A good example of the way the media affects teenage girls is portrayed in the comedy movie 'Easy A' starring Emma Stone.
In this movie, Olive Penderghast (Emma) is an 'invisible' teenaged girl who just wants to increase her standing within the school. Her opportunity comes when an overheard miscommunication between her and her best friend lead to the rest of the school believing she 'got it on' with a college student. Olive, enjoying the popularity, goes along with the lie, but it soon balloons out of control as she starts being approached by the out-and-down of the school, who pay her to say she had sex with them in order to make themselves look better.
This movie is a perfect example of the give-and-take when it comes to sexualisation and interpretation of girls in the media, in this case, the media being the students of Ojai High School. The students give off the impression that it's admirable that Olive 'had sex.' Believing it, Olive increases the amount of activity and references based towards this, dressing provocatively and selling rumours for money. In return, the school puts more heat on her to be sexual and to be the slut they think she is.
This is the same way that the media draws girls in to buying their products- they convince them that it's cool and attractive to be sexual and act sexually, and in return the girls start dressing and acting that way. The media then increases pressure until they are swamped in the idea that if you are not slutty, you're obviously not good enough.
The movie is also a warning on the effects this has on young girls. Olive, daunted and disenchanted by her attention, realises that although everyone wants to be known to be with her, no one actually wants to date her, or be her friend. She seeks an escape from the advances, but it culminates with a boy trying to force himself on her.
Again, this is what can happen through the sexualisation of young girls. They end up getting into trouble because they are pushed to be adult before their time.
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| "I wish it could go back to being normal" |
Once again a good discussion Rachel, I still think it could be developed further. Keep returning to that assessment resource (marking schedule) to ensure you answer all of the criteria for Excellence. This movie is a fantastic text to discuss and I could talk for years about the relationship between the movie and our assignment, but I won't :) I will leave that up to you :)
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