It’s been a while since posting any Media-related content, but thought I might add a some information sheets that I curated and created for my class.
The original writers and articles I took inspiration from are mentioned in each document. I’m not claiming to have written these, but simply creating awareness of the articles and pointing my students towards them.
In no particular order:
LIPSTICK, THE DEVIL AND DEFIANCE
When studying the “coming of age” genre I like to look at three films from the 1950’s to the 2010’s, so we can compare attitudes to teenagers across the decades. The first is Nicholas Ray’s classic REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE.
One particular discussion point is the use of colour, specifically the bright red worn by Judy (Natalie Wood) in the opening scene in the police office. As always I challenge the students to explain why the media creators make some very specific choices. So why red?
This information sheet was adapted from a couple of informative articles and hopefully gave the students something to think about.
Whether it was Ancient Greek prostitutes, Reformation English witches or Elizabeth Arden and supporters of the suffrage movement, red lipstick isn’t just red lipstick, because Judy’s father, who calls her a “tramp”, obviously views her use of red lipstick differently than she does.
WOMEN IN REFRIGERATORS
Refreshingly, my students hadn’t heard of “fridging”, although I’m sure they recognised the trope. Originating in an article about a notorious comic book run for Green Lantern, where – spoiler – the hero’s love interest was brutally killed and placed in the refrigerator, fridging a character is a well-used narrative trick to shock the audience and give the (usually male) protagonist a traumatic event to develop that character’s emotional journey. We’ll return to the “bury your gays” trope another time.
In my information sheet I refer to the trailer for REBEL MOON and how it might suggest that a male lover is being fridged.
I also mention how SHE-HULK pokes fun at the trope.
Next time: Davros is Different.
TGEMM blog 