JC - Evaluation question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our film stars young, white characters of both sexes, whilst there is a class and regional variation on our piece. This suggests that our opening is not representative of society, as there are a number of social groups (ethnicity, disability, sexuality and age) missing from our piece.

Because the film stars young actors, we can say that youth is represented progressively, as there is full and predominant representation in the piece, whereas most films tend to revolve around adults, with young adults and children playing a lesser role. However, this representation is negative and perhaps stereotypical, because it shows them to be involved in illegal processes and therefore perhaps to be rebelling against society, a view which many people hold of teenagers. This can be seen when the protagonist enters the lair, removing a bag from the hostage's head, immediately revealing his status, whilst the accomplis also reveals that he has "picked up" the hostage - and therefore participated in an illegal process - for a sum of money. His non-verbal language may also conform to many views held about teenagers today, as he shows little empathy towards his victim, suggesting that teenagers do not care about their acts and their potential consequences.

 The regional variation and difference in class is clear through the speech  of the main protagonist and his companion, who has a cockney accent, and from this (as well as the ensuing storyline) we associate that he is working class, showing two potential social deficiencies. However, there is instead positive and progressive representation of the working class and regions, as the character is both the focus of the storyline, and is also in the same job as his middle classed, well spoken counterpart. This is shown through the amount of screen time they both receive (the protagonist has more screen time), as well as the low angle shot of the protagonist, which connotes his greater importance in the narrative than his companion, who can be seen sitting down and at an eyeline level.

Our piece also shows heteronormative discourse, as there is both higher male representation, as well as greater role and screentime for the male characters. We know this as the male characters are present throughout the sequence, whilst the female character is only present in one shot. Furthermore, she has only one line in the piece, before her audio is cut off, whilst the size of her box once she appears in the piece is significantly smaller than that of her male counterpart, who talks to her abruptly before cutting her off. This connotes that she is of less significance than her male equivalents.