The Beginning Of Teen Drama

Teen Drama is a type of drama series (or known as a sub genre of the ‘Drama’ genre) that mainly focuses on the lives of various teenage characters. The first teen-oriented programmes, such as ‘Never Too Young’ (1965-66) and ‘Love Is A Many Splendored Thing’ (1967-1973) were referred to as ‘soap operas’ rather than ‘teen dramas’ (although the term ‘teen drama’ originated in the U.S). It was only after the success of ‘Love Is A Many Splendored Thing’ that younger audiences became a fan of the sub genre, after being able to relate to certain characters from more daytime soap operas. Primetime family drama television shows such as ‘Eight is Enough’, ‘Family’ and ‘The Waltons’ helped to influence teen-oriented programmes by focusing on adolescent characters. This allowed young stars such as Willie Aames (‘Eight Is Enough’), Kristy McNichol (‘Family’) and Melissa Gilbert (‘Little House On The Prairie’) to become youth icons.

British teen drama programme ‘Grange Hill’ was the longest running teen drama programme, running from the 8th February 1978 until the 15th September 2008. Grange Hill was considered very popular in Britain due to being ‘less stylised or upbeat than some U.S shows’. Another popular, school-based teen drama was ‘Degrassi Junior High’ which ran from the 18th January 1987- 6th March 1989, which proved popular in its native Canada and the United States.

The Rise Of Teen Drama

In the 1990’s came the rise of Teen Drama after the success of the Teen Drama Fox series ‘Beverly Hills 90210’, which led to various producers and television writers to realise the potential and the success that this sub genre could create. Beverley Hills 90210 became known as a ‘pop culture phenomenon ’and became the third longest running teen drama programme. Because of the success of the show, stars Shannen Doherty and Luke Perry became teen idols. Other teen dramas that aired in the 1990’s were ‘My So Called Life’, which launched the careers of actors Claire Danes and Jared Leto, ‘Freaks and Geeks’ and popular, hit teen drama series ‘Friends’.

Post 1990’s Teen Drama Programmes

Since the success of teen drama programmes such as ‘Beverly Hills 90210’ and ‘Friends’, many successful teen dramas have been produced over the years. American teen dramas include: ‘Glee’, ‘Gossip Girl’, ‘The O.C’, ‘Pretty Little Liars’, ‘Teen Wolf’ and ‘The Vampire Diaries’. British teen dramas include: ‘Waterloo Road’, ‘Skins’, ‘The Dumping Ground’, ‘Youngers’, ‘My Mad Fat Diary’ and ‘Glue’. Other teen dramas include: ‘Degrassi: The Next Generation’ (Canada), ‘Heartland’ (Canada), ‘Summer Heights High’ (Australia) and ‘Nowhere Boys’ (Australia).

Teen Drama Films

Teen Drama films include ‘Cherrybomb’(2009), ‘Kidulthood’ (2006), ‘Now Is Good’ (2012) and ‘Ginger and Rosa’ (2012). Although most of these films don’t strictly come under the teen drama genre, they are targeting teenage audiences by including various conventions from the teen drama genre, such as drug and alcohol abuse, vandalism, teenage suicides, murder, violence, sex and teenage pregnancy. These examples also mainly focus on the lives of teenage characters.

Mise-en-scene

• Costumes:- Usually depending on what ‘clique’ certain characters belong to can have a huge affect on how they choose to dress. For example, the stereotypical clique ‘the jocks’ would usually be seen wearing baseball jackets, fashionable jeans/trousers and trainers and would usually dress fashionably. ‘Emos’ for example would be seen only in dark clothing, streaked hair, and have a lot of body art and piercings. Other cliques include ‘geeks’ who haven’t adopted modern fashion, wearing V-neck jumpers or smart shirts (possible with a tie), smart trousers/long sensible skirt and sensible footwear. ‘Skaters’ or ‘Stoners’ wear baggy, colourful clothing and have long hair which is sometimes hidden under a backwards cap. Popular girls, otherwise known as ‘the mean girls’ are usually wearing the latest designer fashions, stereotypically seen wearing mini skirts/tight fitted jeans, crop tops and high heels. However the teenage characters that don’t belong to a specific clique tend to all dress in a similar, casual fashion (basic t-shirts/tops and trousers with pumps).

• Make-up: Again this also depends on what social group characters belong to. Emos wear lots of kohl eyeliner, black eye shadow, and dark lipstick, and usually appear very pale. Popular girls use minimal amounts of mascara and eyeliner with a subtle eye shadow, along with a pink blusher and pink lipstick/lip-gloss. The majority of female characters wear mascara and eyeliner and either a light shade of lipstick or lip-gloss.

• Lighting:- Teen dramas mainly use high key lighting to create a positive image and keep the plot light hearted for the audience, however there are some uses of low key lighting particularly when certain characters are dealing with certain issues or are facing some form of threat/danger.

• Settings:- Stereotypical locations of teen dramas include school based environments such as classrooms, corridors and the canteen/dining hall. Other locations include character homes, bars/nightclubs/pubs, youth centre, police station, shopping malls and various other social hangouts.

Stereotypical Characters

Stereotypical character types that feature in Teen Dramas include:

• Geeks/Nerds:- Very academically smart who tend to struggle in social situations and making conversation with the opposite sex. Lack social status.

• Cheerleader/Popular Females:- High social status, usually portrayed as an object of desire to male characters, pretty, quite wealthy, isn’t academically smart (sometimes duped as the ‘airhead’). Can come across as quite bitchy and is usually the leader of the social group. Typically in love with the popular lead male character.

• The ‘Outsider’/ ‘Loner’:- Cynical and sarcastic view of others, particularly over popular characters, doesn’t want to conform to social norms and is quite happy in their own company.

• Jocks/Popular Males:- Often described as ‘the hunk’, good looking, usually portrayed as an object of desire for female characters. High social status, strong and athletic , influential, dominant figures , typically in love with the popular female characters.

• Emos:- Wear dark clothing and dark, heavy make up and have lots of tattoos and body piercings. Very cynical and moody attitude and worship the punk rock culture. They are also infamous for self harming.

• Skaters/Stoners:- Usually wear bright, baggy clothing with messy long hair, which is usually hidden under a backwards cap. Tend to listen to ‘hipster’ music and are fans of taking marijuana.

• Chavs:- Seen as disrespectful and a disgrace towards society. Commonly known for breaking the law and getting into trouble with the police, this social group lacks respect for others and see themselves as dominant figures in society. Known for taking illegal substances and taking part in illegal activities such as theft and armed robberies. Usually seen wearing matching tracksuits, trainers and gold chains or thick jewellery.

• New Girl/Boy:- Different views to everyone else and breaks stereotypes, can sometimes been portrayed as shy and naïve . Sometimes is noticed by a popular character. A kind character that is willing to be friends with anyone and its is reasonably academically clever.

Teen Issues

Most teen dramas tackle issues that some audiences may find relatable such as:• Drug and alcohol addictions• Mental health issues• Domestic abuse• Bullying (including cyberbullying)• Eating disorders • Sexuality and gender issues• Rape ordeals • Teenage Pregnancy • Gang cults

Other codes and conventions of teen dramas are teen suicides, violence and murders, and other issues such as peer pressure, and choosing whether to conform with society.

Camera Angles

• Close up shots:- Most close up shots that appear in Teen Dramas are character driven, and are sometimes used to focus solely on one character (so that the audience can analyse their different facial expressions to certain situations) or are used in a scene between 2 or more characters, to show the different relationships between various characters. Close ups can be used to emphasise the presence of certain objects (in terms of the plot narrative) such as a gun, which allows the audience to suspect that danger is approaching, or a wedding ring, to emphasise the importance and intimacy of a particular characters relationship.

• POV shots:- These are used to allow the audience to ‘become’ the character by seeing life through their eyes. This allows the audience to see certain situations from that characters perspective and allows the audience to form some sort of relationship with that character.

• Wide Shots:- Wide shots are used to establish various locations/social settings. They also allow the audience to analyse a characters body language.

• High Angle Shots:- High Angle shots are used to make certain characters appear inferior. For example high angle shots would be used to look down on ‘geeky’ or ‘loner’ characters to make them appear vulnerable to the audience.

• Low Angle Shots:- The opposite of a high angle shot, low angle shots are used to make character types such as ‘jocks’ and other popular characters appear superior and intimidating to the audience.

• Panning- Panning is used to follow a characters movements or to explore a particular scene. In some cases, panning and ‘split screens’ are used to show as much of a scene as possible in one camera shot.

Demographics and Psychographics

Most teen drama television programmes and films appear to target audience ‘E’ on a demographic scale as teen dramas are mainly aimed at students, and lower classes may be able to relate to some of the themes that are included in teen dramas, such as gang cults and drug abuse. On a psychographic scale, teen dramas will appear to ‘mainstreamers’ as it is a popular, well-known sub genre, and strugglers who seek to escape their own lives by divulging into the world of teen drama.