Teenagers are represented in a stereotypical way as violent through many films and real life events in the UK. Although the film carries on this stereotype of violent young people through the main character Jake Evans, it focuses more on his disturbed mindset rather than just showing back-to-back violence. Males are also represented through some classic stereotypes of strength and little emotion. Jake Evans is shown as strong but in a non-physical sense, while other male characters are shown as weaker or panicked. Jake also exhibits little emotion, a typical male trait that is partially due to his gender but mainly due to his disturbed mental state.

1. Question 2 - How does your media
product represent particular social
groups?

2. Teenagers
Our piece shows teenagers in a very stereotypical way . Teenagers and
violence are shown frequently through many films across many genres.
Especially in the UK with films like Harry Brown and real life news events
such as the Tottenham riots. Young people especially in certain areas of
the UK e.g. North London are subconsciously associated with violence and
gang culture due to the stereotype created by the media.
Although our film doesn’t highlight gang culture we do carry on with the
violent stereotype of young people. The main character Jake Evans is
shown as violent but not in a conventional way. We focus more on the
disturbed mindset that he has rather than just back to back violence. So in
that sense, although this isn’t a positive representation, it is slightly
different to the classic stereotype.

3. Males
The classic male stereotype is that of strong, little emotion and more
dominant than women. In our piece we highlight two of these. Firstly
strength is shown but not in the conventional ‘macho’ way. Jake Evans is
shown to have the strength in the situation but not in a physical sense. He
is never shown to be weak or on the back foot. The other characters, who
are males, are shown as weaker or panicked via the use of over the
shoulder shots to show the panic they are feeling and imminent danger.
The fact that there are males shown as weak doesn’t break stereotypes as
this is commonly seen as a way of constructing a storyline. They are not
shown as weak in the classic sense just a different level of strength to the
others.
Also Jake Evans is shown as having little emotion – a typical male trait. This is
partially due to the gender but mainly due to the abstract mental state we
wanted the character to have.