As Media Studies Evaluation Question 2 - Photobucket

Evaluation Question 2 - Representation

Representation in a media product is inevitable even if it is not placed and set on  purpose. It represents and defines any chosen social group such as Class, Age, Gender etc and it focuses on how they have been presented and what they may be perceived as for example the stereotypical representation for teenagers is that they are careless and wild however this is radical as not all teenagers are like this. I used teenagers as an example as our own media product was filmed, directed and starred by all teenagers.

The plot of our Thriller had made it difficult for any of the audience to outline a social group other then Teenagers and young people seeing as the only other character apart from the two vulnerable protaganists was a mysterious character, this made sure that we had not known if the character was male, female, old, young let alone their class and position in society, all we knew was through the high and low angle shots that the two teenagers were much less powerful.

The social group our thriller represents is Teenagers and this is done through a mere two characters. The normal representation of teenagers is that they are wild and uncontrollable as discussed before and in some cases violent and anti-social. As a group we understood it would be difficult to represent teenagers as the stereotypical dominant ideology would given the situation and the context of the plot so we had decided to represent teenagers as vulnerable and problematic.

During the beginning of the Media course we had discussed some categories that social groups can relate to during a TV drama lesson, it is distinctive that there is a certain Class and status theory given across during our thriller, the two teenagers are powerless and one is even injured. The mysterious character remains annonymous throughout however it is actually very clear that he/she is much more powerfull and capable than the two. This is a clear link between the social group we have chosen to outline and Class as the protaginists are both weak compared to the ability of the mysterious character, another category that relates to the social group is Ethnicity. The two protagonists are Asian and this may explain why they have been found to be easy targets, the fact that the two are lower in social class immediately labels them as working class and therefore foreign or an ethnic minority.

Our representations of the social group 'Teenagers' is most definately positive as not only is it avoiding representing them as misfits in society and outlaws but it represents their struggle which in a sociologists point of view mirrors the younger part of societies struggle in society today. This is positive as it is giving a valid and un bias point of view however the fat that a group of teenagers had made this opening could be used to argue against that point. Another social group that i have forgot to mention is the Gender group and although it is strictly representing one gender it does this positively without harming the representation of another. Men are positively labeled as strong and adament as the two boys fight for survival and escape. However it can be argued that in doing so we are labeling and representing women as not having the ability or mind state to do so insinuating that men are more powerful and authorative.


There has been many technical aspects that have affected the way we have represented a certain social group. There have been a series of high angle shots that were taken from the tree as they track the two protaganists in their attempts to escape, The point of view of the camera is coming from the mysterious yet powerfull man who again is deemed to worthy of his/her opponents through the camera angles. Also the mise en scene of the two protaganists clearly shows that they are just two common people possibly ethnic minorities or even just simply young men who are struggling to come to terms with what seems to be the last chapter of their books.





http://s1310.photobucket.com/user/maseblm123/story/61415