A dominant
representation is one that is repeated across the
media over time and
so are the values that it carries. Discuss.
Teenage girls as a group are often
victimised in their representation.
Throughout history – despite many
changes women’s representation
has remained the same.
In 1959 Beat Girl was made and it
became a cult film which was
revolutionary at the time. Jennifer
the main female character is 16
and shown sneaking out, drinking,
acting promiscuously and
ultimately ending up working in a
strip club. The historical context of
the film needs to be explained. World
War 2 paved the way for the
teenager to be born with the influx of
American soldiers came
American culture. Coffee bars, music
clubs and rock n roll music and
dance allowed youth of Britain to
achieve their own style, culture and
a life away from their parents. Just
as there is now there was a media
panic surrounding teenage girls and
the promiscuity developing. The
introduction of contraception allowed
girls sexual liberation and that is
how we see Jennifer in Beat Girl.
The dominant representation of teenage
girls has always been
overtly sexual, downtrodden or a
damsel in distress that can only be
complete and be rescued by a man. This
is true of Beat Girl in 1959
right up to Kidulthood, Mean Girls and
Girl Next door in the 21st
century.
Feminist critic Laura Mulvey suggests
that the media sexualises
women into an ‘object for the male
gaze’ and she also suggests that
women never challenge their own
representation because they are
intimidated by it and ultimately the
hypodermic needle theory injects
into them that this is how they should
look and behave and this is a
result of the dominant representation
being repeated over and over.
Television programmes such as Skins
and Hollyoaks endorse this
representation and patriarchal
hegemony can be seen in all their
representations. The opening titles of
both programmes show women
with little clothing looking
seductive, being shot in a sexualised
manner – which is unusual considering
their dominant audience is
teenage girls. Due to the dominant
representation developed by the
media no one question or challenges
the portrayal of teenage girls
anymore as it is what is expected and
sex sells.
Kidulthood 2006 was revolutionary when
it was released. The
narrative made it post modern and the
actors were amateurs
however a closer analysis of the text
reveals that it is not
revolutionary at all, infact it
endorses the dominant representation of
teenage girls . The main characters
Becky and Alisia are both seen
taking drugs, partaking in
prostitution and throwing themselves at
boys . Alisia in the film also
endorses a moral panic about teenage
pregnancy. The film is a very poor
representation of teenage girls
and is in my opinion inaccurate.
Girl next Door and Mean Girls both
2004 show a very similar thing to
Kidulthood just in a less gritty,
stereotypically American way. Both
main female characters are blond
haired , blue eyed teenage girls
who in the film and in reality become
objects for the male gaze –
Regina George in Mean Girls uses
phrases such as , “I was half a
virgin when I met him” and Danielle in
Girl Next Door is ultimately
revealed as a porn star – this
promotes promiscuity and encourages
lose morals.
There is a whole new representation to
teenage girls - self
representation. Social networking
sites such as YouTube, Facebook,
Bebo and MySpace have allowed teenage
girls to represent
themselves, however it is clear that
the young girls age 13 -18
represent themselves according to what
the media has dictated to
them they should be like. Girls are
shown posing seductively – often
with little clothing and writing
suggestive messages in order to attract
attention of older boys. This also
links in to a moral panic regarding
internet grooming and paedophilia.
The dominant representation of teenage
girls is spoilt, blonde, dumb,
promiscuous, reckless, irresponsible
and difficult. However there
have been many cases where teenage
girls have done good which
seem to be ignored. Girls consistently
achieve higher grades than
boys but men are still regarded within
the media as more intelligent
Neo Marxism believes that the dominant
classes , white middle class
males control the media and therefore
the representations it gives
are false and demeaning to minority
groups who do not have say . I
think this it very true of the
representation of teenage girls
On researching my case study I found
an article in the Times entitled
“Teenage girls drink boys under the
table”. The times being a
broadsheet newspaper are not even
exempt from endorsing the
dominant ideology. The article goes on
toe say that 23% of teenage
girls get drunk more than once a week
compared with21% of teenage
boys – so with a difference of 2% they
have created a negative
headline that will sell papers by
appealing to the binge drinking moral
panic.
Music videos can also be blamed for a
false dominant representation
of teenage girls. Teen stars such as
Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears,
Rhianna and Christina Aguilera all
started between the ages of 14
and 19 and were swiftly moulded into
sex symbols by the mass
media. Britney Spears is the prime
example of a media product. She
grabbed both female and male attention
with her Hit me Baby one
more time video in which she
sexualised a school girl’s uniform an
endorsed the perverse male stereotype
of the sexy school girl. After
this she continued to create more raunchy
videos such as I’m a Slave
for you where she is seen being licked
and groped by 10 - 12 men at
the same time. Britney Spears was
endorsing the dominant
representation by following what the
media decide is sexy and
projecting this into the minds of her
very young teenage fans. The
Hypodermic needle theory suggests that
the media inject an idea into
the audience and then the audience
take in on without any question
and I think this does apply to the
representation of teenage girls.
In conclusion the dominant
representation of teenage girls has been
going on for a long time and it will
not doubt continue. Just as Neo
Marxism suggests people will not
question this representation until an
alternative is given and the media
will not create one until the
demand for the repetitive dumb blonde
ceases to exist.
Examiner’s comments:
Comprehensive, with
wide range and variety of detailed
examples. Detailed
case study showing clear evidence of
individual study.
Good media debates, theories and wider
contexts, a wide
range of relevant points applied. Good critical
autonomy. Good focus
on the question and evaluation
throughout.