HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL

GROUPS?

Marcia Rumsey

In our piece we have two characters, one male and the other female. Although at first it may show the women as weak and the man as more stereotypically dominant, at the

end it is the women who seems to ‘come out better’. Although there are no shots to suggest the male character is more dominant (for example a high angle shot of the women and low angle for the man) just by him wearing a suit and how he acts calmly and in control shows an

almost hegemonic view of the man being in charge which changes at the end.

GENDER

Suit

PerformanceSuggests dominance

We therefore hope to attract a wider female audience as we found they made up 60% of the viewers of psychological thrillers. Mulvey said that the patriarchal control of

media means everyone looks at gender in the way men look at gender. However in our piece we tried no to and show a

more pluralistic view of gender (especially women) by having the women character have control in the end.

GENDER CONTINUED

Has the most power in the end

In our piece the male is middle-aged and stereotypically wearing a suit. This is common as in most psychological thrillers the male is middle-aged and well dressed. We hoped this would help attract an older audience as they would maybe relate better to an older actor. However the

women is in contrast wearing a hoodie and large hoop earrings. You could argue this is an archetype of young people. However this is challenged by the way she acts and the decisions she makes which makes her seem more mature. By using a younger actress it hopeful helps

attract our target audience.

AGE

Younger audience can relate better to a younger character

In our piece we almost have two stereotypical views of social class in relation to costume. The male character is obviously middle/upper class as he is wearing a suit. However the female character is from a lower class as she is wearing a hoodie. The preferred reading of our piece would be that although they are from different classes they are both in the same situation yet have reacted to it in different ways. The close-up shots of the

male character and the actors performance could suggest he thinks he is above the other character and more intelligent. This may suggest to the audience he thinks he is smart enough

to win ‘the game’.

SOCIAL CLASS

Shows middle class as believing they are more superior

Costume

Facial expressions