Re Written Evaluation, Question Two

"How does your media product present particular social groups?"

Textual Analysis

‘How is gender represented in our 2 minute opening to a film?’

Gender is represented differently with each of the four main characters. They follow the conventions of the stereotypical social groups they represent.

The first shot of the film opening is an over the shoulder shot of a girl looking through a book of pictures of what seems to be young friends together. By using this kind of shot as the audience you feel as if you are looking into someone else’s story. It continues this theme because we cut into a shot of the first character.

The first character we meet in a mid shot of her smoking outside a school sets the scene for what the audience could expect. This shows rebelling and therefore a modern representation of women. She is wearing all black, she has her hair tied back and has dark makeup on. This makes her look quite masculine unlike some of the alter characters that we see.

The second character that we are introduced to geek sheek, we can see that although she is unlike the goth represented more traditionally. She seems to be more feminine; this is because she is wearing more revealing clothing. By showing her legs and therefore appealing to the male gaze this is a traditional representation on women.

We see the same traditional representation of women being even stronger with the next character, posh totty. This is because after seeing a mid shot of her with two boys it then cuts to a close up two shots of her legs whilst she is crossing the road. She is also wearing a shirt which is open and heels this is a traditional representation of women.

The last main character that we are introduced is the chav. Although she has got her legs showing like some of the other characters in the opening, she is wearing shorts and trainers. This is quite modern, it also matches the low angle of her throwing a hat at a boys face. This shows her confidence and some of her cheeky character. Overall this is a modern representation of women.

When looking the characters and how they represent gender there is a variety of both modern and traditional ways they do this. This has been done because we tried to appeal to a modern audience whilst using traditional and modern representations in order for them to understand the different personalities and social groups that the girls represent.