1. How does My media
product represent
particular social
groups?(AGE, GENDER, RACE, &
CLASS)
2. Is gender represented in a
stereotypical way?
• Male: Usually represented stereotypically to be strong and have expressive roles, in thriller movies such a
“Memento”, they are viewed to overcome there fear whereby a lot of violence is involved, and in the end find
the answers to their questions. Also, they are the dominant characters shown. This represents how
stereotypically men are important and more superior in comparison to women. However, now thriller movies
have evolved for example, “se7en” represent men to be emotional, the director has done this on purpose to
make the audience feel close to the character. If men, back in the days were portrayed as “emotional” and
“venerable” the audience would start labelling them to be “gay” or talk the character would have a negate
stigma attached . My horror movie represents some males with the typical stereotypical roles, for
example, in the plot, the helper is male. He himself is represented typically to be strong, organised and
unfaithful (he is the betrayer) therefore not committed. Also, villains are usually stereotypically male, such as
my horror movie “Rewind”. However, there are some ways in which “Rewind” does not promote gender
stereo types for example, the dominant character is played by a female and the male character is not “dumb”
but very clever. Moreover, usually in films they promote that the male is always right however, “Rewind”
illustrates the female characters to be right even though she is working class, as working class people even if
right are stereotypically wrong according to middle and upper class. This makes the audience feel towards
that character in the directors perspective..The reason I represented males to have stereotypical roles in this
movie is because it makes the movie more realistic, however, the reason that males are represented not to
have stereotypical roles in some cases is because it challenges conventions and builds up suspense; an
example of this would be, the male character is not “dumb” but very “sneaky” and “clever”, which makes
the audience be suspicious towards that character.
• Female: Back in the days females were represented as “sex objects” and to have instrumental roles in
thriller movies. Usually they would be stereo typically represented to be “naïve” , less powerful, not the
dominant character, organised, neat, housewives, and care about her make up as well, as well dressed.
However, “Rewind” does not represent the women to be viewed stereotypically. For example, the main
character is a female, the main character is strong, she is not a housewife and she used to coach hockey.
Moreover, she is viewed to have no good dress sense, and have no interest in her make up as well as males. I
believe by representing women like this is a starting point whereby women are promoted to be strong and
equal as appose to men. However, the way she dresses represents that she is working class, and
stereotypically working class women are more caring and strong in the sense they can maintain a “triple
shift” or “dual burden”.
3. What are the social groups
GENDER
represented in terms of:
Female:
The dominant female character is represented to be strong, and
independent. This relates to my audience because it promotes
independence to the females of my target audience and
equality. The fact that the female character is not wearing
branded clothes and is wearing tank tops, significies that she is
working class. This makes the audience feel sympathetic
towards her. Also, it connects with my male audience because
they are able to see and understand the significance of having
women in their life. Also, due to the main character being
female, it will encourage more of my male target audience to
watch this movie, as most thriller movies, such as “memento”
have a male as the main character.
Age::
The ages of my audience who would watch my movie would be
people aged 18-25. The reason behind this Is because it
contains brutal, bloody footage which is inappropriate for some
social group.
Class:
“Rewind” would attract the middle class and working class who go
out on a Saturday and Sunday after a hard day at work to the
cinema a lot. They would usually eat at places such as
4. How does this link into the target
group?
One way that “Rewind” links to the target audience is because it is for
someone who regularly goes to the movies. The way in which characters
are represented makes the audience feel a specific way towards the
characters class, for example, the female character is illustracted to be
strong, this makes the middle class audience feel happy for the
character, as typical stereotypes about working class and gender, in this
case females are removed. Therefore, it is targeted at working class and
middle class. Furthermore, my target audience are people who shop at
places such as “Kenton” or in shops such as “Primark”. This also suggest
that my target audience are working class. Furthermore, the reason my
target audience are ages between 18-25 is because, it contains bloody
footage that is unacceptable for the ages below. Movies such as “Memento”
and “Se7en” also, consider similar target audience.