I think the biggest reason that American Teen didn’t seem realistic was because of how ridiculous the whole portrayal of high school seemed. I fully believed the film was written to mimic a similar high school hierarchy present in movies like Mean Girls. Maybe B-CC is an abnormal high school or maybe times have changed since 2008, when the movie was filmed. Either way, the film didn’t seem realistic or relatable to high school in Bethesda.
Maybe high school is just like that in other parts of the country. I definitely think that the production value of the film played a part in making the film feel less relatable. The animatics helped to visualize the emotions of the characters but at the same time, the cleanness of everything didn’t seem like it really getting into a high school student’s perspective. I don’t believe the film was too mainstream. The characters on display weren’t exactly predictable cookie cutter stereotypes and they were a good choice for the director to follow.
Regardless, I think Burnstein accurately captured a high school in one part of America, but certainly not something relatable to a wider range of teens. If I were directing a project like this, I think that a good change to make would be to follow a variety of students from different high schools around the country, and try to link those in some interesting way.
I agree with you. This documentary only captured one part of America and therefore should not title itself "American Teen." Also, I liked the reference to the Mean Girls. It was easier to understand what you were talking about.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that a more appropriate "American Teen" would have to follow students from several different locations. One of the things that made the film seem forced and unrealistic at times was the fact that the location of Warsaw, Indiana seemed to be completely arbitrary - just being a white, Christian town in the middle of the country doesn't make it any more American than a diverse school in an urban location (such as B-CC). I'm also curious: you mentioned that the students followed weren't exactly perfect stereotypes, but don't you think that that's what Burnstein was going for?
ReplyDeleteI agree as well. This documentary did seem a lot like a movie and also could have represented only one group of people. I do think that Bethesda is different then the rest of the world but id say we still are pretty close to the average teen. We have fights over prom stufft too, ha ha
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that the production value of the film hurt it's percieved authenticity. As a documentary, it needs to be presented in a way that the audience can believe that what they are seeing is an objective account.
ReplyDeleteI disagree however that the film should've been shot at a different locations. I think this would have made the film a little bit too unfocused. Shooting in one high school really allows you to get the feel for the environtment of the high school, whcih I think was an important part of the director's goal.
Shooting at different high schools in different areas would make the film incredibly expensive. The other problem is permission. You'd never get permission to film at our school--to many lawyers as parents.
ReplyDeleteSo, Robert, are you saying that students like those in the film don't exist at B-CC? What are you basing that on?
Maybe it was a bit ignorant of me to assume that these students don't exist at all at B-CC. However, as a member of the student body, my general perception of the whole scene is that these kind of characters really don't exist. Maybe that's the point though. Maybe these people in the documentary really see their peers in this semi-delusional fashion. !!!!
DeleteThe comparison to Mean Girls raises some interesting questions about Burnstein's intent. Do you believe she was trying to make high schools fit the Mean Girls definition, instead of avoiding bias as a documentary filmmaker should? If so, why do you agree with her choice of subjects; you say they don't fit stereotypes, which contradicts the Mean Girls comment.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with what you said, but I feel that it would be worthwhile to explore the issues you introduced to a greater length. What are the differences between the teens in the movie and the teens in Bethesda? Was it the type of students? Or the way in which the students behaved?
ReplyDelete