Evaluation: How Our Media Represents Particular Social Groups

 Evaluation: How Our Media Represents Particular Social Groups

In our film, Women, Men, Parents and Youths are the social groups represented. Throughout cinematic history, all of these groups have faced being stereotyped and while our film subverts and challenges most of these expectations, some of them are actually used in order to help the story move forward. 

Women: 

Although Wonder Woman is a strong
 female character, her costume
is based on appealing to the Male Gaze rather
than suiting her role as a hero. 

The Geena Davis Institute on Gender In Media found from examining 4,000 characters across 400 U, PG, PG-13 and R-rated movies that two types of females frequent in film: the traditional and hyper-sexual. It discovered that females are more likely than males to be depicted as parents (52.2% vs. 40.4%) in motion pictures. In contrast, they also noticed how females could be shown in a  hyper-sexualised fashion. Hypersexuality refers to an overemphasis on attractiveness and sexuality by way of clothing and body proportions. The study stated that 'females were over five times as likely as males to be shown in sexually revealing clothing, which was defined as attire that enhances, exaggerates, or calls attention to any part of the body from neck to knees'. We subverted these stereotypes by dressing our female characters in practical, comfortable clothing that suited the film's subject matter thus adding to it's verisimilitude.

Regarding our chosen  Mystery-Thriller genre, females are usually depicted as damsel in distress types or cold-hearted femme fatales. For example, in Memento, the main female character (Natalie) is portrayed as being manipulative, ruthless and out for her own personal gain.

Natalie is an example of how females are portrayed as
both damsels and dangerous in Thriller films.

This subverts against stereotypes of women being domesticized and maternal as Natalie demonstrates zero empathy for the protagonist's health condition and continuously exploits him as he suffers through his condition. However, she does 'fake' being in an abusive relationship and thus a victimised state to fool the male character and make him feel sympathy for her.

Kicker from Full House wears a costume
that doesn't sexualise her body. 

Men:
In contrast, males are vastly being portrayed as "metro-sexuals", "macho-men" and "skirt chasers" who have little interest in being protective or fatherly. While women are being over sexualised and domesticated, men are suffering from being depicted as unemotional and violent. Wild-Card is the only male character in our film and while it could be argued that he is underrepresented because of this, his characteristics prove him to be a subversion to the male stereotype, as he isn't presented as aggressive or heroic but endearing and peaceful. The dialogue 'Just do as she says, Kicker' highlights that Wild-Card doesn't like confrontation but the fact that he meets the other character's eye's when he is speaking to them also proves that he isn't afraid to stand up for what he believes him, giving Wild-Card a sense of vulnerability as opposed to weakness.

Bruce Willis is an example of males being primarily
portrayed as 'heroic' in Thriller films.

Youths and Parents:
 Films portray youths as being competitive and territorial (e.g. Eden Lake) and our film somewhat conformed to this stereotype as Twist and Wild-Card are shown as very reluctant to welcome Tilt into their group (reenforced through the close up shot of Twist searching Tilt). This lack of trust and hostility towards Tilt was used as a way to address the struggles that teenagers face to be accepted by their peers but also the harsh reality that these young adults are isolated and have no other way to protect themselves but instinct. Parents are used primarily as a plot device in Full House in order to set the scene, this is a common theme in teenage based dramas, where parents are portrayed as too protective and ignorant to their children's dreams. The mother that we use to get Tilt to come home in the opening scene conforms to the stereotype of being loving and anxious.

Eden Lake presents Youths as being xenophobic and victims of Peer Pressure.