'The representations of teenagers in American Teen Dramas and how they have changed over the past 20 years.'
By choosing to focus on teen dramas, i hope to develop some new skills as it is a lot different to my coursework project for AS which was print based. Thus, as i haven't studied American Teen Drama's before it is essential that i research the genre ; including textual analysis, codes and conventions, representation, and audience before i begin to decide on the attributes towards my production piece. Looking at the generic codes and conventions is a vital asset; From this i can establish whether i am going to comply with these or go against the somewhat 'traditional methods' and start something nouveau.
By choosing to focus on teen dramas, i hope to develop some new skills as it is a lot different to my coursework project for AS which was print based. Thus, as i haven't studied American Teen Drama's before it is essential that i research the genre ; including textual analysis, codes and conventions, representation, and audience before i begin to decide on the attributes towards my production piece. Looking at the generic codes and conventions is a vital asset; From this i can establish whether i am going to comply with these or go against the somewhat 'traditional methods' and start something nouveau.
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From the early days of 'Beverley Hills, 90210' which has previously been dubbed the 'original' american teen drama. It is noticeable that the archetypal teen drama has been brought forward throughout the years and spawned many contemporary teen dramas. One question i seem to ask is, are the representations of the teenagers within these dramas authentic to the youth of there day and age. Over the past few years we have been reinforced with goverment statistics on how rates of teenage pregnancy, drug & alcohol abuse, crime, obesity and so on are evidently increasing. However, are these changes being represented through the media in comparison to what they were in the 90's?
Most teenagers of the modern day take American Teen Drama's for granted. For most of us we are only a click away from turning over to a show filled with eclectic, and somewhat inspirational teenage characters facing the trials and tribulations suffered by many of the youths of today. It was only in the last 20 years or so that television networks began to realise the huge demand demographically for teenagers craving shows that they can relate to. This is where the epidemic of the teen drama started.
For the first 45 years of television existence Teen Dramas were unapparent. It wasn't until the early 1990's that there was a sudden boom in the market for this niche. These TV Dramas began being shown live, and some examples of early productions are 'Beverley Hills, 90210', 'Fifteen', 'Sweet Valley High', and 'My So Called Life'.
Youth orientated television stations such as 'Fox' and 'The CW' launched the most successful teen dramas. Whereas the least successful shows typically aired on 'The Big Three' networks such as, 'CBS', 'NBC', and 'ABC'. With the launch of cable television, teen orientated channels such as 'Teen Nick', 'MTV', and 'Boomerang' also featured a number of popular teen dramas.
In the year of 1995 'The WB' network helped to launch a entire new era for teen orientated television. This was the creation of teen-targeting. With launch of 3 highly successful teen dramas, 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer', 'Dawsons Creek', and 'Felicity' they acquired a large teenage fan base. However after a few successful years for teen dramas it became noticeable in the early 2000's that reality t.v shows such as 'So You Think You Can Dance', 'Americas Next Top Model', and cartoons such as 'Family Guy', and 'The Simpsons' were drawing in a much wider teenage audience. By 2003, a new set of teen dramas had arrived. 'One Tree Hill' premiered on 'The WB' while 'The OC' premiered on 'FOX'. While the latter started rather slowly, they outlasted the former with 'One Tree h
Hill' currently heading in to it's eighth season on 'The CW'. MTV were also inspire by the avid popularity of 'The OC' they constructed a reality show 'Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County'. This show was structured as an 'unscripted' serial drama, akin to 'The OC'.
Teen dramas are often broadcast after the 9pm threshold. this is due to the fact that some of the issues referred to within the shows maybe to severe to a younger audience. Many of the shows shown for teenagers have redefined the verisimilitude of their narrative and focus, starting in the mid-60s with such programme as 'Never Too Young'
chronicled the lives of a group of teens and their parents. this was developed into more modern shows, like 'Beverley Hills 90210', 'One Tree Hill' and 'The Oc' which highlighted high school life. At the same time examining a wide spectrum of adolescent issues from pregnancy to drugs, eliciting outraged responses from parents and teachers. These teen dramas provide adolescents with an insight into the dangers of life and social situations that may one day will have to face, or might have already. Hence, teen dramas are created for adolescents who already have a few years experience and wider knowledge presumably between the ages of 14-25.
Therefore, there are many different types of teenage dramas- sub-categorised in to genres from science fiction right through to comedy. The research that i have collected has given me an insight in to the variety of teen dramas and some vague ideas on the type of drama i would like to produce. For example, i could choose to add an educational, social purpose or simply a piece entirely for entertainment.
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