QUESTION 2

HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA

PRODUCT REPRESENT
PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?
GENDER REPRESENTATION
In our media product we used a range of characters from
different ethnicities this is also because it would have been
based in an orphanage, however, in our title sequence we
chose to have a white British female as our serial killer this
challenges the stereotype of White protagonists as they
are usually shown as being girly, not intelligent and
interactive. Ivy on the other hand is shown to be heartless,
devious and vicious towards her victims in our sequence.
By our main character we have chosen to represent
outsiders in society as there are many teenagers and
adults of all ethnicities who feel trapped and lost in society.
We have also represented this by using voices in the
background to symbolise your inner self and conscience.
Lastly, we have used bright lighting to also emphasis that
if you are in a dark place or your thoughts are taking over
there is a way out which we would have shown with the
rest of our film.
Our victim is also a white character which supports the
stereotype of White people being gullible and
unintelligent. In many thriller films white characters are
usually the lead protagonist either being the lead
character or the first victim die or be kidnapped for this
reason we have constructed this character in an
innocent way for example having a backpack as a prop
which would emphasise that she is a student and could
be younger and innocent than the killer. This is
contrasted in The Lovely Bones the young girl is killed
by the male instead of a female.
Lastly Zoe who is an unknown character is of a black
race which differentiated her from Ivy as she is mainly
represented as her inner self. We chose to have different
characters to show this as it creates enigma as she can
also be confused for another orphan which could also
make her the killer. Overall, Zoe is represented as a
sinister character as she is reflected in the mirror with a
expressionless face this would reinforce stereotypes of
black characters being represented in a negative way
such as being a danger to society.
 GENDER
REPRESENTATION
In our thriller film we have chosen to represent all female characters as
we felt we would be following and challenging stereotypes by doing
this, engaging the audience.
The main stereotypical image of women commonly created in the thriller
genre are that females are seen to be vulnerable, pure and having a
need to be rescuing and men are seen to be aggressive, dominant and
brave. Men are also most likely to be serial killers, however, we have
chosen to challenge this and have a female serial killer as she is less
likely to be caught as she would not be expected to carry out such an
act. Ivy is seen to be aggressive and evil in scenes such as the journal
scene as she is shown with blood and writing distressing content.
Lastly, we have chosen to dress her in dark colours also setting her
apart from other females as we have chosen black to represent the
darkness within her shown throughout the sequence by her actions for
example, stepping over a lifeless body with no care or compassion.
 AGE
REPRESENTATIONS
Our three characters introduced in our sequence are all of the ages between 15-17 meaning
we have chosen to represent teenagers. This also has a strong link towards our audience as
we are targeting teenagers and young adults.
Our protagonist strongly follows the stereotypes of a teenager girl as they are
seen to be moody and isolated as seen in our sequence Ivy is always alone with
the voices which could explain her actions. We have also used the general
stereotypes of teenagers being violent as it runs through our sequence with our
protagonist. As most of our characters are teenagers as would be our audience its
hard to sympathise with Ivy, however, it means we would feel sorrow with the
victims. Lastly, this all supports the stereotype that teenagers are lead by their
emotions.
Thrillers today usually include young adults and adults being the criminals and
victims this is shown in Zodiac which is based around men being the serial killer.
However, we have also challenged this as we wanted to show our film as being
one for all ages engaging young people to watch the sequence and film.
We highlighted that our characters were teenagers in our sequence by using
props such as the backpack and costume such as trainers and hoodies which are
typical teenage clothing.