In the short clip ‘Monarch of Glen’ you see a strong
contrast of ages, e.g. how they’re dressed differently etc. In this essay I will
be writing about how the contrast/representation of age is presented and
portrayed within this short 5 minute clip.
Within this short extract there was a clear contrast of age.
We notice this divide when we see the teenager ‘Amy’ and we notice what she is
wearing (bright baggy t-shirt jeans and a lot of accessories). This is what a
stereotypical teenage girl would wear. Whereas the adults/ older characters
within this clip are all wearing dull, sophisticated working clothes and Amy is
the only one not, making her stand out from everybody else (which
stereotypically a lot of teenagers desire). Although Amy is trying to act a lot
older than she actually is she still displays signs of her real age (e.g. her
clothes) but also through her facial expressions and her attitude. When Amy is
trying to start the car her facial expressions are confused and hopeless but
also excited and rebellious as she’s never done this before. This is a sign of
acting like a teenager because all teenagers act out/lie once in their time and
she’s trying to act a lot older than she actually is. Stereotypically when teenagers
act out and get really frustrated with adults etc. and they start to yell at
them and say things that they don’t really mean e.g. ‘I hate you’ and start to
act immature. Amy displayed this within the short clip she started to yell at the
adult and act her real age and she also storms off after not getting what she
wants. Whereas the adult was acting a little bit more mature a he was
overpowering her (like a parent) and telling her what to do etc. but when the
adult was shouting at Amy we saw signs of immaturity as he didn’t handle the
situation very well and he got really angry quite quickly and was shouting because
things didn’t go to plan (like a teenager would do) so therefore adults can
also act less that their age, and that is how they presented it.
We see the representation of age through mise-en-scene. You notice
this when Amy is looking at herself in the mirror and you can see all her fairy
lights and photos that are all stuck to the mirror which is stereotypically all
teenagers do. Also the teenage character also wears a lot more make-up than the
older characters do, this represents that she is a teenager because stereotypically
some teenager want to look good for everyone because they feel insecure about themselves
etc. and they also do it to impress people. Whereas the older female characters
hardly have any on- this makes them look more mature. Everybody within the
scene is always constantly doing something whereas the teenager doesn’t really
do anything until she is asked this displays signs of being lazy which most
teenagers are and the adults are constantly at working or carrying something and
being busy.
when amy crashes the car she stands behind the male adult (the parent figure) and
whilst she is getting told off for crashing she hides like a scared little
child and her facial expressions look scared and threatened
the teddys on the teenager bed display signs of youth and how she is still
young.
Te music within this clip displays the mood of all the characters.
When all the adults were at work there was non-diegetic country music playing
within the background. This displayed rhat rhey were all happy to be working
where as if a teenager was working the music wouldn’t be so cheerful. When the
teenager was about to leave she was feeling depressed and lonely and there was
non-diegetic depressing sad music playing in the background, this represents a
teenagers mood as they have mood-swings quite often and this showed how quickly
their mood can change.
Close ups on characters when things got tense/ emotional to
see different responses to age
I believe that when you’re a teenager you want things to go
to plan but when they don’t you stress
out and turn to anger/upset and you also go out of your way to impress people a
lot more.
