Representation in our Film Opening

     Although we had not originally planned and thought out our film opening with the specific intention of making it representational, my group and I's project actually turned out to have some different types of representation.

    I believe that the representation in our film opening mainly is with our casting choices. Tori, a fellow group member who plays the main character, Betty, is a Black teenage girl. Since Betty's story is coming-of-age and romance, I think that placing Tori in this role is very important to representation because stories (mostly movies) that are about black teenagers growing up and getting to know themselves, without a life or death situation occurring, is a narrative we are hardly told. So in this respect, I believe that our film opening defies stereotypes and presents a new story to the table. 

    On that note, I also think that the casting choices of Daniel as James and our friend Ashley as August were representational. They both represent the Hispanic communities and their characters also defy stereotypes about their cultures. For example, far too often, there's the stereotypical Hispanic drug lord character or the Latino gardener character shown in different forms of media and those are just not accurate or positive portrayals of that specific community. But, in our film opening, the characters of James and August are your everyday, typical American teenagers, who are not defined by their race or ethnic background. 

    Also, August and Betty are good representation for strong, resilient female characters, a character trait that is still making its way to more mainstream audiences on the silver screen. August may represent the egotistical, mean stereotype of the high school cheerleader, but she is also very intelligent and confident. Her character has her own car and does not allow any stupid behavior to affect her, demonstrating her independence as a woman in a male-dominated society. Betty is also similar in this way as she sticks with her decision to reject James' apology, showing that she is also strong and independent.

    I would probably change August's character to have a little more screen time and dialogue, so that she could share her side of the story and therefore be a more round, dynamic character as well as have her and James speak Spanish at least a little bit. Of course, though, these are changes (or additions in this case), that could be explored in an actual film, as we would not (and did not) have the time to include this in our film opening.