How does your media product represent particular social grou

Representing the Detective

Another existing thriller that influenced the decisions involved with creating the character and representation of the Detective was "Shutter Island".

In Shutter Island, the character is much more emotionally unstable, with his past traumas involving his wife's death and the events of the Dachau concentration camp. His emotions are shown through frequent flashbacks, that remind him of his Wife and the horrors of war.

I emulated this representation by using the flashbacks and notes to create a representation of the Detective's guilt and how it has taken over his life, similarly to in Shutter Island where the detective is actually a patient in the mental asylum as a result of these traumas.

Although the Detective is much younger in my thriller, Shutter Island influenced my decisions as to how I could portray the young male character in a different light to the stereotype and hence influenced my decisions.

The Detective

Costume

The Detective is a young adult male. Society typically sees this social group as:

• A Liability:
• Reckless, unthoughtful and foolish in their actions.

However in my thriller these representations are challenged, and he is shown as none of these things that society expects him to be, that he is a hard-working, resilient and honest man.

However there is another aspect of this character. Through not solving the case of Charlotte Adams' abduction, he turns into a psychotic, delusional and dangerous man through his guilt. This not only shows morality but also that traumatising experiences can affect young adults causing them to be emotionally unstable and allows for representation into an almost taboo area of society, i.e. depression and anxiety, especially in young males. This challenges the representation that all young males are reckless and shows how stress and other factors effect characters.

Representing the Detective

The costume of Charlotte Adams aids the representation of her Character. Not only is it similar to representations in existing thrillers, such as "The Ring" [pictured], it is outdated and out of place. Plus, when the audience sees her wearing it at night on a cold street, they will worry about what she is doing out in the cold on her own and so on, creating a representation of vulnerability for this social group.

These representations are shown within the plot, i.e. his actions, and his costume.

Existing thrillers such as "Seven" portray the stereotypical representation- the older Detective [Freeman] is much more level headed and calm, whereas the young detective [Pitt] is reckless (see picture).

I avoided this representation so as to not put off my audience and again focused on a different representation. The "two-sides" of my character can be observed in his costume; he is wearing all black which would be associated with 'evil', yet you can study his facial expressions etc making him relatable- his "delusional" side is seen in the character of the Shade.

In the opening sequence, the closing section where the Shades close in on the Detective represents his guilt- overwhelming, consuming, everywhere- to not solving the case and finding the girl. As previously mentioned, the rest of the film could discuss the taboo subjects that could be associated with this, but the main representation is that this character is actually "human", not a 'hot-headed liability' that this group is commonly portrayed as.

Plot + Mise-en-scene

The character is further represented through the plot and mise-en-scene.

Pictured here is when Charlotte Adams removes the ribbon from her dress and then drops it on the floor. This presents connotations of submission and inferiority as well as the aforementioned vulnerability.

In the scene, the girl skips cheerfully around the corner and then vanishes. This is a single representation of her abduction, and represents even the most innocent of this social group at risk to acts such as abduction/kidnapping. This conforms to typical representations of this group but develops the idea of vulnerability by giving an example that can be linked to current affairs and news stories.

How do these Representations effect my audience?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The fact that my audience is in the 15-24 age bracket makes the characters relatable to them, so they can relate to or empathise with certain characters or aspects of their characters, or may in general be more interested, as the stereotypical representation of these social groups are challenged, hence I am providing for my audience; it is something they would wish to see.

By contrast, older demographics and social groups may be more engaged and would wish to watch it to get a better understanding of younger people in the present day, educating them with more modern and up-to-date representations rather than stereotypes.

Summary of Representations

"Charlotte Adams"

Overall, the representations of my characters are quite positive.

Charlotte Adams, although portrayed negatively, is done so as a "vision" and symbol of the Detective's guilt, as in reality she has been abducted, matching the representations of innocence and vulnerable. This could hence be argued as a negative representation as it shows the young girl as weak on one half, and cold on the other.

The Detective is represented equally ambiguously, but despite the negative representations in some areas the character is represented positively overall as a contrast to the stereotype that modern society creates around young male characters.

Joe Weston

Typically, young girls are portrayed as:

• Innocent
• Vulnerable
• and Unaware of the harsh realities of the World

in both thrillers and films in general. However, the character of "Charlotte Adams" in my thriller creates an enigma in this representation. She is portrayed as:

• Cold, delusional and disturbed
• Stern, empty and emotionless

This is similar to characters such as the girl characters from "The Ring" and "Orphan". This creates confusion as to what the audience should feel towards them - the "possessed" state that the girl is in results in the audience having concern for the character.

In reality, the character has been abducted, which supports these stereotypical representations of this social group, and the audience will relate this to news stories and current affairs regarding the abduction of young girls and their vulnerability within society.

Intentions

G321 Thriller Evaluation: Question 2

In my media product, I intended to represent two social groups in particular, young girls, and young-adult males.

Research into representation of thrillers helped me in achieving this. For instance, in "The Others", the female character is portrayed as weak and vulnerable in several scenes (i.e. pictured, she is crying on the floor), and although this is a rather stereotypical representation, it is effective as the audience develops a concern and fear for the character at risk. This is something I wanted to emulate in my thriller as it would have a positive effect on engaging the audience

I also wanted to challenge the stereotypical of young adult males. This was due to the fact that my audience would be in this demographic, and more male than female, and so they would find it more appealing if a more modern view was taken towards the representation of their social group in my thriller.