Case Study: Representing the World

Representation in film holds a great impact on how a message or story is delivered. The way a production depicts, for instance, stereotypes affects what is being displayed and depicted. Making a character act or look more feminine, nerdy, or nervous can affect the representation.

The film Mean Girls tells a story of high school drama between the different cliques of an American high school. The representations of the stereotypical popular, jock, new kid, dorky, and nerdy students are exaggerated to show great differences between the people and to differentiate them just by their looks and how they speak. This representations reflect on me because I am a high school student where these cliques are present. These representations are accurate when it comes to the cliques but less accurate when it comes to clothing since most schools have a dress code. Additionally, the drama in this movie is told very dramatically since it attracts viewers but in reality, this drama would not arise this badly. It is most likely that an adult that perceives drama like this as foolish created these representations. Tina Fey is the creator of Mean Girls and is a female actress, writer, producer, and more who is known for her comedy. She is alike me since we are women who love comedy and her work is present since it is a comedy movie.

This magazine cover for Teen Vogue represents the young female population in an empowering and brave stance. It encourages young girls to speak up and be heard while showing two female celebrities on the cover that they may find inspiration from added with other familiar female names. These representations reflect me because I am young girl who is learning to speak up for myself and trying to encourage other girls too. These representations are accurate since there are people who are fighting to provide women with an equal voice as men. This cover was edited by women including the two models, Rowan Blanchard and Tara Shahid, and the deputy editor Ella Ceron. It is someone like me in a way that I am a woman who encourages other women to speak up for themselves.

The hit tv show Gossip Girl takes place in the Upper East side of Manhattan, New York which is the rich side of the city. The characters in the show are either placed in the upper class or lower class with the way their home looks, the clothing they wear, and how they interact with each other. The tv show depicts the rich, posh teens as luxurious, spoiled, and dramatic while the average, commoners who are not rich are simple people in an expensive city but deemed as poor. Though there is a breakdown with the New York, rich, and spoiled stereotype when it comes to some characters such as Serena who is caring. This representation does not reflect me as much as the other two since I am not living in New York or go to a rich private school but I am also a high school student. The representation of these rich and poor characters is accurate since there are rich teens in New York who are spoiled and some less. The tv show is based on a book by Cecily von Ziegesar, but made into a tv show by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage. They are not like me since I have no personal experience or knowledge on New York High School living.