Q2.

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

My media product focus' particularly on gender representations in film where men are portrayed as dominant, overpowering and violent towards females and where females are shown to be inferior.

Typically woman in thrillers are portrayed as Femme Fetale characters, extremely tough and independent (a bit like Lucy Liu in every single action film she has appeared in), or they are shown to be weak, vulnerable girls/woman who are used by dominant men. 

In my media product Robyn is represented as a ‘damsel in distress’. The term damsel in distress is taken from classic world literature and usually refers to a beautiful young lady who is placed in a predicament by a villan or monster and requires the help of a hero to save her. This representation has lived through Disney characters like Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and even Peach.

However it has over the years been adapted in film and has come to mean a lot more than just a pretty girl who needs saving. In some thrillers we see these woman portrayed as powerless and timid and often stuck in seriously dangerous situations which they cannot find their way out of.

 

Robyn’s character has been caught up in an organisation of gangstas who are using her to do their dirty work. Her character reminds me of Michelle's character in Ill Manors. 

In the film Michelle is a heroin addict who is threatened into prostituting herself to pay off a debt she owes. Although Robyn is not seen to have been exploited or used sexually in the opening of my thriller, the vulnerability and fragility that Michelle carries in Ill Manors inspired my representation of Robyn. 

 

There is a lot of representation of woman being easily manipulated in film recently and stereotypes of these woman having some sort of problem with drugs or money and steering towards prostitution as a way of resolving these problems. I feel that as a stereotype this is something that is overused and a very poor representation so I wanted to move away from the idea that Robyn may be involved with these men in a sexual manor. 

Although I had no desire to force the idea of prostitution on my audience, to develop her character and encourage the audience to sympathise with Robyn, the stereotypical elements were still present in costume, body language and positioning of her character.

For example the shots of Robyn standing on the side of the road are a lot like shots we often see in films where girls are shown to be waiting for a man to drive up next to them. Because of this positioning and the fact a car does drive up next to Robyn, an audience may at first think that Robyn's character is in keeping with the degrading stereotypes that often represent young girls in film . However, I feel these shots add to her vulnerability and create enigma within the scene. 

 

The men in my thrillers are constantly represented as dominant powerful figures. There is the odd film where a woman might have one up on a man at some point but it is very rare that a female character will ever be shown to  be the 'hero'. 

Here is an example of how a woman looks to be powerful, however we are quickly reminded that she is over powered by a man right at the beginning of Sin City.

 

My media product is in keeping with a male dominant representative as I have two strong male characters at the beginning of my thriller both of whom have power over Robyn. Craig throughout the film uses his gender and strength over Robyn in many different ways continuously showing that he is in control. 

 

In this clip of Kill Bill we see The Bride looking timid and vulnerable. This is a scene that inspired a torture scene that look place in my thriller where Craig and his group of cooperatives held Robyn hostage and threaten her to give them information about the organisation she is working for. The representation of men in my thriller are very generic. This is because I wanted to establish the difference in powers and show how vulnerable Robyn is to be caught up in such a dangerous chain of events. 

 

Another stereotype I represent in my thriller is one of age and young girls in particular being very easily manipulated and used. This is something that is present in real life and should be treated carefully in film as it can offend or upset an audience. One film that was able to take the idea of a young girl being kidnapped in such a common way as used is the film 'Taken'. Director Pierre Morel manages to convey the drama and horror through violence and turn such a serious subject into a very gripping thriller film that keeps you on the edge of your seat whilst also provoking empathetic emotions and sending a message to the audience. 

This film largely inspired my plot line. I wanted to make the film less about how Robyn was treated (though if the film was to be developed scenes of her capture would be graphic) and more about why she was taken and the conflict that follows between the rival organisations afterwards.

The filmed that inspired the age representation in my thriller was 'Alpha Dog'. The film is based on a true story where a young boy is held at ransom by a group of men who the young boy's brother owes money to.

 

The boy in Alpha Dog is shown to be easily manipulated and vulnerable to the group of men that have taken him as ransom throughout the film. What Robyn and his character in Alpha Dog have in common is having been caught up in some dodgy dealings and suffering the consequences of someone else's actions. I continued with this generic stereotype of young children being used and incapable of looking after themselves as it meant the audience could easily feel sorry for Robyn, but it also added to drama and hard hitting realisation that things like this do actually happen and children do get dragged into such dealings.