Analysis of 3 Superbad Characters and the Significance of Their Portrayal of Age

Analysis of 3 Superbad Characters and the Significance of Their Portrayal of Age

McLovin (Fogell) and other teenage protagonists

McLovin represents a modern depiction of a teenager well. He is a friend to Seth and Evan, although very much on the fringe of their social life. McLovin displays a stereotype of a teenage boy who just wants to impress friends and get drunk, hence him trying to buy alcohol with a fake ID for Seth and Evan's benefit more than his own,  aswell as losing his virginity, which seems to play a significant part in the desires of a lot of the male characters, painting a rather negative picture of teenage boys, however in a way that everyone is able to laugh at their unsuccessful attempts to "get pussy". The emphasis on sex in this film is highly exaggerated to real life, even though other men may be able to relate to the actions and dialogue of the characters, a large majority of teenage boys in real life are not this blatently sexist and politically incorrect.

Officer Slater and Officer Michaels

Although Michaels and Slater are supposed to be respectful, respected and stand for what's right, in this film they seem to portray the complete opposite. There are many instances in this film where both characters use their power for no good, such as using police sirens to avoid waiting at traffic. Although a role as a police officer could be seen as authoritarian, the two officers seem to defy the law time and again for their personal entertainment, and come off as very useless, an example being in the bar with the man they had to catch, making a mess in the process. Even though the men should generally be more mature and upstanding, they seem to relate to the teenagers in the film a lot more than other people of the law, even escaping the danger of being caught by other police officers at one point while drink driving.

White Men Can't Whistle

Preliminary Task Analysis



White Men Can't Whistle

White Men Can't Whistle is the name of our Preliminary Task that we have now completed. In this task, we aimed to display the influence we have taken from other dramas and the knowledge of media we have picked up thus far, such as camera angles, to make a clip that was a couple of minutes long and exemplified this, as well as having a go at editing raw footage to make the short film.

The title is a crack at the film "White Men Can't Jump" and was used due to the music and transitions we used throughout the film, trying to emphasise and embrace the cheesiness of it and work with it, also mainly for the phonological aspects of the alliteration of the "Wh" sound. I played both as the, loosely branded, protagonist and antagonist. This was done as another effort to make the film tongue-in-cheek with cheap humour, firstly to keep us entertained filming it and secondly to work with the resources we had such as the music. 

What I think went well in this short film was the editing, which although taking up a large portion of the film, displayed the technical excellence our group is capable of in a project of a serious tone. The plot, although shallow, was easy to work with and I think the group done a good job in keeping it entertaining. The camera angles we used, I think, were well established and secured targets we had set for ourselves in terms of the variety of shots we used, such as shot reverse shot, over-the-shoulder shot, tracking shot, and mid shot. 

What could've possibly been better was the transition of me walking towards the door, which was far too fast paced for a simple movement such as walking. I think it was a bad example of trying to achieve continuity editing as it was quite jumpy and not smooth at all. In the next project, we need to get a good balance of range of shots aswell as a smooth tempo to the shot changing.

Overall, I look forward to the next project as reflecting on this one has made me able to look we we've went wrong as a group and tackle that in the next project, but it has also shown me that we have potential to do very well in future tasks.

Homework Task: Find examples of both male and female characters in TV Dramas that follow stereotypes and ones that challenge stereotypes. Using images to support and discuss how they have been represented through clothing, location, narrative, dialogue, camera angles etc. Then choose a character from a TV Drama that you feel most closely relates to you, upload and image into your blog and then discuss why you have chosen them.


*(Character Name / Show Name / Conforms or Challenges)*


Annie Cartwright / Life on Mars / Challenges

• Strong supporting character in the show
• Intellectual
• Can be independent, supports Sam and not other way round
• Brave

I have chosen to include Annie as a character that challenges gender stereotypes as there are multiple examples in the show Life on Mars where she is independently capable. In one episode, her and Sam must attend a sex party as a couple, however are working undercover to get secrets out of a suspected murderer. In the episode, all of the men put their car keys in a bowl for the women to pick a key from and have sex with whoever's keys they belong to. The women get undressed to reveal lingerie while posing in front of the men. Annie, at first, finds this uncomfortable, but in a sense her conformity to the gender stereotype shows her challenging nature towards it, since she realises it is degrading, yet is committed enough to the case to continue. Annie takes the suspects keys out the bowl and they go upstairs while Sam gets the suspect's wife. As Sam awkwardly talks to the suspect's wife we hear yelling in the other room. Sam is under the impression Annie is being hurt and runs into the room only to find her with a whip in her hand and the suspect on the floor, claiming he "told [her] everything". Again this shows an ironic strength in Annie, as she knows she is in a position to be sexually objectified and uses that to her advantage by using the man's strange sexual fantasy against him.


As you can see in the image Annie is dressed in appropriate 70's clothing that is not stereotypically revealing and the focus is averted from her appearance very often, more focused on her power and her confidence in herself, which is a lot more important in female main characters in relation to story development


Rose Tyler / Doctor Who / Conforms

• Dependant on the Doctor, especially in the first series
• Not necessarily sexualised in the stereotypical form, but often does flirtatious gazes or body movements
• Only moment she is truly powerful is when she is "possessed" by the power of the Tardis
• Never displays a sense of strength without the Doctor

I have chosen Rose Tyler as a character that conforms to gender stereotypes due to the fact there are plenty of examples of her conformity in Series 1 of Doctor Who. I can recall a particular episode in which the whole episode is her running from a Dalek until she finds the Doctor the blows it up. She is often completely reliant on the Doctor due to gender and species.


In the gif provided you can see her wink to the Doctor. In this particular episode she has been possessed by a space-woman monster thing, called Cassandra, and obviously this gif is biased towards showing she conforms to gender stereotypes, however it is still an example.