cct310 media autobio

8/7/2019 cct310 media autobio

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HEROINES FROM POPULARCULTURE


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Female characters from book series have played aprominent role in setting standards for femininity.

Although these characters appear to be unique

individuals, they are all derived from the sameprototype and share many qualities.

Popular media manages to hide these similarities

by making slight alterations to the prototype andby presenting characters in different settings.


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Nancy Drew was one of theearliest female characters to

influence my concepts of

femininity.

She was an amatuer detective

who loved solving crimes.

Nancy was described as being

beautiful and intelligent at

the same time.

Her confident and outgoingnature was evident in her

tendency to take risks.


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She liked to solve mysteries

through unconventional

means and by doing so she

questioned the limitations

that were imposed by

society.

Nancy was determined to

prove herself to the world

and she never let anyonestop her from achieving her

goals.



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As Nancy got older, shebecame much more

aware of her sexuality.

She began to use her

beauty to manipulate

men and get them to

reveal important

information.



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Nancy would, however,justify her actions as

being necessary to solve

crimes.

As her character became

more aware of her

femininity, the Nancy

portrayed on the coverof the books began to

wear 'racier' clothing.

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The Sweet Valley Highseries was important in

demonstrating the two

main female prototypes

that exist in popular

media.

The two main characters

were Elisabeth andJessica Wakefield. They

were identical twins.

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Elisabeth was the typical

'good girl' type who didwell in school and was

focused on her career.

She was described an being

down to earth and quite

sensible.

She often saved her twin

sister, Jessica, from getting

into serious trouble.

Like Nancy Drew, Elisabeth

was valued by society for

her intelligence and wit.



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Jessica was the more

confident and outgoingsister. She was very

popular in school.

Her primary interest was to

flirt with boys and keep upwith the latest fashions.

Jessica shared her outgoing

and confident nature with

Nancy Drew. Both

characters aimed for what

they wanted and did not

let other people convince

them otherwise.

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The Gossip Girlseriesfeatured two main

characters, Blair

Waldorf and Serena Van

der Woodson.

The two characters also

highlighted the two

female prototypes foundin popular texts, but did

so in a modern context.



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Blair was very much like

Elisabeth. She was thestudious and hard

working type.

However, like Nancy, she

was not afraid of using

her intelligence to

manipulate and use men,

in order to achieve hergoals.



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Serena was the socialite,like Jessica.

She was popular for her

stunning looks and

friendly personality.Similar to Blair, Serena

was not afraid of using

men.

However, she manipulatedpeople with her looks

rather than her

intelligence.



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Rosalie from the Twilight

Saga, is described asbeing incredibly

beautiful, like Serena.

She was highly aware of

her beauty and had noproblem with using her

looks to manipulate men.

She was confident and

outgoing like NancyDrew and was not afraid

of testing the boundaries

enforced by society.



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Although each of these female characters are separate

individuals, there is a great deal of overlap among theirpersonalities.

They share many different traits which demonstrates

how the culture industry continues to recycle the samefemale prototype over generations and conceals this by

making slight alterations to each character.

As a result, the heroines in each of these books appear to

be distinct and original where as in reality they are all

derived from the same formula.


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The continuous recycling of traits in female characters

over the years has led to the internalisation of a conceptof femininity in young girls.

As a female, my behaviour has been strongly influenced

by these popular characters. I have begun to identifycertain traits as feminine and approved by society.

With time I have begun to notice the 'recyclable' nature

of these characters and this had made me more aware of

the meanings that are enforced upon the masses by the

culture industry of the time.

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cct310 media autobio