Representation Of Social Groups

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Yasir Saleem

Race• Other films in our genre have a predominantly white cast, with the main

characters all being white. However, we believed that society has changed and that Asian people have more of a say in being a main character in such a film.

• We wanted our film to have something different about it. We decided upon a change in race as we believe the change in culture in the UK is represented by this.

Difference from Asian lead role to white lead role. Very similar posture

and movements mean that the convention isn’t challenged greatly.

Race• The challenging of the conventions relate to the film itself. For example,

Asian people are stereotyped to have arranged marriages, to not smoke and not drink. However, the main character does not conform to such rules, as is the case with the law itself, intensified by the violence and substance abuse in the opening.

• Asian people are also depicted as being poor, and this is a convention of the film, with the characters growing up in poverty and a gang culture surrounding them, which is why we filmed in a council estate.

Gender• Our film, as with all other films in the genre, have an all male leading cast.

This could be down to the masculinity of the film – the violence, the heavy drinking and the substance abuse – which men are more likely to follow. Women aren’t seen to drink as much as men, smoke as much or be as violent.

• Women are seen to be better than men in terms of childcare and that is shown by the tracking shot of the single mother. It also shows the nonchalance of men, where they abandon the need to look after their child and allow the girl to be a single mother.

Gender• Males are seen to be idiosyncratic, ruthless and friends-orientated. We

showed this by the continuous shots of the main character walking alone and with him meeting his friends. He is shown to be strong and assertive.

• They are often found to be within the sphere of work rather than home life, which is shown by the single mother and the reference to working life in the monologue. Men aren’t meant to be seen showing emotion and must be strong at all times.

Age• Common stereotypes of young people living in estates are that they are all involved

in gangs and violence and we show this by using a shot of two youths standing in the estate with a dog. We dressed them up in hoodies, which are commonly worn by young people in gangs.

• Young people are portrayed as being criminals, lazy, drug abusers and alcoholics. Our film uses all of these things in various ways. The main character is a substance abuser and a heavy drinker and the shot above shows two youths in a gang lazing about in the estate, possibly also being criminals.

Social Class• The film is about the working class. It doesn’t feature any typical

stereotypes of the upper class, who are usually white. The working class are mainly portrayed as being uneducated. Women are usually seen as being young, single mothers.

• These are all represented with the film and help give the film a more harsh feel to the masses, who maybe live through the rough nature of the lives portrayed or do not understand how some people may live in such circumstances so are shocked.

CCTV camera shows the need for security

in a working class, poor area.