As she lays among magazine cut outs, freshman Emma Lopez shields her face from the camera. Teens have long argued the media is notorious for creating a distorted presentation of their lives. "I think it depends on the movie [or show], but generally I think it's a stereotypical portrayals of teens. [They're] not always true," Lopez said. Photo by Sam Anderson.
By Ellie Cooper
American media culture overvalues youth and beauty, which affects the creation of teen media, according to Boulder University media studies professor Rick Stevens.
“The media doesn’t really represent anyone accurately,” Stevens said. “Our media system is built to emphasize certain cultural values that distort how images circulate.”
Part of the impractical nature of the actors and actresses in teen films stems from the fact that adults are often cast for the part.
“The fact that older actors portray teens is a little weird,” sophomore Estelle Stout said.
In an interview with Slate magazine, Rebecca Feasy, a gender, media and film studies professor at Bath Spa University, explained casting directors tend to choose adult actors to play teenage roles for two primary reasons.
The first is due to labor laws. Minors can only work a limited number of hours, making it difficult to shoot a show or movie under a tight schedule. As a result, adults are hired to speed things along.
Our media system is based around emphasizing unattainable standards to sell products and services to pursue them.
Second, adolescence is seen as an obstacle to a director who has no desire to deal with the difficulties of a changing body or deepening voice. By hiring adult actors, a production team bypasses the challenges that come with adolescence all together and are able to paint a more desirable representation of high school.
In “Mean Girls,” a film released about the turbulent social dynamics of high school, the ‘queen bee’ Regina George is played by 26-year-old, Rachel McAdams. In her personal experience, Stout believes casting in this manner leads to lower self esteem.
“I remember growing up and watching movies like ‘Mean Girls’ and ‘High School Musical’, and I’d always felt self conscious as I grew up because I [didn’t look] like the actresses in the movies,” she said.
Junior Chloe Lightfoot agrees, saying having older actors with ideal figures, clear skin and designer clothing play characters her age does nothing to quell her insecurities.
“Having gorgeous models portray teens in high school causes serious self-esteem issues, not to mention most of these actors and actresses play teen roles, but are way too old to play those parts,” she said.
Stevens feels the media creates unrealistic imitations for every group they try to represent including teens.
“Our media system is based around emphasizing unattainable standards to sell products and services to pursue them,” he said. “So if one looks at images and representations in media as ‘standards,’ those are going to usually be unrealistic standards because of the function of those images and narratives.”