There is a very common idea in the media that is represented in a lot of films and television programs. An idea that affects the way teenage girls think about themselves, think about others and present themselves to others. This idea is that teenage girls must change who they are and what they look like in order to get the guy.
In many different media texts in this decade and previous decades, a main idea that has been shown is that in order for the girl to get the guy she must change who she is in order to meet his expectations and wants. An example of this idea is in the 1978 American Musical film "Grease", set in the 1950's.
The film "Grease" is about a teenage girl called Sandy Olsson and a teenage boy called Danny Zuko who had a summer romance over vacation. At the end of Vacation they both didn't think they'd ever see each other again. However, good girl Sandy moves to a new school; coincidentally the school of bad boy Danny. At the pep rally Sandy and Danny see each other for the first time since vacation and unfortunately for Sandy, Danny isn't the same boy she met at the beach. He tries to put on a persona and 'bad boy' image in order to please his friends "The t-birds". Sandy can't understand why Danny isn't the sweet and loving boy she once knew.
"What happened to the Danny Zuko i met at the beach?"
"Well I do not know, maybe there's two of us. Why don't you take out a missing person's ad or try the yellow pages, i don't know."
"You're a fake and a phony and i wish i'd never laid eyes on you!"
As the film continues we see how the people in the film; Danny's and Sandy's friends, come in between their relationship and how the two of them react to this peer expectation. At the end of the film Sandy conforms to what Danny wants her to be in order for them to be in a happy relationship and also in order to please both her friends and his.
In the film both Sandy and Danny change/conform in order to meet the expectations of others, however Sandy is the one who changes from on extreme to another, in comparison to Danny who is constantly throughout the film trying to act with two different personas in order to please different people.
Sandy changes in order to be the one that Danny wants, re-iterated by the song "You're the one that i want" sang by both Sandy and Danny and the rest of the cast close to the end of the film after Sandy has had her makeover and personality change.
This is a great example of the media expectation of teenage girls changing in order to get the guy because in a lot of media texts (not just Grease) this same idea is portrayed, telling teenage girls that in order to get the guy, they must conform to what the media and society believes to be beautiful, sexy and desirable because a lot of teen girls believe that the majority of teen boys think that this is the way us girls should be.
It's true, teenage boys are being told my the media everyday that teenage girls should look and be a certain way and this is what is causing teenage girls to change who they are in order to get the boy.
Sandy see's and believes that Danny needs and wants a girl who is confident, fierce and independent due to what she is constantly seeing around her. All of her friends and the girls who flirt with Danny such as Cha-Cha DiGregorio (Danny's ex-girlfriend) are all very confident, flirty and desirable according to the boys at her school and so Sandy believes that this is the way that she should be in order to get the attention from her true love Danny.
This is very similar to Teenage girls in the 21st century today as we are constantly seeing images of other teen girls and even early 20 year old girls in the media; television programs, films, magazines etc. and it makes us believe that in order to be liked, in order to be popular and in order to get the guy we must look, think and act in a certain stereotypical way. The way in which the majority of teenage girls are portrayed in the media.
Another example of where the idea of "The girl must change in order to get the guy" is displayed in the music video "You belong with me" by Taylor Swift.
The video is all about Taylor who is a sweet and innocent teenage girl who is different to what the media usually presents as "beautiful". She wears big glasses, faded and dull clothes and wears her scraggly hair either down the front of her shoulders or up in a rough pony tail.
Throughout the video Taylor is singing to her love interest trying to tell him that even though his current girlfriend is what everyone deems to be pretty, popular and desirable; Taylor is the one who truly knows him and even though she is a bit different and less popular than his current girlfriend, he would be better off with her rather than with the popular school cheerleader.
"She wears high heels, I wear sneakers. She's cheer captain and i'm on the bleachers; dreaming 'bout the day when you wake up and find that what you're looking for has been here the whole time".
This music video at first seems to be omitting a very positive message because it is giving teenage girls the idea that just because you are "pretty" desirable and popular doesn't mean that you are perfect and that everyone is in awe of you and that being different is okay. This is especially shown in the video just before the school prom when the boy holds up the sign that says "wish you were" as in saying to her that he really wishes she was going to the prom. This makes teenage girls believe that even if they are different and not what society and the media defines as "beautiful", you are beautiful in your own way, you are not abnormal and that you are desirable and wanted.
However this all changes in the last minute of the video where Taylor changes what she looks like in order to please the guy. Taylor turns from a smart-looking, casual girl into a completely different person with long flowing hair, a long white dress and no glasses. Taylor's character changed who she was in the video in order to be the girl that she believed the guy wanted, and it worked. At the prom, the boy is in awe of how she looks and it even results in them kissing at the end of the video.
When they both show each other the "I love you" signs that they wrote for each other before the prom we know that he loved her before she changed however it still shows the idea of teenage girls changing who they are in order to get the guy because she changed before she knew he liked her and so shows that she was willing to change herself to look more like the popular girls around her in order to attract his attention.
This music video affects teenage girls in a very conflicting way. Although it shows that he liked her even though she was different and not popular, it still shows that in the end she had to change in order for them to be together. If she hadn't changed how she looked they probably still would have ended up as a couple, however the fact that she does change shows the teenage girl audience that in order to impress and get the guy, you must change who you are and what you look like. In the video, Taylor thought she needed to change in order to be with the boy she loved, giving teenage girls the same idea that perhaps they need to change in order to get the boy they love, even if unbeknownst to her, he likes her just the way she is.
This music video also has a great affect on the wider society; especially teenage boys. The video gives teenage boys the positive idea that just because a girl is popular, pretty and desirable, doesn't mean that she will make a good girlfriend. It shows boys that behind the beauty is personality and if that personality isn't as beautiful as who she is on the outside then she is not worth their time. It also shows teenage boys that sometimes the most beautiful girls (inside and out) are the one's that society and the media doesn't deem to be beautiful and perfect; just like Taylor in this video. However, on the negative side it does show teenage boys that eventually the girl will change in order to be with you, perhaps making some teenage boys believe that teenage girls should change and act in a certain way according to what the guy wants her to be. This makes teenage girls feel even more insecure because of this high expectation and have even more of a need to change who they are in order to fit this expectation/stereotype.
This music video also gives the wider society the impression that all teenage girls are insecure and shy when it comes to their love interests and are desperate to change who they are in order to meet the expectations of others. This puts an overall stereotype on teenage girls to be insecure and longing to be someone who they are not. This stereotype negatively affects those teenage girls who aren't so greatly affected by the media and are happy with the person that they are.
This music video also gives the wider society the impression that all teenage girls are insecure and shy when it comes to their love interests and are desperate to change who they are in order to meet the expectations of others. This puts an overall stereotype on teenage girls to be insecure and longing to be someone who they are not. This stereotype negatively affects those teenage girls who aren't so greatly affected by the media and are happy with the person that they are.
We keep seeing the idea of "the girl must change in order to be with the guy" in the media because it is what sells the media texts. When we see an underdog in the media such as Sandy in Grease and Taylor in the music video we automatically want them to succeed in their goal; which is getting the guy.
When it comes to the end of the text (i.e. film and music video) and we see the underdog get the guy we automatically feel really happy for them due to them accomplishing what they set out to do. A lot of us don't notice the fact that the girl has gone completely out of her way and against who she was in order to be someone that she is not. This becomes a sub-conscious idea that we take from the texts and so when we see this idea more and more in many media texts it starts to become a strong and believable idea in the mind of a typical teenage girl.
This underdog concept is also used in the music video in order to attract sales. Teenage girls are more inclined to buying music that they can relate to and sing at the top of their lungs with a lot of passion and emotion. 'You belong with me' is one one those songs as teenage girls can sing it and express how they feel about the guy they like. However, every time the song is played, the music video and ideas of the music video (i.e. changing in order to get the guy) subconsciously plays in the teenage girls mind causing them to subconsciously believe that they must too change in order to get the boy that they love.
The fact that Taylor changes from a nerdy, smart and non-popular girl to a beautiful, perfect and desirable girl over a very short period of time is practically impossible for the majority of average teenage girls, hence this beauty is unattainable. From watching this video teenage girls may try to change who they are and what they look like in order to get the guy they like. If they don't end up achieving society's definition of beautiful or the guy they like doesn't take much notice of them, this could be quite distressing and discouraging. The teen girl might start being self conscious believing that no matter what she does and no matter how much she changes, she can't be beautiful and she can't be noticed like Taylor.
The omission of Taylor's character in the video can make teen girls feel as if they are normal and not alone because the character is very relatable, however when Taylor get's the guy, teenage girls are inclined to believe that they too will straight away get the guy. When this doesn't happen, these teenage girls can feel even more alone than ever before because someone (Taylor) who they thought was just like them, is just like everyone else, more successful, pretty and desirable.
IMAGES FROM:
http://cf.drafthouse.com/_uploads/galleries/2201/grease03.jpeg
http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/20400000/Sandy-Danny-grease-the-movie-20408689-1200-813.jpg
http://yesteryearremembered.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Annette-Charlies-Cordona-Cha-Cha-Grease.jpg
https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSD9e7f- DuIGqbDQN80XLV_acZGUCR8Tz0Qf5u1MsjQZX0A6Po_vAhttps://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTxrX46O2_iXJkAjKzJGEoU1TFSwvjio9VoQuLOPUHfQrx-n6VF-Q
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