The document discusses the main female character Raven in the opening sequence. Compared to typical thriller female characters who are damsels in distress, Raven defies stereotypes by being able to protect herself. While she shows some fear, a conventional female trait, she channels it into strength. Raven is also dressed in atypical "delinquent clothes" rather than the usual white worn by pure female characters. She challenges theories that women only exist for male amusement by not dressing in a sexually appealing way but to portray female strength. Overall Raven subverts expectations of weak, scared females needing rescue by being able to defend herself.

1. What different social
groups featured in your opening
sequence?

2. Our main female character is Raven. Compared to other female
characters in the Thriller genre she doesn’t follow the typical
stereotype as in Thriller films the female is always the “Damsel in
Distress” and awaits to be saved by a hero (particularly a male
protagonist).
This typical character type can be seen in The House at the End of the
Street as the female main is tied up and looks physically weak. (middle)
Also in “The Shining” with Emily’s character as her facial expression
shows she is terrified.(left)
Raven (right) does show some aspects of the typical female throughout
our opening sequence but she is ready to protect herself which
contradicts the stereotype.

3. Raven also challenges the stereotype
of the female characters being
dressed in white clothing (to show
their pureness as seen by Millie in
Mean Creek) as when we first see her
she is in what can only be described
as “delinquent clothes” which is an
anti-stereotype in itself as
stereotypical delinquents are usually
male orientated. The fact that she
isn’t in white which represents purity
makes it obvious that she won’t be a
typical female character.
Costume

4. Although she is a main female Raven
defies Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory which
states that the pretty girls are only there
for male amusement. Although she is
there, she isn’t wearing skimpy clothes
that make her look physically prettier but
is wearing plain baggy clothes so the
purpose of her presence is to make a
statement of female strength and
deterministic instead of attracting male
audience members like the theory
suggests- a prime example of
following the theory is Karen from
Abduction (bottom)

5. Where Raven is mostly anti-stereotypical she still shows
aspects of a typical female and that aspect is fear.
Stereotypical females are the characters are usual
scared as the male characters are the brave heroic type.
In this aspect of character identification Raven is
stereotypically conventional to her role as a female
lead. We decided to include this aspect as it is rational
for someone to be scared in the particular situation but
Raven channels her fear to make her stronger.

6. Although Raven does follow some conventional aspects of
the female character type she is mostly anti-stereotype as
she is able to defend herself instead of having someone to
help her. She is also portrayed differently from a typical
female through her dark costume and the situation of her
best friend’s murder. The fact that we have reversed the
gender roles makes our idea original and was notified as a
good idea from our target research.
I think that the anti-stereotypical character of Raven will give
a positive effect as it makes the audience think about the
motive of the characters and their real personalities. It also
doesn’t make any non-direct attacks on a particular group of
people as we have a range of factors for Raven’s personality
and lifestyle.

7. I think that the way we created
Raven’s character went well but I
feel we could have made the
unconventional and anti-
stereotypical of her personality
clearer to make the meaning more
known by the audience so they can
decode the character correctly.