Today, our lesson was based around representations and how the media can control our opinions and views on people. One of the main forms of representations are what we call stereotypes. Typically, media institutions use stereotypes to help the audience understand what place in society/race/personality somebody has. The media often use stereotypes repeatedly that most people assume that they are what they are portrayed as but in some circumstances this may not be the case. We were asked to analyse a film opening of our choice and I have chosen Amy Heckerling's Clueless.
The character Cher Horowitz reinforces representations of class, age and gender. She is a rich, high school girl. The opening sequence of Clueless presents her as a stereotypical spoilt, Beverly Hills teenager in a number of ways. Firstly, she is seen socialising with friends, going shopping and having a pool party. All these interests and hangout spots are associated with being a "popular"girl. Cher states about halfway through the scene "you probably think this is some kind of commercial, but actually, I live a way normal life for a teenage girl". This quote implies that she is trying to convey to the audience that her life isn't extravagant. Additionally, the opening sequence gives the viewer insight into the lifestyle of Cher. She lives in a mansion, she has a maid and she uses a computer to pick out her clothes - none of which a "normal" girl would have! In the scene we are also introduced to her father who is a rich lawyer. This further emphasizes the rich kid stereotype as they normally have wealthy parents who spoil them endlessly. Later on in the sequence she explains how her 'daddy bought her a brand new jeep even though she doesn't have her driving license yet!' She also goes on to explain that her and her best friend Dionne are 'friends because we both know what it's like to have people be jealous of us'. This explores the notion that popular, wealthy girls like Cher and Dionne, are typically superficial, self-absorbed and disliked by others. Finally, the character Cher is also represented as somewhat of an airhead, which again is a typical trait of the stereotype. She is presented as a dumb blonde bimbo through her appearance and actions. For example when she is driving, she is very careless and smashes a pot on the sidewalk exclaiming that "it came out of nowhere" which clearly isn't true. Her reckless driving also reinforces the idea that spoilt, rich kids can do whatever they want regardless of the consequences.
