Task 1 - Textual Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKmkXNIZBJg
For part of my critical investigation I will be looking in depth at a film related to my case study which is called Mean Girls. I specifically chose this film as I thought it linked perfectly with my title which is: “Are females in teen movies always seen as bimbos and objects? Why might this be?”
Whilst analysing this trailer we can see that the main protagonist is in a new to the school environment and therefore tries to make friends by going around tables at lunch time and fit it. However,0: 46 seconds into the clip we see a high key lighting and medium shot of a young teenage blonde girl walking with her hands on her hips, which suggests that she is confused and dopey about what’s going on around her. This can be evident when she walks to hit the ball with her ‘chest’ instead of using her hands. The female voice over says “That’s Karen Smith, she’s one of the dumbest girls you’ll ever meet”. The fact that this is said about a girl who is blonde backs up the action of what she did with the ball and the way she acts. Further, the close up shots of the group of friends sitting on the grass laugh and talk about ‘Karen Smith’ and start mocking her and what she did in the English class. Which was clearly stated ‘How do you spell orange’, this can again be seen as a ‘blonde’ question as it is a simple word to spell. On the other hand, 0:58 seconds into the clip, the group again start to talk about another member in the ‘Plastics Crew’. The medium shot of the brunette teenager in the pitch on her mobile phone signifies that she’s starting to act like blonde women as she hangs out with blonde girls. Thinking logically, to the audience it does not make sense because, you wouldn’t pick up your mobile phone whilst playing sports. Yet, at 1:13 during the clip the main ‘plastic crew’ member comes in the pitch carried by 4 men either side. This shows that she is in control and has power over others as she starts to look down at them. What’s more, she also starts to blow kisses at the males and sticks her chest out. This can be seen as a sexual connotation. Later, the medium shots of different people start to say positive things about Regina George. This shows that people look up to her as a role model. This film can be used for audience theory as this may be watched for escapism purposes. Also, individuals may watch this and relate the text to their own personal issues. The representation through the film is conveyed as a typical bitchiness movie however, the young teenage girls do put themselves across as sexual objects that play the distinctive role of blonde bimbos. This can be obvious through the props that are worn by the characters. For instance; whilst playing sports they were provocative clothing such as; short shorts and crop tops. What’s more, whilst the girls took part in a Christmas play they sang and danced to ‘Jingle Bells’ and even in that specific scene the outfits were seductive and sexual. This can be seen by the tight silky red skirts that were worn and tight leather red crops and by the use of the colour red connotes love and romance etc.