From Gilmore to Emo: Gifted girls'

engagement with popular culture

Wilma VialleAAEGT Conference

Hobart, 2008

or

Why Hillary Rodham Clinton did not win the

Presidential nomination

Pink or Paris?

“I don’t really think, I just walk.”

Go to Fred Segal, you'll find them thereLaughing loud so all the little people stareLooking for a daddy to pay for the champagne(Drop a name)What happened to the dreams of a girl presidentShe's dancing in the video next to 50 CentThey travel in packs of two or threeWith their itsy bitsy doggies and their teeny-weeny teesWhere, oh where, have the smart people gone?Oh where, oh where could they be?

Maybe if I act like that, that guy will call me backPorno Paparazzi girl, I don't wanna be a stupid girlBaby if I act like that, flipping my blond hair backPush up my bra like that, I don't wanna be a stupid girl

The Simpsons

Daria

Harry Potter

Giftedness frequently dumbed down to achieve popularity/romantic success:

Xander: I'm just worried it may hurt my standing as campus stud when people find out I'm dating a brain.Cordelia: Please, I do have some experience in covering these things up.

BtVS: Lovers’ Walk 3.8

Themes

Gifted person: female, studious, not “cool”, may “dumb down”

Gifted programs: specialised setting, privileged (social status), filled with “precious” characters, undesirable

Themes

Sport is highly regarded & leads to social acceptance

Notion of delayed gratification for girls - adolescence vs adulthood portrayal

Some stereotypes:* beauty vs brain

(brunette/blonde)

* the male geek

* wearing glasses

The spectacle of spectacles

• Historically associated with intelligence - statement

• The smart girl makeover (not Daria)

beauty

vs

brain

Her beauty and her brain go not together. She’s a good sign, but I have seen small

reflection of her wit.

Cymbeline 1.2.24-26

William Shakespeare

It’s not easy being geek…

What is a geek?

A gendered construction

Computer geek

Bill Gates

Making beauty and geek mutually exclusive…

Children’s drawings of IT workers

The IT Crowd

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are needed to see this picture.

The IT Crowd

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are needed to see this picture.

Male geek stereotype is being challenged:

Abbie (NCIS)

Cindy ‘Mac’ Mackenzie (Veronica Mars)

Why?

“It is useful for educators to comprehend the changing conditions of identity formation within electronically mediated cultures, and how they are producing a new generation of youths” Giroux (1998)

Net generation

Technological changepenetration rate (50mill):

Radio --Telephone --Television --

Mobile phones --Cable TV --

Technological changepenetration rate (50mill):

Radio -- 38 yearsTelephone --Television --

Mobile phones --Cable TV --

Technological changepenetration rate (50mill):

Radio -- 38 yearsTelephone -- 20 years

Television --

Mobile phones --Cable TV --

Technological changepenetration rate (50mill):

Radio -- 38 yearsTelephone -- 20 yearsTelevision -- 13 years**

Mobile phones --Cable TV --

Technological changepenetration rate (50mill):

Radio -- 38 yearsTelephone -- 20 yearsTelevision -- 13 years**

Mobile phones -- 12 yearsCable TV --

Technological changepenetration rate (50mill):

Radio -- 38 yearsTelephone -- 20 yearsTelevision -- 13 years**

Mobile phones -- 12 yearsCable TV -- 7 years

Technological changepenetration rate (50mill):

Internet -- 4 yearsiPods -- 4 yearsBlogs -- 3 years

YouTube -- 1 year

Name the 5th largest country in the world

MySpace 125 mill in 2.5 years

2004: 87% of teenagers aged 12-17 have some level of Internet

access.

2006: 55% of online teens aged 12-17 profiles on social network

sites (64% for 15-17 yo)

If you’re not on MySpace, you don’t exist! 18 yo to mother

Media-saturated lives

Approx 6 hrs 21 min per dayMulti-tasking (neurology)

69% have tv in bedrooms35-50% computer= increased use

Digital natives (Prensky)

As a kid, you used your birthday party guest list as leverage on the playground. 'If you let me play I'll invite you to my birthday party.' Then, as you grew up and got your own phone, it was all about someone being on your speed dial. Well today it's the MySpace Top 8. It's the new dangling carrot for gaining superficial acceptance. Taking someone off your Top 8 is your new passive aggressive power play when someone pisses you off. -- Nadine, 16

Networked publics:• Persistence• Searchability• Replicability• Invisible audiences

unfamiliar to adults

a culture infatuated with celebrity

Shifting the stereotypes

from

beauty OR brain

To

beauty AND brain

The National Brain Bee Champion…

Rory Gilmore

Who do you think are the best smart girls on tv?

Buffy SummersWillow Rosenberg

Rory GilmoreParis Gellar

Lisa Simpson

Daria

Veronica MarsMac

Velma

(Criminal Minds, Grey’s Anatomy)

Audience survey

title=Who_is_the_smartest_girl_on_tv

Most 'smart girls' on TV are so stuck in their exaggerated way of life that the stereotype has filtered through to everyday life. Sad.

On the other hand, TV shows like Doctor Who, Torchwood, etc value intelligence above all else. So maybe there is help yet! …I've noticed that the older the age range of the TV show the more subtle the characters are; in Waking the Dead there are many different characters with different personalities but they are 'more human’. They are not at all stereotyped, they are just very different people. Maybe this is why I mainly watch adult programs.

she's strong and she doesn't hide it. She is very competitive at school too which is quite unusual to see in girls on or off tv. She knows what she wants and she goes for it -sometimes she gets in people's faces but she risks it to do what's right. She used to be popular and have it all but when she and her dad lost everything she kept her faith in him and in herself. She doesn't sit around feeling sorry for herself, she helps others out and she manages to have a good laugh while she's doing it. Even if some don't like her they all respect her.

Veronica Mars

Sidney Bristow

She is tough as nails but sensitive and intelligent with it.

MaxGuevara

I think Max rocks too - she's genetically engineered to be better and smarter but she won't let them exploit her - she uses her super strength to fight the corrupt army and government - I like that. I think Manticore is interesting too - it’s like a really extreme gifted school and they all feel like freaks…

I think that Dora the Explorer is a

really good example as it

shows kids from a young age that there is nothing

wrong with being smart

Ugly Betty

I think ugly Betty is a bit weird against us smart girls, I know she has inner beauty but they make

her outside frizzy hair, braces and glasses. I am a smart girl but I don't look like that at all.

I think they are over stereotyped by a mile! Ugly Betty is smart, so ugly. Models are pretty and

thick.

Ugly Betty

While Veronica Mars, Sydney Bristow … are named as smart girls, they are also beautiful and although their beauty does not alienate us as viewers, we relate more to Betty because so many girls out there watching TV never believe they are beautiful enough. There is always something about physical selves we dislike. To compensate, we use our social skills such as wit, charm and intelligence to get by. That's exactly what Betty does in every episode and we love her for it. She proves that you don't always need the looks to make a positive impression on those around us. You need the smarts!

Rose Tyler (Doctor Who)she is not 'Smart' in an academic way …

but asks questions and picks things up very quickly.

Martha Jones (Doctor Who)She's clever and everything I wish I could

be!

Temperance Brennan (Bones)intelligent, witty and honest

Dr Cameron (House)Smart and pretty…makes good decisions

Velma (Scooby-Doo)… is just so smart…my role model

Why do clever shows with smart girls get axed?

I'm actually very annoyed about the cancellation of such shows! I think audiences are too used to seeing girls be pretty and not smart. Sad as it is, I feel men are more inclined to watch a show with a femme fatale rather than a strong leader….I think people are afraid almost, to see female figures as leaders.

I hope that with the success of Betty we get more intelligent and interesting women because without Gilmores and Veronica there's a real shortage. There seems to be a real lean to showing women as dumb and slutty not just in tv but in all media. I really hope it changes.

What problems do smart girls experience?

* Popularity

* Social economic disadvantage -“other”

I guess people who are more academic will be looked down on by others. *

Glass ceiling?

Hillary Rodham Clinton

IntelligentFeminist

Media attention

lampooned,misrepresented,

achievements ignored

e.g. jokes

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Media depiction:

unintelligenthumourless

vainarrogant

unfit (sexuality, child-hater, frigid)

Hillary Rodham Clinton

The last laugh:The Late Show with

David Letterman

Fictional women vs real-life intelligent

women

SMH Headline: “Metalheads not meatheads but scholars”

Research with 1057 students (11-19 yo)* Favourite music * 6% = heavy metal* “work off anger &frustration”* Lower self-esteem& adjustment

Emo culture

Music is cultural glue among youth (danah boyd)

emo stereotype: highly emotional, sensitive, shy, introverted, or angst-ridden --> depression, self-harm, and suicide (popular culture influence)