Adolescence is the period of development that begins in puberty and ends in adulthood. There are three different stages of adolescence, early, middle and late adolescence. Arnett (2012) The film Clueless focuses on the second stage, middle adolescence which begins at age fifteen and ends around seventeen. This film shows what the social, emotional and mental development is like for a teenager living in an upper class society. Social Cognitive development during adolescence includes metacognition, which is the ability to think about thinking. During this time, teens learn to distinguish their thinking about thoughts and thinking about thoughts of others. Arnett (2012) The film begins by introducing Cher and her friend Dionne, while …show more content…
(Arnett 2012) Throughout the film, there were several references to a female’s menstrual cycle. The film refers to a female’s menstrual cycle as a stigma. One example when Cher uses this stigma to her advantage is when she was able to get out of having a tardy for class. Also, Dionne’s boyfriend Murray, assumed it was her time of the month because of their constant nagging. Christian, Cher’s love interest is portrayed as dressing nice, good looking, likes to shop, emotionally available and later is revealed as being homosexual. This is a gender stereotype for men. The film encourages the idea that a gay may like Barbara Streisand, dresses nice and likes to shop. These specific gender labels can have a lasting effect on the self-concept that is in development during adolescence. The film Clueless describes adolescence cognitive development from a rich pretty girls point of view. The film gave examples of social, emotional and mental development during the middle adolescence stage. The title of the film is accurate in describing adolescence as a whole. Clueless can be defined as having no knowledge, understanding, or ability. (Merriam-Webster, Inc. 2003) Adolescence is the beginning stages of learning how to understand oneself as well as