How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our thriller was designed to portray  3 characters on a natural; quiet, calm, ordinary, day fishing on a small lake in the woods and so our characters were dressed in typical outdoor clothing however we leaned towards the stereotype ‘Chavs’ and ‘Druggies’ by wearing hoodies and joggers. Wearing typical makes such as ‘Nike’ and ‘Adidas’ clearly represented this stereotypical view that we wanted to get across to our audience. There are many different aspects to think about when trying to achieve correct representation of character; ages, gender, social groups, are just a few.

- Age

Age can effect representation drastically, depending on who the character you’re representing is. James bond for example; slick, charming, skilled and professional are his main characteristics and so the actors that play him are aged roughly 30-45. A fully grown man in lemans terms which is what the audience would expect to see. By this I mean if a character’s profile is to be a secret agent, stereotypically we think of a mature male/female not a 10 year old child or 87 year old man.

-Gender

Gender is important when thinking about representation. Both male and female can play or act almost any role and work under the same conditions in this age, due to equality. When specifically targeting the social group ‘Chavs’ the male and female dress code are similar with distinct differences and its these differences that need to clearly be portrayed when representing a character.

 

 Male ‘chavs’ typically wearing ‘Adidas’ and ‘Nike’ clothing, jeans, chains (bling) and track suits are common with the main colours being white and blue

Women ‘Chavs’ typically wearing ‘Adidas’ and ‘Nike’ leggings, jeans, track suits and chains (bling) with main colours being white, pink and blue.

When it came to dialogue we used a lot of swearing and sayings such as ‘mate’, ‘bud’ ‘geez’ to stay true to the stereotype of ‘Chav’. Many different factors make up character and when thinking about this particular character, social group, we could use ‘Accents, clothing and body language to correctly represent these characters to maximise believability and realism however during the editing of our product we decided the piece would be more effective with minimal dialogue and so most dialogue was cut.

Our killer is unconventional as well as unpredictable. He is both small in stature and young in age making him a very unlikely killer. When thinking about correct representation and image we discussed clothing and all wore ‘Nike’ or ‘Adidas’ for the shoot. Our killer wore a bright blue ‘Nike’ hoodie sticking to the image we wanted. His behaviour, to begin with  is typical, the subject of drugs has been brought into the situation and he feels both worried, as he has previously learnt about the effects drugs can have and curious, as he has never tried them before. There is a dramatic change in behaviour after he takes the drug which is clearly shown when he holds the knife to his friend’s neck. This represents the powerful effect ‘Drugs’ have on the mind and body and their ability to alter the way one thinks.