seen from United States
seen from Iraq
seen from China
seen from Singapore
seen from Uzbekistan
seen from Iraq
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Canada
seen from India
seen from Argentina
seen from Philippines
seen from Russia
seen from China
seen from China
seen from Thailand
seen from Germany
seen from Brazil
seen from China
seen from Netherlands
This clip of Mean Girls portrays a stereotype of high school that is all too common. A stereotype of a hell hole where one wrong move can get a person annexed from the general population. However, this is not the case at Avondale and other student's seem the share the same opinion. We aren't incredibly cliquey and as a general rule, we are fairly accepting of new things and people.
Denby
Teen movies are filled with stereotypes. The jocks, the cheerleaders, the nerds; we are very familiar with these groups and can easily identify the characteristics are associated with them. But movies are known to exaggerate everything, and stereotypes are no exception. In teenage movies, the jocks and cheerleaders become unsympathetic demons that terrorize the nerds, that are helpless. Their pranks are unrelenting and over the top. Obviously, this is an exaggeration. In real life, most teenagers aren't single faceted; most of us are a hybrid of these stereotypes. The exaggeration of stereotypes in teenage movies is understandable, because otherwise there would be less conflict. If the jock wasn't bull-headed and stupid to an extreme, he wouldn't push the nerd to his breaking point, frequently demonstrated by mass murder in the movies listed by Denby. Movies will be movies; unrealistic and exaggerated things will always be entertaining.
This clip from The Wild One shows a perfect example of the bad boy/tough guy and his crew. The guy in the hat is the tough guy and he is trying to talk to the shy good girl who doesn't know what to say to him. His crew are the two guys in the leather jackets that come into the restaurant at the end of the clip.
Bring It On, is a classic high school steriotype movie. The Idea that the cheerleaders run the school, and that all they think about is cheering and men is ridiculous. This movie portrays cheerleaders as stupid, slutty girls who don't care about anything other than cheerleading.
The movie Carrie shows many high school stereotypes. There is the popular girl and her jock boyfriend, there are the outsiders, the teachers and the weird girl. By having these stereotypes, this movie is targeted to kids. Kids in middle school will think this is how high school really is, teenagers in high school will think this is how high school should be, and people out of high school will think this is how high school was. The purpose of this movie is to show how stereotypes can ruin school and the kids who attend it.
Conflict that we can relate to
Let's be real here, cliques in teen movies may be stereotypical and cheesy but we still have cliques at Avondale. So now, if we have cliques in our normal lives, why is it that we can't seem to get enough of teen movies that use them? The answer to that is simple: they present conflict that we can relate to. Human beings have always been drawn to conflict, whether violent or just gossip. What happens at school when a fight breaks out? Everybody goes and watches. It may be simple, but it's entertaining nonetheless. With that being established, high school cliques present a kind of conflict we can all relate to. We've all experienced cliques, whether noticeable or not; so when we see a movie about high school and cliques, it draws us in. Now, I'm not saying that the cliques are the only reason we watch these movies; all I'm saying is that they provide a dimension, a conflict, that we can all relate to, which make the movie a bit more appealing.
Disney Channel: the pinnacle of stereotypes.
High School Musical. Camp Rock. Lizzie McGuire.
Aimed at young teens, all of these movies and shows have had their fair share of stereotyping. The entire time the viewer roots for the main character or the "underdog" because they're supposed to be the most relateable. They see themselves in the character and see what they want out of our "high school career."
The most desired thing in each movie or show: to fit in.
In this clip from the first episode of Lizzie McGuire, she defines each person she knows by their stereotype. The group that they fit in and how she doesn't fit into any group. Lizzie and her friends are "social outcasts" but they desperately want to be accepted.
In the movie "Easy A" the producer, Zanne Devine, displays typical stereotypes of high school kids. However, she creates a high school girl who wants to demonstrate how gossip is wrong and how quickly it can spread. The audience of this movie is aimed at high school kids so they can understand how dramatic they are and how rumers can start and spread. The high school girl, Olive, is a great example of how high schoolers should stand up against the spread of rumers and not get involved in other peoples buiness.
