Representation

   When thinking about my project, I had an idea in. mind about what I wanted to do. I also had an idea of representation that I wanted to make sure that I included in my project. This group that I wanted to represent is teenagers. I wanted to represent teenagers because whenever I see the media's perspective on teenagers, it is different from my perspective. I feel like this project is an opportunity to change the stereotypes by redefining what teenagers are.

   When I think of how the media portrays teens, I think of two films. Project X and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  Project X is a mock-documentary that follows 3 teens who throw a party at one of their parent's house. The party escalates and turns into a riot, and this film is focused around teens. It shows that teens are rebellious, don't follow any rules, and are wild. Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a film that follows a teen, Ferris Bueller, throughout his day skipping school. He dupes everybody just so he can skip a day of school. This reinforces the stereotype that teens are rebellious liars that skip school.

   I do not feel that this standard of representation against teenagers is fair. It is a stereotype based off of a few bad kids, but realistically, most of the kids that I've experienced being around are nothing like the movies. I believe that the way teenagers are represented create a bad stigma about kids, that gets stuck in the audiences mind, helping reinforce the stereotypes. I would try and show that teenagers do enjoy having fun, but I would challenge the recklessness and complete disregard for rules. Many of the people I know work extremely hard to get by in school, and follow every rule and aren't like the rebellious teens in the films.