Stereotyping Workshop: Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging

I have watched this movie over ten times and I am in love with it! It is a movie about a girl and the problems she faces as a teenager dealing with boys ("sex gods"), friendships, family issues, and classmates. This movie is quite gender diverse but not really racially diverse. Most of the characters in this movie are Euro-Anglo. The only character that is more noticed and is a different face is one of the the main character's friend and a part of her posse; she is middle eastern. I am not sure why this is. It might be because this is a British film and Britain's population is not as ethnically diverse as the United States.

I believe that ethnic diversity and gender diversity is very important in the media because this makes people feel included. If a child was watching a movie and notices why he/she does not look like any of the people featured in the movie, he/she might question how our society is like. It also familiarizes people with different races. People like the media to portray average looking people.  

There isn't any racial stereotyping in this movie because it is not a racially diverse movie. There is a scene in this movie where the girls are anonymously rating each other on their looks and they kind of pick on the little middle eastern girl. I might be looking in to it too much though. Anyway, there are some gender stereotypes in this movie. For example, the main character is competing against a girl named Lindsay for a boy they consider a "sex god". Lindsay is tall, skinny, and pretty. The main character, Georgia, loses confidence in her self in getting her "sex god" because she says she isn't pretty and skinny like Lindsay. It makes it seem like that is the definition of a pretty girl. It is kind of how the media portrays beauty in women.  Another example of this stereotype happens in the beginning of the movie where Georgia attends a costume party. She comes in dressed as a stuffed olive hoping to see her friends dressed as hors d'oevres but they are all dressed in cute/sexy-like costumes. Georgia asks why her friends didn't go through with the plan and her best friend says, "but boys don't like girls for funniness..." The media tries to show that image is everything. Girls have to dress sexy for guys to be interested. Basically, the stereotype is of how a beautiful woman should look and dress. In the end, the movie does express that being yourself is better than trying to be something you are not.

Overall, stereotyping is still a huge problem in our society today. The media should use its powers to help break these stereotypes and show us a new point of view.