This paper will analyze how teen films have been visually translated from screen to stage by examining the cultural meanings embedded in their design choices. In Broadway musicals such as Legally Blonde, the audience is presented with an interpretation that is both similar in its design choices and also abstracts them into a unique representation of the fantasy created on film. Using an analysis of both scenery and costumes, this paper will search to understand how layers of design can focus our understanding of characters and stories that embody societal ideas. While many have approached the topic of the translation of a stage play to film, this paper will open a discussion of the abstraction of interiors and costumes necessary to bring a film into the world of live performance.
About the presenterAndrea Lenci-Cerchiara
Andrea is the Costume Designer at Binghamton University. She teaches courses including Costume Design, History of Decorative Arts, and Performance and Modern Culture. She received her MA in the History of Decorative Arts and Design from the Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian National Design Museum, in cooperation with Parsons, the New School for Design. Her thesis, “Bringing the Mall Home: Teenage Indentity and the Culture of Consumption,” examined design, material culture, gender, youth, and consumerism in teen films.