The document summarizes how a media product represents various social groups through its opening sequence. It discusses how the sequence portrays class (middle class), age (16-18 years old teenagers), gender (males as dominant, females as submissive), and sexuality (focusing on subtly suggesting the protagonist's struggle with homosexuality in a nuanced way). Specifically, it aims to challenge stereotypical portrayals in other media through its subtle use of techniques like close-ups, costume, dialogue, and settings. The goal is for audiences to see the protagonist's difference and sexuality as normal rather than what makes her different.

1. HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT REPRESENT
PARTICULAR SOCIAL
GROUPS?
EVALUATION
QUESTION 2
By Arlette
Bokete

2. C.R.A.G.S
While researching about social groups I found that there are five main social
groups to consider in regards to our opening sequence and they are:
1. C = Class
2. R = Race
3. A = Age
4. G = Gender
5. S = Sexuality
In real media texts, I found that at least one if not more of these social
groups are represented. In this PowerPoint I will be talking about how our
opening sequence has achieved and embodied some of these representation
successfully in different ways.

3. CLASS
The Class that our opening sequence represents and is targeted at are a middle
class audience because our protagonist is a middle class British citizen. This Class
status is established primarily through transport, setting and
characterisation/dialogue. We show this through the type of transport our
protagonist uses. Our protagonist uses public transport which shows a lack of high
wealth and class as she doesn’t have her own form of transport such as a car.
In addition, our protagonist is able to afford things that are considered as a
extraneous luxuries such as dining out with a friend. As she is still able to afford a
type of transport and dines out – she is represents the middle class bracket.
We also use the dialogue in opening sequence to represent Class. For example, our
all the characters in our opening sequence or well spoken and do not use a large
amount of slang or have a poor register of language. Although they are literate,
due to colloquial dialectal references such the term “Mates” (said by the Character
Jaq), which is slang for friends – our opening sequence cannot be deemed to be
representing an Upper Class bracket.

4. AGE
The age group represented in our
media piece is 16 to 18 as the
Protagonist Louise and her friend
Helen are both teenagers. One of
the ways we make this clear are
through the dialogue.
It is more commonly presented in
real media texts for teenagers to
have or cause arguments in and
from their relationships – a well-
known example of this is
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. As
a result we included an argument in
the dialogue between the
protagonist and her boyfriend.

5. HOW WE REPRESENTED AGE:
SETTING
Other ways we represent their
age is the location they go to
which is a fast-food restaurant.
This also suggests their youth as
they opt for a more informal
dining setting which is affordable
especially for teenagers who
have no personal income –
another stigma attached to
teenagers in real media texts.

6. HOW WE REPRESENTED AGE:
MAKEUP
We also used cultural signifiers
such as make-up. Teenager’s are
also portrayed as quite self-
conscious so it is also
stereotypical known for female
teenagers to apply make-up.
This is a stigma attached to
young females and teenagers
today and is promoted through
society as well as seen as a
‘trendy’.
At the start of our opening
sequence we show a close up of
the protagonist applying make-
up in order to comply to this
stereotype associated with her

7. HOW WE REPRESENTED AGE:
COSTUME
Also through the use of costume we
further establish the representation of the
teenage ages present in our opening
sequence.
Here is a picture of our protagonist. She
is wearing a turquoise sweater which is a
flamboyant colour.
Flamboyant colours, if worn, are
considered as a statement and
statements with clothing and style are
stereotypically presented through
teenagers in real media texts which is
why we chose to dress our protagonist
this way.
The protagonist is seen wearing a
“choker” which is a trendy and stylish
type of necklace popular in teen culture.
This furthermore represents teenage
Kylie Jenner – A
famous teen
star wearing a
choker

8. GENDER
Males:
Although there is a lack of males in
our footage, Jaq represents males
through the voiceover. In our opening
sequence, males are represented as
dominant as Jaq at the start tells
Louise to pick up her phone and
doesn’t ask her.
This suggest that he has more
principal over their relationship and
that he has more power as he is able
to override her decisions which is
demonstrated in the line; “Just wanted
to make sure you knew what to wear
for the party”. She does get to doesn’t
get to have the final say on what she’s
going to where he will.
Jaq tone is also low which accentuates
his masculinity and further represents
males with machoism.
Females:
Females in our opening sequence are
represented as submissive, weak which is a
stereotypical representation of females in real
media texts: damsels in distress.
For instance, Louise complies to Jaq’s demands
instantly in an obedient manner. Additionally,
she is submissive to her own
personal conflict with her sexuality as she is unable
to fight her confusion about it and denies her true
identity to herself which also present her as weak.
Hair is another cultural signifier we use. Feminine
characteristics such as long hair to comply with the
conventional female gender representation.

9. SEXUALITY
In terms of sexuality, as this
was the main theme for our
opening sequence
(homosexuality) it is the social
group we focused on the
most.
With Homosexuality, my
partner and I really wanted to
challenge conventional
displays of homosexuality
used in real media texts as we
felt they were often
misconstrued or exaggerated
representations.
In most media text’s lesbian’s are presented as masculine and dominant figures who have a
lack of interest on their appearance and present a strong and tough exterior. Conversely,
homosexual males ore presented to have loud personalities, are more bubbly and adores
the colour pink which has connotations of femininity and girly qualities which females are
depicted to obtain.

10. SEXUALITY
In order to help represent homosexuality we used a lot of
shooting techniques and editing to subtly suggest hints
of homosexuality in our opening sequence. We didn’t
want the audience to just centre on the possibility that
the protagonist could be struggling with her sexuality
but more on the fact that she feels different. We also
wanted to emphasise to our audience that discovering
your sexuality shouldn't be a taboo topic but that it’s an
ordinary stage of life.
For example, when Louise is travelling to town we use a
series of close ups in order to focus on her isolation from
society. We represent her sexuality to make her feel
segregated from the normal public interactions that take
place between strangers. We make this evident from the
start of our opening sequence when Louise is shown to
be alone and interact with no on, she feels uncomfortable
with herself and that would be apparent to others so she
conceals herself. Which is why we use so many close-ups
because she only wants the audience to see, not only
want she sees and feels, but what she wants them to see.
So when a close-up is used the audience insight on
Louise is restricted.Louise is on the outside of society looking in
– isolated.

11. SEXUALITY PT2
Additionally, we to a give a contrasting representation Louise to give another
side of sexuality; positivity. We wanted to show the audience that Helen
makes her happy and whether that is through there friendship or possible
attraction is up to the audience’s interpretation. We achieved this through a
series of close-ups and extreme close-ups to not only show intimacy but to
show that when Helen is around that even when Louise only allows the
audience to see a focused close-up, Helen is in it. We wanted to challenge
every member of the audience individually and see whether they interpret
this as friendship or more and what that says but them as a person as well
as the society they build up.
To conclude, we wanted to focus on the sole fact that the protagonist felt
different. Even though this was a result of her confusion on her sexuality, we
didn’t want the audience to think her sexuality is what makes her different
but that she is just different – being a homosexual should be seen as normal
and ordinary and that’s what we wanted to accentuate in our opening
sequence.

12. SEXUALITY PT3
Here are some screenshots from our piece to support my sexuality
representation explanation.

13. THANKS FOR WATCHING!