How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

By Matthew Plumeridge

Monday, 18 March 13

Codes and Conventions

• Our media product follows the conventions of horror/ thriller films. The conventional characters in this genre would consist of the antagonist (the attacker) and the protagonist (the victim).

• Our film is also within the survival and zombie sub-genres. This means that the characters are always in danger, and different characters types will deal with this differently.

Monday, 18 March 13

Character StereotypesAge and GenderIn a conventional horror film the most common gender for a protagonist would be a female character, as they are more vulnerable. However in survival/zombie based films the antagonists usually consist of more than one person, usually a group of people with mixed genders and races. This is to show the audience the scale of the danger and situation, as people have to unite to stay alive.

A horror film will also commonly use a teenager as the protagonist as they are naive and allow the target audience to identify with the character. However in survival/zombie films characters of all ages can be present, however adults and teenagers are more likely to survive.

Monday, 18 March 13

Character Stereotypes

Age Range

Children 0-12

Teenagers 13-19

Adults 20-59

Elderly 60+

Gender Characteristics and Conventions

Male/Female•Scarred, innocent, needs protection•A burden on others•Used to make audiences feel empathetic

Male•Naive, scarred•Wants to help, can be clever and strategic•Used so that audiences can identify with characters.

Female•Naive, scarred•Damsel in distress, although can be tough•Used so that audiences can identify with characters.

Male•Leader, takes responsibility, makes decisions•Protective, used to relate to audiences as an authoritative figure.

Female •Protective, helpful

Male/Female •Wise, selfless, knowledgable•Burden, slow

Monday, 18 March 13

Character EvaluationCharacter 1 - Guy

Guy is selfish character and does not think of the consequences of his actions. He is naive and primarily thinks for himself over others.

Similar Characters: Pete - Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Like guy pete is also selfish and does not think about others. His unlikable characteristics make him a prime candidate for being killed off, as it alerts the audience of the danger the characters are in without the audience feeling emotional.

Monday, 18 March 13

Character EvaluationCharacter 2 -Charlie

Charlie is a cautious character who thinks about his actions. Despite his slight paranoia , he still gets into bad situations because of his naivety and bad judgement, and places trust in the wrong people.

Similar Characters: Columbus - Zombieland (2009)

Columbus is similar to charlie as he to is very cautious, to the point where he has devised a set of rules he must abide to for survival, however this also restricts him.Also like charlie he has bad judgement when it comes to social interactions.

Monday, 18 March 13

Character Evaluation• We have also used mise en scene to

construct the characters to fit a teenage stereotype.

• Both characters costumes have been used to make them easily identifiable as teenagers e.g hoodies and jeans.

Monday, 18 March 13

Character Evaluation• Not only do the characters fit

stereotypes of the genre but they also fit general stereotypes.

• Both characters are represented in the negative stereotypical representation of teenagers; Naive, mischievous, selfish and irresponsible.

• We represented them in this general way because we wanted to attract a larger audience.

Monday, 18 March 13

Character Evaluation• Despite Charlie and Guy being having

different characteristics, overall our opening scene represents their social group, teenagers, as naive and irresponsible. This negative view towards the two characters is to hint that they will find themselves in danger. This will build suspense in our audience as they know that something bad will happen to the characters.

Monday, 18 March 13