Michael is a British, teen romantic comedy so our main representations are gender and age as we chose to represent British teenagers.
Age
In the British media teenagers are typically represented as rude and antisocial; Shows such as Skins and The Cut show teenagers drinking, taking drugs and arguing. We chose to represent teenagers in a more positive light which is more representative of British teens; Our characters enjoy music, playing video games and hanging out with their friends. Shows such as My Mad Fat Diary represent teenagers in this way.
In the British media teenagers are typically represented as rude and antisocial; Shows such as Skins and The Cut show teenagers drinking, taking drugs and arguing. We chose to represent teenagers in a more positive light which is more representative of British teens; Our characters enjoy music, playing video games and hanging out with their friends. Shows such as My Mad Fat Diary represent teenagers in this way.
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| Teenagers drinking and smoking in Skins |
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| Teenagers hanging out, laughing and hugging in My Mad Fat Diary |
Gender
We chose not to conform to the stereotypical representation of teenage males and females - males being dominant in relationships and females' plotlines being driven by male characters. We reversed the gender roles so that the female was dominant in the relationship and the male was upset and moped about crying. This role reversal is unexpected so creates humour which engages our audience.
We chose not to conform to the stereotypical representation of teenage males and females - males being dominant in relationships and females' plotlines being driven by male characters. We reversed the gender roles so that the female was dominant in the relationship and the male was upset and moped about crying. This role reversal is unexpected so creates humour which engages our audience.
Characters In Michael
Michael is a typical, awkward British teenage boy. He likes music, video games and plays the guitar. Being so representative of British teenage boys makes him relatable and the audience are empathetic towards him. We heightened certain parts of his personality for comedic effect eg. Michael runs away from an awkward situation which is unusual behaviour.
Michael is a typical, awkward British teenage boy. He likes music, video games and plays the guitar. Being so representative of British teenage boys makes him relatable and the audience are empathetic towards him. We heightened certain parts of his personality for comedic effect eg. Michael runs away from an awkward situation which is unusual behaviour.
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| Michael runs away after an awkward silence |
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| Michael playing the guitar |
Female:
Lara is vain, fickle, self centred and confident. Not a typical representation of a teenage girl but this worked in our favour as her character is meant to be disliked. We connoted this through her actions and dialogue. For example she pulls her hand away from Michael when he tries to hold it and is incredibly unsympathetic when she breaks up with him, using the cliche 'we can still be friends'. First impressions of Lara as dislikable are easy for the audience to understand and relate to; setting up binary opposites immediately makes the story interesting.
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| Lara rolling her eyes at Michael |
A bit more on representations and our characters:
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