Week 12 - Portrayal of Teenagers on Television

As a person interested in Young Adult fiction, I've always been happy to see the crossover from book to television series. The Gossip Girl books were the first series I read which eventually became a television program. For me it was an easy switch to go from book to television series simply because I wanted to see the characters I read about suddenly come to life on screen. As with most cases, the plot of the television show starts to diverge from the plot of the book, but the general premise remained the same -Gossip Girl was a show about the lives of rich teenagers in New York City. Below are some of the initial advertisements used to engage young people with Gossip Girl.

These advertisements were used to draw people into the show who hadn't necessarily read the books. For more perspectives on the advertisements, check out these blog posts here and here. The images are provocative and sexual but it's arguably the text that makes the show more appealing. Phrases like “mindblowingly inappropriate” and “every parents worst nightmare” are sure to get the attention of young people because it is mysterious and slightly rebellious. The world of Gossip Girl is decadent and exciting for your average teenager, the characters drink at cool bars, have the latest fashions, and do a good job of looking constantly beautiful. Are these the types of role models that young people should be looking up to?

When I was in high school, The OC was the show that everyone watched. It was about a bunch of teenagers living the good life in a part of California called Orange County. I watched the show because it was cool and because the girls wore pretty clothes and the guys looked 'hot'. The actors employed to play these characters on the show were not sixteen, they were in their middle and late twenties. Why do television producers feel like it is necessary to cast such older actors to play teenagers? I guess there are legal and monetary reasons that the general public aren't privy to, but if the target demographic of the studio is teenagers, wouldn't it be more relatable to have 'real' looking kids on there?

This leads me to television shows like Homeland and Mad Men. These television programs have teenagers in their cast who look like REAL teenagers, not the prettied up models that seem to be on all the shows targeted at teens these days. Is this because the target audience of Homeland and Mad Men are more or less adults who don't care about whether or not the teenager is portrayed 'beautifully'?

As an avid television consumer I find it refreshing to see 'normal' teenagers playing teenagers on TV, I just find it difficult to comprehend why they need to be on shows aimed at adults. Why do the shows aimed at young people need to have good-looking, unattainable model-types, giving young people false ideas about what they should look like or how they should act? I'm frustrated but I will still (un)ashamedly watch the shows.

Images courtesy of CW.

Week 8 - Scholarly Article

For the first assessment in this course we were required to formulate a thesis around a learning pack we had studied for an essay. I chose Learning Pack A – Youth and Popular Culture because it was the most interesting to me. I wanted to know why a large number of young people liked to spend time online and whether or not that time spent online was productive educationally. In my research for the essay I came across a number of articles, however, it was one by Angela Thomas of the University of Sydney that caught my attention.

The article Fan fiction online: Engagement, critical response and affective play through writing, discusses fan fiction specifically in relation to teenage girls and how they interact with each other online. For those unfamiliar with the concept of fan-fiction, Thomas describes it as:

“Borrowing settings, plots, characters and ideas from all forms of media and popular culture, fans weave together new tales, sometimes within the accepted canon, sometimes blending several ideas from different sources together in a type of fiction called 'Crossovers', and sometimes imagining new possibilities for additional characters, different histories or different settings to build on existing stories, called 'Alternative Universe' fiction.” (Thomas, 2006, p.226).

For more information and to see examples of fan-fiction, please click HERE
Fan-fiction provides writers (of any age) the ability to engage with their popular interests and develop their writing skills. If a person is a fan of Harry Potter they are able to write a specific fan-fiction. They can do this by creating their own character and inserting it into the world of Harry Potter or they can use an existing character from the Harry Potter universe. When I was younger I was heavily involved in the online world of fan-fiction. This article somewhat validated the feelings I had in regards to just how much engaging in writing and critiquing the work of others improved my literacy skills.

Image Credit: www.publicdomainpictures.net

The article is separated into five main parts: the social practices of fan-fiction, fictional role-playing and collaborative writing, transforming texts, fan-fiction as a means for critical response to texts, and fan-fiction as identity play. I don't want to go into detail describing the article, what I do want to do however is to draw attention to the fact that much of the skills I developed as a writer and critical thinker were developed organically. I was so engrossed in the world of Harry Potter I wanted to become part of it and that is how I found fan-fiction.

As teachers and librarians I think we need to be aware of the way young people are engaging not only with pop-culture but with the online world. I believe fan-fiction and other collaborative writing activities like text-based role-playing are beneficial to teenagers because they learn through play. The article by Angela Thomas provides a great introduction to the world of fan-fiction, I'm excited to see what other research is forthcoming.

Reference List
 
Thomas, Angela. Fan Fiction Online: Engagement, Critical Response and Affective Play through Writing [online]. The Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 29(3), 226-239. Retrieved from: http://search.informit.com.au.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/documentSummary;dn=250482439837148;res=IELHSS