Critical Investigation...My critical investigation is based on the representation of females in "Mean Girls." I am will be looking at how the representation has changed and what impact has it had on teenager girls around the world. The other texts that I will be referring to is "Sex And The City" and "Desperate Housewife's". The reason for choosing these two texts is because is follows the same narrative as "Mean Girls" which i can then depict each characters representation and compare them.
Linked Production...
The linked production to my investigation is going to be a four page magazine which I'm currently working on with my partner Manpreet. The magazine is aimed to a female teenage audience. Inside the magazine there will be interviews from celebrities point of views about how female representation in the media is affecting teenage girls life's.
Migrain Analysis...
M-
I will be paying close attention to certain props that the characters are give. The reason for this is so that I can get a clear cut image of what the character is about and how different props can represent characters in different ways.
Setting is also a key element to the representation of the characters as they would act different in different environments. "Mean Girls" is based within a high school environment so I will be taking the existing stereotypes of high school life and compare it to that of "Mean Girls."
Lastly, I will be focusing on the editing that has been made within the film. The reason for this is so I can see how the director has edited the film to put us in the point of view of the protagonist so that we as an audience can get into grips with the character.
I-
Institution is also a big aspect to the film world as the institutor's market and advertise the movies so it can appeal to its target audience. I will be looking into the instituter and seeing if there is a similar pattern in the narrative of all their films which they have distributed.
G-
The chick flick genre is the genre that I will be focusing on the most. The reason for this is because "Mean Girls" is a chick flick and I can see if the director has broken any conventions of the chick flick genre to make it more appealing to the audience.
For my critical investigation I will also be looking at the comedy genre as "Mean Girls" posses humour. The reason for looking at the comedy genre is so that I can be able to identify whether the director has used humour to attract a greater audience or to attract a dumbed down audience.
R-
The representation that I will paying particular attention to would be the main character Lindsey Lohan. I' am going to be analysing in close detail, to aspects such as her clothing, the way she talks and the way she represents herself to others.
I will also be referring to the other females which have been represented in "Sex And The City" and "Desperate Housewife's" so that I can compare both texts to mine, to see how the representations are different and what are the causes for them being different.
I will then justify my argument and use statistics to prove that the media has an affect on a young teenage audience and how teenagers tend to copy what is being shown on T.V.
A-
For my critical investigation, I will be exploring the primary and secondary audiences and seeing how each audience has a different view. I will also be adding uses and gratification theory to help explain why these audiences have a particular view on a certain text.
For our linked production we will be having teenage audience of females. The magazine is based on girls and shows how the media has an effect on them, sometimes without them even knowing.
I-
Feminism within Hollywood is a key concern within film today as there are still not enough women on screen as they are men; especially in leading roles. Therefore, I will look into feminism and how Lindsey Lohan is the main protagonist in the film and what situations she goes through, to become a strong, confident, bold women.
I will also be looking at Mulveys theory about the "male gaze" and prove to teenage girls how women are just put in the media to-be-looked-at. The ideology will remain strong so long Hollywood keep portraying women as sexual objects.
N-
Overall, through my critical investigation and linked production I will be referring to Todrov's narrative theory and how "Mean Girls" follows it. I will depicting each section of Todrov's theory and selecting a scene to which section it would be allocated in.
I will also analyse whether or not the film is in a linear narrative or a non-linear narrative to see if this had a greater effect on the audience or not. The way I will do this, is by if the film met the audiences expectations or did they not suspect nothing.
Shep analysis...
S-
For my critical analysis I will be looking at the social aspects of what female teenagers do and are they influenced by what is being shown on the media. I will also publicise the issue to society so that parents can try to stoop their children from following the media and thinking that they are always right.
H-
I will be looking be at Historical texts, such as "Legally Blonde" and seeing what representations of females were made historically and compare them to today's contemporary text and state what has been changed. The reason for doing this, is because I will then be able to see the differences between to decades and see how the has developed since and has it been a positive or negative effect?
E-
Currently, the economic climate is in a recession where by people are not spending money and prices are increasing. This links to my linked production so that when I' am designing my magazine I must remember to price my magazine at a reasonable price so that consumers are willing to purchase it.
P-
Political issues such as women rights have only recently seemed to be answered. Films such as "Mean Girls" conforms with feminism as it shows a leading female character who is control which shows that we are not living in a patriarchal society like we used to; therefore women have more rights to do as they please.
Current issues and Debates-
The issues and debates that I will be incorporating within my critical investigation is going to be about the male backlash. The reason is that "Mean Girls" is a film which challenges men as the leading character who is in control is female. Therefore, men are feeling threatened that there power in society is being overcome by females.
Media Theories-
As my critical investigation focuses on the representation of females, the first theory which I will be using is audience theory. I will be analysing each theory such as reception theory and the hypodermic needle model so that I can see which possible action does the media take to influence teenage girls.
The second theory which needs attention is Larua Mulvey's theory of the male gaze. The reason for this theory is that I believe that the representation of females in the media is strictly sexual to attract a male audience. Therefore, this gives a negative response to the female teenage audience and may imitate certain scenes as they may feel it is right.
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