Contextual

How I'm Planning On Implementing This Into My Work:

After researching different genres within comedy, I feel like what best suits my project and idea is using slapstick, satire and dark comedy.  This is because I feel as though the elements in my idea will heavily suit satire and dark comedy as if you look past the fact it is meant to be a comedy, the main character is dealing with a very serious and heavy issue.

Slapstick, also known as physical comedy would be an interesting one to use, however instead of tripping and falling which is the norm when it comes to slapstick, I will instead be using exaggerated facial expressions within my project. 

Dark comedy best fits my idea as although it might be funny and a comedy, it is showcasing very real and important issues in a young person’s life, the struggle of self worth and wanting to change to please society’s perception of what you should be. 

Satire comedy will be fun to use to give the audience an extra sense of irony about the situation. In my idea, the man in the mirror is trying to change Penelope to make her more feminine to fit into society’s expectations all whilst having feminine traits himself such as a obvious one being his name, a generally female name.

Snow white and the seven dwarfs - mirror 

It is clear that The Queen’s mirror is an important and irreplaceable part of the classic tale of Snow White, I will be referencing the 1939 adaptation for my research. 

The Magic Mirror is a driving force behind the Queen’s actions which led the whole plot of the story. The magic mirror tells the queen that she is no longer the fairest of them all, saying that snow white is now the fairest. The mirror can symbolise multiple things, one being inner truth and thoughts, the mirror is a direct reflection of what the queen thinks but will not admit to herself, she uses the mirror as a way to reflect her own insecurities by giving it the name of being a magic mirror that is meant to be “all knowing”. The queen’s obsession with beauty and need for validation can be said to be rooted in the fact that she believes that her self worth is linked to her appearance and that if she isn't “the fairest of them all” then she has no worth. The magic mirror is there to reflect her inner insecurities and fear of losing status due to not being the most beautiful.

The Queen relies on her mirror heavily, this can signify her desire for power and beauty. Her identity and sense of self are tied to the mirror's judgments, which connotes how important external opinions and validation are and how they can control one’s sense of self worth. 

The concept of a mirror revealing the truth speaks to our human desire for validation and reassurance. In the recent years where technology and social media has become a norm for the average person, people now try to find validation and recognition through social media whether it be by posting photos of themselves and seeing how many likes they get or how many followers they have. Just like the queen from snow white people also crave external opinions and validation. 

For my project I want to use the theme of mirrors to reflect someone's inner thoughts and feelings about their self identity and their thoughts about “needing” to change themselves to be accepted. 

The struggle of self-identity in young adults

Young people often reach an age where they begin to explore their self-identity; they start to build up their identities of who they are, who they want to be, what they want and where they come from. For some, discovering their self-identity and being happy with it is an easy task, whereas for some young people, they struggle with it. In cases like these, they struggle due to what the societal norm is, and if they sway away from it, they may feel isolated and rejected for what their self-identity may be. Another way people struggle with their self-identity is through their lack of self-worth, and they may struggle to have a clear sense of who they are.

In a poll by The Independent it has been revealed that more than half of young people feel unaccepted by their peers, teachers or families. Just under 60% felt they could be themselves around others for fear of being judged. Also revealed in the poll, 72% of respondents have been prevented from getting a good night's rest due to their worries; a quarter of those surveyed cared about their physical appearance and how they will be judged by others. One in four said there was something about their appearance they would change.

Young people struggling with their self-identity and appearance has become a norm in this day and age; for my project I will be exploring such themes. My project will be good to spread the message of accepting your identity no matter if your friends do or not; the only person that matters is yourself.