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I’m always intrigued by awards shows that cater to teenagers and kids. Seeing the nominees and winners gives you some sort of an idea of where their culture is and where it is headed (or maybe the direction in which corporate American wants their culture to go).

The nominees have been listed for the 2010 Teen Choice Awards, which takes place on August 9. Here are a few things that caught my eye. Feel free to draw your own conclusions about the state of teen culture:

- Eclipse led the way with 17 nominations. 11 of those nominations were for Taylor Lautner

- Katy Perry of “I Kissed a Girl” fame is hosting the Teen Choice Awards

- Here are the shows nominated for Best Teen Drama:
90210
Gossip Girl
Grey’s Anatomy
House
The Secret Life of the American Teenager

- Nominees for Choice TV Show: Comedy include primetime network shows (The Big Bang Theory, Glee, Modern Family) as well as Disney Channel Shows (Sonny With a Chance, Wizards of Waverly Place)

- Here are the nominees for Choice TV: Animated Show: (Looks like the days of SpongeBob SquarePants are long gone)
American Dad
The Cleveland Show
Family Guy
South Park
Star Wars: The Clone Wars

- The awards show includes the following categories:
Choice TV: Reality Show
Choice TV: Reality Competition Show
Choice TV: Male Reality/Variety Star
Choice TV: Female Reality/Variety Star

- Miley Cyrus is nominated for 13 awards

- Presenters include Khloe, Kim and Kourtney Kardashian

- Salt has been nominated for Choice Summer Movie, even though it doesn’t release until July 23 and voting is already underway

- 3 of the 5 nominations for Choice Movie: Comedy carry an R-rating, meaning teenagers 13-16 can’t even see them on their own. 4 of the 5 nominees for Choice Movie: Horror/Thriller carry R-ratings.

- Marmaduke was nominated for Choice Movie: Animated, although it can be argued that it’s not even an animated movie (There’s no point to this statement…other than it looks like the panel had to stretch hard to get 5 nominees)

- Nominees for Choice: Music Rap Artist:
Drake
Eminem
Jay-Z
Ludacris
Pit Bull

Just some things I found interesting. Like I said, whether this depicts teen culture or only the organizations that have the most money within teen culture…I don’t know. But regardless I think we can learn a lot about today’s youth culture thru these award shows.

Yesterday I looked over the nominees for the Teen Choice Awards (August 10). Some thoughts came to my mind that I thought I’d share with you. You can agree or disagree…I’m cool with whatever. But I think from just looking at the nominees, we can learn something about today’s teens:

- When it comes to media/art, teens are more concerned with who’s involved, how this applies to my life, what emotions does this bring, and what’s this based on over quality. In the category for Best Drama, the nominees are: Angels & Demons,
Obsessed,
Slumdog Millionaire,
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Twilight. While Slumdog Millionaire won the Oscar for Best Picture, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was nominated, I predict neither of these films will win. Instead, the nod will go to Twilight, a movie that was ripped by critics. Why? It’s based on a bestselling teen novel, features teen heartthrobs, and proves…

- The world/culture of a teenager is very different from other demographics. Twilight is leading the way with 12 Teen Choice nominations. Second place a tie with High School Musical 3, Miley Cyrus, and Gossip Girl all having 10 nominations. All of these nominations provide examples of fads that are “hot right now” but probably won’t be in 5 years. Vampires are in. The HSM phenomenon is still big. Miley/Hanna Montana still appeals to tweens. Gossip Girl is a recycled teen drama that was popular 10 years ago but probably won’t be popular 5 years from now. 10 years from now…maybe. Teen culture is all about what’s hot right now. These trends fade very fast! Teens catch em for a short time, and then wave goodbye to them as yesterday’s news. The rest of life doesn’t seem to move quite as fast as the world of teens.

- Teens are drawn into things that appear old than they are. In the movie category of Best Bromantic Comedy (yes, that’s a category), the nominees are: I Love You Man, Role Models, Marley & Me, Pineapple Express, and Tropic Thunder. If you look carefully, 4 out of the 5 movies are rated R. Technically, teenagers are supposed to be 17+ to see R-rated movies in the theater. However, 80% of the nominees for the Teen Choice Awards are R-rated. Cute and fun comedies don’t appeal to teens as much as the raunchy stuff that college students are seeing. Let’s face it: the average teenage guy would rather see a movie like The Hangover (featuring nudity, sex, drug references, etc.) than Paul Blart (a cheesy/clean comedy with Kevin James).

- Teens are caught in a match of tug-of-war between being a kid and being an adult. This is definitely seen in the nominees for Best TV Show Comedy (Hannah Montana, How I Met Your Mother, iCarly, The Office, and Ugly Betty) and Best TV Animated Show (Family Guy, American Dad, South Park, The Simpsons, and SpongeBob SquarePants). Take a look at that contrast. When it comes to comedies, Hannah Montana is lined up right next to How I Met Your Mother. Are a Disney show comedy and a CBS comedy anything alike? Not at all. Look at the choices for TV Animated Show. You’ve got SpongeBob Squarepants thrown in with Family Guy and South Park. While these awards obviously deal with teens from 13-18, it still shows the battle teens face between being a kid and being an adult (and possible the differences between a 13 year old and 18 year old). Teens are in a weird stage in life. They don’t quite know where they fit in with school, church, life, relationships, friendships, etc.