The group we want to represent in our project are teenagers in high school. There are a substantial amount of movies and shows that portray teenage students going to school, and then having a life of their own after school. The teens would be shown partying, having adventures, solving crimes, and anything else other than studying or doing homework. The teenagers in the real world do homework when they get home from school, and are rarely seen not doing any work whatsoever. In drama films, the teachers do assign work, but the students are almost never shown doing it, as if it magically does itself while they are out doing other things.


In the show Gossip Girl, which is based on the lives of Manhattan’s elite, the teenagers who go to a private school are never seen studying. The students go to school and hang out with their friends, boy/girlfriends, or cause drama in between friend groups. They are never seen in their room doing homework. IN fact, when it was time to take the SATs, they paid people with a fake ID to complete the exam for them. Another show in which teenagers are never seen doing homework is in the show Elite. This is a show in spanish in which students from a different schools of lower class, join a rich high school which causes conflicts. In class the students are given homework and projects, but after school they are busy doing other things. The teenagers have fights, they plan robberies, plan parties, and even kill someone. The teenagers never touch a pencil or paper in their own homes.


I think that this representation is more than wrong. Teenagers in real life try extremely hard in school and barely ever go out during the week. The fact that teenagers are depicted as slackers but they still succeed, is very disrespectful to all the hard work that students put in to reach their goals. I would retain all of the activities, because even though the representation is unfair, it makes the movie/show entertaining. I would, though, challenge the fact that they don’t do any homework. Moreover, I would show the teenagers doing some homework, or talking about the fact that they did homework, and I would leave the exciting drama representation that keeps the audience hooked.