How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

1. Class

   • Aimed at the upper and middle class: Income brackets A and B.
   • We have represented the class of our characters through our stereotypical setting, e.g. inner city locations.
   • We have also represented class by our use of costume and make-up, e.g. natural make-up
   • As our protagonist was in the police station, we have supported the dominant and hegemonic ideology that people in the lower working class always cause trouble, attracting our sophisticated target audience.

2. Age

   • We have chosen our characters to be older teenagers in our gang, as they stereotypically cause the most trouble in society.
   • We have promoted the stereotype that youths cause trouble, as our protagonist was at the police station talking to a police man about crimes she had committed with the gang. This attracts our sophisticated audience, as it supports their stereotypical and hegemonic viewpoints of the need to control the working class.
   • The receptionist at the police station in our opening sequence was young, as stereotypically younger females are receptionists. Women in our sophisticated audience may relate to their personal identity reminding them what they were at the beginning of their career.

3. Race

   • We promoted a multicultural narrative as we casted characters from different races. This was great as people in our sophisticated audience enjoy having an insight into other cultures.
   • Our gang (except the female protagonist) promotes the unity of friendship regardless of race. This is something our teenage audience enjoy as they may relate to personal identity through it.

4. Gender

   • We have challenged common convention of a male protagonist, as we had a female protagonist. This may attract the sophisticated audience as it connotes a greater role of females in society.
   • In our narrative the gang leader is a male, promoting the traditional stereotypes that men are more powerful then women.
   • As the male gang leader is handing out the money to the female protagonist, it supports the ideology that the women works for the man and also the traditional hegemonic viewpoint that the men are always in charge.
   • The stereotype we challenged in our production is that women lack the confidence to take risks, (although it could be argued that it is then confirmed Laura goes back on her decision to join the gang because of its negative consequences and that her initial joining up was coercion not risk-taking). It could also be argued that Laura just conforms to stereotypes of being weak. She is weak in the sense of becoming art of the gang, but then cannot commit to this and is weak in betraying them.

5. Sexuality

   • Our male characters connote their masculinity from the clothes they wear and the language they use.
   • Our female characters express their sexuality from the clothes they wear.
   • It could be read that Shannon juxtaposes Laura in that her more 'sassy' appearance is designed to attract the boys in the gang. Shannon places herself in the male gaze through her more feminine appearance, which supports Winship's theory. The representation of the empowered female is more likely to appeal to a sophisticated audience. However, relationships are not explicitly explored in the opening sequence; (this may be something we could have added to our opening sequence, however, in not doing so, it could be argued that we were promoting a more challenging representation of teenagers that they do not just think of sex all the time.

6. CRAGS

   • We used CRAGS as generalisations of social groups in society.
   • Stereotypes
   • Media products reproduce stereotypes.
   • Our sophisticated audience may want to challenge some of the stereotypes and representations we promoted, which may put them off our production, as they may be so stereotypical and hegemonic in their representation of the need to control the working class.

Images and files in the map