How does my media product present particular social groups?

Teenagers
Since the central focus of my opening is around a
teenage antagonist at age 18, my opening presents a
very negative stereotype of the teenage social group
and their inability to cope with responsibility. My target
audience are within this age range since they consist of
15-18 year olds which was one of the reasons I
selected a teenager to be my main character so that
they can relate to him. In my opening, however, my aim
was to convey the stereotypical view society has of
teenagers so that I can uncover the hidden depths of
this character and how his traumatic childhood is within
the film to convey the message that there is no
distinguish between good and evil. This would appeal
to my target audience since it would show relatable
problems to them such as the pressure of growing up
and societys inability to help teenagers and instead
judge them.

There are a variation of ways I portrayed the

initial negative stereotype teenagers are
condemned with. Clothing was an attribute that
created a negative stereotype as Morris
clothing consisted of a black hoodie, blue
jeans and trainers which are associated with
rebellious teens as highlighted in the long shot
of him stalking Lily. Notably, hoodies create a
sense of intimidation since they can conceal
someones identity and link to violence since
they have been worn in gangs within films in
the past such as Harry Brown (2009) where you can clearly see a mid-shot of a hooded man
pointing a knife at an elderly man. Clearly, from the long shot shown in my film opening the
lighting looks quite low key and the hood creates a dark silhouette over my antagonists face
which connotes that he has evil intentions and it suggests a lack of humanity as a result of
his face being covered. Also, since the hoodie is black, it
connotes evil which promotes a negative stereotype of
teenagers by suggesting that they are immoral and only
care about themselves. On the other hand, there are
representations of teegers that I have previously studied
where a teenager in a hoodie could have a counter
typical representation. Monarch of the Glen, for
instance, presents a teenager in a hoodie who appears
to be sweeping the floor as shown in a mid-shot. This is
counter typical of the rebellious and damaged teenager I
present within my opening despite wearing similar clothing.

As well as this, I also presented a negative

representation of my teenage antagonist
through his actions in the opening. By
beginning the opening with him taking a pill
and drinking alcohol, it suggests a rebellious
attitude and that he is reckless which is a
stereotypical representation. Alcohol also
links to the idea of loneliness and a need to
escape which still continues to create a
negative perception of the teenager by
showing that he is introverted as well as
unsociable. This portrays that teenagers are
uncontrollable which parallels with the way in
which the Monarch of the Glen represents
the female teenager in the close-up shot.
Through her facial expression she is clearly
being portrayed as defiant and irrepressible
which is stereotypical and mimics a similar
representation to my film opening. Since my
aim of this stereotypical opening is to later on
defy this through countertype, this shows that my
opening is achieving its aim of being stereotypical
in terms of its representation of teenagers.
Likewise, the actions my antagonist takes when he
sets fire to the folder also portrays a negative
stereotypical representation since fire connotes the
idea of being destructive and harmful to others and
the way that he
carelessly uses
it suggests he
is selfish and
inconsiderate of others. The same Monarch of the Glen
character also suggests this when she lies about having
a driving licence and ends up crashing her guardians
car. Therefore, my opening reflects the common
negative stereotype of teenagers in order to be able to
oppose it later on.

Females
As well as teenagers, I also focused on the representation
of females in my opening and once
again conveyed the common
negative stereotype in order to
criticise it later. Through my use of POV and over-the-shoulder shots from the antagonist's
perspective, I created a vulnerable image for the female girl since these shots made her look
naive and emphasised her isolation. Also, the way in which we see the antagonists hand
reach for her makes her
seem helpless by suggesting
that he has possession over
her. This is a common
stereotype of women as
being weak and having less
dominance over a male.
Moreover, it also follows the
stereotype of the woman
being the victim within the
story. This is reflected in the
representation of the female
in Primeval shown in this
mid-shot of her flinching from
a gun being pointed at her face. Her lower level in comparison to the man within this image,
as well as the scared facial
expression she has, make her
seem stereotypically powerless
against the male. However, there
are examples of ways in which
Primeval also presents
countertype through the mid-shot
of a girl holding a gun and
shooting it to save a man's life. By
presenting her with a gun in this
shot, it connotes that she has
power and a sense of individuality
in contrast to the common female stereotype. However, this may also suggest that the gun is
her only source of power and that while she is not reliant on a male, the only aspect that
makes her stronger is the gun. So my opening conveys the common stereotype of women
being weak-willed.

Furthermore, the negative representation of women is

also shown through the use of the props I
incorporated. For example, the folder full of Facebook
pages presented could convey a sense of naivety yet
potentially stupidity since these females willingly put
information online that ultimately leads the antagonist
to track their whereabouts. Moreover, the variation of
images could convey the women as being vain which
links to the stereotype of women only caring about
their looks. While this is not obvious in their actual
characteristics, it is a potential message shown by the
use of these props. Like with teenagers, my aim is to exaggerate these stereotypes for this
social group in this opening so that I am able to change the viewers perception of them and
make them doubt their original judgement of these characters. If this was a whole film, I
would have made Lilys character defy this stereotype and escape and eventually come to
save the other girls from his stalking in the future. Therefore, I have achieved my aim of
conveying the negative stereotypes society imposes on these two different social groups.