Gender Representation - By Henali

Gender has been a major issue in media, the reason for this is that males and females have been differentiated with the way they act and behave. This affects both the genders as this can stereotype each and every one of them. This is mostly done through media as the media portray these genders based on the way they see them. Gender can negatively affect the way an individual behaves as for example, if someone says all boys are strong, this will mean that they are indirectly trying to state that girl’s are weak. This can affect both genders negatively as if media portray men as strong, their ego may rise however they will also state that men should always go and work. Whereas, if a women is being called weak, media may represent all women’s being emotional. This can affect the way people see each individuals.

Mean Girls

From the opening of the film ‘Mean Girls’, we were able to witness the personality of the two genders as both male and female had different ways of showing their personality. For example, the way some girls are represented in the film ‘Mean girls’ gives the audience an insight that they don’t really have a say in anything which makes a girl emotional, this affects the way people see girls. The screenshot on the left hand side is an example of this. She is going to the bathroom; however the teacher doesn’t give her a pass to go. This shows that girl’s aren’t really treated nicely as they don’t allow permission for what they do. 

On the other hand, boys were seen through a negative view due to their behaviour towards girls. The media tries to portray and give the audience a hint that all genders do the same thing. The screen shot on the right shows the way the boy is being portrayed negatively.



Speak

 From the opening of ‘Speak’, the audience was able to see that the girl wasn’t really important as her mum told her that she doesn’t want to know anything. This is a major aspect of gender that is affecting the way an individual lives as both boys and girls get treated differently and unfairly. The screenshot on the left hand side shows how the girl is feeling when her mum just walks out without letting her give her explanation.

Adding to this, it is visible that boys always have a bigger role than girls. This is shown when the boy takes a picture of her and tells her the reason for why he is doing this. This once again suggests that girls don’t get many opportunities to have a say in anything as she doesn’t ask him why he’s taking her picture instead she just stands there looking at him. An example of this is in the screenshots below. 

All these elements link to a target audience, typical narrative as well as setting. The reason for this is that a typical setting of a teen drama film is a school as teens are still studying and most of their issues occur at school; this is shown in both the films ‘Mean Girls’ and ‘Speak’. Another aspect that relates to a teen drama film is a typical narrative. Narratives that are usually talked about in a teen drama film are issues that people have in school for e.g. bullying, relationship, and loneliness. These are the major narratives that are most likely to be on in a teen drama. From the film openings above, they both talk about the girls being all alone as they may be new to the school or people don’t get along with them. Lastly, the target audience is the most important in a teen drama film. The reason for this is that if they don’t have the right target audience, it can prevent people from watching the film. Due to this, film openings need to show who the target audience are so that people are aware of what films relate to them. This is shown clearly in both the film openings above as when both the film openings start, it starts the scene on the main character which are the teenagers.