When "Zapped" was announced three weeks before the premiere on Disney Channel, I thought was another teenage movie with stereotypes, simple jokes and a moral lesson at the end as "Be yourself" or see the life of other person through his eyes. Well, that was come on my mind when I saw the commercial on Disney Channel. Do I was wrong? No, no and no! At the first five minutes (or ten) we are presented the routine of Zoey, a typical American teen. Her mother was married again and the girl needs to be patient with her new life. Before, she was the only daughter; attentions were always directed from her. And now, the three sons of her stepfather are living with them. This routine is shown of a fast way, at the beginning, the marriage ceremony and after, the change. Until here, nothing new I could see. But when Zoey goes for her new school is where I can see that teenage movies are really the same thing. It's how if all American schools are the same: full of stereotypes. The brain, the jock, the rebel, the recluse, the Beauty (this was perfectly shown on "The Breakfast Club"). Her tedious routine is broken when she downloads an app to control the dog and, accidentally, it's damaged. After this, she discovers that the app doesn't control animals anymore, but men. With this magical thing on her smart phone, Zoey has the chance to change the men as she wishes. Well, the movie is about this
and nothing more. There's no problem teach moral lessons, it's a good thing. Television must be a cultural and moral vehicle; it's really a marvelous thing. The problem is how it does this. Saying another way: how the movie work with this. The tendency is produce an easy film, short (between 80 and 100 minutes, more or less) and "packaged", moral lessons are thrown on the face. It's how if were any other way to teach these things for young people, it's how if they were donkeys (sorry, it's the only word that came to me) and with incapacity to create they own moral lessons. A "packaged" movie, it's a nice describe for "Zapped"! It's a teenage movie and because of that, the word that better describe is "predictable". With more or less 100 minutes, "Zapped" have moral lessons commons on this kind of film: friendship, brotherhood, family and so on. For kids or teens, a good movie, make laugh with simple and extremely predictable jokes. But for an adolescent or adult public, is a trouble. It's how if Disney and these films stopped in the time, in a world of stereotype schools and social types.
