EVALUATION QUESTION 2How does your media product represent particular social

groups?

introduction

■ My production, The Ruin's Mist, tackles the representation of individuals of different social groups. This presentation analyses those representations by categories, namely; age, ethnicity, social class, gender, sexuality and physical ability.

age Age is portrayed a certain way in our film opening in many areas: When casting for the main character, Rayne, we looked for a short girl between the ages of 10-14, this is because the

character’s age is 12, and stereotypically, girls of that age should be short and have an ‘adorable factor.’ However, 12 year olds can be any height, but in order to avoid confusion in the audience, we chose a person short in height. Her classmates all vary in height to challenge the stereotype of all children around their age are short – some tall, as well as short.

In the first scene emphasizes on the closeness between her and her grandmother. Grandparents are stereotypically known for being a useful helper in the child rearing of their grandchildren; this represents that. The grandmother brushing Rayne’s hair represents the positive stereotype of grandparents being caring for their family. The grandmother is dressed in casual laid-back clothing which represents the negative stereotype of elderly people being lazy and informal.

During the transition between when Rayne says “yeah” in reply to if she is ready for school, the lighting becomes darker. This emphasizes on the stereotype of children not liking school as the light represents her change of mood. The high key lighting was used in the home scene, rather than in the school scene to challenge the common stereotype of the natural environment for children being at school. The lighting supports the Rayne’s acting, to show she does not feel at home or comfortable at school.

The classroom scene supports the stereotype of children being playful, hyperactive, mischievous and loud. The children being in a classroom without a teacher Rayne sitting by herself supports the negative stereotype of children finding it easy to socially exclude people, and they encourage the division of a mass of people into ‘cliques.’ The unorganized manner of the conversation between the students displays the stereotype of children being careless about the manner in which they go about things.

Having a large amount of children playing in my production shows children play an important role in society as well as adults.

Rayne’s facial expression in the woods scene supports the stereotype of children being vulnerable beings. When she picked up the ring from the stump, it represents children as curious beings. However, her being in the woods alone challenges the stereotype of children not having the freedom to go places, especially unsafe places such as the woods.

Rayne is short in height, which gives the ‘adorable’ factor and signifies she is a young girl. Even though it is a stereotype for all children to be short, we followed it in order to avoid confusion with our audience.

The laughing and the slight touch emphasizes on their closeness. It represents the close relationship between a grandchild and their grandparent.

The lighting goes darker when school is mentioned and when she is in school compared to when she is home in order to tackle the stereotype of children’s natural environment being at home. The lighting change signifies discomfort.

This shot supports the stereotype of children having a ‘clique’ system.

This shot supports the stereotype of young children being a hyperactive group of people, as well as mischievous, playful and loud.

Here, the look on Rayne’s face supports the stereotype of children as vulnerable beings. Throughout this scene a handheld camera was used in order to emphasize on the vulnerability of youth.However it challenges the stereotype of children living in a ‘cotton wool’ society – meaning they have been overprotected with restrictions, so to see one in the woods shows she has a lot of freedom.

ethnicity

■ Ethnicity was not really paid attention to when filming.■ The main character is a white British, which is common in many

fantasy/thriller films, because of the stereotypes of white people being the more adventurous race.

■ However, in the classroom scene, there are children of different ethnicities. Those included in the shots are: 3 Black people, 3 Caucasians, and 2 Latina. This represents school as a place open to people of many types. The class being of many nationalities and all having fun together, challenges the stereotype of race and ethnicity being key in the classification of friendship groups.

■ Having a range of nationalities in my production again represents equality, and the changing position of ethnic superiority in society.

The children we casted for the classroom scene are of many ethnicities to create diversity within friendships. Challenges the stereotype of race and ethnicity as a major factor of social groups.

social class

■ Social class was not really emphasized upon in my production. This is because in fantasy/thriller films, the mass of people are not really classified into social class groups, instead they are classified into groups according to their unique characteristics. For example: elves, fairies, pixies, ogres, robots, mathematical geniuses, etc.

■ Rayne’s social class is middle class. This is shown by the state of her bedroom. It is not particularly glamourous like that of an upper class, nor in a ‘less presentable’ one like that of a lower class.

■ The grandmother being in informal clothing shows that she does not have a formal, high-end job. So this could mean the source of income in the household is not large, however by the look of Rayne’s room, they are living comfortably, so is a representation of their middle class lifestyle.

■ In the classroom scene, class cannot be clearly represented because they are all wearing their school uniform, which represents equality; especially at that stage in life because they have no way of independently choosing their class.

Usually, dustbins in shot would ruin it, but in this case, it indicates the character is not of the upper class.

The bedroom is very small and slightly cluttered, so it shows she is middle class.

The uniform represents equality, so most of the children are of middle class also.

The suitcase shows her family can still afford to travel. This also emphasizes on the fact that she is middle class.

sexuality

■ Sexuality was not addressed in my production because most of the characters are too young for the topic to be used on appropriately.

gender

■ There are more girls than boys in my production. This represents the changing position of women in society. Women are now becoming equally as important as boys. The classroom scene contains 6 girls and 2 boys; it being an educational setting, it supports the stereotype of girls being smarter than boys.

■ Gender too was not represented in my production, aside from supporting the stereotype of girls being gossips and boys being more physical in their socialisation, because of the shot included of the girls surrounding a table to gossip and the shot where everyone having fun but the boys where running and moving about more than the girls.

■ The antagonist is a girl. So her being in the woods, challenges the stereotype as women being weak. This is because in fantasy films, the antagonist being in the woods introduces the theme of bravery.

These shots show the activities of both genders. It emphasizes on the stereotype of girls being gossips and boys being more active and physical in their socialization.

physical ability

■ Physical ability was represented in a few shots of my production:■ The grandmother brushing her grandchild’s hair represents the

stereotype negative of children not being able to help themselves. It also challenges the negative stereotype of grandparents being the one’s who need all the help and are incapable of carrying out physical activities (even if it is only brushing hair).

■ The classroom scene supports the stereotype as children being physically fit, as they are running around.

Even though it is only the action of brushing hair, it challenges the stereotype of older people not being able to function when doing manual labour.

This shot supports the stereotype of most children have the ability to run around with their peers.

conclusion

In conclusion, my film uses more focussed on the representation of age and gender over the other factors. There are many frames and techniques used to establish these factors in my film opening.