Is Max a stereotypical teenager?

When asked to picture the stereotypical teenager I think of this in two ways. I see the stereotypical British teenager and the stereotypical American teenager. In my opinion I think they are both completely different.

First of all the British teenager has the bad image from the media. Often being accused of anti-social behaviour, because of this, the majority of British teenagers are looked upon as being nothing but trouble makers. Just when typing into google 'British teenagers' two articles immediately draw my attention-both of which are BBC articles.

'British teenagers are among the most badly behaved in Europe, a study by think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research suggests. In Britain we have come to both demonise and fear our teenagers: the yobs, the hoodies, the street gangs - the Asbo generation which terrorises neighbourhoods."
"On every indicator of bad behaviour - drugs, drink, violence, promiscuity - the UK was at or near the top, said the Institute for Public Policy Research.Measured against German, French and Italian youngsters, British 15-year-olds are drunk more often and involved in more fights, and a higher proportion have had sex."As you can see from these extracts from two different articles the image of British teenagers are extremely negative. Unfortunately this is perhaps what the stereotypical British teen is seen as. As for Max, he is clearly nothing like any of whats being described above.

Apart from news reports British teens are also portrayed in popular television programmes such as Inbetweeners and Skins.
Secondly the American teenager. Personally I don't think I have ever came across negative press about American teens or any press at all thinking about it. There never seems to be much talk about the behaviour of these people. Nor have I ever approached or even spoken to an American teenager therefore my thoughts of one are merely based on how they have been portrayed in films such as Mean girls. Most films with American teens in seem to be based around school, perhaps this is because directors feel this is the best way to portray these specific characters. So the majority of the time the school seems to be divided into groups. Groups such as "Jocks" or "the plastics" or the "geeks" All of which follow certain behaviours, actions and looks.

In conclusion I feel Max could and could not be seen as the stereotypical teenager. Talking in terms of the British teenager then perhaps not as he is certainly nothing like a hooded yob hanging out on street corners causing trouble whilst consuming alcohol and drugs. In terms of the American teen in the majority of films then yes. He would fall into a certain group of people at his school, probably the geeks. Still, this is a stereotype he falls in to. However in Rushmore which is the school in which the film is set Max seems to stick out as a student. His look is extremely different to the rest of the boys in the school; whilst the majority of them are dressed in plain jumpers Max appears to be dressed in a blazer. He also takes part in many out of school clubs, some of which include French club, stamp and coin collectors, astronomy society and beekeepers. As for the clubs he participates in you can quite clearly tell they are somewhat different to what a stereotypical teenager would take part in. When the short clips of these clubs are shown in the film I feel the director has purposely chosen to position Max in the centre of most of the shots. This gives the impression that Max is in power in most of these activities.Depending on the audience type we now understand Max slightly better as a person. In eyes of myself and other people my age it is likely that we will think Max does not really have a life or many friends as most of the additives he is doing are seen as slightly 'sad'. We also think Max does not have any friends because most of the people in the clubs appear to be younger than him. This could be for many reasons; one reason being he feels a sense of power with the younger students. In eyes of adults they could just see Max as a keen worker, someone who wants to do well in life. A mature and independent young adult.