Superbad

Superbad

I recently watched the teen comedy 'Superbad'. The plot follows three friends, (Jonah Hill, Michael Cera and Christopher Mintz-Plasse), who are labeled as unpopular within their school's social standing. However, they are given a chance to move up in the hierarchy and possibly lose their virginities when they are invited to a party. But they are required to bring alcohol with them in order to be able attend, and they are all underage. 

 Characters

   

Seth (Jonah Hill) is one of the main protagonists of the film. He is considered as unpopular in his school's hierarchy and is out of shape, and therefore not popular with the females in the school either. In addition to this, he only has two friends: Evan and Fogell, whom he often drinks with in order to get 'wasted'. He is desperate to lose his virginity before attending college and saw the party as his last opportunity to do so. He also conforms to the stereotype of teenage boys being willing to go to great lengths for sex, as he planned to get Jules drunk and have sex with her at the party.

Evan (Michael Cera) is Seth's best friend and is also one of the film's main protagonists. He is also unpopular and is categorised as a nerd in the school's social standings. His nerdiness is reflected through the mise en scene that is used to portray him. For example, his costumes are neat and lack style. In addition to this, many of his tops have a collar, which highlights his high level of sophistication even when he is at a party. The colours of his costumes are also dark, which implies that he is content with being in the background and not having attention on him. He is different to Seth because he won't take advantage of females; as demonstrated when he refuses to have sex with Becky when she is drunk, despite being aroused. With this he challenges the stereotype of all teenage boys being sex-crazed and shows that he is morally aware.

Juels (Emma Stone) is a pretty, popular girl that asks Seth to buy her alcohol for the party that she is having at her house later in the day. She differs from the stereotypical popular girl in other films as she is humble and doesn't consider herself to be better than anyone else. This is proved by the fact that she is able to have genuine conversations with unpopular people like Seth, and even invites him to her party. Another way in which she is different from the typical popular girl is that she doesn't conform to peer pressure, which is demonstrated by the fact that she is having a party, even though she doesn't drink alcohol.

Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) is also one of the protagonists in the film and is somewhat a fifth wheel regarding his relationship with Seth and Evan, as demonstrated when they were reluctant to tell him about the party until he told them that he was getting a fake id. Of all the protagonists, he represents the nerd stereotype the most, the glasses were the main giveaway of this. Furthermore, his clothing and awkwardness when talking to females also emphasise his nerdiness. In contrast to his undesirable features, he is the only one of the trio that uses slang in order to try and sound cool, for instance 'gangsta's, what's up guys?' This implies that he is not satisfied with his low position in the school's hierarchy and that he is trying to be something that he us not. However, despite these factors, he was the only one of the three to have sex at the party, which challenges conventions of nerds being undesriable.