Pitch Perfect

In the film, Pitch Perfect we see many stereotypes, like one of the character Beca.

Beca is the alternative, emo-ish one of the group and the main leading girl. She is an introvert and enjoys being by herself and indulging in her music. She tends to shut people who care about her out (like she does to Jessie) because it is easier. Her appearance creates a specific image and character of Beca by the use of costume. We see that she has tattoos, wears black nail polish, thick eye liner, dark clothing and has several ear piercings which makes her look unfriendly and less approachable than another character such as Chloe. This appearance combined with her non-girly characteristics such as not boy-crazed or popular, make her a non-conventional character which is a shock at first to see as the leading girl. Her rapping in the riff-off shows she is different because it was very unexpected for her to start rapping when everyone else had been singing and it was also a song that nobody else knew. We also see her as different when she does her audition for the Barden Bella's which wasn't only a different song to the others but required the use of a cup as a musical instrument (which was a very peculiar) . She's a bit rebellious, as she talks back and also goes to jail and during the fight, she was the one who punched the guy in the face which shows how tough and independent she is.

"Beca: You called my dad?
Jessie: I know, I know. But they were putting you in handcuffs Bec, it looked pretty serious
Beca: That doesn't mean you call my dad
Jessie: Who else was I gonna call? Kay, why are you yelling at me? I'm the only one here.
Beca: I didn't ask you to be.
Jessie: I was just trying to help you
Beca: I don't need your help, you're not my boyfriend."
These quotes are from the scene when Beca is bailed out of jail. This shows us that she wants her independence. Beca is a strong young women who just wants to take care of herself. Although Jessie was just trying to help, to her, it made it seem like he thought she couldn't manage the situation on her own.  

She's does what she wants and doesn't care what other people think or how it's going to affect them (for example, when she changes the semi-final song mid-performance). Beca has so little enthusiasm compared to the other girls considering she doesn't even smile when performing. She is also a sarcastic character in the film which we see as she refers to her step-mother as 'step-monster' or when she says to Jessie, 'Wanna do something else? We could re-live my parents' divorce. Or visit a gynaecologist.' This adds a bit of a quirkiness to Beca's character because it makes her funny. Throughout the film, we see Beca's character develop as she starts to let people in rather than remaining to herself constantly. Although we stereotype her as having no friends and being an emo, she actually creates a large group of friends that are girls which is new to her since 'she had never been one of those girls who had a lot of friends who were girls'. At the end we see how much her character has developed, because she has made friends rather than spend her time alone and to herself, like at the start of the movie. We notice this change near the end of the movie when they are practicing at the Bella's rehearsal without her and Cynthia Rose says, 'We need Beca'. This helps us understand that she has made friends because for once they actually want her there.

Another movie with a character like Beca is twilight, with the character Bella. Bella is also not your typical new girl and like Beca, is quiet and keeps to herself . Neither of them come across as the popular, peppy kind of cheerleader. Both Bella and Beca do, in the end, fall for a boy which neither of which are the popular jock, or captain of the football team. Although both of them are very quiet, they form friendships with those around them which they become quite close to by the end of the film.

I think that Beca shows both a negative and positive stereotype and representation of teenage girls today. She shows us a negative stereotype and representation because at the beginning because she looks emo-ish and has tattoos so we stereotype her to be angry, a loner and rebellious. At the beginning of the film, we notice that in the whole first month of her being there, she made no friends. This confirmed our prior judgement about her being a loner. Her having this short temper and being moody confirms our stereotype as well. Although we see Beca be nice during this time, we do remember her being unfriendly and snappy. We do this because we tend to remember all the bad things someone has done or their bad traits rather that congratulate the good. An example of this was in the media not long ago. 'Justin Bieber has been arrested' was spread around the media, this is part of an article about it.  
'Bieber has pleaded not guilty to DUI, resisting arrest and driving with an invalid license. Breath tests showed that his blood-alcohol content was below the 0.02 level considered intoxicated for underage drivers, but the urine test found the presence of marijuana and the antidepressant Xanax.' This was a very foolish action taken on Justin's part, no one can deny that. But when we talk about Justin Bieber these days, nobody remembers that he supported 14 charities and 17 causes. Nobody rememberes when, 'On Valentine’s Day, 2011, Justin surprised six-year-old fan and brain cancer sufferer Avalanna Routh by flying her to New York, where he spent the afternoon playing board games and eating cupcakes with her.' We only see and remember the bad in people and things, and I believe this is due to the media because they reinforce the same idea and spread the same negative rumors to the point when you find yourself forgetting the good things about people. This, on a smaller scale occurs a bit with Beca, you remember that her intentions were to stop the fight but as soon as you see her go to jail and snap at Jessie for getting her dad involved you automatically jump to her being the 'bad guy' when in reality, no one would want their parents to know they went to jail for trying to make something right. So in this way I believe that it is a negative stereotype/ representation of teenage girls.

Beca does also show us a positive stereotype and representation. From the very beginning of the film, we see that she's not the same as a lot of the others girls and isn't boy crazed or confident. At first, this doesn't seem like a good thing, but in the end she is surrounded by friends and she didn't have to change herself in order to fit in. In a large amount of movies, the main character has to change how they behave or look in order to fit in with the cool kids. A prime example of this is Grease. A well-behaved, innocent school girl (Sandy) must get cool clothes, change her hair and start smoking in order to fit in and get the 'guy'. This has a very negative message for teens. Pitch perfect on the other hand creates a strong, positive representation of teens and message from the character Beca, that it's alright to be different and that others should accept you for who you are.  

Pitch Perfect has positive representations of girls because it hasn't got omissions on larger people, or different looking people or sexual preference. We see fat Amy who is a larger girl, and we see different races, we see Cynthia Rose who is lesbian and we see girls who don't have the 'typical American' stereotype look. Pitch Perfect shows all types of people and in the end they all come together, be themselves, are good friends and win the competition. This brings across the same positive representation that Beca brings because it shows us that we can all be different. We don't have to be the same size or have the same coloured hair, being ourselves is better than trying to change ourselves. Which is a very positive representation for teenage girls.

The representations of teenage girls in the movie pitch perfect affects teenage girls in our society and wider world because we learn that whether you are fat or thin, loud or quiet, girly or tomboy, you can be accepted for who you are.  The difference between our world today and the world of pitch perfect is that in our world, people aren't so accepting of being different. Being different may be the reason you're bullied or the reason you don't have friends. This is because the media has created a very definite image and personality that you must maintain rather than just be who you are. I think it would be incredible if society could take in this message that Beca, (and many other characters also) create. I hope that society can change their attitude toward teenage girls and see them, not by their stereotypes (e.g. 'the emo one' or 'the catty blonde one') but by who they really are and accept that.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/justin-bieber-jail-video-shows-wavering-pop-star-1.2552564
https://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/justin-bieber

Photo shop

Here is an example from the media, this lady in a bikini shoot has been photo-shopped. The first is the original picture and the second is the photo-shopped one. The first noticeable change in the picture is that her whole body has become thinner and more toned, from the size of her arm, to her stomach, to her thighs. It has all been changed to create a cellulite free, more desirable looking female figure.
The next noticeable change is that they have made her skin tone darker so that she appears to be more tanned than she actually is. The media has spread the idea around that being tanned makes you more beautiful or look slimmer, which is why they have enhanced the colour of her skin. This is the reason why many teenage girls tend to do a large amount of tanning over the summer, so that they can have this desirable body, even though doing this does put them in danger of melanoma skin cancer. For some, the danger of the sun means nothing to them as they don't even put on sunscreen because they have such a strong need to look bronze. I think that this idea is ridiculous because how tanned you are depends on how much melanin is produced in your skin which for some people, is out of their control (which is why some people don't tan).
The third thing we notice is that her bikini changes colour. It changes from its initial greeny, unflattering colour to a white and beige colour that emphasises her 'tanned skin' and her 'slim body'. This is a prime, media advertising trick. We see this lady in the magazines who has this stunning body, glowing skin and a bikini on so we think, 'if I wore that bikini maybe it would make me look tan which would make me more desirable'.
 The last noticeable difference is that in the first picture the women is dripping with water which is is easily seen, where as in the second picture, the water dripping down her body and from her arm is still there but the water between her legs isn't there and I think that this is because a shower head is not seen, so it would be inappropriate to have water seen between her legs.

The photo-shopped picture used by the media has a strong effect on girls today. Even though the woman in the picture is most likely not in her teens, it creates the idea that 'even an older lady can look like that so why can't I?'  This affects the teenage girls living today because they see how beautiful the girls in the media are and how slim they are. This eventually begins to bother the teenage girls because they don't look like those in the media do, when really, in reality those in the media are photo shopped (like the above example). The unrealistic idea that they will ever look like those models clings to them and can lead to eating disorders. '46% of 10 year old girls are dieting, have a fear of “fatness,” or are binge eating.' This statistic is a disgusting thought. The fact that at the age of 10 the media can already have an impact on how such a young girl can think is truly unbelievable. '90% of those who have eating disorders are women between the ages of 12 and 25' (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, The Center for Mental Health Services, offices of the US Department of Health and Human Services). This is another unbelievable statistic, it definitely shows that it is the teenage group and young females that are targeted by the media and it shows the affect that they really do have on young women. This is a serious consequence of the media's actions and it can be caused by one little bikini shoot in a magazine. 

Statistic webpages:
http://www.eatingdisorderfoundation.org/EDFFAQ.htm
http://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/counseling/Eating_Disorder_Statistics.pdf

Stereotypes

What is a stereotype?
A stereotype is the instant idea that we get about a person's personality just by the physical traits they have. We tend to group those with similar traits together and automatically think they have the same personality (eg. all blondes are dumb). We seem to judge those on their appearance and build up our thoughts of them on our initial views of them.

How and why do we stereotype?
We stereotype by making judgments on people by what they look like before we get to know them. We stereotype because it is harder to get to know somebody and understand what their personality is like than to use the existing ideas that we already have of people who look like that or have the same characteristics. People also stereotype because that's how our brains are programmed. No matter whether we think it is wrong, you'll always subconsciously do it. " "Mahzarin Banaji, psychology professor at Yale University explains, "Our ability to categorize and evaluate is an important part of human intelligence. Without it, we couldn't survive.""This is a very true statement. Even though stereotyping may be bad, without stereotyping, how would we know what is bad? If someone wearing all black and had only little slits for eye holes was coming after us, would we know that it's bad? So even though it is negative it does have positive purposes too.

Why do the media use stereotypes?
The media uses stereotypes so that it is easier for the audience to watch. It allows the audience to use their preconceived ideas/ existing ideas on the characters rather than making them figure it out for themselves. This means some actors can be seen playing similar roles due to the stereotyping.

An example of how stereotyping can be seen in the media in glee. When we first watch glee, we see... 
-Quinn: the popular, catty blonde who is the cheerleader everyone wants to be
-Brittany: the dumb blonde, who also is a cheerleader.
These two different stereotypes in glee show the two different stereotypes that are commonly used in media, the dumb blonde and the popular blonde. By using these stereotypes we automatically have an opinion on these girls and it is not until much further on in the show that we can see their personalities may not be entirely what we had expected. For example at the end of season 3 we see Quinn as the nice girl rather than the catty, mean one, which took 3 whole seasons to change our initial opinion of her personality that we had stereotyped from that first episode. 
https://www.smartlivingnetwork.com/psychology/b/why-we-stereotype/