Question twoMax Boyden
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
social GROUPS
We chose to portray very few social groups in our piece so as to further the
connotation of isolation. We used the structure of the “traditional nuclear
family” so that the audience were able to relate with the characters
Father
antagoni
sts
mother
- White
- Male
- Strong
- Middle-Aged
- Working father
- Protective
- White
- Female
- Strong
- Middle-Aged
- Housewife
- Defenceless
- White
- Male
- Strong
- Young-Adults
- Ex-Military
- Psychopathic
Father
The father conforms to the dominant
ideology of a strong male figure in the
family, as shown by his will to protect his
wife at the first sound of her scream. This is
a positive representation
However, the initial scenes of him driving
are ideologically loaded so as to confuse the
audience into believing he is the antagonist
(hence the red lighting, connoting evil)
He also connotes a traditional view of a
father figure, connoted by his suit which
suggests he is working father, the binary
opposite to the mother, who is represented
as a housewife. This may be considered as a
representation of patriarchy
Father
Red lighting perhaps suggests an evil
side to the character, However, we
learn later that this is just residual
ideology. The shot was also angled low
so as to represent the father as
dominant
Running to the door is used to represent
his desperation/devotion to his wife,
petrified that something bad has
happened to her. This also shows his
strong willed, caring attitude,
stereotypical of men
The suit was used to
represent a “working
man”, and also the
traditional values held by
the family (I.E: Male
breadwinner, female
housewife) However, this
shot was chosen so the
antagonist could appear in
control of the situation
Our portrayal of the mother could be seen
as negative as it give a very stereotypical
view of women is society (Eg: Housewives)
She is shown to be far weaker than the
antagonists and therefore helpless. This
was exploited by our choice to only show
her in high-angle shots, so as to make her
seem small, as well as coving her face
quickly
However, her portrayal could also be seen
as positive as she is not the antagonist in
the situation, in fact, quite the contrary.
She is shown to be a mother, who's
dominant ideology connotes, a caring and
loving individual
mother
MOTHER
The antagonists lifting the mother
from her position was used to show
their strength in comparison to her,
but also to make her seem vulnerable,
as they approached her from behind
We chose to bad the mother early on so
that she would become objectified. No
longer having a face, we believed the
audience would see her through the eyes
of the antagonists as an object, not a
person
This low angle shot was put
in to show how small the
mother was in comparison
to the antagonists,
furthering the ideology of
helplessness
The mother’s reluctance to
fight back furthers the
portrayal of the dominant
ideology of women being
weak, and ruled by men
Our antagonists are three young males who are meant to be of a military background. This is then a negative portrayal of young-men, who are often stereotyped for causing crime and violence, but also serves as a negative portrayal of the military, suggesting that their psychopathic tendencies have stemmed from their time at war
We chose to use masks on the killers because of research into both “The Strangers” (Bertino, 2008) and the “uncanny valley” effect, by which humans are made afraid of objects that are close, but not quite human (Eg: Clowns, realistic robots)
ANTAGONISTS
Antagonists
We took inspiration for this particular
shot from “The Assassination of Jesse
James” We felt that keeping the
characters in the shadows further
helped to distort their presence
The low-key lighting was used to full
effect to make the antagonists appear
almost “ghost-like”. This shot involves the
character emerging from the darkness,
with only his face visible
The masks were chosen so
no emotion could be seen,
something that is typical of
psychopaths. However, we
decided to include black
out eyes and sewn mouths
to add an element of fear
to the otherwise standard
masks
The green coats and boots were meant to
represent a military background by which
the three antagonists had become
psychopathic, perhaps being expelled for
such a reason
Macro issues
We believe that our piece is ideologically loaded so as not to necessarily
challenge the conventions and ideologies of current society, but at least to
highlight them and allow individual to make their own judgement
As explained, we thought about how we could use mise-en-scene to represent
the characters effectively
Father Mother Antagonists
- Shows a dominant
ideological stereotype of a
strong father figure
protecting and providing
for his family, representing
a patriarchal household
- However, he is negatively
represented due to his
inability to save his wife, in
fact it is his action that
lead to her death
- Is shown to be weak and
defenceless, a dominant
ideology for women in
today’s society
- She is shown to conform to
the patriarchy of both her
husband and the
antagonists, a negative
representation of women
- Positively represented as a
caring mother who works
for both her husband and
her children
- Shows a negative yet
dominant ideology of young
males causing crime in
society and stereotypes the
portrayal of a psychopath
- Has a residual ideology of a
military background, even
suggesting that it was
experiences in the military
that lead to their action.
This is a negative
representation