With specific reference to The Breakfast
Club [1] and The Perks of Being a Wallflower[2], has the representation of
teenagers become more positive in the past 30 years?
“Each one of us is a brain, and an athlete,
and a basket case, a princess and a criminal” [1]. It is easy for us to change through time and become the
opposite of what we once were, especially during our teenage years. For my research investigation,
I will be analysing how teens are represented in The Breakfast Club and The Perks of Being a
Wallflower and investigating if they are represented as a complex and evolving group of people. First
of all I will analyse the representation of young women and question if they conform or contradict
the common representational stereotypes, such as superficial and objectified. I will then
question if young men are represented stereotypically, focusing on stereotypes such as “the Angry
Young Man, or overarching archetypes, like the Fool”[3]. By comparing the representation in both
texts, I will then evaluate if and how the representation of teenagers have changed between 1985 and 2012.
Throughout my investigation, I will apply theories such as Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze.
One could argue that women are severely
underrepresented in film. “Only 6% of the top 100 films in 2012 hired a balanced cast of women and
men” [4]. This representation of women is completely false, as studies show that women comprise of
50.8% of the United States population [5], therefore there should actually be ever so slightly
more females than males represented in many contemporary films. Women are severely
underrepresented in both of my studied texts, specifically in The Breakfast Club, where there are more
speaking males in the first 6 minutes than there are women in the whole text. Furthermore, women
comprise only 36% of the cast - this is 2% less than the amount of female characters in The Perks
of Being a Wallflower, similarly to The Breakfast Club, there are more speaking males within the
first 20 pages of the script, than there are women in the whole 95 page script[6] . Unfortunately,
these unbalanced statistics aren't even balanced out by the screen time, as the
females clearly still have less screen time.
A common criticism is that females are
heavily sexualised in American films and they are
represented with the ideology that female
value is placed on beauty, not intelligence. “Girls are getting the message these days just so young,
that they need to be impossibly beautiful. Hot, sexy, extremely thin.” [7]. Emma Watson who plays
Sam in The Perks of Being a Wallflower said “at 14 I started to be sexualised by certain elements
of the media”[8]. The age of sexualisation is decreasing while the amount of it, unfortunately is
increasing with the sexualisation of young girls becoming an area of concern
for many parents [9]. Both of my studied texts sexualised teen girls to some extent, either through dialogue or
appearance, Mulvey stated that “traditionally, the woman displayed has functioned on two levels: as
erotic object for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic object for the spectator within
the auditorium”[10]. Although this has proven to be a common theme throughout
many films, one would argue that it is not so common in my studied texts as the
females are displayed in many more ways than as erotic objects, for example as
intellectual or artistic inspirations. Females were objectified briefly throughout
The Breakfast Club, and it was mostly portrayed in the dialogue from Bender – a
misogynistic criminal - who is very vocal about performing unwanted
sexual acts on 'the princess' Claire and treats her as if she is an object
asking personal questions such as 'Have you ever been felt up?' and 'Are you a
virgin?'. A specific scene where the female form is stylised and
presented for visual pleasure, displayed in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, is
during a performance characters put on at school. The females, specifically Sam,
are wearing outfits, which tend to sexualise her via revealing her body in a
figure hugging corset. One could argue at this moment “the female character is
passive and powerless: she is the object of desire for the male characters”[11]
and the male viewers too. This outfit, which connotes sexual availability, is
further emphasised by the texts mode of address. During this scene the camera
slowly pans up Sam’s body forcing the audience into the male gaze. There is
also some fragmentation of the body which further
objectifies, and cut in close ups show Sam’s stomach and thighs. Later on in the scene, Sam rips off
her skirt and is left standing in her underwear, giving male viewers and characters further
scopophilia. She then takes Charlie’s hands and places them on her breasts. The audience has a mostly
positive reaction – finding the scene funny and interesting, as it puts shy Charlie in an uncomfortable
but entertaining position. The audience tends to focus more on the humour in the scene than the
sexualisation of Sam and the other female characters. However, the text does contain infrequent but
crude visual pleasure for the audience of the text.
One could argue that another common
representation of women in American films is superficiality. Superficiality is common
because "girls get the message from very early on that what's important is
how they look"[12], thus they try to change their appearance with make up,
new haircut’s and fashionable clothes in order to gain the important male
attention or social status. Narratives often represent this as the most
plausible manner for females to gain power. Statistics show that this
repeatedly represented notion is having an impact - “American women spend
between 12 and 15 thousand dollars a year on beauty products”[13]. This
stereotype is mostly conformed to in The Breakfast Club, by Propp’s character archetype
of the princess, Claire and the girl labelled throughout the film as the
‘basket case’, Allison. For the majority of the narrative, females are
represented more progressively in The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The female
protagonists wear little makeup and spend very little time worrying about their
looks. There is a significant scene where females are represented as
superficial in The Breakfast Club. A two shot of Allison and Claire is
presented to highlight a binary opposition as Claire looks bright and girly,
wearing typically feminine colours with a stylish hair cut and lots of makeup,
whereas Allison looks dark and gothic, wearing oversized black clothes, with a
messy haircut and smudges of black makeup around her eyes. The scene then cuts
to the bathroom, where Claire is applying make-up to Allison, presumably to
make her prettier and more like Claire. This element of a makeover confirms the
superficiality of both female characters, but in conforming to this mostly
negative stereotype, happiness is
radiated from the two characters, especially Allison who seems content with her
new look and is now a much more confident character in comparison to the shy
and quiet girl she was beforehand. From this point, The Breakfast Club takes a
positive turn are there is little to no negativity following the makeover.
Teenage boys have a variety of
representations in American films but one of the most prominent is being domineering over females. According to
Jackson Katz, “we’re socialising boys to believe being a man is being in charge and dominating”[14].
Katz’s findings are present, to a certain extent, in both of my chosen texts. The Breakfast Club
almost completely conforms to this stereotype. Bender, the character labelled as the criminal, uses
his pathological masculinity to gain control over Claire and although on some occasions she fights
back, he is usually able to manipulate her and persuade her into doing things she would rather not
do. He does this through his threats of violence and his intimidating personality. However, not only
does he have power over the female characters, but he also has power over the males too. In both
texts, the males are represented as leaders and it could be argued that “when shown with other men,
they seem ready to unleash their aggression at any moment. When shown with women, they must be
dominant.”[15] This is reinforced by
low angle camera shots of the superior males to show that they are above and
looking down on their victim, showing power and superiority . There is also
an element of dominance from the male characters in The Perks of Being a
Wallflower. One example is the scene when Candace, Charlie’s sister, is having
an argument with her boyfriend about him being a "mamma's boy". We
view this scene through a point of view shot from where Charlie is standing as it
helps the audience to empathise. During the argument Derek feels that his
masculinity is being challenged and to regain it he shows his dominance by
getting angry which results in him hitting Candace. However,
The Perks of Being a Wallflower mostly contradicts the common stereotype as it
is based around the abuse based depression of the male protagonist. This text,
unlike many others, explores the unusual inferiority of males and how they can
be abused and have all of their confidence removed. The text emphasises the
naivety of many males and helps the audience to understand that not all
men are exactly like the ones we
commonly see within the media.
Males also tend to be represented within
western film as thick skinned and the documentary Miss Representation states that "males are
taught not to express emotion"[12]. The males in The Breakfast Club tend
to follow this formulaic gender representation. Bender is consistently rude to
Andrew who doesn’t take offense; “this behavior is reinforced everyday in the
stereotype of the heroic male”[16]. One could justify this acceptance of
criticism as teenage boys are represented as able to cope on their own and its
important they project a ‘tough guise’, or in other words "to show the
world only certain parts of yourself that dominant culture has defined as manly"
[17]. However, the character Brian ‘the brain’ is represented differently; he
cries and cares about what people think of him, but is represented as weak throughout
the text as a result. However, if the audience gain the preferred reading, his
character is the most likeable due to his complexity with his funny personality
and vulnerability. "The male in the
past twenty tears has become more thoughtful, more gentle”[18] and this is
clear throughout The Perks of Being a Wallflower as the male protagonists show
emotion and react badly to criticism in many scenes. An example of this is when
Patrick kisses Charlie, and then sobs into his chest when he realises that he
has made sexual advances on his best friend. Charlie then hugs him and lets
Patrick know that he understands. This shows emotion from both male
protagonists, as Patrick is crying and Charlie is comforting him. Charlie
reacts completely different to how many males would react in that situation,
which could be perceived as an attack on his masculinity, and this shows a
positive representation that men aren't always thick skinned, but can also be
vulnerable sometimes too.
Many believe that young people are wild,
reckless and often act with no regard of consequence, due to the media habitually representing young
people in an “overwhelmingly negative light” [19]. This stereotype is often displayed in news stories
dealing with young people and their activities. For example “only 14% [of news stories] depicted
a purely positive image while 15%... took a neutral tone"[20]. Unfortunately, young people in both texts
conform to this negative reckless representation. In The Breakfast Club it is
mostly Bender who conforms to the concept of teens being reckless, however in
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, there are a number of scenes where the teens are
breaking the law by taking drugs and drinking underage. However the text does
represent teenagers as more complex than only
conforming to stereotypes. For example the characters are also represented as enjoying spending time at
home creatively channelling their angst whilst listening to music and writing poems. This
positivity is present in the majority of characters in The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
One could argue my texts do not just conform
to stereotypes but in fact represent teenagers with realistic troubles and concerns. “The
population of 15/16 year olds reporting that they frequently feel anxious/depressed has doubled in the
last 30 years”[21]. This change in anxiety levels is important and very clear in the two texts I
have studied. The Breakfast Club does occasionally focus on depression or
anxiety but interestingly characters who express their concerns are not taken seriously. However, the main narrative theme
in The Perks of Being a Wallflower is depression, as protagonist Charlie has recently returned to
school after a long period of depression, caused by the death of his auntie, which he feels responsible
for. The audience is provided with a few short and inconsistent enigma codes
leading us to the conclusion that Charlie was in fact abused by his auntie and
it then becomes clear that this was another trigger for his anxiety and
troubles. However, as a male, Charlie felt ashamed to tell anyone about his
abuse as it would ruin his 'tough guise' and make him seem weak and
emotional. Depression, along with abuse,
is a very serious and relevant social issue, and for it to have been discussed at
such a length in The Perks of Being a Wallflower is very positive and helpful for anyone dealing with
depression in any way.
“The experience of teenagers has changed considerably over the
last 30-40 years, including a significant increase in the rate of anxiety, depression
and behaviour problems” [22]. It is clear from my research that there
have been significant changes in the representation of teenagers, to reflect
real life social changes. The representation of teenagers as anxious and
depressed has clearly increased in the time between The Breakfast Club and The
Perks of Being a Wallflower, whereas the exploitation of teenagers and representing
them as simplistic and reckless has decreased over time. The sexualisation of women has increased and
the male gaze is becoming more and more prominent, due to the consistent exploitation
of women as sexual objects. It is interesting that the rise in sexualisation and depression
correlate, and one could argue that the two topics are very closely linked. If this representation
continues, what will the children of future generations become? Will they know that they are worth
more than their body or merely see themselves as the object of scopophilia? It is becoming
extremely common for teenagers to be represented in a negative light, and thankfully these two
texts break stereotypes, representing the majority of characters as complex individuals rather than
formulaic archetypes. Directors, script writers, producers and all other people involved
within the production of film should actively attempt to represent teenagers complexly, in order to
avoid the self-fulfilling prophecy, in which a teenager becomes what they are stereotyped as.
[1] The Breakfast Club. Di. John Hughes.
Perf. Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally
Sheedy. Universal Pictures, 1985. DVD.
[2] The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Di.
Stephen Chbosky. Perf. Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller. Summit
Entertainment, 2012. DVD.
[3] Spicer, A. 2001. Typical Men: The
Representation of Masculinity in Popular British Cinema.
[4] Jonathan Handel,
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/women-still-underrepresentedfilm-tv-681485.
2014
[5] http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL.FE.ZS
2014
[6]
http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~ina22/splaylib/Screenplay-Perks_of_Being_a_Wallflower.pdf,
2012
[7] Killing us Softly 4, Sut Jhally, 2010
[8] Emma Watson, UN Speech, 2014
[9]
Alice Philipson, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/10568317/Film-ratings-to-be-toughened-up-amid-fears-over-the-sexualisation-of-girls.html
2014
[10] Mulvey, L. 1975. Visual Pleasure and
Narrative Cinema.
[11] Smelik, A. 1999. Feminist Film Theory,
The Cinema Book.
[12] Miss Representation. Di. Jennifer Siebel
Newsom. Girls’ Club Entertainment, 2011.
[13] Miss Representation. Di. Jennifer Siebel
Newsom. Girls’ Club Entertainment, 2011.
[14] Jackson Katz, Miss Representation. Di.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom. Girls’ Club Entertainment, 2011
[15] Tom Nakayama
http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/images-men-advertising
[16]
https://www.mensline.org.au/emotions-and-mental-wellbeing/men-and-emotions 2011
[17].http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=211
Jackson Katz
[18] Buchbinder, D. 2012. Studying Men and
Masculinities.
[19] Matt Wells,
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2004/oct/12/pressandpublishing.broadcasting
2004
[20] Matt Wells,
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2004/oct/12/pressandpublishing.broadcasting
2004
[21]
http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/news/increased-levels-anxiety-and-depression-teenageexperience-changes-over-time
2012
[22]
www.nuffieldfoundation.org/news/imcreased-levels-anxiety-and-depression-teenageexperience-changes-over-time
2012
