The document discusses how a media product represents various social groups including class, race, age, gender, and sexuality. It notes that the target audience for disaster films are typically white, young males so the main character was a white, well-spoken male in his 20s-30s to appeal to this audience. Gender roles are also discussed, with the assertion that disaster film audiences view women as sexual objects so a female newsreader was included to appeal to this stereotypical view. The document emphasizes making character choices based on social stereotypes to ensure the intended target audience can relate to the characters.

1. How does your media product represent particular social
groups
Our product represents the following aspects relating to social groups, Class,
Race, Age, Gender and sexuality
C - class
R - race
A - age
G – gender
S – sexuality
A example of a stereotypical view which is used regally in society is that we see
black males as being trouble makers and that they are always up to no good.
This is because they tend to wear big coats and dark clothing to cover
themselves up.

2. Class
Class refers to the background of a person, you could have a high class background
or you could be from a lower class family and have a lower class background. The
only way you can move up the class scale is by you or your parents gaining status in
society.
The film isn’t necessarily aimed at the lower and middle class audience, instead it is
aimed at those with respectable statues in society, therefore not aimed at those who
have a big income, but at those who work hard and do manual jobs or jobs for the
private sectors such as doctors and police men etc. There is a feeling that these
sort of people in society tend not to trust the government and this ideology fits well
with the plot of the film
The audience that would watch this film are both working class and middle class,
and i wouldn’t expect to many people who are upper class to watch this type of film.
This is because of the income of the majority of the audience is relatively average or
low.
Therefore it was important that the main character in the film fitted the role he was
meant to be playing. The main character in the film is a white male who is fairly
intelligent, this is shown through the way he specks, he is quite well spoken, which
suggests that he has come from a more well off background.

3. Race
Firstly we established who watches a typical disaster film, and generally the
target audience for a disaster film are white young males, therefore it was
incredible important that we used a white male as the main character as
this is a typical convention of a disaster movie.
This so that the targeted audience can relate to the main character. White
males are often seen as intelligent and therefore with a Sci-Fi twist a white
male fitted well.
The stereotypical view of white males is that they are fairly well educated
and they are therefore seen as more intellegent than a coloured male, this is
because white males are seen to be more well off because of traditional
views, therefore we could afford to make the storyline more complicated.

4. Age
It was important that the main character was of a similar age to the target
audience, so that they could relate to them, the audience. The targeted
audience range from teenagers to pensioners but the majority of people
who would watch the film are roughly in their 20 - 30 and have good paid
jobs and are quite comfortable or they could still be in education such as
university.
Therefore he had to look old enough so he gave off the right look which
was that he should be nerdy and a geeky scientist.

5. Gender
Gender is one of the most important factors relating to social groups. Women
and men are seen very differently. The traditional view of women’s role is that
they should stay at home and look after children and do housework, whereas it
was the mans job to look after the women by going out and earning a living.
As the target audience for the film is a male audience it made sense that the
main character was male. This was because the audience could then relate to
the main character.
Men often see women as just sexual objects so it was important that the news
reader was a good looking women. The audience that watch big action films
and disaster films are stereotypically seen to see women in this way.

6. Sexuality
Sexuality was very important. Stereotypically the audience for a disaster movie are
straight as they are seen as quite manly, and the stereotypical view of gay men is
that they aren’t very tough and like to watch films which generally women will
watch.
Therefore it was important that the main actor wasn’t gay or gave of a gay image
and he had to be quite manly but also nerdy and geeky to carry off the science
look.