How does your media product represent particular social
- 1. How does your media product represent particular social groups? AS – SPENT FUEL By Lilly Thomas
- 2. C.R.A.G.S • My media production represents the following: (relating to social groups) • C – Class • R – Race • A – Age • G – Gender • S - Sexuality
- 3. Class The audience that my production is targeted at would be middle class. Income bracket B. Representations of class in my production do not concern who my product is aimed at, as in my narrative my protagonist goes through a nuclear war, resulting in ripped clothes, bruises and plenty of distress – the rough clothes connote that after a nuclear war, class no longer becomes important juxtaposing with the middle class family shown in the flashbacks. Just because my protagonist does not look part of an income bracket B, does not mean that my audience can’t relate to him, as sometimes we all feel lonely and distressed and the audience can relate to him that way.
- 4. RACE • The race of my social I am representing is white. • My production’s protagonist is white, this is because I decided we should meet the institutional conventions of Hollywood, as my production is a mass-market blockbuster, where a white protagonist promotes dominant ideologies. • However, there are examples of countertypes, for example, Will Smith in I Am Legend. Smith plays the protagonist and is also perceived to be the last man on earth, a strong and brave hero faced with creatures of the un-natural. However, his character is more violent than our protagonist, including many fight scenes involving violence which is stereotypical for black characters. • My production does not contain physical violence, or gun crime (which is stereotypical for black people) and therefore casted our production with white characters.
- 5. Age • Our protagonist is 19, I didn’t even consider his age – I chose him because he was my brother, which made it easier to film as he is easily available and accessible. I should have chosen an older protagonist, this is somewhere I went wrong. This is because as we gave him a young family in the flashbacks, his age made this less convincing. Giving him a family confirms the drama genre challenging society norms of a young man, with a young family. • My production supports the stereotype that young people are stronger than old people as our protagonist was strong enough to withstand the disaster when no one else could. This is shown by the lonely and deserted long shots throughout our opening sequence, and the flashback to the death of the protagonist’s wife. • My production challenges the stereotype that older people are smarter than younger people, as my protagonist is smart enough to solve the cliff- hanger disequilibrium in the final shot. “You are not alone” – wrote by the helper, in the last shot who we vaguely see behind the door, who is much older. (Could be decided by his tall height, and long dark costume.)
- 6. Gender • In my production I represented males in a more modern way, as a female was featured in my production. • My production confirms the stereotype than man are stronger than women, this is shown through the fact the my male protagonist is the only character left, he withstands the nuclear disaster and continues to live. The audience are introduced to the female for a short amount of time, and it is not long until we discover her dead. • I confirm the common representation that men are powerful. In my opening sequence I portray the male protagonist to have power, whilst in the flashback shots he is escaping and lives, whilst the female does not. • Also in the flashback shots, the script reinforces that men are stereotypically meant to protect women. As the protagonists wife is panicking in the flashback car scene, she cries out “just do something” and the male protagonist replies “I’m trying” – this is stereotypical as it becomes clear to the audience that the women is relying on her husband. However, we then challenge this convention by showing her dead, suggesting he did not succeed in doing this.
- 7. Sexuality • The sexuality I portrayed in my production is heterosexual, as this is traditional and institutional as Hollywood maintains dominant ideologies of heterosexuality. • This can be seen through the masculine role as the survivor which my protagonist has. • This confirms the stereotype that men are seen as masculine.