Evaluation - Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Explain the main characters in you film. Describe the representations of the characters and explain why you included them in your thriller film

The term representation can be defined as; the description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way or as being of a certain nature. The representation of who the characters are is a vital element of the narrative itself, as the character must have a purpose to efficiently act the narrative. This representation is created through characterisation; a method in which the audience understand the character more through specific details about them being told including name, age, background, gender and purpose to the narrative. In our own narrative, only one character is shown to the audience, which is Grace, the victim.  The name Grace is representative of elegance and refinement. This therefore suggests to the audience that Grace is highly innocent and will consequently build a relationship between them so that the audience can sympathize with her and become involved within the film. The name creates a representation that conforms to the way in which victim are conventionally represented in the thriller genre; innocent. This therefore gives the audience an understanding of the character as well as relating to them as a result. As the victim is 17 years old, her age is representative of her vulnerability as she is of an age of growing up however is still young. The audience can relate to as our target audience is 15-24 and therefore can easily imagine themselves in a similar situation. For example, if our main protagonist is aged 50 and the target audience are 15-24, this may impact the ability to relate to the protagonist and therefore the audience become disengaged from the narrative. Therefore her age creates a representation of being a young, typical teenager which once again the audience can relate to, to engage them in the narrative. Conventionally, the victims in the thriller genre are often blonde females. Gender plays a vital role in the way on which a character is represented. Typically, the audience associated the passive and weaker role with a female and an active, strong role with a male. As the victim is a blonde female, this represents to the audience her inferior position against the male antagonist in which she is under threat. This therefore portrays her innocence furthermore to the audience to make them sympathize with the victim more so which in turn, will involve them in the narrative. The victim's parents have recently divorced and this is shown in the opening when she says 'My Mum is out on a date'. This is representative of her life involving imperfections, which effectively will allow the audience to relate to her and therefore sympathize with the emotions she displays. This detail also increases the realism of the narrative as this is a sufficient reason for her mother to be out which therefore lead to her being home alone, thus increasingly vulnerable to the antagonist. This is also a detail that some of the audience can relate to, and therefore does not cause confusion within the audience as it is deemed ‘normal’. It is important that characters have a purpose to the narrative so that the audience understand why they are there, thus making the narrative easier to understand. The opening establishes that Grace’s purpose is that she is a target or victim. However, it is not clear why she is a target yet which creates an enigma to keep the audience guessing. As mentioned previous, the victim's parents are recently divorced and as a result Grace now lives with her Mother. Consequently, her Father is left hurt and infuriated and therefore takes this out by stalking their shared daughter and possibly acting as a potential threat of violence.

Overall, the decisions made according to Grace’s representation are heavily reliant on the effect that each decision had on the audience. From the research conducted, the most successful thrillers conformed to the thriller convention in terms of representation i.e. innocent female victim, but also constructed them as real, in order for the audience to relate to them. For example, Donna, the victim in the thriller Prom Night, conforms to the thriller convention in that she is a blonde female who appears innocent. However it is the details about her that make her a typical teen for the audience to relate to; she is going to prom, she has a boyfriend, she has a group of close girl friends etc. Each of these details appears normal to the audience and therefore they can empathise and become involved in the narrative when the victim appears weak and threatened. Similarly, the representation of Grace constructed aimed to appear real, but also conventional.


Is gender represented in a stereotypical way?

Grace is a conventional character often found in the thriller genre, particularly because of her gender. Females are often portrayed as the victims in thrillers, who are victimised by male antagonists. Conventionally, the male antagonist is portrayed as threatening and powerful whereas the female victim is represented as weak and vulnerable, thus heightening the conflict between the two characters. Against the powerful and dominating male antagonist, the female victim is often represented as hopeless with no chance of escape, thus keeping he audience on edge and engaged. This convention is evident in my own thriller opening sequence. When the victim is on the bedroom, all of her electricity cuts off, including the phone call she was taking. Not only this, but she also hears a sound coming from another room, despite being home alone. This scene in the opening conveys her lack of knowledge according to the reason of this happening or rather who was causing this to happen. By having the phone and laptop cut off, in terms of communication the victim has no method of contacting someone for help, which represents her was weaker, vulnerable and hopeless, as stated before. However, because the electricity was cut off this creates low key lighting which in turn implies the presence of the antagonist. The darkness of the room reflects his personality which also suggests he is the reason for the electricity cutting off; representing him as more powerful and threatening, which conforms to the generic conventions. An example of the reinforcement of these conventional representations is evident in the film Scream, where ‘Casey’, a female blonde who is victimised is brutally stalked and murdered by a male antagonist. As stated before, victim who are also represented as conventional to the genre are also represented as conventional people in society. Casey lived with her family, went to school, had friends etc and therefore the audience are able to relate to her. Another example of this is evident in the thriller Se7en, in which a young woman is once again murdered by a mentally unstable male. The young woman was also blonde which conforms to generic convention but also had details about her that constructed her representation as ‘normal’; she was pregnant, had a husband and a job. Furthermore, the antagonist in my production is a man, further reinforcing the conventional gender roles of the genre. However, the way in which victims and antagonists are represented not only differ according to gender, but also the personal details about themselves. As stated before victims often appear normal from the perspective of the audience in order to encourage empathy; however male antagonists are often represented as abnormal or distorted so that they appear threatening to the audience, making them uncomfortable. For example the antagonist in the thriller Se7en appears to be abnormal as his house is covered in pictures of people being tortured which not only is considered to be abnormal, but conveys his pleasure in harming others.


Explain how the characters would appeal to your audience

Background knowledge of the character allows the audience to have a deeper understanding of her, which in turn should increase her appeal as they become more attached to her. The victim is a similar age to the audience and therefore it will be easier for them to relate to her as she is representative of this particular social group. Therefore they will be able to imagine themselves in a similar situation which engages them in the narrative, as well as increasing their own vulnerability as a result. The age of the victim will appeal to them for this reason. Furthermore, her gender will reinforce her vulnerability as female victims are conventional to the thriller genre due to the implied inferiority in contrast to the male antagonist. By conforming to this convention, the audience will feel an increased attachment to the protagonist as her vulnerability as a victim is reinforced through her gender. The audience will assume she is weaker and less powerful than the male antagonist and therefore her appeal will be shown through her weaknesses. Furthermore, Grace has a background that most of the audience will be able to relate to; her parents are divorced. Divorced parents imply imperfections in her life, which increases the realism of the characters and therefore the audience can relate to this, as she appears believable. Her appeal as a victim is portrayed through her conventional characteristic such as her gender and age, however is also portrayed through her realistic qualities such as divorced parents which therefore increases her appeal, allowing the audience to relate and empathize with her.