The next step in our critical investigations is to develop our presentations into detailed academic proposals. You will be given a one-to-one tutorial to help you find the right angle and issue to concentrate on but first need to develop a blog post working through the following headings and tasks:

Working title

Are new television series, such as 'Pretty little liars' creating more equal representations of women, or are they reinforcing traditional stereotypes?

Angle

How are women in PLL represented?

Pretty Little Liars is a show that, quite simply, messes with your expectations. Sometimes in obvious ways, sometimes in ways that break its established rules and sometimes simply by sticking to the rules once you expect them to cheat. 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. One could certainly make the case that the show is dangerous influence on its target demographic, and this paper will explore this possibility. Overall, we believed that 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.

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'

Linked production piece

a trailer about women.

MIGRAIN

The target audience are both females and males believe the psychographics for the audience is mainstreams as they want to go with the flow and they don't want to stand out. Within the society people are immune to fitting in and watching 'mainstream' videos. Within these mainstream videos consist of people showing themselves in a way they know people expect them too through dancing and showing themselves explicitly. The demographics for this I believe is, D-E which is semi and unskilled manual workers, drivers, post sorters, labourers etc. And people who are subsiding on state benefits, the unemployed, students, pensioners etc. The narrative is organised and structured through woman being represented in the drama industry by the internet impacting them in a negative way, and how it thus effects the society we are living in today.

Mise-En-Scene.

costume - girls wear trendy, short and revealing clothes which are common in the 21st century. these may vary as there are some halloween and christmas specials in which they change into more appropriate clothing

LIGHTING - top lighting
lighting comes from above

accentuate the features
look more glamourous

Actors facial expression - •Facial expressions – Shocked – eyes wide and mouth open. Body lang – crouched down, arms covering body.
- Connotes fear and shock.

Makeup - - Pale make up, looks dark under eyes show lack of sleep.

- makeup used to create blood wound on chin.

SHEP (Social, Historical, Economic, Political)

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.

Historical:

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 won’t be prosecuted for shoplifting 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.

Economical:

The show became the most tweeted cable show in 2012 and has held that ranking since. Using audience analysis and political economy I will prove that Pretty Little Liars changed how audiences are watching television.

Political:

"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.

Issues/Debates

Representations and stereotyping relates to pretty little liers, as there is a lot of exaggerated and repetitive representations, which reinforces stereotypes.

Media effects, as audiences identify with the texts and may change the way they do certain things. As, after arguing the sisters talk it out, to 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.

The news values relates pretty little liers, as whenever something big happens it appears within the news such as: 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.

There is a sense of moral panic as some events occur more than once, which makes the audience more concerned about the issue.

Media technology and the digital revolution – changing technologies in the 21st century

Theories

audience theories
hypodermic needle which injects messages through the audiences head. This is related to the drama serious which the 4 main characters represent present, as they want to show the message of for an example representation of women, they wants to be sexually appealing and appetising the audiences. And they get the message through their heads and will continue watching this. Dyers entertainment and Utopia- audiences want to consume media because they are going through social tension but when they consume media they receive energy. And this is the reason some people may want to view women being shown like this, as they find relieve and entertainment.

Post-structuralism
this rejects structuralism, that nothing can be represented as 'real' or the truth. Meaning of objects cannot be fixed: polysemic. Therefore what is shown isn't exactly how it is, as sense are cut off, and some of it may be script written. This is true in the opening videos being shown to the audience they may not in fact be going through these specific emotions and may not be intensely feeling it, however the director or producer may have scripted this so they stick to it. But the audience may be consuming it thinking it's the truth and the actor actually feels or is going through those issues or problems.

Semiotics:

this idea was introduced by Barthes and is about signs and denotations. So the denotations of the costume like mini skirts/short dresses etc. It could symbolise carefree and no respect.

Audience theories
Genre theories

Research plan (media texts, academic texts and websites)

Media texts
'Pretty little liars.'

Other media texts
'Charmed'

Academic texts/books

Suzan Murray, Laurie Ouellette, Reality TV: remaking television culture (2009)