts to Kat pulling up in her own car while listening to different type of music- loud rock music (I don't give a damn about my reputation..') dressed in dark clothing with a miserable expression. The camera slowly pans across the screen from the group of girls in the first car to Kat which really emphasises the difference between them picking every detail.

The Bling Ring review

The Bling Ring Review

The Bling Ring is a film inspired by actual events, a group of fame-obsessed teenagers use the internet to track celebrities' whereabouts in order to rob their homes.

Main cast

Emma Watson as Nicki
Katie Chang as Rebecca
Taissa Farmiga as Sam
Israel Broussard as Marc

The class watched this film in lesson. However, due to me being absent I had to watch it at home which I did. Whilst watching I focused on the elements that portray a typical teen movie. I took notes on the characters, the setting, themes and topics explored in the film. I also compared this film to other cliche teen films for similarities and differences. The film is considered to be a teen film because it portrays the current lifestyle of teenagers in Hollywood. The film also holds a similar 'teen film' plot and characters which are easy to identify.

The clique in the film is like any other teen film. There is a bad girl and a mean girl, but instead of there being a nerd or a jock like there normally is in a teen film, there is a gay guy that is in the group. Instead of being a stereotypical teen film where there is a new girl joining a new school and fits in with a group that changes her look and personality. The makers of the film went against the idea and decided to make the boy the 'outcast' and have the group of girls bring him into their group. This film does differs from other teen films as the characters are portrayed in a different way and their 'look' and 'personality' do not fit the stereotypical teen movie characters so that possibly could have been difficult for the audience to identify who resembles what type of character at first.

However, The male character in the film is portrayed so much more differently than the stereotypical male characters that you find in a teen filmo. The usual male characters in a teen film are jocks and nerds. The jock is always a very good looking and confident guy who dates the prettiest girl at school and also has a lot of females wanting him. The nerd always wears clothes that are way out of fashion, wears big glasses and has braces. He is always the first to complete his work and is normally the smartest in the class However, in this film the guy is gay, an outcast and also very insecure about himself. The reason he's able to join the group of girls is because he has the same taste of fashion and style as them.

The plot and some themes and topics in this teen film is unique as I have not seen a teen film that has this type of plotline and some of the themes it explores. For example, the obsession of celebrities and the thirst for some of their money and fame. However, most of the themes in this film are very stereotypical such as: drinking, partying, drugs, etc. The locations were also very stereotypical: the school, a house, a party, etc.

I didn't like this film because it just isn't really my type of film, I found it quite boring and repetitive to watch as they would be stealing from a celebrities' home every five to ten minutes. The ending was very predictable as they were bound to get caught. Since this film was based on a true story, I guess they could not change the synopsis and the fate of the characters as it is vital to be as accurate as possible for it to be resembling a true story.

Genre and Conventions

A teen film is the genre of film targeted at teenage audience with plot lines based on stereotypical teenage interests, these interests stereo typically are to do with either sports, drugs and alcohol, partying and always going out with your friends.

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Teen films are made for teenagers and are movies that most teenagers can in some ways relate to, the typical teen movie has many different types of characters: the jock, the popular girls, the athletes, the geeks ect.. this is because the movie should be relocatable to a wide range of audiences and having many different types of characters result in having a higher chance of audience connection to the movie. Adults also watch teen movies, this maybe for the adults to find a way to re connect to there teenage years and feel young again.

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Teen movies have many different themes to them, some of these themes include romance, horror, drama comedy and musicals. The typical conventions of these themes are for the main character to overcome the obstetrical they face, an example of this would be the geek who is good at sports but not apart of the sports club becomes the main person at the sports club, the typical convention of a teen movie usually has some sort of reward at the end for the good people.

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The majority of teen movies have the stereotypical character list, this character list consists of the Jock/Cheerleader, the Nerd, the Outcast, the Reble, the Emo, the New person, the Class Clown, ect...

Teen movies all have typical conventional places that they are set in, these places usually tend to be the bedroom, the class room, the living room of someones house, the park, the cafe or a sports place like a football pitch or a dance rehearsal hall.

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The Bling Ring

Teen Films 

The Bling Ring 

The movie, The Bling Ring is a teen drama because the main characters were teenagers and the movie was based around them.
The movie also had conventions of typical teen movies which mad it more understandable that it was a teen movie, some of these conventions are; the movie started off in a school and it had the typical moment in the class and beside the lockers, it had a character that was an outcast at the beginning that then became popular, it also had cliques as many teen movies do and there were also scenes at parties which is a typical hang out place for teenagers in teen movies.
I think this movie reflected rebellious teens and also shows the materialistic sides that those teens in particular want; the movie is not a portrayal of all teens just the teens that are driven by materialistic goods.
The main members of the clique in this movie was the leader, who is the rebellious one and the outcast that would do anything to fit in. the clique in this movie were the rebellious type, this does not necessarily fit in with the conventions of the typical teen movie so the movie shows a new perspective of some teens.

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/the-bling-ring-gif

The movie is different to normal teen movies because it shows a side of teenagers that not all teen movies show and normally teen movies have a good ending but this shows that its not always a happy ending.
The boy in the film is first started off as the outcast and then he becomes popular, this is a typical convention of a teen drama, this has happened in many different teen movies such as mean girls, high school musical and camp rock.
The film portrays the consumers as greedy people that have a lot of wealth that they take for grant age, if they cared more about there properties they would not have made it extremely easy for teenagers to brake in and steel there stuff. The film also shows that social networking has a big influence on teens lives and that friend requests on facebook means more to some teens than moral values.
Overall the movie was a good movie that showed a very different side of teens that not all movies show and shows how much celebrates do not value there belongings,
I think they could make the movie better by showing a more clear ending because the ending was confusing and did not have a clear ending.

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/the-bling-ring-gif

Bling Ring Review

Bling Ring Review

The Bling Ring is an example of a teen film, this is because there are themes that you would find in a teen film such as love, friendships, cliques and teenagers and peer pressure. Also the settings where the film where filmed in such as the high school and the parties the Bling Ring visited. At the beginning of the movie the first character introduced is Marc who is an outsider and new to school then becomes friends with Rebecca who becomes the ring leader of Bling Ring.

Some of the conventions that make this film a teen drama is very materialistic and focused on fashion and clothing rather than the wider world. Marc and Rebecca who are two of the main characters attend a school where teenagers have been kicked out of mainstream schools. In the film Marc becomes reluctant after breaking into homes however Rebecca tells him its ok to go on a robbing spree so Marc is feeling very peer pressured, this is one of the problems that most teenagers face nowadays. As the film goes on Rebecca wants to constantly break into a-list stars homes, because she like fashion and wants to be like them and she wants to be in the fashion industry breaking into the homes becomes a hunger for her. Fashion is an icon to many teenagers and living the high life of designer clothing and bags is a factor that teenagers battle nowadays. There is use of drugs in this film that is also a factor that teenagers battle. Marc and Rebecca form a clique with three other girls, they become very popular, this is very similar to the other typical cliques that you would find in a typical teen movie. For example the 'mean girls' who are popular at school who have the latest clothes and gadgets, the Bling Ring are the same they have the top designer clothes and jewellery and their friends around want to have that same lifestyle.

The film is very different to other teen films because in a typical teen movie there is always a happy ending, but this film shows that it not always a happy ending as they are all arrested and have to pay a fine for the damage they have caused. Marc in this film was an outcast but then became popular, this is a typical convention of a teen drama the outcast becoming popular. this has happened in other films such as Twilight, High School Musical ,Camp Rock and Mean Girls.
The film portrays social networking as a big influence to teenagers as they are constantly on different social networking sites and they can display their everyday life on these sites and have loads of friend request on these sites makes them look popular. The film also portrays that teenagers look up to celebrities as their role model and want to be like their favourite star or see them as a fashion icon and want to wear what the celebrities are wearing. 
I did not enjoy this film as I thought it was very repetitive, it was just them breaking into different homes of famous celebrities and it also did not have a happy ending like you would get in other films. This film was not your typical teen drama.

THE BLING RING REVIEW

THE BLING RING

'The Bling Ring' is a movie based on a real life event of robberies from celebrity homes, it was constructed into a teen film by making the main characters act in teenage years and establishing some scenes in a high school. This movie successfully reflects the the interest and dreams of teenagers brought up in this modern culture, it shows how teenagers these days are unbelievable obsessed with the lifestyle of celebrities and are materialistic, e.g- greedy for designer bags, money, labelled clothes etc.. It focuses on the the teenagers from a 'drop-out' school' who have struggled with their previous mainstream schools.

It also explores the use and dependence on drugs to relieve 'stress' and washes away the guilt.

 Just like every other teenage movie, this movie also consists  of a group of 'clique' - a group of four girls who are obsessed with designer labels. The leader of the bling ring gang - 'Rebecca' befriends Marc ( a self concious boy who wants to fit in) has him wrapped around her finger. This is very similar to 'The Mean Girls' - influencing the new girl to become like them -carefree, materialistic,etc..

 One of the ways this movie differs from other teenage movies is that it is actually a boy who is new to the school and falls under the influence of a group of just girls.Themes of robbery, drugs and money, even the relationship of friendship are all deeply explored but again, unlike majority of the other teenage movies, the reality and consequences of their greed is shown at the end resulting every member of the bling ring group sentenced to a number of years in jail and going their separate ways not feeling guilty at all.