Social Groups in Twilight
- 1. Representation of Social Groups Twilight Single Fathers In Twilight one of the social groupsrepresented is single fathers, played by the character of Charlie Swan played by Billy Burke. Charlie is Bella’s father who lives in Forks on his own, and as Bella has to move in with him the film shows us some typical thing based around the social groups of single fathers. In the film this group is looked up on in quite a negative perspective, as the film showing Charlie not knowing a lot about Bella and not knowing how to react to her arrival at his home. Bella always wants to be left alone in her room that Charlie has decorated for her, but again this is shown negatively because she doesn’t like how he has decorated it, showing that he doesn’t have a clue about fatherhood or her likes and dislikes showing single fathers in a negative way. Although he buys her a truck for her to drive which she likes, showing the typical job of a father picking out their daughters first car. Charlie could be used as a stereotype as he always watches the football with his beer and that is seen as what most men, or ‘single fathers’ do when their child isn’t around. This again could relate back to the negative look on single fathers in this film. The countertype is not shown in this film as this would be shown as a sensitive man, showing his emotions are very raw about the situation between him and Bella, yet they aren’t, he is very serious but this doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about his emotions he just doesn’t show them. The techniques used to representCharlie are quite common of men, the gruff type of look, with no shaven beard and is normally dressed in his work uniform, of a police man, which shows his profession is very important in society and is well respected, but also shows that he may not have time for Bella if he is at work most of his time. The conversations that Charlie has for Bella also shows that he is not a massive influence on her life, which tells us that the film is maybe representing the father role in a child’s life as not being as involved as the other parent. This again links back to the negative representation of single fathers. Students Especially in Twilight, students are represented, as the film for quite a while is focused in and around school life and what students do in and out of school. Bella is new to the school and therefore you see quite a varied welcome when she comes to the school. She is happily welcomed by one group of friends Jessica, Angela and Eric. I would say that this is a positive perspective of students as they are friendly towards her and this shows students in a good way when a new student arrives. A negative look on students is when Bella arrives in her truck on her first day and some of the students laugh at her showing that students all mock new people and don’t welcome them in a friendly way. The ways they are represented are a mixture of positive and negative. Positive because the students are quite attractive and good looking, they all dress nice and seem to all be pretty or handsome. Which makes students look good in an image way.
- 2. A stereotype of students in Twilight would be represented by the group of friends that Bella gets involved with. As they all sit around at lunch together, they gossip when the Cullen’s enter the school cafeteria. They act daft together and joke around, they all become involved in relationships and who is going prom with who. Whereas Bella would be the countertype, she’s the one that shows the most interest in the Cullen’s, she isn’t interested in going to prom or getting a dress. She prefers to study and get on with her work. Which when students are portrayed in films, its all about the social life of school rather than the educational side. Obviously in the school that Bella attends to, there is a mix of genders within the groups of students, we have the boys like Eric and Mike that act like the nerdy but immature boys, and the girls like Angela who wants to catch the eye of Eric but doesn’t quite know how to, and then Jessica the pretty female that gets a lot of attention because of her attractiveness which shows the mix of genders in the social group of students. The costume and techniquesused to represent students in an American high school is their own clothing, you see a a lot of students wearing what they please which in itself shows how students are represented because they dress quite youthful. Facial expressions are typical of some students as they walk around school with a face that shows their mood, and usual some look fed up because they are at school. Some happy because they are with their friends. You then get Bella that has a very uncertain look on her face this may be because she is new to the school and doesn’t know what to expect.