Wednesday, January 1, 2014

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Men
Our product represents particular social groups, such as the very viewers of our product: Men. Afterall, statistics have told us in previous posts that the main consumers of post-apocalyptic films are predominantly male, and so we decided to cater to their demands and make sure that the main characters are boys. He wears dark attire: Denim and leather that connote a 'rough n ready' attitude, and reflect his anti-hero status without pretext to the story.

Sherlock Holmes, Star Wars, etc. where both male archetypes are represented, the brain and the brawn, are particularly popular. This trope spans the genres, from buddy cop movies to fast paced action thrillers - and yep, you guessed it, they're boy films.

We were actually hoping to get a black actor to play the radio host as a pop culture reference to Vanishing Point, but unfortunately that's a hard thing to achieve in the East Midlands, so we settled for Tom he did an impeccable job of playing crazy.

Also, we have mistakenly represented women in a negative light. Well, how off-putting can you get with walking, blood-soaked corpses? This is off-putting to female viewers (And some men) who are used to seeing made-up, immaculate women on-screen who rarely play baddies, but this was our little rebellion. And hopefully, it draws attention to the film opening in a positive way.

Women
The use of a young, vulnerable female character also portrays women in a negative image - but it also empowers them. They are, after all, the villains rather than the love interests. As 'boy films' often fall into the romance trap, we thought it might be refreshing to have prominently plot-driven post apocalyptic opening rather than have it laced with too much character development or action. As dull as that sounds, it actually makes action scenes more shocking when they do ever occur. Such is the case with the sudden appearance of the female villain, as well as the girl at the end of the piece.



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