Significant teen angst films- trends or changes in genre over time
1967- To sir with love, James Clavell
1984- Footloose, Herbert Ross
1995- Angus, Patrick Johnson
1995- Clueless, Amy Herckerling
2003- Freaky Friday, Mark Waters
2004- Mean Girls, Mark Waters
2004- 13 going on 30, Gary Winick
2009- Fish Tank, Andrea Arnold
2010- Easy A, Will Gluck
2014- The fault in our stars, Josh Bloone
The general trends in these teen angst films are that a majority of them are love/romance, such as To sir with love, Angus, The fault in our stars and 13 going on 30. Another trend that has changed and become more apparent over time is girls being portrayed as older than they are in films such as Freaky friday and 13 going on 30, this trend is more popular in films nowadays. Lastly a lot of teen angst films include a teenage girl trying to fit in with the crowd in films such as Easy A, Mean girls and clueless as this is a stereo typical thing of teenage girls nowadays to be seen as older than they are.
Section 2- Detailed Analysis Of The Opening Sequence Of Mean Girls
Titles
The titles of mean girls are bold, vibrant and bright purple, this clearly helps to the viewer to identify the genre straight away. This will then help to attract a wider audience as they can clearly convert the genre straight away
Camera Shots
In the opening sequence of mean girls there is a close up shot of the parents speaking to the teenager about her first day at school. A close up shot is used here to show the parents emotions and to show the setting clearly which is a high school. By showing the setting it clearly shows the audience that it is a teen angst film and will attract the correct target audience
Mise En Scene
The mise en scene that the director has used for setting and actors is that it is set in a stereo typical high school, and one of the first shots is in the school canteen which clearly shows what type of film its going to be. This in turn helps to attract a wider audience as teenagers can relate to being at school as this is where they spend most of their time and can relate to school life.
Sound
The sound in the opening of mean girls is a upbeat non diegetic sound which represents loud lively teenagers in a high school. This also helps to convey the teen angst genre as it sets the theme and atmosphere straight away.
Representation
The representation of high school children in mean girls is that all the teenagers are portrayed as trying to fit into the right friendship groups. One of the opening scenes is a teenager called Kady walking into the canteen and gazing over at all the already established friendship groups looking dazed.
