Representations of Teenagers in TV Teen Dramas

Representations are one of the key concepts of media studies. It is central concept when looking at people and places within media texts. A representation refers to how those people and places are portrayed or depicted to the audience. When discussing representations are positive or negative and whether they contain any stereotypes, it is also important to consider who produced the representation and whether they have influenced it in any way.

• Stereotypes are ideas that people have which rely on preconceived ideas about a person/ people or a place

è  These preconceived ideas can arise from a variety of places – parents, teachers, friends and the media

• Sometimes stereotypes can become so entrenched in your mind that you believe them to be common sense – you think that everyone believes the same as you

è  For example: all blondes are stupid

• Using stereotypes saves a lot of explanation within a text but it can be seen as a  very lazy method of characterisation
• It can be dangerous and have a negative impact on society – encourage audiences to think large groups of people are all the same and often have the same negative characteristics as what the media text shows
• It is possible to have positive stereotypes

è  For example: English teachers are good at spelling

• Stereotypes help the audience to become engaged with the media text – they are able to relate to the scenarios the stereotyped character is in 

The following information was taken from another media fact file.

Stereotypes of teenagers

Stereotyping has been occurring since the early involvement of teenagers in films and programmes, more specifically from around the 1950’s. Young people have suffered greatly from these single-dimensioned representations and are repeated over a variety of media platforms.

The four main stereotypes of teenagers:
Juvenile Delinquents

• Out of control and on the path of self destruction
• Often become involved in crime, drugs and indulge in immoral sex
• They are usually brooding, selfish and extremely self-confident
• Tend to become alienated from their parents and peers due to their behaviour
• The extreme of this stereotype is ‘teen apocalypse’ who are portrayed as being bored who often act violently to a situation

Superficial Teen

• Usually taken in by unimportant school-related problems – playing taunt, avoiding attentions and attending prom with their dream date
• They are able to manipulate their foolish parents and teachers easily
• Tend to get their own way in the end
• Often learn a valuable life lesson (with the help of a sympathetic and understanding parent) – being true to themselves or learning to respect others

Dumb Teens

• Portrayed as abusing a numerous amount of drugs or socially awkward but are always idiotic
• Do not fit in with their peers
• Choose to live according to their own beliefs
• Bullied by others

Sarcastic, Self-aware but Bitter teenager

• Distinctively sarcastic
• Undermine other teenagers
• Resentful of the care they receive as a result of being young

Case Study: Awkward

Awkward is an American teen comedy series, created by Lauren Lungerich for MTV. The shows main character is Jenna Hamilton, played by Ashley Rickards, a teenager who struggles with her identity and especially after an accident is misconstrued as a suicide attempt.

Premier dates
The first series premiered on July 19^th 2011 but later on in August 2011 MTV renewed the series ready for the second season. The second season was aired on June 28^th 2012 at 10:30pm. The following year Lauren Lungerich announced she will be exiting the show after the production of season 3. The rest of the third season began airing on October 22^nd 2013.
After the exiting of Lauren two new show runners took over, named Chris Alberghini and Mike Chessler. The fourth season of the show was then premiered in April 2014.

MTV
The ideology of the institutions which produces or finances a text will influence the representations within the text. Awkward was made by Music Television (MTV). The channel is based in Los Angeles, CA and is subsidiary of Viacom Inc. It was launched in August 1981 and was originally to play music videos guided by television personalities known as ‘video jockeys’.
Their main target demographic was young adults but now their programming is primarily targeted at adolescents and teenagers.
Figures show that as of August 2013 approximately 97,654,000 American households receive MTV.

Awkward and its audience
After research I found that the series primary target audience is between the ages of 13 – 25. However, when the DVD box set was released in February 2013 it had a BBFC (British Board Film Classification) rating of 15. In attempt to gain popularity the series producers created a Twitter account which provides the audience with sneak peeks of the next series and other advertising techniques.

MTV has created an ‘Awkward’ official website page (click here). The website includes:

• Last season’s full episodes
• The fifth season’s release date (Tuesday, 23^rd September)
• The programmes trailer
• ‘How far we’ve come!’ – Each character has done a video explaining their journey throughout filming and producing the programmes.
• Sneak peeks of what is to come in the next season – ‘the cat is out the hat’ makes the audience ask questions which makes them want to watch the episode to find out
• A synopsis

Stereotypes of Teenagers in Awkward
It is clear that the superficial teen is the main character, Jenna Hamilton. This is because her character portrays the characteristics which apply to this teenage stereotype. Firstly, she is able to effectively manipulate her parents for example initially her parents say she is not allowed to date her love interest, Matty McKibben, but with her skilful influence her parents later decide to let her and Matty be a couple. Furthermore throughout the series there is one main character that looks over her like her guardian angel this is the hopeless teacher, Val Marks. However, Jenna takes this for granted as she doesn’t appreciate her advice and simply has a bad attitude towards her.
Another characteristic of this stereotype is eventually learning a valuable life lesson. Later on through the seasons Jenna realises that her parents have never turned their back on her and have never alienated her, no matter what trouble she brings. Following on from this, Jenna successfully gets the chance to accompany Jake (her dream date at that time) to prom.

Nevertheless Jenna could also be classed as being the juvenile delinquent teenager. For a few episodes Jenna erupts into an out of control, self-destructive teenage girl who turns to drugs to solve her many problems. As a result of this she finds herself with no friends and a disappointed and mostly heartbroken family.
click here to see Jenna's abnormal personality

Following on from this I believe that Sadie Saxton is classed as being the juvenile delinquent teenager because she walks around with an attitude that portrays her as being cocky, self-confident and as though she owns the school. It is clear throughout all the seasons she envies Jenna for having a relationship with her dream date, Matty. Although her attitude is consistently negative the audience builds empathy for her as they soon learn that her attitude is based on how she is treated at home. Her mother is in a relationship with a younger man and end up alienating Sadie, for example constantly going on holiday and leaving her at home or pushing her out of the house so she and her boyfriend can have the house to themselves.

Sadie soon finds herself in a relationship with Austin, who is socially inept, and with no advice her relationship turns into a complete disaster as it becomes based on lies and sex.

The two following clips show completely different sides to Sadie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpAXga-5UF8 – audience builds sympathy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWW3iTHeefI – audience builds hatred 

Finally the dumb teen is Sadie’s so called best friend, Lissa (played by Greer Grammer). She relies heavily on Sadie and the audience can tell that Sadie means a lot to her. However, Sadie takes her commitment to her for granted by continuously tutting at her, rolling her eyes at her and forcing her to do her dirty work that Sadie simply can’t be bothered to do. Lissa is a character that represents stereotypical blondes, for example being dumb.

In reference to my opening title sequence this fact file has helped me to gain an understanding on how teenagers are represented in TV dramas. It is clear that after reading this, teenage stereotypes are very common and popular therefore I have decided to use stereotyping in my opening title sequence as this will make the audiences able to relate to the characters and get up to date with the narratives if they have missed the first few episodes.