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Group 6 Media Studies AS - Question 2 (Max Boyden)
- 1. Max Boyden Question two How does your media product represent particular social groups?
- 2. social GROUPS We chose to portray very few social groups in our piece so as to further the connotation of isolation. We used the structure of the “traditional nuclear family” so that the audience were able to relate with the characters Father - White Male Strong - Middle-Aged Working father Protective - Middle-Aged Housewife Defenceless - Young-Adults Ex-Military Psychopathic mother - White Female Strong antagoni - White sts - Male - Strong
- 3. Father The father conforms to the dominant ideology of a strong male figure in the family, as shown by his will to protect his wife at the first sound of her scream. This is a positive representation However, the initial scenes of him driving are ideologically loaded so as to confuse the audience into believing he is the antagonist (hence the red lighting, connoting evil) He also connotes a traditional view of a father figure, connoted by his suit which suggests he is working father, the binary opposite to the mother, who is represented as a housewife. This may be considered as a representation of patriarchy
- 4. Father Red lighting perhaps suggests an evil side to the character, However, we learn later that this is just residual ideology. The shot was also angled low so as to represent the father as dominant Running to the door is used to represent his desperation/devotion to his wife, petrified that something bad has happened to her. This also shows his strong willed, caring attitude, stereotypical of men The suit was used to represent a “working man”, and also the traditional values held by the family (I.E: Male breadwinner, female housewife) However, this shot was chosen so the antagonist could appear in control of the situation
- 5. mother Our portrayal of the mother could be seen as negative as it give a very stereotypical view of women is society (Eg: Housewives) She is shown to be far weaker than the antagonists and therefore helpless. This was exploited by our choice to only show her in high-angle shots, so as to make her seem small, as well as coving her face quickly However, her portrayal could also be seen as positive as she is not the antagonist in the situation, in fact, quite the contrary. She is shown to be a mother, who's dominant ideology connotes, a caring and loving individual
- 6. MOTHER The antagonists lifting the mother from her position was used to show their strength in comparison to her, but also to make her seem vulnerable, as they approached her from behind We chose to bad the mother early on so that she would become objectified. No longer having a face, we believed the audience would see her through the eyes of the antagonists as an object, not a person This low angle shot was put in to show how small the mother was in comparison to the antagonists, furthering the ideology of helplessness The mother’s reluctance to fight back furthers the portrayal of the dominant ideology of women being weak, and ruled by men
- 7. ANTAGONISTS Our antagonists are three young males who are meant to be of a military background. This is then a negative portrayal of youngmen, who are often stereotyped for causing crime and violence, but also serves as a negative portrayal of the military, suggesting that their psychopathic tendencies have stemmed from their time at war We chose to use masks on the killers because of research into both “The Strangers” (Bertino, 2008) and the “uncanny valley” effect, by which humans are made afraid of objects that are close, but not quite human (Eg: Clowns, realistic robots)
- 8. Antagonists We took inspiration for this particular shot from “The Assassination of Jesse James” We felt that keeping the characters in the shadows further helped to distort their presence The low-key lighting was used to full effect to make the antagonists appear almost “ghost-like”. This shot involves the character emerging from the darkness, with only his face visible The masks were chosen so no emotion could be seen, something that is typical of psychopaths. However, we decided to include black out eyes and sewn mouths to add an element of fear to the otherwise standard masks The green coats and boots were meant to represent a military background by which the three antagonists had become psychopathic, perhaps being expelled for such a reason
- 9. Macro issues We believe that our piece is ideologically loaded so as not to necessarily challenge the conventions and ideologies of current society, but at least to highlight them and allow individual to make their own judgement As explained, we thought about how we could use mise-en-scene to represent the characters effectively Father - - Shows a dominant ideological stereotype of a strong father figure protecting and providing for his family, representing a patriarchal household However, he is negatively represented due to his inability to save his wife, in fact it is his action that lead to her death Mother - - - Is shown to be weak and defenceless, a dominant ideology for women in today’s society She is shown to conform to the patriarchy of both her husband and the antagonists, a negative representation of women Positively represented as a caring mother who works for both her husband and her children Antagonists - - Shows a negative yet dominant ideology of young males causing crime in society and stereotypes the portrayal of a psychopath Has a residual ideology of a military background, even suggesting that it was experiences in the military that lead to their action. This is a negative representation