Q2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our opening sequence, we focussed on the representation of gender, age and race, we tried to comply with the stereotypical representations to allow the audience to relate to it as well as challenge some conventions, despite the challenging theme.

Gender:

Nick from New Girl

• Boys:

    

Schmidt from New Girl

-Usually represented as sex-obsessed and rowdy, such as Schmidt from New Girl.
-However in our film opening, we have represented Alex as a caring gentle friend like Nick from New Girl. We filmed our opening sequence in a bedroom and had Alex knock before coming into the room to check on her; showing his worry for her well-being and her education.

-Romance between two main characters: At first, Jess and Alex seem to be just friends, but we have hinted that Alex has a romantic interest in Jess. This happens in many films and television shows, like New Girl. At first Nick is Jess' close friend, then later on in the series, a romantic relationship is formed between them.

Skyler White from Breaking Bad

• Girls:

Jess snaps at Alex

-Usually represented as the more emotional and unstable character like Skyler White from Breaking Bad, which we have followed to keep the character realistic and relatable, also due to her 'trauma' she is put in this state of mind. We represent her as emtionaless at first, with her monotone clothing, but then as she interacts more with Alex, she becomes more unstable and in the end, snaps at Alex despite him only wanting to help.




Age

The youth in the society are branded as ignorant, antisocial and rude. Many drama follow this stereotype, for example, 'Misfits', which represents the 'youths' in a negative way.

-In our film opening, we have two representations of the youth.
Alex, is portrayed as a caring friend that just wants to help Jess carry on with life, and help pick her back up.

A similar character is Finn Nelson from My Mad Fat Diary. He is caring and still makes mistakes but tries to be understanding, while the girl he likes is having troubles.


Jess is the stereotypical teenage girl and she is the 'damsel in distress' character, with her distress being the passing of her boyfriend.

A character that we used as a reference included Rae Earl from My Mad Fat Diary as well. When Rae was going through her worst stages, she would isolate herself to avoid any contact with people. Also the way she thinks that her friends don't understand what she's going through.



To make sure the audience were able to identify that she once used to be a normal teen, we had the regular props that a regular female student would have in their room.

Items places around the set

 The youth is also represented as irresponsible, which in this case is being shown through Jess neglecting her studies and not attending her lectures.