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Critical Analysis: American Vandal and Images of Teenagers

In Popular Media, Education, and Resistance Stack and Kelly argue “The media are a pivotal vehicle through which the social is continually recreated, maintained, and sometimes challenged” (pg. 9). Netflix’s American Vandal is a satirical true crime series that challenges the representations of teenagers and school ideologies. For example, the protagonist Peter, wants to prove the innocence of Dylan, who the vandal crime is pinned on, because he is labelled as a “stoner” and “at risk student”. From an ideology critique, the show defamiliarizes the audience with school ideologies, through the style of a mockumentary that exposes how school confines students to stereotypical categories. As TV reviewer Matt Brennan points out, “The series underscores the ways in which the form of our stories can both reveal and obscure, depending on the particular circumstances” (pastemagazine.com). American Vandal ‘reveals’ the detrimental effect of labelling a student. For example, ‘footage’ from Dylan’s board meeting shows board members overlooking a lack of evidence and focusing on the narrative they have already decided about who Matt is. Stack and Kelly argue the “the power of dominant groups ideology are accepted as common sense” (pg. 10). Consequently, the board members easily obscure Matt’s identity because their authority allows their opinions to be accepted as ‘common sense’.

Morell argues, “Critical literacies involve destabilizing power relations and promoting individual expression” (pg. 241). American Vandal is a critical literacy because Peter’s documentary gives agency to the student characters, and the audience sees them break out of the archetypes school has placed them in. Furthermore, Burwell discusses how, “Rethinking narratives requires the ability to make intellectually interesting juxtapositions that reveal new aspects of the text” (pg. 7). The show develops new juxtapositions about a “teen story” through poignant storytelling focused on a comedic conflict. Moreover, American Vandal encourages its audience to be critical of every perspective represented in the show. For example, ““I may have had some biases of my own,” Peter admits in the penultimate episode, and they’re not only those of a filmmaker in search of a story. They’re those of a teenager in search of his place” (Brennan, pastemagazine.com). From Stack and Kelly’s perspective American Vandal disrupts dominant ideologies by showing multiple representations of teenagers by interviews in the documentary, flashbacks from events that happened, teacher opinions and peer opinions. Ultimately, this TV show reveals the complexity of adolescents finding their own identity and not accepting the identities institutions (school), peers and society put on them.

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