Q2 - Evaluation

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Representation is the description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way. Examples of representations for social groups are: gender, age, social class, sexuality, ethnicity etc.

In our thriller opening we represent gender and social class through Cara (character). 

We represented gender because we chose a female actress and females are usually shown as weak and vulnerable whereas males are shown as strong and dominant. We showed her as weak by making her look ill (with make-up) and also because she was a victim to the disease. If we chose a male actor instead, it would have still looked good but using a female has more impact. This is a negative representation and this is reinforced in real media. For example, in super hero movies such as spider man, the strong superhero is male and the heroine is female. The plot of the stories usually include the female getting into trouble and the male has to go and save her.

We represented social class because Cara(character) is middle class so middle class people from the audience will be able to relate to her. However in the full film we would also have every other social class because the disease affects everyone. This would make the audience more engaged and interested because they can put themselves into the characters' shoes.