Repertoire Of Elements By Karmen, Kathleen and Richard

The Iconography of the Teen Rom-Com genre is always very similar throughout the various films. This is to make a general association to the audience so that they are familiar with what they are watching. For the genre of Teen Rom-Com there is no immediately significant prop or item which links in with the genre, however, more attention is taken to the characters at hand; what they wear and what they look like. TYPICAL ICONOGRAPHY

The main themes in the storytelling of a Teen Rom-Com are that of: 1.A “typical” guy who is in love with the popular pretty girl in high school/college, he has attempts at trying to swoon her which fail, however in the end we find out that she liked him all along or that she falls in love with him. 2.A girl who likes a popular good looking guy that she feels is out of her league and doesn’t even dare to attempt to talk to him, but we find out that he likes her a lot but is too shy to admit. No matter the exact plot, there is always the element of someone falling in love with someone else, but there are obstacles preventing them from being together ( this is the comedy that is present). For Example: A Cinderella Story features; Love, Lust, obstacles that are presented, awkward moments between the main characters, heartbreak between the main characters that tests their relationship etc. Ideology is a set of beliefs/values specific to a person/society they can be based on a variety of aspects and differ between a range of people.

Covert means that the message is presented as hidden meanings and subtexts. Overt means that the message conveyed is obvious. This is mainly seen in the titles of films, for example: “How to lose a guy in ten days” evokes the overt message that the film is going to be about a woman trying to break up with a current boyfriend in a set time period. We are looking at Teen Rom-Com’s in the media of film. There are many general ideological messages in relation to this genre, for example; heterosexual relationships, beliefs of chastity and many social criteria such as: not going out with your best friends ex, the most popular boy and girl usually have a relationship, social groups not mixing (e.g the “jocks” and the “nerds”). The message of many Teen Rom- Com’s is that unexpected relationships can happen and people always find love in the end. For our film we intend to use the name “Love Magnet”, as with many Teen Rom-Com’s we have researched, the title of the film gives an overt message of what the film is going to be about. Somebody who “attracts” (from the word magnet) love. The covert message behind this is what kind of love and from whom, they attract. “A Cinderella Story” features an overt title which is highly effective as it relates to the age old story of Cinderella; a young girl who works as a maid in her stepmothers house and ends up marrying a prince – as people recognise this story, they already have an idea of what the film is going to be about. Furthermore, this is great advertisement for the film as people are familiar with the story and may want to watch the film.

Ideology is often linked with zeitgeist due to the values/beliefs being present in a specific time period e.g. the recession – so films may feature similar struggles which the audience can relate to. Teen Rom-Com’s don’t usually feature any problems associated with the “zeitgeist” as they are heavily circulated around the characters and what they get up to. This ensures that the audiences attention is on the situation at hand and not on underlying concerns related to reality. CURRENT CONTEMPORARY ZEITGEIST’S There is a handful of media which reflect “the current social climate”, however, in films this is mainly featured in genres which relate to the issues at hand – for example: crime, urban drama’s and political issued films.

“A CINDERELLA STORY” features the main character (name) who lives in a house previously owned by her father (who passed away) with her stepmother and her two girls of the same age as (name). She is treated really badly; forced to do shed loads of chores and constantly being harassed by the family. She meets her “prince” at a school masquerade ball and they get close to one another, the catch however, is that he doesn’t know her true identity. The film then revolves around the secret relationship they have with one another without him knowing her true identity, we see them fall in and out of love and eventually they get together. “JOHN TUCKER MUST DIE” is circulated around a group of teenage girls who have all been out with the high school sweetheart John Tucker. They all soon find out that he has played every single one of them, telling them the same cheesy love lines. They set out for revenge on him by setting him up and playing him back – a typical girl amongst their group dressed up and taught to be a vixen to love him and leave him. We see her gradually fall in love with him, as he falls in love with her, despite this, she still carries out the ultimate humiliation to damage his reputation in the school forever to liberate all the girls he played. The narrative sets out to let the audience know what the main ideas of the film (in this case) is all about. It is the way in which material from the film is arranged to create a specific meaning for the audience. The narrative structure is experimented with to create meaning for the audience for example, it can be; linear - where the narrative is told in a chronological order of events (often the most common as this presents a simplistic approach for the audience an makes it easier to follow) or non-linear – where filmmakers use techniques like flashbacks or cross-cuttings to “jumble” up the narrative form (this is often used in film trailers to create a sense of immediacy and to heighten the effect of persuasion on the audience) for example in John Tucker Must Die.

The narrative in the Teen Rom-Com always follows the similar pattern of high school students who unexpectedly fall in love and are not considered the “typical” couple – the “Will they?, won’t they?” (fall in love/get together) situation. We see their relationship reach ups and downs and awkward moments for our amusement. They fall in and out of love, but in the end there is usually always a happy ending where they are both together in love. Why do we as the audience always see the Teen Rom-Com narrative of “Will they? Won’t they? Ok so they do.” relationship? Perhaps the filmmakers want to hint on the morality of relationships, there are always going to be times of bliss and times where rough patches present themselves; it is the idea that you strive to make the relationship work which is the main turning point. Furthermore, audiences are foreseen to find enjoyment in situations where they know what is going to happen (or think they do). I think that the Teen Rom-Com genre fits in well with certain elements of human psychology, for example: the Levi-Strauss theory; the idea of binary opposites (subjects which are often known to be different to one another in a set of ways) in a situation (in this case the characters – their personalities and who they hang out with). And Propp’s theory; the spheres of action – the idea that the narrative is purely character driven and that the characters involved dictate the way a story is told (which also links in with the film trailer we want to produce).