Evaluation Question 2

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents social groups in terms of gender quite conventionally.

My thriller opening follows the stereotype of women being vulnerable and naïve. Many thrillers often include women rather than men being killed or hurt, which is shown in the thriller, Jaws, and also in my thriller.

Jaws My thriller

However, my media product also subverts this stereotype of women being weak and passive by having the killer being a girl.

This shows that women are not always weak and in need of protection which challenges the stereotype and makes my media product contrast with other thrillers.

So, my media product therefore represents women in a stronger, more positive way as well as in a stereotypical way.

Social groups in terms of race is represented in a stereotypical way in my thriller opening sequence.

This is because the ethnically diverse person, (e.g. black or Asian) is typically more likely to die or be the victim.

An example of this in other thrillers, as well as mine, is in The Hunger Games;

Social groups in terms of age are represented positively in my media product through costume.

This is because even though Elise (girl being killed) is young, she isn’t dressed promiscuously which shows young girls in a more positive way and subverts the stereotype of girls that age.

Another way in which young girls are represented positively in my media product is shown when Elise helps the young girl rather than ignoring her, despite the fact that she is late to meet her friend. This portrays her as caring and un-superficial, which again subverts the stereotype.

Overall, social groups in my media product are represented in a stereotypical way at times through gender and race.

However social groups are also represented in a different and un-conventional way through other aspects, such as gender again and age, which differentiate my thriller opening from other thrillers.