Big Fat Liar's Use Of Stereotypes In Teenage Films

Teenage films are a type of film made to attract an adolescent audience. The main ways that film makers try to attract teens to a teenage film are to create an unreal adolescent world, to make the teenager the hero, the adults stupid and incompetent and to use stereotypes that teens can relate to. By doing all this they can manipulate the teen audience and suck them in to the film, making it an affective one.

The typical teenage film starts of with the first idea, the unrealistic teenage world. The script writers might do this to make the storyline more believable, e.g. in She's the Man they make the characters seem more unaware then normal people so that the viewers believe that the characters don't notice that the guy is a girl. Another reason why the script writers might do this is to make the film more fun to watch. People like to watch others doing something we would like to do, or to be in a situation we've been in before. WE can relate to them and feel what the character is feeling. E.g. In
Ferris Bueller's Day Off Ferris goes around the city having fun while skipping school. He manages to trick numerous adults into thinking absurd things. He would not be able to this in the real world but if he was to get caught in the film it would end quicker and it wouldn't be as fun and entertaining. So the script writers think it's better to make the world a little more unrealistic if it means that the movie will be more entertaining.

Another way script writer for teen films try and attract the audience and suck them into the film is to put a teenager as the hero.
The teenager might start out as a trouble maker, like in Ferris Bueller's Day Off or Big Fat Liar and the will struggle against the principal of their school, or their parents for freedom and in the end they will prevail over the adults, making them look foolish and themselves look smart and triumphant. Another way they may make the teenager the hero is if at the end of the film they do the right thing. E.g. in Mean Girls Cady owns up to her actions and apologizes to everyone winning herself friends and the guy at the end. These formulas work because when we see people like us, people they can relate to, struggling and eventually triumphing and accomplishing something makes us feel satisfied. If the viewer feels satisfied at the end of the film then they will have enjoyed the film and will want to see it again to get that same
feeling.

A different way that the script writers of teen movies try to engage the teenage audience is to make the adults in the film look unintelligent and ridiculous. They make them the "bad guys" of the film. E.g. in Ferris Bueller's Day Off the principal is the bad guy that Ferris is trying to avoid and trick at all costs. We find ourselves liking Ferris and loathing the principal. Or in Big Fat Liar the adult, in this case, movie director is the bad guy who cheats the kids into giving him their movie script. They all find a way to get back at the adults and make them look stupid, and sometimes, they might even teach them a lesson. This works on teenagers as an incentive to see the film because most teens resent their parents telling them what to do, or what not to do, so it acts as a kind of release for them to see others going through the same thing. When they feel like their parents are wrong about an issue and see other parents being stupid and ineffectual it's like the film is telling them they were right and their parents are dumb, just as they thought. The feeling that you were right about something always makes you feel better.

The use of stereo types in teenage films is another way script writers attract a teenage audience. By using a stereotype as a character people can relate to them, whether they like or hate the person. The idea of being able to relate to a character is an important one because if you can relate to a character then it makes you feel something about the movie. The main point of making a movie is to make people feel something, whether it be anger or joy. By using stereotypes for character they can achieve this. An example of this is in Napoleon Dynamite the typical nerd stereotype is used over and over again so it is obvious that these people are considered nerds with out actually showing people calling them nerds. An example of stereotypes being used to make us hate a character is in Ferris Bueller's Day Off where the stereotype principal is suspicious and out to get students.

Over all, teenage films are all created using the same mix of formulas. Stereotypes so teens can relate to the characters, teen heroes so teens feel good about themselves, foolish adults so teens feel powerful and right, and all this set in an unreal world of adolescence. All this put together helps movie directors and script writers of teenage films to manipulate the audience and draw teenagers into the film.