Tiffany and Britney

Before we start to look into casting, it is important to define and outline our characters. Chancellor, Jacob, and I have discussed the physical and personality traits we envision for our protagonist, Tiffany, and her victim, Britney. We especially wanted to stay away from the trope of a creepy loner that is obsessed with a popular peer. In order to do so, we want to make it clear to the audience that both characters occupy an equal social status. Additionally, both characters have a similar habits of social media, but Tiffany's obsession clearly plays out in a more exaggerated and unrealistic way in our film opening.

By emphasizing aspects such as vanity and desire for popularity, we believe that social commentary will be more impactful and clear to the audience. Even by their names alone, it can be inferred that both girls hold stereotypical teenage, feminine roles; although this plays into the audience's preconceptions on teenage girls, this portrayal serves as a vehicle for the commentary. Both characters are supposed to be around 17 years old, which places them at an age clearly within teenage years, but also old enough to appeal to a more mature audience.

The typical image of a popular girl we had was a blonde, bossy girls, which I must say has been highly influenced by stereotypical portrayals of girls in the media. Often, teenage girls are placed given labels based on their physical appearance, with aspects such as hair color serving as arbitrary indicators of  personality. As we plan to satirize these ideas in our film opening, we want to emphasize the ridiculousness of these negative stereotypes. According to a study conducted under the
International Central Institute for Youth and Educational Television, men are disproportionately represented as protagonists in television due to the belief that men are more relatable to both men and women than women are. Especially among viewers of "slasher" films, this belief in female disinterest in the genre is prevalent. In order to increase the potential female audience of our film and the horror genre overall, I believe it is important to subvert these gender norms.

Media and Girls. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2018, from http://mediasmarts.ca/gender-representation/women-and-girls/media-and-girls

Nowell, R. (2011). Blood money: a history of the first teen slasher film cycle. New York: Continuum.