Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents social groups such as teenagers for a start through the characters and mise en scene by manipulating features in the main character's bedroom such as the posters. The posters include naked models which is very common in your stereotypical 'jock' like character, they usually care more about girls than schools and they are always taking about them and looking at them. Another typical teenager's poster is one of Bob Marley which relates to drug use as he was famous for smoking marijuana and a lot of stereotypical teenagers use drugs, especially in the slasher film genre as this makes them seem 'evil' and therefore they're usually killed in the film. There is also a poster of Cheryl Cole, a famous singer and model, this once again relates to the teenage theme as Cheryl Cole is very popular within the teenage industry for her music and modelling. Also, referring back to your stereotypical 'jock' who will usually play on the school's American football team, in the main character of Red Run's bedroom there are posters of sport icons, football teams and also sport banners; these were specifically included in the mise en scene to portray the teenage image as Sam and I wanted to sell our film opening to a young, teenage audience. Another way in which my media product, Red Run represents particular social groups is through the two characters featured in the opening; both of which are teenagers of 17 years old. The two chracters both dress in a modern teenage fashion, emphasising the teenage theme throughout the film opening.

I think that the teenage theme in the film opening is neutral and would appeal to the majority of teenagers as the characters are very stereotypical and not very individual, limiting the audience to a certain social group such as goths or geeks which are consistently used in slasher films. Also, the film opening is neutral in terms of gender and I don't think that Red Run is at all gender bias. With Red Run not being gender bias, the film opening is more likely to appeal to a wider range of people and not just either male or female. This will make the media product more likely to succeed in relation to distribution as long as the distribution is accompanied by a good marketing strategy. With Red Run being very open to different social groups, it could be harder to market than a media product which is focused specifically on a particular social group.

My media product, Red Run also represents the middle class social group; this is because the house is located in Addingham, a wealthy part of Yorkshire and the house also looks tidy and respectable. The characters are both well spoken and aren't necessarily conservative but they do could be interpreted in that way. The characters could also represent the middle class social group as the location seems sophisticated, quiet and relaxed as opposed to the house being located on a busy road next to a motorway. Red Run could also represent Northern people as the characters speak with a and Northern accent, it’s not broad or too obvious and I’m sure that a lot of the American audience wouldn’t pick up on the Northern, Yorkshire accents so much although this does go against the typical view, film wise that the American audience seem to have with England as they usually associate English films with being Southern in terms of the location actors.

However, rather than simply representing the north, Red Run could also represent a lot of England that isn’t conservative, Southern England, driving Porsches and living in castles, for example the stereotypical character that is often used to represent English characters in films targeted at the American audience such as Bridget Jones’ Diary. Another English film that represents the other side of England is This Is England, directed by Shane Meadows.