What a Girl Wants
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MEDIA EDUCATION F O U N D A T I O N STUDY GUIDE WHAT A GIRL WANTS Study Guide Written by KENDRA HODGSON & JEREMY EARP CONTENTS SYNOPISIS & KEY POINTS 3 PRE-VIEWING EXERCISES 4 POST-VIEWING DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 5 TEEN PRODUCTS 7 Exercises 7 PREMATURE TOOTHPICKS 10 Exercises 11 BIG ONES 14 Exercises 14 GET THE GUY 16 Exercises 16 FOLLOW THE LEADER 19 Exercises 19 BOOTY VIDEOS 21 Discussion Questions 21 HEY LET’S HAVE SEX 22 Exercises 22 I COULD BE YOUR DAUGHTER 23 Exercises 23 ALL GIRLS GOT KILLED 25 Exercises 25 WRITING EXERCISES 28 ACTIVISM AND ADVOCACY ACTIVITIES 28 MEDIA EDUCATION FOUNDATION | www.MEDIAED.org 2 This study guide may be reproduced for educational, non-profit uses only. © 2001 SYNOPSIS This video examines the nature and influence of media portrayals of girls by drawing on the insights of an unconventional group of experts: girls themselves. During the Spring of 2000, eleven girls aged 8-16 from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds, along with two classrooms of middle and high school students, were interviewed and asked to share their views on media culture and its impact on their lives. Their insightful and provocative responses provide an honest, smart, often moving critique of how media usually get their identities and lives wrong. Taking off from their impressions of teen megastars Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, whose song "What a Girl Wants" provides the inspiration for this video's title, the girls featured here offer a far-ranging dissection of teen pop culture, its icons, and contemporary ideals of femininity. KEY POINTS • When young girls are asked what their dreams are and what they want to do with their lives, they reveal goals that are varied and ambitious. The media, however, present limited and narrow definitions of what it means to be a girl -- definitions that tend to revolve around beauty, popularity and sexuality. • Teenage celebrities Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore and others are viewed as role models by many young girls. • The self-esteem of many young girls is contingent upon their ability to please boys. • Companies use teen celebrities such as Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera to sell not only their products, but an attitude linked to specific and claustrophobic ideas about femininity. • Much of the media content (movies, television, music and advertising) targeted at teenage audiences contains both explicit and subtle references to sex. • Gregory Dark, who directed Britney Spears' video From the Bottom of My Broken Heart and Mandy Moore's video Walk Me Home, has directed more than forty pornographic films, including Sex Freaks and Shocking Truth (1996) and Psychosexual (1997). • As Roger Ebert put it, "Teenagers used to go to the movies to watch adults having sex. Now adults go to the movies to watch teenagers having sex." MEDIA EDUCATION FOUNDATION | www.MEDIAED.org 3 This study guide may be reproduced for educational, non-profit uses only. © 2001 PRE-VIEWING EXERCISES The following exercises are designed to encourage students to think critically about their own consumption of the media before they view What a Girl Wants. They are also designed to help you assess their attitudes toward the subject of media literacy generally, and to anticipate any resistance you may encounter during discussions about the video and the issues it raises. 1. In their media journals, have students respond to the following questions: a. Do you watch television? Movies? Music videos? If so, why, when and how often? b. What are some of the similarities and differences between the television shows, movies and music videos you watch? c. What, in your opinion, are some positive aspects of the television shows and movies you watch? What are some negative aspects? d. Do you listen to music? If so, what kind, why, when and how often? e. What, in your opinion, are some positive aspects of the music you listen to? What are some negative aspects? 2. Regarding Christina Aguilera's "What a Girls Wants": a. First, read and discuss the written text of the lyrics to Christina Aguilera's song, "What A Girl Wants." http://www.lyrics007.com/print.php?id=TVRBMU5qQTU b. What is the song saying? What message(s) do these lyrics send? c. Now listen to the song. Does the music affect the meaning and messages of the lyrics? How? Be specific. d. Watch the music video of Christina Aguilera's "What a Girl Wants" without sound. As you watch, jot down your observations about everything you see. Pay attention to the content and meaning of what you see: what's happening in the video? And also pay attention to the style in which this content is delivered, the way the video looks: things like clothing, movement, interaction, camera angles, film editing, etc. e. What messages and ideas do you think the video sends? In what ways are they consistent with the messages of the lyrics and music? In what ways do they contradict the messages of the lyrics and music? MEDIA EDUCATION FOUNDATION | www.MEDIAED.org 4 This study guide may be reproduced for educational, non-profit uses only. © 2001 3. Have each student write on an individual piece of paper in response to this question: "What do you want?" (Encourage students to think of as many things as they can, and to think beyond their material desires). Then collect the papers and separate by gender. On a chalkboard or on large pieces of paper, create two lists (using the students’ individual lists) titled "What Girls Want" and "What Boys Want." Put these lists away for use after watching the video. POST-VIEWING DISCUSSION QUESTIONS These questions are intended to spark discussion about the general issues the video raises. Questions 1-9 are designed for students in grades 7 to 9, but you may find that some of these questions may also be effective with higher grade levels. The remaining questions are designed for all other students. Of course, you may want to select questions from either grouping that seem most appropriate for your specific grade level. 1. What is your immediate reaction to the video? What did you notice? 2. What ideas were talked about in the video that you hadn't thought about before? 3. What do you think Christina Aguilera's song What a Girl Wants is about? 4. Do you think that the media care about girls? Explain. 5. Do you watch movies like "Scream?" Why? Why not? 6. Do you look at fashion magazines? Why? Why not? 7. How much influence do you think fashion magazines and movies have over how you and your friends dress and act? How about their influence on the way you look at the world? Ask of girls: 8. Which girl(s) in the video do you identify with the most? Why? 9. Which girl(s) in the video have opinions similar to your own? 10. What role do fashion magazines play in American culture? What kind of influence do you think they have on the way girls and women look at themselves and the world? 11. What role do teen celebrities play in American culture? Even when these celebrities MEDIA EDUCATION FOUNDATION | www.MEDIAED.org 5 This study guide may be reproduced for educational, non-profit uses only. © 2001 are not considered "role models," do you think they have an effect on the way boys and girls view themselves, others, and the world around them? 12. What is the role of advertising in a capitalist society? What do you think goes into making ads? What kind of research? 13. Do you think that the kinds of stories told by advertisements targeted at kids simply reflect what teens are, and what they want? Or do you think ads also play a role in creating these things? 14. What do the mass media tell us about what it means to be American? Is this ideal of America connected to buying things? Is it connected to ideals of femininity and masculinity? What American values are missing from the stories told by the mass media? 15. How do the mass media define what it means to be a girl? A woman? Femininity? 16. How do the mass media define what it means to be a boy? A man? Masculinity? 17. How much overall influence do you think the mass media have over how people define and feel about themselves? 18. Would it make sense for companies to spend millions of dollars every year on advertisements targeted specifically at kids if they didn’t think it would affect the way kids think? 19. Do you think that the media should be more responsible for the images that it shows to teenagers? Why? Why not? MEDIA EDUCATION FOUNDATION | www.MEDIAED.org 6 This study guide may be reproduced for educational, non-profit uses only. © 2001 TEEN PRODUCTS "Girls and teenagers are perhaps most vulnerable to beauty-industry propaganda. For them, advertising is a window into adult life, a lesson in what it means to be a woman. And lacking the sophistication of their older sisters and mothers, girls are less likely to distinguish between fact and advertising fiction." -- Michael F. Jacobsen/ Laurie Anne Mazur The mainstream media continuously feed young girls the idea that they must be beautiful and sexy to be "real" girls. But this idea contradicts the actual desires and goals of many young teenagers. In recent years, corporate giants have increasingly capitalized on the success of female teenage pop stars such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson and Mandy Moore, and have used them with greater and greater sophistication to gain a foothold in the lucrative teen market.