Gossip Girl. -Teen Drama. -What kind of show is it? Similar or different to PLL? -How are women represented? (always looking their best to maintain their popular girl image) ~ [relate to blair and serena.] -types of costume etc.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz8Q6m0_dBA
Mulvey's Male gaze : blair is dancing for chuck and removing her clothes. How does this present girls? how would the audience be affected?
- Does it reinforce or challenge traditional stereotypes? ~ dominant or alternative?
- How does the way they are represented in GG differ from PLL?
This image shows that these teenage girls are represented as sexually provocative girls who act older than they are and who are dependent on men. The girls in this image are showing a lot of skin; one girl is even wearing only a bra and her underwear. The rest are wearing dresses that have thin straps and one is wearing a dress without straps. They’re all wearing very revealing and promiscuous clothes which objectifies them as sexual objects and are lying on a bed – something considered sexual.
- Both the Male gaze (mulvey) and Female gaze (gill) can be applied here as all the teens, both boys and girls look sexually provocative. The way Chuck
Are new television
series, such as 'Pretty little liars' creating more equal representations of
women, or are they reinforcing traditional stereotypes?
Women in the 21st century have made a
progression towards breaking the glass ceiling as they are portrayed using
equal representations between genders within tv series such as 'pretty
little liars'
Section 1: Introduction (250):
- Introduce with stating the progress of feminist movements in the last 50
years has..
- Negs & positives
- Brief summary on How
women are represented in PLL.
- introduce historical
texts, is the representation the same as it is in the modern era or has it
changed?
- state what the
essay will be exploring.
Section 2: How are women represented in PLL.
-What is PLL about
-how are women
represented in PLL- Short summary on the impact representation of women Pretty
Little Liars offers a refreshingly realistic portrait of positive relationships
between high school girls, as well as one of the most balanced portrayals of a
gay teen currently on television. While the melodrama provokes and
titillates, it is the realistic dynamic between the main characters that draws
in viewers from surprisingly varied demographics and makes this show a positive
addition to the television line-up aimed at young women.
https://prettylittleliarsproject.wordpress.com/
- different types of
stereotypes shown in the show
(see blog) - talk
about how this represents women.
Link back to question
Section 3: audience - how are they affected?
- Talk about their
audience, who are they?
its target
audience is teen girls,.
On
social media, “Pretty Little Liars” was easily the night’s #1 most social
TV show, as aTwitter TV audience of 3.8 million people saw over 426,000 tweets
by more than 153,000 unique authors, generating over 19.9
million impressions. Moreover, “Pretty Little Liars” was
Tuesday’s most engaging cable TV program with nearly 1.4 million engagements,
including 684,000 on Instagram and 589,000 on Facebook, according to the
ListenFirst Media Digital Audience Ratings for Television (DAR-TV).
- link back to texual
analysis, how it affects audience/impact?
- theories? hypodermic
needle; opinion leaders?
Link back to question
Section 4: historical
text - 'charmed'
- In this paragraph I will be
focusing on the extract of charmed - fighting scene
This scene is a fight
scene of Phoebe, Piper and Cole against mythical creatures.
· This
will be followed by the textual analysis - linking to women
representations-alternative - goes againsts berger's theory of ways of seeing -
check historical analysis on blog
· In
a separate paragraph I will link this scene to Feminism
issues/debates and briefly include what the roles of women were in the 90's and
how it is projected in this programme
· I
will end the paragraph by comparing my primary text to PLL opening
sequence and refer back to my essay question. (This historical example
establishes that the representation of (PLL characters) challenges the
traditional female stereotypes - supporing my argument
Section 5: Another text - Gossip Girl. -What kind of show is it? Similar or different to PLL? -How are women represented? (always looking their best to maintain their popular girl image) ~ [relate to blair and serena.] -types of costume etc.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz8Q6m0_dBA
Theories - Mulvey's Male gaze : blair is dancing for chuck and removing her clothes. How does this present girls? how would the audience be affected?
- Does it reinforce or challenge traditional stereotypes? ~ dominant or alternative?
- How does the way they are represented in GG differ from PLL? Section 6: Issues and debates moral panics.
-There is a sense
of moral panic as some events occur more than once, which
makes the audience more concerned about the issue.
-how do certain events
create a sense of moral panic in society?
“the mother of hanna
agrees to get sexually involved with a cop so that hanna will not be charged
for shoplifting and ruin their reputation.”
A woman’s primary source of power lies between her legs; sex is a commodity.
[Relate to the previous scene about hanna's mum, using sex to protect her daughter]
displays that the price of a misdemeanour is the loss of consent and authority on the womans part and also a woman giving her up in this way is the only way to have some level of power.
> quote from hanna's mum - (“In a small town like this, what people think about you matters… I buy you everything you need to be popular.”) ~ what does this show? how would this affect the viewers? Positive or negative?
Media
effects Media effects, as audiences identify with the
texts and may change the way they do certain things. As, after arguing the
girls see where misunderstandings may have risen. The audiences could
re-evaluate their lives after watching the show and make sure these issues don't
occur in there lives.
Feminism through the show
>>How are women encouraged to behave due to feminism in the show? ~encourages young girls and even older women to be strong in who they are
and to trust those they surround themselves by. It reminds them to act with a
noble character and be confident as a woman, even in the face of scrutiny or
trials. [HOW?] -None of the girls regrets their eventual decision to have sex with their boyfriends at certain points in the show. All of them own their loss of virginity and their sexuality. Even Emily, who eventually embraces her sexuality of being a lesbian. -They spend more time discussing their problems with each other than with their boyfriends which each of them do have. They demonstrate a lack of trusting in each of their male counterparts before they are proven trustworthy over time.
. Often times, photos and reminders are taken and left for the girls from
a distance. “A” does this to remind the girls that they are being watched
carefully and scrutinized. They are never able to hide. This denotes the way
our society views women. They are often judged and critiqued harshly by the way
they act, dress and speak. There is a particular cultural model that society
has for women to act by.
Section 7: conclusion
- Answer
the question .. In my opinion
- Give
a balanced argument and show that both sides are relevant
- Based
on my primary text and recent tv shows ; there has been some change in women
representation / give examples
By 'historical' we mean anything pre-2000 but the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s or even 80s might be more fruitful because they pre-date many of the important changes that have occurred more recently (such as the gains for women as a result of feminism; or greater equality for ethnic minorities now that we are - arguably - a more inclusive and multi-cultural society; or the ground-breaking developments in new media/digital technology). The purpose here is to be able to demonstrate...
how society and the issue you are investigating has changed over the years and how these changes are reflected in different media texts, or - to put it another way...
how popular culture reflects the 'spirit of the age' or Zeitgeist
Ideally, you will watch at least one film/TV programme/video game/music video from the past, make notes on it and research it in Media/Film Studies textbooks and on the internet. The best option is to watch/play the whole text on DVD/online or otherwise you might be able to see extracts on YouTube. Answer the following questions:
How is it similar/different to your main text?
How does this show how the genre/society/issue has changed?
Through this you will become aware of developments in the genre you are researching. This task is designed to make sure you have a range of texts to refer to in your critical investigation essay (you'll need at least five including your main text and the historical text you analyse in this task). Remember: you should be able to link them to the wider contexts that were/are present at the time. It's also worth noting that you will be rewarded for considering your topic across different platforms. If you can't get hold of an original copy of the text it's not the end of the world - you will be stuck doing secondary research. Just make sure you do plenty of it and find out information from a few different sources. As ever, list your historical text(s), research, textual analysis and links/bibliography in a detailed blog post (or simply add to your ongoing Notes and Quotes post). Historical Text Analysis: (0.13s - 1m.50s)
This scene is a fight scene of Phoebe, Piper and Cole against mythical creatures.
There seems to be a disequilibrium (todorov) as the scene begins when we see smoke coming out of the garage and the 3 characters in the scene (Phoebe, Piper and Cole) seem to look puzzled. The disequilibrium continues as the fight scene starts and carries on up until the creatures disappear. There is an Alternative representation of women in this scene as instead of being shown as weak the girls are shown as strong and able to put up a fight for themselves which challenges the traditional The scene goes against Berger's ways of seeing as instead of 'men act and women appear' as in this scene the 2 female characters are fighting the creatures while the man is standing on the side and watching.
Mise-en-scene.
Costume - The outfits worn by the characters seem to look quite outdated and modest. Both girls, Phoebe and Piper, are covered with their clothing. This could be down to the fact of the trends for clothes back when this was filmed may have been in style or it could be due to how society allowed women to dress - compared to pretty little liars, the costumes are more modest in charmed, maybe because they are much older. However, in PLL there is more freedom in terms on clothing as they seem to be wearing quite inappropriate clothing in unsuitable situations. Lighting - In this clip, the use of high-key lighting provides a more realistic feel of a sunny day by using more filler lights.
Actors facial expressions - at the start of the scene, Piper's eyebrows are furrowed which shows a sense of confusion as she uses gestures to point at the smoke coming out of the garage. The gestures play a vital part in Charmed as the girls use them to control their powers. the strength of the gesture seems to vary depending on what they need to use their spells for. when the creature comes for piper, her facial expressions seem shocked as her eyes become wide and her mouth suddenly opens before she ducks down. Make-up - they have light natural make up on.
Settings - Seems to be a abandoned area, warehouse or garage from which 3 creatures emerge. this disequilibrium notifies us of a potential fight scene as there is an action code presented (barthes). There is also a binary opposition (levi-strauss) in the scene of 'good vs' evil'. This is presented between the mythical creatures and the main characters who are trying to fight them off.
At the end of the fight when the creatures have the upperhand, Cole (the male), saves the girl which shows reinforces the traditional stereotypes that woment still rely on a man to protect them if worse comes to worse.
Beloff, Z. (2008
, February 18). Exploring ‘Women’s Voices’: Feminist Film Studies and
Cultural Studies. Week 7. Retrieved november 25, 2015, from Debates In
Feminist Research Weblog - Wordpress.:
https://feministmethod.wordpress.com/category/charmed/
Blogger. (2011,
November 7). Fictional Programming: Pretty Little Liars. Retrieved
November 25, 2015, from Word Press:
https://prettylittleliarsproject.wordpress.com/
Blogger. (2013,
April 16). Feminism in Pretty Little Liars. Retrieved November 25,
2015, from Word press:
https://englishprincesses.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/feminism-in-pretty-little-liars/
Bronstein, P.
(2014, September 21 ). From a Different Perspective, Is There a “Pretty
Little Liar” We Can Trust? Retrieved 12 10, 2015, from Feminspire: http://feminspire.com/different-perspective-pretty-little-liar-can-trust/
Feasey, R. (Fall
2005). The “Charmed” Audience: Gender and the Politics of Contemporary
Culture. Retrieved November 25, 2015, from Cinema.usc.edu:
http://cinema.usc.edu/assets/097/15720.pdf
Matthews, D.
(2015, August 15). How Pretty Little Liars managed to outrage its most
devoted progressive fans. Retrieved November 25, 2015, from Vox Culture:
http://www.vox.com/2015/8/15/9156455/pretty-little-liars-transphobic
Melvin, K. (2013,
June 2 ). Gender & Media - Pretty Little Liars. Retrieved November
20, 2015, from Prezi:
https://prezi.com/yiixjr6gnpn5/gender-media-pretty-little-liars/
Sandonato, N.
(2014, May). History of Gender Representations in Teen Television.
Lincolnshire, England.
Santiago, M.
(2013, Spring Term ). Little Women - Female representation in teen films.
Orlando, Florida.
Simmons, A.
(2013, December 17). Representation of gender - Women. Retrieved
November 25, 2015, from Slide Share:
http://www.slideshare.net/aarchersimmons/representation-of-gender-29279099?next_slideshow=1
Smcmediastudies.
(2011, Nov 21). The representation of women in the media. Retrieved
November 25, 2015, from Slide Share:
http://www.slideshare.net/smcmediastudies/the-representation-of-women-in-the-media
Waite, C. (2010,
June 17). Top 5 Anti-Woman Myths in ABC Family’s “Pretty Little Liars”.
Retrieved Novemeber 20, 2015, from Ms Magazine - blog:
http://msmagazine.com/blog/2010/06/17/top-5-anti-woman-myths-in-abc-familys-pretty-little-liars/
"The Lady Killer" Emily and Nate fight sceneIssues and debates Representation and stereotyping;
This scene is a fight scene between Emily and Nate the stalker. It starts with a disequilibrium (Todorov) then when she stabs Nate, a new equilibrium is restored as the bad guy dies. Nate is a false hero, he seemed like a good character but turned to be the villain (Propp's character theory)
There is an Alternative representation as it goes against the traditional stereotypes of women being weak and unable to fight the way men do. This scene goes against Berger's ways of seeing where men act and women appear as this scene is heavily focused on Emily and Nate fighting each other. It is a fight between a man and a woman where they are both are being equally represented as strong, also the girl ends up stabbing the guy which is also unexpected and and alternative representation than what we are used to. However, after the bad guy has been stabbed, a male (named Caleb) comes up with a gun and hugs Emily while she cries - this shows women are very emotional which is a dominant representation as it reinforces the traditional stereotypes of being a damsel in distress.
Mise-en-scene. Costume - Both characters are wearing winter coats and dressed warmly. Emily's hair is all scruffy and messy which connotes that she has already been harassed and fighting to save herself. Lighting - In the clip there is mainly the use of low key lighting which creates lots of shadows and silhouettes, especially due to the fact that it is night and they are fighting up in a lighthouse. Actors facial expressions - Emily's brows are furrowed as she is scared and frustrated trying to call for help while Nate has an angry expression as he is out to kill Emily.Make-up - Both have light natural make up on and because Emily has been crying her eye make-up is slightly smudged but it is not that noticeable. Props - The use of a knife is a form of iconography and signifies an action code as we know it is a fighting scene. (Barthes) Settings - The scene starts of as Emily runs through a dark jungle which presents an enigma code (Barthes) as is creates suspense because we are not sure why Emily is running so fast and from who/what. - Then setting changes as she proceeds to a lighthouse which is where the main fight scene takes place.
Sound. In the Clip there has been the use of Non-diegetic and Parallel sounds. This is because the music is not from the diegesis. It has been added later (post-production) to add a suspense effect to the scene (creating an enigma code - Barthes). While Emily runs the pace of the music starts fast and as she approaches the lighthouse it becomes slower, almost thriller-like music.
Cinematography. The use of a suture (shot, reverse, shot) when Emily is standing in the lighthouse and trying to call for help stitches the audience into the story line as we are intrigued to know what has happened. When Emily is up in the lighthouse there is a close-up of her mobile which shows that she has no signal and she is calling for help, this then changes to a medium shot of her holding her phone and looking terrified which is evident through her facial expressions. Then there is another closeup of her mobile while she calls 911 which connotes that there is danger and sets another enigma code (Barthes). When Nate comes there is a jump cut which suddenly diverts out attention to focus on him. While Emily and Nate are fighting, there are some fast paced straight cuts which keep us intrigued into the scene. There is a binary opposition (levi-strauss) of good and evil where Emily represents good and Nate represents Evil.
The opening credits are a montage of lip gloss, nail polish, eye makeup, hair curls and high heels. The show seems to almost be fearful of a loss of traditional femininity in our society, and it compensates by relegating all the characters to hyper-feminine roles.This reinforces and creates a dominant stereotype of girls as this is how they are portrayed in real life Shows how heavily PLL focuses on the ‘pretty girl’ appearance. Pretty Little Liars’ pilot episode opens on a scene of five teenage girls drinking in a barn while a thunderstorm rages outside – this is a negative representation because of the fact that young teenagers are getting drunk in the middle of the night with no adult supervision.
Cinematography
Firstly the title sequence opens with an extreme-close up of a wide which is open widely and this represents the character who is dead. From her eyes we can see the type of person she may have been with the make-up she has worn which must represent how her personality was and this shows her costume. From watching this part the audience can identify that the person is not moving as it zooms in to her eye it aids in showing that she is not alive and creates a sense of enigma code for the audience as it creates suspense. There is then a straight cut to show another close-up which shows the girl adding lip gloss to her lips very slowly and effectively which engages the audience into knowing more and this shows how pale it is and this is then significant as it is conveying some kind of message to its audience. Their is then a fade cut showing a close-up of her feet showing to the audience that someone is putting it on her, which then represents she is dead as someone is dressing her up as we can see someone else hands. This follows n to another close-up shot of her hair being curled and then someone applying nail vanish on her nails which represents she is dead once again. When this is shown their is an instantaneous transition from one shot to the next, as it's a title-sequence this engages theaudience havingfast shots of diverse images.
Mise-en-scene:
The costumes are sophisticated as they are present at a funeral, however they are wearing short dresses which is how girls in the 21st century dress. The lighting used starts off quite dim which the montage is being presented. When the girls are shown there is top-key lighting used which is effective as it makes the character look more glamorous as only the filter lights are used and this makes them stand out to the audience. However their is also low-key lighting used in this as their is a sense of shadows at the back of her which makes it look effective however light and dark is less pronounced.
Sound:
The title sequence also consists of having diegetic sound which emphasises the characters emotions allowing the audience to feel the same way as the characters which represents how they are telling a story as the story lies in the lyrics "secret can you keep it" this is seen as a dominant representation as it reinforces the traditional stereotypes of girls keeping secrets and lying. The montage is showing all these features of the girls which is a short hand way of identifying them which gives a negative representation (Medhurst). However these representations can sometimes be true (Perkins) as girls in reality are perceived this and this makes the characters in the title-sequence to be aware of the deep secret and through their body language and facial expressions it shows the audience feel an action code is happening from the way they are performing at the end and they also feel nervous for them. Also the way it shows the four main protagonists it starts off with a establishing shot of them and this shows all the characters at once letting the audience analyse how they look which includes how their body language is, how their facial expressions are and what each protagonist is wearing (costume) and from viewing this the audience is able to visualize their personality. It then takes a fade cut to one of the characters showing a close-up where it shows her facial expressions and this moreover tells most things about the character and when she puts her finger to her lips it shows there is a secret and she wants the audience to keep it. Their consists of a violin being played as the shots are going continuously fast creating suspense, fear and tension for the audiences and indeed the characters. Enigma code and Action codes is Barthes theory which relates to the sound of the violin as enigma code is to do with narratives having mystery with unclear answers which leaves the audience at the edge.
Textual analysis looking like a real strength with Task #1
completed. Make sure you know exactly where the scene is from for referencing
and referring to in the essay. Title sequence a good choice of scene to
analyse.
Organisation of N&Q document is a bit all over the place
on the blog but if it is clear on Word then this isn’t necessarily a major
issue. However, books/academic journal research is a weaker area currently
which we’ll need to look at now.
Academic books/journals – you have some in the research plan
but haven’t looked at them yet. Need to address this over the next week
alongside Task #2 which is your bibliography. There are a couple of PDFs
already in the folder on the M: drive which gives you a starting point. Look
over the dissertations from Google Scholar too – these will give you an
academic perspective on your primary text. Keep looking and check the BFI
catalogues too in case they have anything relevant.
Also check the books in DF07 carefully – there may well be a
relevant chapter or quote you can use.
Go back to Media Magazine and look at the articles on
gender, TV drama, representation etc. These are not strictly academic sources
but still valuable.
Widen your search away from Pretty Little Liars and look at
feminism, masculinity, sexism etc. more generally. This will create far more
opportunities for academic book and journal research. You’ll definitely want
plenty of feminist theory in your final essay – more general research away from
your primary text is best for this.
I’d keep looking for more internet-based research – you’ve
plenty of links so far, this needs to be more like 20-30+ by the end of the
process. The Guardian is a great starting point as we’ve just looked (I know
you have some links already).
All of this should help with Task #2 and your bibliography.
Copy this into a new blog post and write below your next
three steps in your research.
"Are new television series, such as
'Pretty little liars' creating more equal representations of women, or are they
reinforcing traditional stereotypes?”
Hypothesis: Women in the 21st century have made a progression towards
breaking the glass ceiling as they are portrayed using equal representations
between genders within tv series such as 'pretty little liars'
Pretty Little Liars - It is a tv show based on a group of four
popular high school teen girls in the town of rosewood. They occupy their time
shopping, gossiping and talking about boys. – Normal ‘girl’ activities.
Show displays many diff examples of stereotypes against females. PLL
represents females as emotional creatures who cant be trusted. The show also
gives impression that bisexuality means youre confused and that a womans
primary source of power is between her legs.
1. A woman’s
primary source of power lies between her legs; sex is a commodity.
The mother of one of the girls (Hanna) promises sex to a cop so
her daughter wont be prosecuted fot shop lifting and tarnish their reputations
(“In a small town
like this, what people think about you matters… I buy you everything you need
to be popular.”) After delivering on her end, the cop sticks around
without, it seems, Mom’s consent. For this show, the price of a misdemeanor is
the loss of consent and autonomy.
2. Women are
vapid, emotional creatures who can’t be trusted, young women even more so.
Aria, the show’s central character, has been harboring her
father’s secret: He had an affair. When her mom demands an explanation for her
and her father’s strained relationship, her father’s response is,
‘She’s a teenaged
girl… they’re all moody and
unpredictable.’
3. Bisexuality
just means you’re confused.
Emily is questioning her sexuality. Her plight has the potential
to be impactful, but the show employs a male-gaze-centric ‘girl-on-girl’ vibe.
Emily will do anything–even engage in excessive PDA with her boyfriend when
she’s uncomfortable with it–to not challenge the status quo. We are led to
believe that Emily is either a lesbian or simply confused; the show does not
(as of yet) give space to a narrative of bisexuality.
4. Bad girls
should be punished.
Ali, the ultimate bad girl, the Queen Bee of the school and of her
clique, is dead–the ultimate punishment. The other girls are now haunted for their
secrets, all of which involve their own mistakes.
5. A woman’s
worth is the sum total of her appearance, social status and man on whose arm
she hangs.
The opening credits are a montage of lip gloss, nail
polish, eye makeup, hair curls and high heels. The show seems to almost be
fearful of a loss of traditional femininity in our society, and it compensates
by relegating all the characters to hyper-feminine roles.
The Protagontists in the series, the 4 teenagers, are being represented the way typical young teenagers are seen. The representation is dominant as it reinforces traditional stereotypes that girls are into fashion, gossip and boys.
Most of the
representations in these series of women are negative and they are shown in a
bad light.
Some of these teens
are represented as emotionally unstable or damaged.
Why is the subject
being represented in this way?
The subjects are
being represented in this way because they are stereotyped to be that way. It
is to show the audience what society thinks of teens in this generation and the
struggle they go through in their teenage years.
Is the
representation fair and accurate?
Some of these
streotypes are positive and could be seen as true (perkins). Even the negative
sterotypes seem to have some elements of truth in them.
Sexism is very
much present in pretty little liars. It is a tv show based on a group of four
popular high school teen girls in the town of rosewood. They occupy their time
shopping, gossiping and talking about boys. – Normal ‘girl’ activities.
Show
displays many diff examples of stereotypes against females. PLL represents
females as emotional creatures who cant be trusted. The show also gives
impression that bisexuality means youre confused and that a womans primary
source of power is between her legs.
‘Woman’s
worth is the sum total of her appearance, social status and the man on whos arm
she hangs.
Show
revolves around 4 Teen girls:
·Hanna
marin – typical blonde:
>‘Total diva’ – known
as the popular one of the group.
>In the past – bulimic
and often made fun for being overweight
>Was an outcast at
that point. She lost weight, started wearing makeup and the best clothes
>Then and ONLY then
she was considered popular. This shows that girls are represented in a self
centered way and have to look a certain way and be skinny to be popular and
liked.
Flash back scene - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOFqeumTZpk
>hanna’s parents are divorced
and without knowing the whole story she blames her father. This shoes us that ‘it
is clearly the man who ruined the relationship’ which fits in with the
sterotype that men will always be the ones to betray you.
Mona; hanna’s best friend
was shown as a liar after a few seasons when we found out that she was
messing up her life all along – shows how
girls are continuously represented as drama filled, lying, evil creatures. However
on the show these characteristics are seen through a majority of the girls to
match the show title ‘prety little liars.’
Show displays teenage
girl friendships as practically heartless, when in real life this is rarely the
case.
·Aria
Montgomery:
>Arias father was
having an affair with one of his students and aria caught him in the act. But instead
of telling the truth she kept it a secret and continued lying about it. – this adds to the stereotype that teen girls
are creatures that cannot be trusted (liars).
>Aria gets
romantically and sexually involved with one of her teachers. She is viewed as
reckless, careless, irresponsible and boy crazy
>Shown as a typical
teenage girl who is attracted to older men, a liar as she keeps lying to her
parents about everything and also dishonest as she hides her affair from her
closest friends. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78B_ueLKzl8
·Spencer
hastings:
>Strives for
perfection in everything she does.
- causes the teens watching pll to want to be
perfect in order to impress people.
>also seen as boy
crazy as she always ends up having an affair with all the guys her sister
dates.
>seen as manipulative
and selfish. However she is always under pressure fro family to uphold her ‘perfect’
image which causes her to act how she does.
>starts out as a girl
who has a bf and is easily pressured into sex. Struggles and begins to question
sexuality – was only easily peer pressured because she was very confused.
>kept her sexuality a
secret at first as was very embarrassed.
>this shows pll views
that being a lesbian means youre confused and not normal.
Another
positive effect stems from the show’s nuanced portrayal of an openly gay
teenager, Emily Fields. It is often through Emily, who comes out early in
the show, where Pretty Little Liars achieves its greatest emotional
resonance.
With this
encouragement, Emily is able to come out to her friends, who wholeheartedly
accept her. Emily’s friends look at her relationships with women in the
same way they regard their own heterosexual relationships.
Power of sex
– the mother of hanna agrees to get sexually involved with a cop so that hanna
will not be charged for shoplifting and ruin their reputation. After that the
cop sticks around without the mothers consent.
>displays that the price of a misdemeanour
is the loss of consent and authority on the womans part and also a woman giving
her up in this way is the only way to have some level of power.
Tag line for
PLL : ‘Never trust a pretty girl with an
ugly secret’
The show raises many
questions by using this as the tag line;
-Are
‘ugly girls’ unable to have ugly secrets?
-Are
they equally as untrustworthy as these ‘Pretty girls’?
-Are
‘ugly girls’ so invisible that the show completely ignores their existence?
ØPLL focuses so much on this ‘pretty
girl’ image that theyre not only focusing on one group more than the other, but
completely disregarding the less appealing group.
Feminism
through the show:
·A feminist approach the show has can been seen in the depiction of the
sexuality of each girl. Not Aria, nor Hanna nor Spencer regret their eventual
decision to have sex with their boyfriends at certain points in the show. All
of them own their loss of virginity and their sexuality. Emily is even shown
the same, as she has kissing scenes with her girlfriend as well.
·It is a murder mystery, therefore there are far more scenes that discuss
how they are going to stay strong and stick together through the next person
trying to sabotage them. They repeatedly recognize that their strength is in
each other and the group leans on one another to get through the difficulties
they face in finding who it is hunting them.
·They spend more time discussing their problems with each other than with
their boyfriends which each of them do have. They demonstrate a lack of
trusting in each of their male counterparts before they are proven trustworthy
over time. In Emily’s case when she came out to her best friends as being a
lesbian the group rallied around her to help her to stay strong in trying to
come out to her family as well.
·Because of their age, the ideology we have for teenage girls is that
they hide their secrets away from being seen by others. Making personal
decisions or mistakes they never admit to them in front of adults or even
friends. In this show because of “A” whom haunts the girls, they are forced to
become empowered and face their fears regardless of if they wish to hide or not
and in the end it makes the relationship and bond between the girls stronger.
ØIt encourages young girls and
even older women to be strong in who they are and to trust those they surround
themselves by. It reminds them to act with a noble character and be confident
as a woman, even in the face of scrutiny or trials.
vAnother interesting feminism
aspect of the show is the way that often times, photos and reminders are taken
and left for the girls from a distance. “A” does this to remind the girls that
they are being watched carefully and scrutinized. They are never able to hide.
This denotes the way our society views women. They are often judged and
critiqued harshly by the way they act, dress and speak. There is a particular
cultural model that society has for women to act by.
A Scene
from Pretty Little Liars: lured into a graveyard in the dead of night,
four high school girls watch as a stranger broadcasts their murdered, underage
friend’s sex tape against the wall of a mausoleum.
Despite the
fact that its audience is primarily composed of young women (or perhaps because
of this), Pretty Little Liars does not shy away from taboo, shock
value, or melodrama.
Pretty
Little Liars does not condescend to its teen audience: bad guys evade the
good guys, parents behave unethically, and the main characters’ reckless and
sometimes illegal behavior is often condoned.
The Liars
often feel that they have too many secrets of their own to be able to be
completely honest with their parents, counselors, or even the
police. Instead, they often find themselves creeping about in the woods
at night or exploring deserted warehouses, and generally making themselves
look guilty in the name of searching for clues. When they do finally confide
in their mutual therapist, the therapist goes suddenly missing
"Many, many people truly believe this lie and use it to justify murdering, and sexually and physically abusing trans women." Charlotte — who is deceitful to her core and, most egregious, seduced her own brother under false pretenses — exemplifies these harmful stereotypes about trans women, and influences how the show's viewers think about trans women in the process. Social:
- bad guys evade the good guys, parents behave
unethically, and the main characters’ reckless and sometimes illegal behavior
is often condoned.
- Pretty Little Liars offers a refreshingly
realistic portrait of positive relationships between high school girls, as well
as one of the most balanced portrayals of a gay teen currently on television.
- a teen knows to separate what she sees from what
she herself probably owns. With the Liars’ town presented as a typical
American suburb, this display of wealth is potentially problematic for young
viewers.
"Never trust a pretty girl with an ugly secret" goes the tag line to ABC Family's breakaway hit Pretty Little Liars. It sets up viewers to expect a certain kind of now-familiar teen trope: pretty people doing terrible things in nice clothes. What it doesn't prime viewers for is the subtle feminism that runs through the show.
Research plan (media texts, academic texts and websites) Media texts 'Pretty little liars.' ' Academic texts/books
Suzan Murray, Laurie Ouellette, Reality TV: remaking television culture (2009)
Su Holmes (Editor), Deborah Jermyn (Editor)Understanding Reality Television (2003)
Civilisation (BBC 2, 1969)
Annette Hill, Reality TV: audiences and popular factual television, Routledge, (2005)
Charmedis an American television series created byConstance M.The series narrative
follows three sisters, known as The Charmed Ones, the most powerful good
witches of all time, who use their combined "Power of Three" to protect
innocent lives from evil beings such asdemonsandwarlocks. Charmed is a glossy supernatural drama that explores the relationship between twentysomething sister witches, who, after finding out that they possess supernatural powers, are reluctantly thrown into a world of magic and a lifetime of sorcery.Each sister
possesses unique magical powersthat grow and evolve, while they attempt to maintain
normal lives in modern-daySan Francisco. Keeping their supernatural identities separate and secret
from their ordinary lives often becomes a challenge for them, with the exposure
of magic having far-reaching consequences on their various relationships and
resulting in a number of police andFBIinvestigations throughout the series.
How are women represented in charmed?
The “Charmed
ones” are Prue, Piper, Phoebe and Paige Halliwell played by Shannon Doherty,
Holly Marie Combs, Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan. Prue is the head-strong and
highly-driven older sister who has stood in as the authority figure of the
family since her mother’s early death, the sister who has the ability to move
objects with her mind, and the sister who gave up her steady job in an auction
house to follow her dream as a freelance photographer.
it is interesting to consider the ways in which this contemporary
text can be understood in a wider debate about female power, strength and
surface appearance in the post-feminist period. A relationship exists between the women of Charmed and the politics of
post-feminism, due to the fact that those ideas of power, sisterhood, style and
desire that recur throughout recent work on contemporary feminism by Charlotte
Brunsdon, Joanne Hollows, and Jacinda Read are the very same ideas that are
routinely showcased in the Charmed universe.
“the feminist message in it … is so
powerful” while another stated that “there is a huge underlying feminist
message [in the series], because you’ve got three independent women, who run
their own household and who don’t depend on any men…” - notion of the
contemporary feminist as a woman whose strength and power lay in her social and
financial independence from men. “the men [of Charmed] are not there all the time” giving the example
that the women “call Leo when they want Leo” rather than the women looking to
the men in the series as a boss, mentor or prince charming figure.
program is said to present the
witches as sisters and friends, desiring subjects, fashionistas, and strong,
multi-tasking modern women, women who can be understood as post-feminist
insofar as they remain both dependent on, and dismissive of, traditional
feminist identities. With this in mind then, one can see the characters marking
historically specific “changes in popularly available understandings of
femininity and a woman’s place.” Compared to PLL: - in both series the women are presented as independent, however in both they are seen through a sexist view in the way they dress. in charmed, which is 10 years old, there is more of an independent angle as they don't depend on anyone but each other and guys for them are not a main priority however in pll they depend more on their boyfriends to help them get out of trouble when they are not able to themselves.
Textual analysis..
"The Lady Killer" Emily and Nate fight sceneIssues and debates Representation and stereotyping;
This scene is a fight scene between Emily and Nate the stalker. It starts with a disequilibrium (Todorov) then when she stabs Nate, a new equilibrium is restored as the bad guy dies. Nate is a false hero, he seemed like a good character but turned to be the villain (Propp's character theory)
There is an Alternative representation as it goes against the traditional stereotypes of women being weak and unable to fight the way men do. This scene goes against Berger's ways of seeing where men act and women appear as this scene is heavily focused on Emily and Nate fighting each other. It is a fight between a man and a woman where they are both are being equally represented as strong, also the girl ends up stabbing the guy which is also unexpected and and alternative representation than what we are used to. However, after the bad guy has been stabbed, a male (named Caleb) comes up with a gun and hugs Emily while she cries - this shows women are very emotional which is a dominant representation as it reinforces the traditional stereotypes of being a damsel in distress.
Mise-en-scene. Costume - Both characters are wearing winter coats and dressed warmly. Emily's hair is all scruffy and messy which connotes that she has already been harassed and fighting to save herself. Lighting - In the clip there is mainly the use of low key lighting which creates lots of shadows and silhouettes, especially due to the fact that it is night and they are fighting up in a lighthouse. Actors facial expressions - Emily's brows are furrowed as she is scared and frustrated trying to call for help while Nate has an angry expression as he is out to kill Emily.Make-up - Both have light natural make up on and because Emily has been crying her eye make-up is slightly smudged but it is not that noticeable. Props - The use of a knife is a form of iconography and signifies an action code as we know it is a fighting scene. (Barthes) Settings - The scene starts of as Emily runs through a dark jungle which presents an enigma code (Barthes) as is creates suspense because we are not sure why Emily is running so fast and from who/what. - Then setting changes as she proceeds to a lighthouse which is where the main fight scene takes place.
Sound. In the Clip there has been the use of Non-diegetic and Parallel sounds. This is because the music is not from the diegesis. It has been added later (post-production) to add a suspense effect to the scene (creating an enigma code - Barthes). While Emily runs the pace of the music starts fast and as she approaches the lighthouse it becomes slower, almost thriller-like music.
Cinematography. The use of a suture (shot, reverse, shot) when Emily is standing in the lighthouse and trying to call for help stitches the audience into the story line as we are intrigued to know what has happened. When Emily is up in the lighthouse there is a close-up of her mobile which shows that she has no signal and she is calling for help, this then changes to a medium shot of her holding her phone and looking terrified which is evident through her facial expressions. Then there is another closeup of her mobile while she calls 911 which connotes that there is danger and sets another enigma code (Barthes). When Nate comes there is a jump cut which suddenly diverts out attention to focus on him. While Emily and Nate are fighting, there are some fast paced straight cuts which keep us intrigued into the scene. There is a binary opposition (levi-strauss) of good and evil where Emily represents good and Nate represents Evil.
The opening credits are a montage of lip gloss, nail polish, eye makeup, hair curls and high heels. The show seems to almost be fearful of a loss of traditional femininity in our society, and it compensates by relegating all the characters to hyper-feminine roles.This reinforces and creates a dominant stereotype of girls as this is how they are portrayed in real life Shows how heavily PLL focuses on the ‘pretty girl’ appearance. Pretty Little Liars’ pilot episode opens on a scene of five teenage girls drinking in a barn while a thunderstorm rages outside – this is a negative representation because of the fact that young teenagers are getting drunk in the middle of the night with no adult supervision.
Cinematography
Firstly the title sequence opens with an extreme-close up of a wide which is open widely and this represents the character who is dead. From her eyes we can see the type of person she may have been with the make-up she has worn which must represent how her personality was and this shows her costume. From watching this part the audience can identify that the person is not moving as it zooms in to her eye it aids in showing that she is not alive and creates a sense of enigma code for the audience as it creates suspense. There is then a straight cut to show another close-up which shows the girl adding lip gloss to her lips very slowly and effectively which engages the audience into knowing more and this shows how pale it is and this is then significant as it is conveying some kind of message to its audience. Their is then a fade cut showing a close-up of her feet showing to the audience that someone is putting it on her, which then represents she is dead as someone is dressing her up as we can see someone else hands. This follows n to another close-up shot of her hair being curled and then someone applying nail vanish on her nails which represents she is dead once again. When this is shown their is an instantaneous transition from one shot to the next, as it's a title-sequence this engages theaudience havingfast shots of diverse images.
Mise-en-scene:
The costumes are sophisticated as they are present at a funeral, however they are wearing short dresses which is how girls in the 21st century dress. The lighting used starts off quite dim which the montage is being presented. When the girls are shown there is top-key lighting used which is effective as it makes the character look more glamorous as only the filter lights are used and this makes them stand out to the audience. However their is also low-key lighting used in this as their is a sense of shadows at the back of her which makes it look effective however light and dark is less pronounced.
Sound:
The title sequence also consists of having diegetic
sound which emphasises the characters emotions allowing
the audience to feel the same way as
the characters which represents how they are telling a
story as the story lies in the lyrics "secret can you keep it" this
is seen as a dominant representation as it reinforces the traditional stereotypes
of girls keeping secrets and lying. The montage is showing all these features
of the girls which is a short hand way of identifying them which gives a
negative representation (Medhurst). However these representations can sometimes
be true (Perkins) as girls in reality are perceived this and this makes
the characters in the title-sequence to be aware of the
deep secret and through their body language and facial expressions it
shows the audience feel an action code is happening from
the way they are performing at the end and they also feel nervous for them.
Also the way it shows the four main protagonists it starts off with
a establishing shot of them and this shows all the characters at
once letting the audience analyse how they look which includes how
their body language is, how their facial expressions are
and what each protagonist is wearing (costume) and from viewing this
the audience is able to visualize their personality. It
then takes a fade cut to one of the characters showing
a close-up where it shows her facial expressions and this
moreover tells most things about the character and when she puts her
finger to her lips it shows there is a secret and she wants the audience to
keep it. Their consists of a violin being played as the shots are
going continuously fast creating suspense, fear and tension for
the audiences and indeed the characters. Enigma code and Action
codes is Barthes theory which relates to the sound of
the violin as enigma code is to do with narratives having
mystery with unclear answers which leaves the audience at the
edge.
