Should you have to change you you are in order to get the guy?

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. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuNIsY6JdUw 

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. 

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_vA
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTxrX46O2_iXJkAjKzJGEoU1TFSwvjio9VoQuLOPUHfQrx-n6VF-Q

Magazines are a form of media purchased and read every minute of every hour of every day. So it’s obvious that the things written, advertised and shown in these magazines will affect its readers, generally being teenage girls. The ideas we see in magazines can affect how we think, act and behave due to the ideas of what we should act like, look like and enjoy doing.

Crème magazine is a New Zealand made magazine, disbursed around New Zealand and exported to some parts of Australia. Crème magazine is marketed and designed to attract the preteen girl (8-12 years) and young teenage girl audience (13-15) to buy the magazine and enjoy the information/pictures inside. In order for the magazine to attract this audience, the ideas/images the editor must decide carefully as to what goes into the magazine.

On the front cover of the magazine we have the cover girl, 20 year old Selena Gomez. Selena is most commonly recognised and associated with being an actress on Disney programmes and films such as “Wizards of Waverly Place” and “Princess Protection Program”, being a singer (with the majority  of her songs being played on Disney channel) and perhaps most widely recognised by teenagers for being the ex-girlfriend of pop singer ‘Justin Bieber’. Selena is of a Latin background and on the cover has light-tanned unblemished skin and long straight dark brown hair with blonde/light brown highlights.
She’s wearing a bright yellow shirt which connotes to fun, youth, happiness, summer and beauty and big colourful jewelry which connotates to glamour, fun, beauty and money.
These ideas, images and connotations attract the pre-teen and young teen girl audience to purchase and read the magazine.

On the cover of the magazine, Selena has been made to look younger than she actually is because younger celebrities will attract the pre-teen/teenage girls more easily to buy the magazine because these girls feel that they can relate more  to a younger celebrity and it seems more attainable to be like someone who is closer to your age in comparison to someone who is older.

 There is constant repetition of girls with blonde/brunette hair, blue eyes and flawless skin with only slight deviation in the stereotype such as braces. However, these deviations are covered up/fixed through the use of aspects such as heavy make-up, even if the girl being portrayed is supposed to be a pre-teen.

A lot of the main stories (displayed on the front of the magazine) were based around celebrities and music. Advertised are interviews with Selena Gomez, Fall Out Boy and Jamie McDell, posters (which are mainly of singers/bands) and quizzes such as "Which One Direction song is your life?" It is clear from these main stories that Creme magazine are trying to target people who are interested in music, celebrities and what those celebrities are doing in their lives. There is also a main story called "Babe Alert: Austin Butler". Some of the articles and Stories inside Creme magazine can be read and enjoyed by both genders however the majority of the stories in the magazine are gender specific towards females with a lot of makeup and clothes only for girls.
Also, the slogan of the magazine is "a girl's best friend" so it becomes clear that the magazine is targeted at teenage girls rather than teenage boys. Although, this isn't anything to be looked down on because the magazine makes it very clear that it is a magazine for girls. If the magazine had no obvious show that the magazine was uni-sex it would be quite worrying that the majority of the magazine is very girly and feminine but since the slogan explains it very clearly, it isn't too worrying.

Even though there are images of both teenage boys and teenage girls in the magazine, there is a very clear sexual preference with articles about love and relationships talking only about heterosexual relationships. The "Babe of the month" article that appears in every issue of Creme Magazine is always male and so for teenage girls who are bi-sexual or homosexual, this could make them feel very isolated, alone and sad. When we don't see people in the media who we can relate to, it doesn't boost our self esteem in any way at all because we feel as if we are the only one who looks, thinks or acts in this certain way.

Inside the magazine i found that there were approximately 36 advertisements of all different kinds.
The majority of them advertised aspects of make-up, clothing and jewelry  in comparison to other categories such as skin care and technology. A lot of the advertisements about beauty were a part of articles called "how to get their look" (advice on how to look like your favorite celebrity) with products that teenage girls can buy (i.e. lipstick, foundation) in order to look like a specific celebrity.

 The repetition of such articles and advertisements  tells young girls that they should strive to look like these celebrities and strive to meet the latest trends/fashions. This can be quite worrying because it's telling girls that they should be strongly focused on how they look (even at a preteen age) and constantly comparing themselves to celebrities who have lots of money which has allowed them to buy the expensive clothes and have their hair and make-up done everyday. Also, a lot of the celebrities and models in the magazines have been heavily photo shopped and airbrushed to a point where that 'beauty' that they 'possess' is completely unattainable, giving teenage girls the wrong impression that this photo shopped image of a girl is normal and that if you don't look like the girls in the magazines you are abnormal and not beautiful.

If the articles and stories in the magazine weren't about how to look like your favorite celebrity, they were about music stars (and interviews with them), embarrassing moments (sent in by readers of the magazine), how to deal with problems in your life and how to become the best person you can be in terms of your dreams and ambitions. An example of an article inside the magazine is titled "So you wanna write a book". This article gives practical advice for teenage girls who are interested in writing their own novel one day. There is also another article in the same magazine that gives advice to an anonymous reader who asks for help due to the fact that she want's to be a famous singer but she doesn't believe that she can sing very well".
Both of these articles are examples of the many inspirational articles in the magazine which help teenage girls to be the best person that they can be and overcome problems/questions that they have in their lives.

However, it is key to notice that even though writing a book or being a singer are commended careers, there aren't any articles in this magazine, or in any other creme magazines as far as i know that give advice on how to become a doctor, lawyer or politician- careers which are highly commended but are occupied mainly by males rather than females. These type of articles (about doctors, lawyers and politicians) are not found in this magazine because it is not what many young teenage girls aspire to do. Not many young teenage girls believe they have the capacity to strive in a technical career and instead strive to sing, write or dance because it has been shown to them in the media that lots of young girls can be singers, dancers and writers at a very young age, giving readers of the magazine the aspiration of too being young and successful in this career. There is barely any representation of young women in the media with careers such as being a doctor, lawyer or politician, hence why a lot of young teenage girls can't see themselves being successful let alone able to compete in this career against their male counterparts.

The articles in creme magazine are quite light-hearted and positive due to the fact that this magazine is aimed at young girls from the ages of 8-15 years old. They are based on the idea of being the best girl you can be; confident, successful and happy. In other magazines such as Cleo, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and perhaps even Girlfriend, the articles are targeted at a slightly older teenage audience and therefore are different in context. These articles consist of information about anything from life, success and beauty, to friendships, relationships and sex. Older teenage girls reading these magazines are definitely seeking to find information about these topics rather than what would be found in younger audience targeted magazines such as Creme. These articles are what sells each type of magazine; if the articles in, for example Marie Claire, were all about how to write a book or become a famous singer rather than relationships, sex, beauty e.t.c it would be less likely for the targeted audience to buy the magazine as what is presented doesn't interest the readers at all. As teenage girls get older they are more interested in magazine content about beauty, sex and relationships rather than embarrassing moments, musical stars and advice on how to be a good singer or book writer.

As the target audience's age increases, the messages, images and idea's displayed in the magazine are the same but slightly adapted and more extensive to appeal to the older audience.
The celebrities and models displayed in these magazines are exactly the same ages as the models displayed in magazines targeted for younger audiences such as Creme. However these girls are no longer portrayed to have connotations of youth, fun and summer but instead are portrayed to have connotations such as

There is still the constant repetition of girls with blonde/brunette hair, blue eyes, flawless skin and a very petite body however now the magazines are showing teenage girls that in order to be beautiful, desirable and perfect you must wear minimal and revealing clothing to show of your body to such an extent that there isn't much left to the imagination. The cosmopolitan magazine (above) has the sub-title on the front cover "Sexy at every size" however all of the women portrayed in every single one of their magazines all have the same recognisable and repeated features: thin, blonde/brunette, European and flawless. This is very hypocritical because even though they seem to be promoting individuality and beauty at all sizes, they don't practice what they preach. If the magazine displayed more images of girls of different ethnicities, backgrounds and body shapes/sizes there would be less pressure on teenage girls to try and be what the magazines are constantly omitting.

This constant representation of teenage girls in this way in magazines causes society to believe that all teenage girls act, look and think in this way. This can be very damaging to the overall image of teenage girls in our world today considering that the majority of women in these magazines have been photo-shopped and altered to a point where it is humanly impossible to look even slightly alike to the images.

In the above image, Katy Perry on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine has been photo shopped in more ways than one. The light has been altered, her stomach flattened, skin tone perfected, upper arms thinned, eyes become prominent and breasts enlarged. There was a lot of controversy over this magazine cover alteration to pop singer Katy Perry as in my opinion and the opinions of multiple others, she looks perfectly beautiful in the unedited picture, however the edited picture has been used because that is what sells the magazines and that is what we (as consumers) are used to seeing. When seeing this comparison picture it becomes quite shocking and we are almost outraged at the fact that a magazine could Photoshop a perfectly natural and beautiful woman to look like society's unattainable definition of "beautiful". 

However, what a lot of teenage girls don't realize, is that almost every single image in every single magazine has been photo shopped to perfect the image and sell the magazine. The fact that most teenage girls don't know the extent of which images are photo shopped in magazines, it causes them to believe that those girls in the images are normal and beautiful and if you don't look like that then you are not normal or beautiful in any way, shape of form because no one that looks like you is being shown in the media. When we don't see anyone similar to us in magazines i.e. with red hair, round face, frizzy hair e.t.c. we can automatically feel alone, like an outsider, ugly and abnormal. This is a very damaging idea considering that self esteem issues are one of the main causes of self harm. 

I also found it interesting to note that Katy is wearing only underwear on the front of a top selling magazine. Katy is adored by millions of young teenage girls who watch her every action, so to think that they would most likely see this magazine cover and want to look/be like Katy is very worrying. No wonder so many young girls are wearing provocative clothes, having self-esteem issues and editing their pictures for social websites such as Facebook. 

The effect on society from these photo-shopped and provocative images of girls/women in magazine is also quite large and worrying. When teenage boys see these images of photo-shopped women/girls in magazines with society's definition of perfect/flawless features and wearing provocative and skimpy clothing they automatically get the impression that all girls can look like this and therefore all girls should look like this. This causes teenage boys to become very criticizing towards teenage girls and their appearance, ignoring those girls who don't look like the girls in the magazine and paying attention to those girls who try their best to portray society's definition of beautiful and come reasonably close. The fact of the matter is that no one can look like the images of girls in the magazines. Those images have been photo shopped to an extent where it is humanly impossible to look exactly like them, but still teenage boys and teenage girls get the impression that this is what we (girls) should look like. This can be very damaging for teenage girls who don't fit the stereotype as they might start feeling alone, depressed, ugly, abnormal and insecure just because of unattainable beauty we see in the magazines. 

IMAGES FROM: 

http://www.nzmagazines.com/images/general/7/creme_june_13__mediumbig.jpg 

http://img.xcitefun.net/users/2009/05/67875,xcitefun-h1k5f2p-large.jpg 

http://www.fangirlish.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/annasophia-robb-girlfriend-magazine.jpg

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQrTBWzM19B-EddKNWR4cilFt5MTuaixe7QUxZMoP6Mv8atSi_TcA 

http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/16500000/Katy-Perry-on-the-Cover-of-the-November-2010-Issue-of-Cosmopolitan-Magazine-katy-perry-16557283-1600-2118.jpg 

http://earsucker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/katy-perry-boobs-photoshopped.jpg 

Mean Girls

The film ‘Mean girls’ is the stereotypical representation of teen girls in high school. The whole film is about how the main character ‘Cady’ evolves throughout the film in order to fit in and be just like ‘The Plastics’- stereotypical teenage girls. The main purpose of the film and the book that the film is based on is to over exaturate teenage girl behaviour in order to make audience's realise how the way the characters are acting is extreme and this behaviour should be avoided at all costs.

The aim of the film is to make teenage girls believe that this isn't the way they should act. However, for people who don't understand the concept/aim of the film and for younger girls who don't understand the sarcasm; a negative affect can be imposed.

Society’s definition of beauty is very similar to what is portrayed in a Barbie doll. The definition completely revolves around beauty to an extent where it is impossible to look completely identical to that expectation. Hence Photoshop, make-up and lighting are used in every aspect of the media in order to enhance and change features of the typical teenage girl appearance.

In the very first scene of Mean Girls we can see how “the plastics” are portrayed in relation to the rest of the people at school and how they are seen to be the most important, the prettiest and the most popular. As the plastics walk out onto the field we see both Karen Smith and Gretchen Wieners in very tight t-shirts with short shorts, looking reasonably lost, dumb and quite self-absorbed. As Regina George enters the scene we see her being carried by multiple boys; looking regal and self-absorbed as she lies on top of their hands and smiles as they carry her onto the field. Although it is obvious that Karen and Gretchen are popular and high up in the school hierarchy it is clear that Regina is above them in terms of popularity and she is therefore seen to be the leader of the plastics. 

It is interesting to notice that Regina’s clothing choice is noticeably more modest that the other two girls suggesting that Karen and Gretchen have to try hard in order to be popular and noticed whereas Regina doesn’t need to put a lot of effort into being popular, pretty and noticed because she is already adored and seen to be the most popular girl in the school and therefore out of the three, can afford to wear more covered-up and modest clothing even when her personality is almost the complete opposite to what you would expect of someone in slightly more conservative clothing.

A prominent idea that is displayed in the film “Mean Girls” is the idea that every girl should have insecurities and see things about themselves that they would like to change. This idea is shown mainly in two scenes; the cafeteria scene and the scene in Regina’s bedroom when the girls are looking in the mirror and analysing their flaws.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re5veV2F7eY

In the cafeteria scene (shown in the link above) Regina compliments Cady by saying “But you’re really pretty” to which Cady responds “thank you”. Regina finds the idea that Cady accepts the compliment foreign and usual and so replies “so you agree, you think you’re really pretty?” The plastics become confused at this point because it doesn’t make sense to them that Cady is okay with how she looks and is willing to accept a compliment such as “you are really pretty” without hesitation or denial. This shows the audience that the plastics are used to criticizing the way they look and therefore expect others to do it as well because they believe that every teenage girl should find faults in them that they would like to be different and also because the plastics can find faults in themselves, they can also see faults in others. Showing the very judgmental stereotype of teenage girls displayed often in the media. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYrvUwkvQfg

Another scene where the idea that “every teenage girl should be able to find faults in herself” is shown is in Regina’s bedroom (shown in the link above).
Regina, Gretchen and Karen stand in front of the mirror and tell each other their insecurities about their bodies without any hesitation as if they always tell each other what they hate about themselves and as if it is completely normal.  “My hairline is so weird.” “My pores are huge!” “My nail beds suck!” The girls then turn towards Cady and look at her with confused and anticipated facial expression waiting for Cady to tell them a fault about her own body. Cady then tries to find something about herself that she could possibly find fault with in order to fit in with the other girls and so awkwardly says “I have really bad breath in the morning.”

Cady isn't able to immediately find a fault in herself like the other girls can suggesting that she doesn't see how or find it normal to pick faults in herself and her looks and doesn't spend a lot of her time worrying about her appearance. This is very odd and confusing for the plastics as they believe it is completely normal to have/find flaws. 

This reflects the stereotype on teenage girls with the idea that all girls should be insecure about at least one feature of their body and if they don’t, they are somewhat stuck-up and too confident in their own un-altered body which is not considered to be good in the film and other aspects of the media. This representation can cause teenage girls in our society to believe that it is normal and encouraged to find faults in our appearances and that no-one is beautiful just the way they are.

The plastics’ insecurities could cause teenage girls to look at their pores, hairline, nail beds and other features and wonder whether theirs too are ugly, weird or abnormal. This can be very damaging because many teenage girls could start thinking, believing and extensively trying to fix their insecurities. This can lead to self-esteem issues and perhaps depression and self-harm due to the imposed idea that no-one is good enough as they are and everyone needs to change their appearance in some way in order to be society’s definition of beautiful.

It is then made obvious to teenage girls through the use of advertising in magazines and commercials (media) with models who are portrayed as ‘perfect’ that in order to reach society’s definition of beautiful (just like the models in the advertisements), beauty products must be purchased and used. The models on the adverts that have the perfect hair, skin and figure make teenage girls believe that if they buy the product, they too will have the perfect hair, skin and figure which will completely fix their insecurities which of course is false information. When girls who buy these products don't end up looking like the teenage girls in the media they can feel ugly, alone and like an outsider because even when they use the products which as supposed to make you look like the girls in the media, they don't look the way that they want to (influenced by the media's stereotype/representations of teenage girls). Even when teenage girls use the products advertised to them in order to fix their insecurities, it won't be a magic fix. It is humanly impossible to look identical to the photo-shopped images in the magazines. Hence giving teen girls even more self-esteem issues than before, causing effects such as self-harm, depression and eating disorders. 

This representation of teenage girls could cause society to believe that all teenage girls are insecure about their appearance and can find many faults in themselves. This could cause society to believe that teenage girls are solely obsessed and worried only about their appearances and not about other things such as education, friendships and families. This is a worrying idea as this stereotype gives quite a degrading view on teenage girls as if they are weak, insecure and self-absorbed.

However, on the complete other hand, this bedroom scene could cause some teenage girls to be shocked at how girls alike to them could be so insecure about their appearances. In the scene, the plastics talk about their weird hairline, huge pores and ‘sucky’ nail beds, however these faults are untrue and invisible to the audience and so we wonder why the girls could be so insecure about a fault that isn't even there.
It could make teenage girls think about how much they criticize their own appearances and realize that perhaps their own self-made flaws are almost imaginary and not as visible and extensive as once thought. This could be a very positive outcome to the film and stereotype of teenage girls, decreasing the rate of insecurity and depression due to insecurity.

In the film, the plastic's insecurities are shown to be a negative thing (that was the director's purpose) however, some girls may misinterpret the movie to believe that having insecurities is completely normal and in fact is encouraged. The fact that the plastic's find it normal to have insecurities and shun Cady for not having them shows that they (the plastics) believe that all teenage girls should feel insecure about themselves in one way or another, as if because Cady doesn't see anything extremely wrong with her body she is weird, stuck up and not normal.

Before Cady entered the American high school she was very confident and satisfied with the way she looked and behaved. She had had no peer pressure around her previously, telling her she should be and look a certain way. As time passed it became obvious to the audience that the people and environment around her was slowly causing her to change her characteristics and attributes so that they became similar to the plastic's, to a point where she was almost unrecognizable in comparison to the person she was beforehand. This definitely shows us that teenage girls are very much influenced by their peers, environment and media and that teenage girls nowadays should be very cautious as to who they are associating with and how these so called "friends" are influencing them but also cautious about how the media is affecting us, because just like Cady, it can become too late and your peers and/or media have influenced you so much that you have almost become a completely different person. 

Some other examples of teen girl insecurities are in the films "Grease" and "St. Trinians".
In both of the films, the girls; Annabelle Fritton and Sandy Olsson change the way they look and act in order to become more sexy, desirable, independent, fierce and popular due to the peer pressure around them. This peer pressure causes them to have insecurities about the way they look, feel and are and so change themselves in order to feel more confident. In St Trinians it is the people around her who force her to change her attitude, persona and appearance whereas in Grease Sandy chooses to change by herself, however in both films they are peer pressured and in both films they seem to be more confident and happy with the way the are when they conform to the expectations of the people around them.

We keep seeing the representation of insecure teenage girls in the media as it is what sells beauty products and fashionable clothes. Girls want to be able to look what is considered ‘perfect’ and the constant repetition of girls in the media who don’t like the way they look makes teenage girls more aware of their own flaws and what they can do to perfect them.

If there was a more common representation of girls in the media who aren't society’s definition of beautiful but are still confident with the way they look then I believe more girls would be confident in their own bodies, causing fewer effects such as depression and self-harm.  

We also see the constant repetition of unnatural and unattainable beauty; girls who have been photo shopped or are wearing heavy makeup because it makes teen girls watching the films/ programs and other forms of media insecure. When we see girls portrayed in the media who we perceive to be beautiful, pretty and popular and we don't look anything like them, we automatically believe that those girls in the media are normal and the fact that we don't look anything like them makes us think that we are abnormal. This is why a lot of teen girls today, just like Cady, strive and succeed in changing their appearances and personalities in order to be more like these stereotypical teenage girls. 

I believe that both the media and peers play an interlocking role in influencing teenage girls. What we see in the media influences us into thinking and believing that we should look a certain way, depending on what is constantly shown in the media (western beauty- blonde hair, blue eyes etc) and then we, as teenage girls, pass these influential images and ideas on to our peers. Constantly spreading this information to all the teenage girls around us so that they too, end up thinking that this is the way we should act, behave and look like (a never ending cycle). Even if we have come to the conclusion of how to be due to common stereotypes and representations in the media, when our peers re-confirm that representation i.e. "I wish i had blonde hair" "all the people in the magazines are so thin" it automatically becomes more vivid in our minds and we can again become focused on trying to maintain these stereotypes in our every day lives.

            
 Images from:
  http://www.glogster.com/kaylatheberry22/mean-girls-qoute/g-6ll0mt6cb8qqsfbv2edsga0

 

http://www.lindsaylohanvideo.org/page/103/ 

Stereotypes are really useful in media as they help the audience to understand characters better and therefore if the director wants a ditsy and dumb character he will choose an actress who is blonde, thin and attractive. This means that there is little explaining to do about the character's personality, actions and behavior because common stereotypes in the media have given us as viewers, a strong perception as to what someone with that matching appearance act, think and behave.

However, stereotypes can be very damaging once they are replicated from media context and taken into our everyday lives.

Because of common stereotypes, when we see or meet someone for the first time who matches a stereotypical look, we perceive them to be completely identical to that stereotype and so that person is often misrepresented. After we have made a misrepresentation of someone it will take us a long time for us to break that stereotype. Repetition of certain stereotypes in the media today have caused us to relate them back to real life and potentially harming, sexist and rude stereotypes are perceived by people as normal and nothing out of the ordinary. This can be quite worrying and harmful especially for teenage girls in the 21st century. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXJqspNwGGE&list=HL1370494975&feature=mh_lolz

In this documentary "Miss Representation" the narrator mentions the fact that girls are used to seeing other girls represented in the media to be weaker and less powerful in comparison to men. We are also used to seeing girls/woman represented in a sexual light through the use of provocative clothing, dance moves and dialogue due to the repetitive representation of girls portrayed in this way in everyday media such as Megan Fox (shown below in a bikini) on the television program "Two and a Half Men". 

These common stereotypes has a huge effect on the young women nowadays as by seeing the same representation of women constantly in the media we are lead to believe that this is how women should act, think and behave and if you don't act, think and behave in such a way which mirrors this media representation you are often seen as an outsider in society today. This is a very dangerous thought because as the decades continue, more and more young women are going to be lead to believe that this representation is how we should be, creating a very superficial and weak society in terms of women's power and influence in a positive and educational way. 

The stereotype of women in the media has definitely had a negative effect on many women in the 21st century especially with a lot of girls believing that they cannot be as strong and as powerful as their male counterparts. One example of this is shown through the fact that the majority of the most powerful professions able to be attained in our world today such as politics and medicine belong to males rather than females. Men are more often than not portrayed in the media as powerful, strong, smart and definitely more capable of the high-end jobs than their women counterparts- very damaging statistics for the young women of the 21st century.  If this continues to occur (less and less women obtaining high end jobs) society nowadays may spiral backwards to be alike to pre-21^st century where women didn't work at all because they were only thought able to stay at home and look after the children and their husbands. Due to us teenage girls conforming to the common stereotype of girls in the media, this is more likely to happen than not. 

The common repetition of the teenage girl stereotype/s in the media cause society as a whole to believe that all teenage girls act and behave in this manner (provocative, dumb and catty) and are only capable of what this stereotype portrays. This means that the girls who do not meet the expectations of the stereotype are seen to be different, unusual and perhaps ugly with foul comments being spoken about them constantly and causing them to feel like an outsider in society. These people who don’t fit the stereotype are subject to bullying, harassment and injury all due to the fact that they don’t meet what the media portrays to be an accurate representation of a young woman. 

Other results of teenage girls being represented in the media in this way is self-harm, eating disorders, depression and even suicide. The statistics have been quickly climbing throughout the past decade as media increases in consumption. Studies have shown that 53% of 13 year old girls in the USA are unhappy with their bodies, and that it increases to 78% by age 17. This insecurity is what causes self-harm, eating disorders, depression and unfortunately suicide to occur. These are alarming statistics for the youth of our world and although these effects on teenage girls may not be only because of stereotypes and representation of teenage girls in the media, it is quite evident that this is a huge contributing factor. This is made very clear in the documentary "Miss Representation".

We keep seeing the same stereotypes of teenage girls in the media over and over again because the majority of people in our world are very aware and familiar to them. This familiarity of the stereotype of teenage girls in the media is what sells the magazines, films and games. If there is a girl on the front of a magazine who isn't as thin or doesn't have skin that is as perfect as we are used to seeing on the covers of magazines, they will not be bought with such high demand. It doesn't matter that the “perfect” models on magazines have been extremely photo-shopped to the point where they are almost unrecognizable; society has been led to believe that this perfection is normal and therefore we should all aim to look like that (even though it is humanly impossible). People who don't fit the stereotypical teenage girl behavior are not as widely known to society and therefore are usually the outcasts.

I think the above quote (shown at the beginning of the documentary) is extremely relevant to the whole idea of stereotypes in the media which are causing bad effects on the teen girls/young women of this world. By seeing women portrayed provocatively and sexually with little power or initiative in the media, it causes young women to believe that they too, have little power and initiative and all they should and can amount to is what the women in the media amount to/are able to do.  It is being constantly shown to us through the media that we (young women) have very little power and so therefore we give up our power by thinking we do not have any. If more common representations of powerful, strong, modest and kind women were shown in the media it is more likely that young women in our society will ‘regain’ their power as it’s shown that young women can be successful, powerful and definitely equal or perhaps even  better than their male counterparts.

Images from:
http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/glee/images/6211879/title/quinn-photo 
http://www.wdsu.com/Megan-Fox-Two-And-A-Half-Men/-/9854144/106416/-/2yp3xd/-/index.html 
http://istockwizard.blogspot.co.nz/2011_02_10_archive.html 
http://riotlainie.buzznet.com/photos/qotw/?id=63869281 

A stereotype is an opinion or perception one has about a person or group of people/things based on the actions or behaviors of people who are similar. 

Stereotyping is  a very common practice for a majority of people. Stereotyping people and things around us help to simplify our social world as it reduces the amount of thinking and processing we have to undertake when meeting a new person. We stereotype because we do not have enough time in the world to get to know every single person that we come across and so it is a lot quicker and easier to believe in the stereotypes that we have accumulated through the media and the people around us. Stereotypes can also be created due to one person or a small group of people doing something out of the ordinary which creates a stereotype of that person/small group of people and all the groups they are associated with. 

For example; Muslim terrorist attacks such as the attack on the twin towers in the USA has caused many people around the world to have negative thoughts and images towards all Muslims (believers in Islam) being dangerous and involved in terrorism. 

The media display stereotypes in many different ways which cause us as the audience to believe them to be accurate. Some examples of media that use stereotypes are films, TV programs and magazines. Directors use stereotypes that are common and viewers are already quite aware of in their own lives in order to simplify the amount of explaining that must be done in the TV program or film in order for the audience to understand what each character is like. For example, when the audience see's a thin cheerleader with blonde hair in the media we automatically perceive her to be not very intellectual, popular and quite ditsy. We believe that she doesn't care much about her education and is solely focused on her looks and relationships. 

This example of a stereotype could be very relevant to blonde cheerleaders in our society, however it could be very inaccurate and the stereotype can cause us to have a big misconception of someone who could be the complete opposite of the stereotype often imposed on them. 

-Amelia French

Images from:
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