just turned eighteen - Evaluation Task 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Madison

Cady Heron from 'Mean Girls' was the main inspiration for Madison because in the film, her character becomes popular and mean but then realizes that her peers don't like her anymore because of her new personality. Sharpay Evans and Regina George were also inspirations for the character because they are rich, popular, mean and spoilt, and it is stereotypical to have this type of character in a teen angst film.

Jennifer

The main inspiration for Jennifer was Gabriella Montez from 'High School Musical' because she is friendly and nerdy and it's stereotypical for this type of character to be in a teen angst film because the audience can relate to them. We also used Cady from 'Mean Girls' as an inspiration for this character because we liked how she was smart and not caring what people think about her and, because Madison is like Cady when she becomes mean and popular, it makes Jennifer and Madison's characters very different. our film is unstereotypical because in 'High School Musical' the popular girl hates the nerdy girl but in our film they're best friends.


Ethan

Ethan is inspired by the typical 'jock' guy in a teen angst film - Troy Bolton from 'High School Musical' is an example of one of these characters because all he cares about is basketball and he is super sporty and popular. Our film is unstereotypical because normally the girl is trying to get the guy's attention but in our film the guy is trying to get her attention - this can be compared to Sharpay and Troy, where he knows that she likes him but doesn't like her back.

Social Groups 
 

These mid shots of two best friends together puts attention on them because they are in the centre of the frame and the main character has brighter clothes to draw more attention to them. In 'Clueless' the two friends are the popular girls, whereas in our film the friends come from different social groups and the difference in Jennifer and Madison's clothes emphasise this.