Jenna Ortega is tired of 'unintelligent teenagers' in movies and TV: 'We can be smart sometimes'

Jenna Ortega is convinced that Gen Zers are terribly underserved on screen.

The 'Wednesday' star has applauded stereotypes of teens in movies and TV shows, unpacking the assumptions behind particular labels that teens are inherently "unintelligent."

"I think for me, because I look a little younger, I've been playing for a little over a decade now, so I was just a teenager pretty much in the stories" , Ortega said on the "Hot Ones" YouTube series. which I don't think is true."

The 'Scream VI' actress continued, "I think it's hard too these days with all this new jargon coming in, but I feel like my generation because there's so much going on. accessible to them on the internet, there's just more opportunity for them to learn. I wish they were given a little more credit. We can be smart sometimes."

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Ortega has previously emphasized the need for young creatives to take charge, especially when it comes to authentically writing youth roles on screen.

"I really see my younger generation taking more control of themselves in the industry - whether it's learning to write earlier, directing earlier, or producing earlier," said Ortega at Who What Wear in October 2022. "I think that's really empowering and important because right now the voices of teenagers are still overwhelmingly being voiced by older white men."

The pornstar continued, "The more this happens, the more we recognize that girls are much more than a lame stereotype."

Ortega particularly praised Netflix's "You" set for being particularly "empowering" for her during her time in Season 2 as Joe Goldberg's (Penn Badgley) confidant Ellie.

“My voice has been heard and that has helped me a lot because I've been on sets where, being a young woman of color, I don't always have a say in what my character does. or what happens on screen, but I was very included on set and that was really nice,” Ortega said at the time. "I love when it can be a collaboration [where] everyone is working, it's not just one person. It was very freeing as an artist."

Ortega was supposed to reprise her role in season 4 of the thriller series, but the production of "Wednesday" got in her way. The star admitted she was "devastated" that she couldn't film both projects simultaneously, but hinted that she might be back for season 5.

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