Thea de Chavez

Candidate number: 5234

In our previous topic called ‘TV Drama’ we

have learnt about social groups and the

different categories. I will be using some of the

categories from ‘Tv’ drama’ to link it with our

media product.

Here are the different categories:

• Gender

• Age

• Ethnicity

• Sexuality

• Class and status

• Ability and disability

• Regional identity

Different social groups are represented in many

different ways.

Age:

Age was not the main focus of our group as

our actors are from the same age group

(16-18). However, I think that if we have

chosen an older actors to be a detective

and a killer it might have made our opening

sequence more effective as in movies, they

appear to look more mature. On the other

hand, our actors did a great job to portray

the characters but we could improve the

characters by focusing more on the

costumes to make it clear that they are a

killer and a detective.

Gender: How are men and women represented in

your media product?

Men are represented as dominant, respected

and violent. They are portrayed to be

dominant as the victim is a woman and the

killer is a man therefore it shows that they are

in power and they are more stronger which

leads men being stereotyped as being more

dominant and strong. In addition, the

detective is a man which illustrates that there

are more respected than woman . Men are

represented as the violent gender as shown

on our opening sequence as we have chosen

a male killer as men tends to be the suspect

and killers on thriller/crime films.

However, men are also represented as weak.

For instance, the detective was found bruised

and he was also tied up on a chair which

shows that they are not always strong.

Women:

Women are represented to be weak and

controlled by the other gender. We have

chosen a female character to be our victim as

women are portrayed to be less powerful than

men in crime films which leads to stereotyping

again. Furthermore, women are defenseless

and girly. For instance, before the female

character was found dead, some of her things

were found on the ground such as her lipstick

which portrays that she’s girly and very

feminine.

Class and Status

One of our characters is a detective

therefore you would expect him to be

upper class as it is an honourable

occupation as they serve justice to the

public. On the other hand, we have

chosen a murderer/killer wearing a

hoodie to connote that he is a law

breaker therefore he appears to be a

lower class character. Also, it shows

that he is being stereotyped just

because he is wearing a hoodie.