How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents teenage girls, ethnicity, and females in general.

Ethnic Groups

The only ethnic group represented in this movie is the white, British females. This bears no meaning when relating to representation, but is merely due to the fact that the onless available at resses were of this ethnicity. The ethnicity of the characters is under-represented in this piece, this is because;

• We do not get time to fully identify with the characters, they do not establish beliefs, intrests, religions or even many traits, leaving them to be shown as blank. This has been done purposely to emphasise that these characters are 'monster fodder' and to represent the feeling of no remorse the antagonist has for her victims.


• The antagonist does not develop any traits relating to her ethnicity as she is represented as being distant. This is seen in movies such as Saw II, Scream and Creep, all containing opening scenes with the antagonist not revealing their ethnicity, through accents could be said to hint at this.

Females/ Stereotypical 'teen girls'

The females in my media product are portrayes as stereotypical teenage girls; enjoying a sleepover with friends and gossiping about boys. In this sense, the representation of females conforms to that of 'real' media products, also linking to the theory of McRobbie 1991 that females are socialised to obsess over romance from a young age, a theory epitomised by the girls gossiping scene.

The mise en scene could be said to add to the representation of females. Here, the pyjamas could lead the females to be represented as sexually objectified with little importance (relating to the gossiping dialouge). This relates strongly to Muvley's 1975 theory - 'The Male Gaze', stating that media products assume the audience is male and constructs reality from a male point of view as a result of patriarchal societies. This is seen highly in the piece as woman are represented to be sexually objectified and obsessed with gossip and men, the views of the hetrosexual male. With the rise of feminism and equality, some would say these representations are out-dated, and represent more the 1940s females that were sexually objectified, seen as merely wives and mothers, and living in a truly patriarchal society.

The Female Antagonist

Marxism/ hegemony mean control is excerted by the most powerful group. In media, this often means that this 'powerful' group is over represented compared with others. In the case of my product, the antagonist is represented as most powerful as she physically attacks the other two characters (one off screen). The representation of my antagonist conforms to this idea, with her position as 'most powerful' being shown through longer camera shots than the other two, with zoom in shots from long to medium, a long medium shots and various shots tracking the character up the stairs. This lengthened representation of the antagonist relates to ideas of marxism, the most powerful group will 'win'.

This can be seen in other horror movies such as Scream, in which the protagonist is represented more than the antagonist, and as a result of this defeats the antagonist at the end of the movie.