dumbing down movies for tweens

Posted on April 29, 2007 | 2 Comments

There was an article in the NY Times recently about the lack of female executives behind the scenes in studios, and it prompted an interesting discussion over at the main blog about how the movies that are greenlighted are the ones that make the most money.  As a result, a lot of movies end up being ‘dumbed down’ or ‘cleaned up’ to a certain degree such that they’re rated PG-13, so that tweens (a large market, presumably the ones with the most buying power in the modern U.S. economy, as I talked about in an earlier post) are able to see them on the weekends.  This makes a lot of sense; I’m sure lots of people have heard of the phrase ‘kiss of death’ used to refer to an X rating for a movie.

It must be true that the tween demographic makes up a significant portion of moviegoers if studios cater to them so much, but I have to wonder if Continue reading →

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Posted in advertising, capitalism, consumer culture, consumerism, cultural studies, culture industry, female executives, marketing, movies, new york times, studios, tween

Dakota Fanning, and the limits of art?

Posted on April 29, 2007 | 32 Comments

fanning

 There was a post over at the main blog about a controversial scene in the upcoming movie Hounddog, starring Dakota Fanning.  Fanning is thirteen years old, and in the movie, plays a twelve-year-old Elvis fan in the 1950′s Deep South who does a seductive dance to get tickets to an Elvis concert, but is raped by the boy providing the tickets as her friend Buddy watches.  The director is adamant that no nudity or violence is shown, only implied.  The question is, does that make it okay then? Continue reading →

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Posted in cultural studies, dakota fanning, feminism, hounddog, irony, oscars, rape, tween

A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes

Posted on April 20, 2007 | 2 Comments

Robyn pointed me toward the following Disney Channel video, filled with Disney Channel teen stars:

The song is a remix of a song from Cinderella in which Cinderella tells her animal friends to never stop dreaming–which is a recurring theme not only in Cinderella, but in many other Disney movies, especially ones geared toward young girls.  This makes me wonder about the wider cultural effects of such messages.  Isn’t it basically telling young girls Continue reading →

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Posted in aly & AJ, anneliese van der pol, brenda song, cinderella, cole sprouse, disney, disney channel, dylan sprouse, orlando brown, phil of the future, raven-symone, ricky ullman, teen stars, that's so raven, the suite life of zack & cody, tween

tweens and consumerism

Posted on April 18, 2007 | 1 Comment

I found this 2005 article from BusinessWeek that not only said a lot of interesting things about companies marketing toward tweens, but also reflected a lot of interesting dilemmas in our society that are related to some of the theory we’ve read in class.  To start off with, the article talks about how though tweens have a lot of purchasing power, it is only because they’re permitted to have it by their parents that this is so.  This makes me wonder, does this reflect Continue reading →

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Posted in advertising, Althusser, American Girl, Baby Boomers, capitalism, consumer culture, consumerism, culture industry, dolls, gender differences, marketing, Panopticon, tween

pregnant girl power role models

Posted on April 17, 2007 | 4 Comments

whale rider    –>   pregnant!

I found this article informing me that Keisha Castle-Hughes, the tomboyish preteen star of Whale Rider (2003) is pregnant and expecting to deliver this spring.  She has a boyfriend who is 19 years old, and she will be turning 17 this year.  Somehow I can’t comprehend the fact that a celebrity younger than me–especially not the prepubescent role model for girl power we saw in Whale Rider–is going to be a mother soon.  I know that no one nowadays wants to judge anyone else for their choices, but Continue reading →

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Posted in keisha castle-hughes, preteen stars, teen pregnancy, whale rider

teen stars

Posted on April 17, 2007 | Leave a comment

In class last week, we had a discussion about tweens and how young girls are being sexualized earlier and earlier, especially through marketing.  One of the points that someone brought up was how as the perennial Disney stars grew up, so did their fan base.  To qualify that: while the teen stars actually aged, their fan bases, while remaining the same age (not the same individual girls as before), have grown up with them.

From Olsen Twins toGraduation!

One thing I am reminded of is the ever-creepy countdown to the Olsen twins’ 18th birthday (them being finally ‘legal’), and bets on who would pose for Playboy, Maxim, etc., first.  I found a website counting down to their 21st birthdays; it has a timer and everything, just like there was for their 18th birthdays.  I have to wonder, if websites like this are so widely profilerated all over the Internet, and Continue reading →

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Posted in body image, disney, drug abuse, eating disorders, jailbait, mary-kate and ashley, olsen twins, sexuality, tabloids, teen stars, tween

What is a tween?

Posted on March 28, 2007 | 10 Comments

The purpose of this blog is to look at both representations of tween girls in popular culture, and at what aspects of popular and consumer culture are particularly marketed toward tweens, and what the effects of these are on an entire generation of girls.  To begin, though, we must clarify what exactly a “tween” is.

 According the various Wikipedia and Wiktionary entries for “tween,” “tweenager,” and “tweenie,” tween came about from the word between–tweens are not quite children, and not quite teenagers.  A tween is between 8 and 12 years old, and a tweenager is 10 to 12 years old (under 13 years of age).  Regardless of the specific age, though, it is useful to define tweens as being in that awkward stage of Continue reading →

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Posted in terms of discussion, tween