Question 2:How does your media product

represent particular social groups

Zahra Bashir

• Our media product represents a woman and her state of mind.

• As most horror films do, we portrayed the female protagonist as weak and vulnerable. This was done to make the audience believe that there was going to be a male character introduced that would help, however this would not be the case!

Representation of a scared woman, weak state of mind. Her behaviour is important to help show her representation.

• The female protagonist in our opening sequence is shown to be a stereotypical woman, as she is shown washing the dishes and the setting is her kitchen. This constructs a particular representation as it suggests that she may be a house wife, and that she may be a very stereotypical woman.

• The representation of her state of mind is very important. When we see her reactions and behaviours to the flashbacks it indicates that she is scared and weak at this point. In particular when she is first shown the flashbacks, she screams and we see her breathing heavily. Women in films are often shown as emotional.

Seen becoming scared Stepping back and screaming

Dress Codes

She is wearing pink, this was done purposely to show that she is feminine and to emphasise her role as a woman.

Her clothes are dressed down to show that she is depressed and is not to bothered about how she looks. She is wearing a baggy jumper , jeans and uggs; this helps show that she is dressed very casually and no effort has been made.

Her make up was made to be dark, which went against the norms of a female who may usually wear a lot of make up to make themselves look good. We did the opposite, we wanted her to look pale and weak to show her state of mind.

She has short hair which represents that she is not a weak female, and as the you see later on in the film that she does become strong and the man is the one who becomes weak. It shows some masculinity, not normal long blonde hair.

Setting• For the woman it was the kitchen

which was done to show the representation of the woman's role. And it was done to show that she was a middleclass woman, this was shown through the wealthy looking house. Also the props helped to show the state of mind: alcohol and drugs. This showed that she was depressed and maybe needed help.

• Also the park helped show the particular representation of the child. We wanted her to shown as innocent as she was young. The park does this as the park is associated with childhood and innocence of young children.

Relationships• From the reactions of the female the

audience would assume that she is the mother of the child. This creates a particular social group of a mother and daughter relationship. Her dramatic reactions help show that she was close to her daughter. Also it also indicates that she may be guilty for whatever happened to her daughter.

• We see her hold a picture of her daughter tightly indicating their close relationship. This makes clear the reasons for her behaviours (e.galchol, screaming).