Exam Question 2 DONE

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In my media product, the antagonist is a male character while the two victims are female. This representation of social groups is stereotypical as woman are often seen as the weaker sex, and submissive in relationships. Therefore, in thriller films, the female characters are typically portrayed as the victim. My representation of gender in my media product follows this stereotype as the female characters are perceived as being vulnerable, therefore an easier target for a male antagonist. A well known example of this stereotypical representation in a real media product would be Marion from the Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho, who is brutally stabbed to death in the shower by the antagonist Norman Bates. She, similar to the victims in my media product are defenceless and do not expect to be killed. The first victim in my media product is the mother of the antagonist who is stabbed to death while eating dinner with her son. This will hopefully surprise the audience as they will not expect him to be able to kill his own mother in such a brutal way and with no real reason for doing it. The second victim is the girlfriend of the antagonist, which again may surprise the audience as she will generally be seen as someone who the antagonist should be in love with and protecting rather than killing. My target audience will be able to build a relationship with the two female victims as they will sympathise with them and see them as defenceless in their situation. On the other hand, the relationship that they build with the antagonist will be fearful and distant as they know to stay away from danger or dangerous people. It will be hard for the audience to build any emotional relationship with the antagonist as he is portrayed as mentally unstable and willing and capable of killing just about anyone.

The clothing that the characters are seen wearing is specific to their age and characteristics. Firstly, both the antagonist and his girlfriend are seen wearing school uniforms as this will show the audience that the two characters are the age of college students, similar to them, which will make it easier for them to relate to the characters. However, the antagonist is wearing an all black school uniform, trousers and jumper as the colour black typically connotes the idea of danger, darkness and death, therefore the audience will be able to identify him as the antagonist before he has even killed anyone. In contrast, the two female characters are seen wearing lighter colours to represent their innocence and vulnerability. The mother, during the dinner scene is seen wearing a long skirt and a light blue blouse. The clothes, we hoped would make her look older and more mature which would tell the audience that she is the antagonists mother. Stereotypically, older woman would usually be seen wearing smart, less revealing clothes that can be worn around the workplace. Finally, the girlfriend will be seen wearing a white shirt along with the usual uniform attire. The colour white, contrasting to black connotes the idea of goodness and innocence, which will tell the audience that she is one of the victims. Although she is not actually killed in the opening sequence, we wanted the audience to foreshadow that she would be due to what she was wearing and her oblivious to what has gone on between the antagonist and his mother.

The choice of setting in my media production is purposeful and used to give hints to the audience before the main events of the film take place. For example, I decided to film the death of the first victim in a house as the setting can be used to represent the idea that the two characters are family; mother and son, which I hope will emphasise the audiences shock when the antagonist kills his own mother. The girlfriend is first seen standing on a road full of houses, which we wanted to imply to the audience that she was on her way to see the antagonist at his house. The audience know that the girlfriend does not yet know that the antagonist has killed his mother, which will create suspense in the sequence as she will be putting herself in danger by going to the house but the audience do not know what the antagonist will do to her once she finds out. Finally, the suicide of the antagonist takes place in the school as this will tell the audience that he is a similar age to them which will provide them with an escapism as they will know that their lives cannot get worse than his.