Group 30: Genre and Convention

teen films are movies they are strictly targeted towards teen within the ages of 13-18, however they can also develop niche target audiences such as adults who enjoy teen films and that type of genre due to things such as nostalgia.Teen films can cover from a wide range of sub-genres such as musical , horror , fantasy , crime and many more. Grease was on of the first iconic films to really introduce and shape the new way of teen films by making the characters in the film seem youthful and happy by using this technique other teen films created stereotypes of teenagers such as a typical 'nerd' a 'jock' and a 'dumb blonde' with these stereotypes a lot of teens started to watch these films so that they could relate to the characters.

Characters

Teen stereotypes, teenage characters within films are mainly based on stereotypes and generalizations of students in high school here are a few:

jock/scholar: This character is seen as the 'dominant and masculine' character within films they often participate within the high school sports team and are the top of the 'high school hierarchy', they mainly are the antagonist against the nerd/loner and bully them. They mainly use the popular girls in school and have relationships with them to gain credit and status from the students in school.

A typical jock sport (american football)

Popular girl/cheerleader: This character is seen as the 'popular' character within a film they are often stereotyped to be dumb and blonde and rely on beauty rather than brains, they affiliate themselves with people within their status such as the popular jocks which they have active relationships with them they also take part in typical popular teenage girls activities such as cheerleading , throwing parities and organizing homecoming and prom events.

cheer leading

Nerd/loner: this character is seen as the 'outcast' within the film they are often stereotyped to be very intellectual but are often bullied and marginalized cause of this, they hardly have any friends or affiliate with any other cliques/ groups. they also experience high levels of bullying from the jocks or cheerleaders.Depending on what genre of a film they are mainly the protagonist and triumph over the popular jocks and cheerleaders.