Adolescence

            In the movie Love Don’t Cost A Thing, the adolescents were represented as over emotional, trivial, irresponsible and flaky. The movie did not do much to challenge these norms that are typically painted in movies to represent modern teenagers. Nick Cannon’s character was portrayed as the typical male adolescent in his priorities, goals, high school memories and desires. Christina Milian’s character, Paris Morgan, represented the typical ideal female adolescent as the popular, fortunate yet unlucky character. Nick Cannon’s character, Alvin, was a high school nerd who could not score a girlfriend and he wanted to be popular more than anything. He and his friends longed to fit in but were socially isolated because they were considered nerds and not ‘cool’. Alvin had high academic ambitions and a potential scholarship, but the instant he saw a chance to be popular, he jeopardized his scholarship to pounce on the opportunity with Paris. This action alone depicts adolescence in a highly immature, careless state of mind. The manner in which these high school students were portrayed throughout the entire movie emphasized the bizarre norms that adolescents embody in the media. The typical norms of high school students were inscribed deeply in the characters in this film. As adolescents, they were portrayed as emotional, erratic and shallow. The plot is almost ridiculous enough to undermine the absurdity of adolescent stereotypes but it is believable enough because teenagers can often relate to the circumstances that each character faced.

            The issues of gender are significant throughout the movie. Paris Morgan was the popular cheerleader whose popularity was still somehow rooted in that of her counterpart ex-boyfriend, which reinforced the dominant male role. Her ex-boyfriend, who graduated and went to play professional basketball, was a major element of her prospering popularity. When he left, and she replaced him with a nerd, her shallow friends warned her of the company she kept. Paris was more independent as an adolescent female than typical characters portrayed in movies, until her ex came back to town and she pitifully begged him to take her back. Also relating to gender, Alvin desired to be more of a man by “getting” Paris, as his best friend referred to their newfound relationship. Once Alvin became popular, the girls also began clinging to him when the once mocked him as being the “pool boy”. The girls flocked to the guys throughout the movie. Paris’s ex-boyfriend was also that dominant figure whom she allowed to do what he wanted because he was the man in the relationship. This depiction of gender norms is very typical in representations of adolescents. When Alvin became her boyfriend, he also talked to her in a dominating way, embarrassing her in the hallway at school, and afterward receiving praise from the boys for “running the relationship”. This is also a very familiar depiction of gender norms.

           

            Paris's insecure best friends, the popularity obsessed group of friends they hung out with and Alvin’s desire to fit in with them all solidify the mindset of adolescence of the twenty first century and how trivial their priorities are. The absurdity of the friends’ reactions merely painted the teenagers as a joke. They ridiculed and teased Alvin to only later become his best friends as well, which put them in a position to not be taken seriously. The stereotypes of teenagers in this aspect were undermined although they are represented in an over zealous manner. The tricky but effortless transformation Paris was able to do for Alvin seemed to challenge the importance of popularity and being cool amongst adolescents because it did not take very long for him to become the epitome of a high school male adolescent.

            Sexuality amongst adolescents was painted vividly between numerous characters throughout the text. It was a major issue that was repeatedly brought up amongst each group of friends. Paris’s best friend also made a pass at the inexperienced Alvin and she was shocked when he was not as aggressive as she came off. Alvin’s father was also obsessed with the thought that his nerdy son might get some action, which shows the normalcy for adolescent boys to be prone to sexual behaviors. It was also suggested by one of Paris’s best friends that her ex left her because she wasn’t giving ‘it’ up. Mayne says that the representations in media recreate norms and in this text the sexual focus merely recreated the idea that adolescents are fixated on the idea of sex and to be active or to appear active deems one as cool or will help one’s reputation.

            Adolescence is depicted in popular culture as laughable and trivial and often times minor dilemmas are blows out of proportion to do so. The sexual representations of being sexually hungry are a major part of adolescents in film. Gender norms are a consistent representation of adolescence because of the classic roles that teenagers wish to play in young relationships. Race was not as significant as the other aspects of representations in this particular film, but adolescence is always depicted in a similar manner in modern texts. Teenagers’ perspectives and emotions were heightened and mocked in media often and supremely done so in this 2003 film.


Sources:
"Introduction To Youth Studies" by Adriane Brown, PowerPoint
"Women, Representation and Culture" Judith Mayne, pages 162-163