Shadow on the stairs by Ann Halam, is a fictional horror published in 2000. The short novel is told through a young teenage boy named Joe. Joe and his father have just moved into a new house, his friend Emma tells him that his new house is haunted, he doesn’t believe it but it does keep him paranoid. The dad’s girlfriend moves in too, much to Joes disgust. So he plans to scare her out of the house by recording spooky ghostly sounds and sets them to play late one night when his dad is away on a business trip. Just before they are set to come on he begins to feel bad and decides to sneak back in to her room and turn them off, but he is stopped when as he leaves his room there on the staircase is the ghost of a young girl called Maisy Day. Remembering what his friend said “if you step on the shadow you will be doomed, if you look at the eyes you will die” so Joe gets back in his room. He ends up grounded for his prank and him and his father no longer get along very well. Months later his dad goes on another business trip, it is a stormy night, Joe and his dad’s girlfriend begin to get along. Then they hear sounds of knocking, heavy breathing and sobbing, His dad’s girlfriend tells him the story of Maisy Day, how she lived in a poor family, got scarlet fever and was locked up in her room so she couldn’t contaminate the other children, she was forgotten and died up there, ever since she has been sobbing around the house. They decide to find her, she leads them up to the attic where they find her old room hidden behind wallpaper. This was all Maisy wanted was for someone to find her old room and see where she died.

I didn’t really like this story much as it wasn’t really in my interest. I couldn’t relate to any of the characters and the story line could have been improved by using more emotive and stronger language and by including more parts to the story, this may have kept me more involved. My favourite part of this story would be the ending. This is because it was a happy ending, as Joe and his dad’s girlfriend began to get along again therefore Joe would also get along with his dad again, and Maisy was happy.

I suppose the character who I had the strongest response to would be Joe, this is only because he was the main character and the story was told through his perspective. I believe all the characters where realistic…with the exception of Maisy as she is a ghost. Maybe if the story went in more detail so the reader got to know the characters better, I would have been able to relate to them a lot better, this also would be an improvement to the story.

I don’t think there was enough to this story for it to have explored any themes and issues, it touched on family relationships however I think the story was written more for fun purposes.

The novel was very easy to read because of its simple language and sentence structure, but was also very boring.

Mean Girls a non fiction teen comedy released in 2004 is a movie which enters ‘Girl world’, where only the strong survive.

Cady Heron a teen girl who was brought up in Africa and home-schooled , has just moved to America and starts real school at age 16. When she first arrives she becomes friends with the social outcasts, Janis Ian (thought to be lesbian) and Damian (who is gay). The Plastics (The hottest, most popular girl group of the school) invite her to sit with them one lunchtime, she does sit with them and then becomes a part of their group, however only to reveal all their secrets to her real friends Janis & Damian. Except the more she hangs with the plastics the more she becomes like them. She takes grade 12 calculus, so does Aaron Samuels who is Regina George’s (the leader of the plastics) ex boyfriend, Cady soon finds she has a crush on Aaron and tells Gretchen Wieners and Karen Smith (the other members of the plastics) who tell Regina. A rule in girl world is that ‘a friend can not like a friend’s ex’ so Regina seeks revenge on Cady, and gets back with Aaron. Cady really hates Regina for this, but pretends like nothing is wrong and tries to sabotage Regina’s life by devising a plan with Janis and Damian. Cady holds are small gathering at her house and invites Aaron and not Regina, heaps of people end up arriving and Cady tries to make a move on Aaron. Aaron tells her she has become a clone of Regina, Regina finds out Cady has been sabotaging her, and Janis and Ian tell her she is not pretending to be plastic anymore she is cold hard shiny plastic. Regina goes to the principle and frames Cady, Gretchen and Karen for the making of the Burn Book (a book which contains nasty comments about all the girls in school), copies of the book are made and dropped around the school. All the girls go wild, and a counselling session is held, soon everything is sorted and the school becomes a much nicer place, everyone is seen as socially equal, the plastics no more exist, and Cady ends up with Aaron.

I really enjoyed this movie, as it is one which I and all teenagers, in particular girls can relate to, as it covers topics such as body image, self hate, competition, peer pressure and sabotage. These topics are covered in a comical form which make the movie more enjoyable, so therefore helps to keep the viewer interested. I believe most people would like this movie, however some may not as it contains several parts some may find offensive. For example when Cady imagines normal home school student she imagines a “religious freak” who is a typical hillbilly and says “on the 6th day god created guns to kill the homosexuals”. There is also a lot of swearing and use of words such as slut and whore, and sexual speak, however if this was left it the movie would become less real.

I believe all the characters where fairly realistic, maybe a little stereotypically emphasised to help the comedy of the movie, though realistic enough to be able to relate each of the characters to real people.

A strong message which is conveyed in the movie is ‘being yourself is the best thing you can be, don’t try to be something your not’. The movie also shows the effects of gossip, lies and how much words can hurt.

Summary

Gossip Girl a novel by Cecily von ziegesar is about a group of good looking, rich, self absorbed teens living in New York. They all go to either an all girls or all boys private school and live in huge fancy apartments on the upper East side of town, they wear the latest most expensive clothes and can do what they want. The book begins by introducing two best friends, Blair and Serena and how good everything was and then one year Serena went away to boarding school. This book is about when Serena comes back unexpectedly and she finds out that everything isn’t the same as it used to be. Blair has made new best friends, Isabel and Kati, everyone has spread rumours that she was kicked out of boarding school for bad behaviour, such as sleeping with every boy there and dealing drugs. The only person that doesn’t act strange around Serena is Nate, (Blair’s boyfriend). Blair gets jealous and thinks that Serena is trying to steal Nate away from her so completely blocks her out her life and gets everyone else to not talk to her. Now Serena doesn’t get invited to the coolest parties and finds herself very lonely. In the end, Serena realizes she doesn’t need her “cool” friends to be happy when she makes friends with Jenny, who has always admired Serena from afar and always wanted to live her lifestyle. Then Serena and Blair make up and are nice to each otehr, but still aren’t friends, and Nate tells Serena he can’t be friends with her anymore because of Blair.

Opinion

I think this book was an interesting read, and was one which most teen girls would like, as the characters were people which were all easy to relate to for this age group, as were the issues covered ( rumours, young love, friendships, popularity). Where as if this book was based on their parents who instead only played a small role, I believe I personally wouldn’t of liked it much but others, probably of an older age would have.

1. The opening paragragh ofWhammo! informs the reader that many everyday things, especially those which are related to girls and sexual activity result in whammo.

2. The lady from the ‘Department of something-or-other’ was trying to teach the year 9’s sex ed.

3. The narrators brother finds his younger brother’s worry about whammo to be rather funny and decides to make a joke out of it, which makes him more worried then before so it becomes even funnier for the brother.

4. The research at the library did not work because a beautiful librarian was working which caused whammo to happen once more, distracting him from his research.

5. In this short story the narrator says “up until now, I’ve been able to cope with most things by working on the principle of cause and effect.” By this he means that every other problem he has experienced so far in life has been simple with a simple solution which can be chosen by his cause and effect method, but whammo is something new, something alot harder to sove then anything else he has experienced.

6. Just before the narrator goes to talk to his dad he says “desperate times call for desperate measures” this shows that he does not have a very close relationship with his dad.

7. The advice the father gave to his son was just reassurance that he is completely normal and that everyone else experiences whammo, he is not alone.

8. The narrators father ‘ruffles’ his hair ‘with an old remembered affection’ this quote suggests that the father and son had drifted apart overtime but were once close. 

9. The narrator feels that his life has got back together again because he is no longer worried about his problem as he knows it is completely normal and is even happening to all his friends. 

10. He seeks revenge on his older brother because his older brother tricked him and led him to believe that whammo was something abnormal that he should be worried about. 

Developing Opinions 

1.I agree that sex education should be taught in schools, this was adolescents learn about their body changes and do not end up in stressful positions such as the narrator was. Sex education should not be left up to the parents to discuss with their children as some people may not feel comfortable discussing the subject with someone they are close to.

2. I disagree that Whammo is an inappropriate story because it makes fun of a very serious topic; that is coping with puberty and sexuality; because it would not be taken offensively by anyone, and it is just a light hearted story that the reader can get a laugh out of.

3. A female could of written this story even though it is told through the life of a boy. It would be easier for a male to write, however if a female had done he research she could have also wrote this.

The episode ‘Gordon’s Will’ in the TV series Changi exposes the viewer to the life of a prisoner of war. The viewer sees how the time was passed when there was no actual violence or battle and the effect the war has had on these people and the relationships with those surrounding them long after the war was over. The episode is told in the life of a stubborn Australian soldier, Gordon Yates, & his friends (the secret 9). Throughout the episode the Australian’s are represented as being loyal to their friends, disrespectful towards authority, and naïve to the seriousness of life taking it all as one big adventure. These representations come from the way Gordon and the secret 9 conduct themselves in situations they experience throughout the episode. The viewer is positioned to feel positively towards these qualities as they bring life, fun and happiness to a usually dull and lifeless place, which allows Gordon and the secret 9 to pull through their time there.

In the episode ‘Gordon’s will’ in the TV series Changi the Australian characters are represented as being very loyal towards their friends. In this episode Gordon is ordered to stand on a box guarded by a Japanese soldier, through the night his friends find a replacement in which they substitute Gordon with on the box by keeping the guard distracted, Gordon is then taken into the tending of his friends. This is an act of loyalty on the behalf of Gordon’s friends, as they positioned themselves in a situation where they endangered their own lives to care for their friend. The viewer perceives this in a positive light as loyalty is a valued trait in our society, furthermore their loyalty within each other becomes an indispensable part to their survival.

The episode ‘Gordon’s Will’ in the TV series Changi characterizes Australian’s as being disrespecting towards authority. When Gordon is ordered to salute by the Japanese captor “Asshole” he simply refuses and lies “My arm is buggered.” Gordon’s choice of insubordination causes him to be positioned in life threatening conditions. However the viewer still responds positively towards this characteristic as Gordon’s previous experiences with the Japanese have been exposed, positioning the viewer to be understanding and supportive as to why he is impertinent regarding the Japanese.

Australian’s are represented as being naïve to the seriousness of life, living it as one big adventure during the episode ‘Gordon’s will’ in the TV series Changi. Throughout the episode Gordon and the secret 9 are repeatedly mucking around and making bets, Even when Gordon is in the life threatening circumstances of standing on the box, his friends place bets on how long he will persist. This particular situation exhibits the facetious of their lives even when they are in a place as serious as a prisoner of war camp. This is viewed positively as they are living every moment in their lives to the fullest, resulting in a modest amount of fun and happiness being brought to the solemn place, allowing Gordon, the secret 9 and their audience to endure through their time in the war.

Throughout the episode ‘Gordon’s Will’ in the TV series Changi Australian’s are symbolized as being stalwart, disrespecting towards authority and naïve to life. For Gordon and the secret 9 loyalty amongst their friendship circle becomes crucial to their survival. Their lack of respect towards those in authority is a negative thing, contrariwise the viewer is accepting of this as past incidents have been previously shown so the viewer understands why they behave in this manner. The fact that they are naïve to life and live through the war like it is an escapade, brings fun and a little cheerfulness to the prisoner of war camp which helps them and those in their vicinity get through the war. Hence, overall the Australian characters are perceived positively as the traits previously mentioned are all viewed optimistically and are those which the viewer can empathize with.