Question 2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Menacing stereotypical Afro-Caribbean youths, with concealed identities

'Transit', our thriller opening, interacts with several different social groups. Firstly, the representation of young males from an ethnic minority has a reinforced stereotype, this is done through the character John, who is from an Afro-Caribbean background. His presence within 'Transit' is very mischievous and appears to be damaging to society due to his dodgy role. His costume is full black (excluding the white t-shirt) and has his hood up which suggests that John is trying to conceal part of his identity. We chose this form of costume for John because it portrays a realistic  representation of adolescent males in urban areas in society. Johns costume is also very similar to the appearence of young males in the London riots, who wore hoodies and other forms of apparel to disguise their identities because of the crimes they were committing. His realistic representation portrays that he is a shifty and possibly dangerous character, through his costume. So this makes the audience assume that he is a dangerous character who is up to no good, a reason why we chose this costume for him. This is how John reinforces the stereotype, however, his common stereotype of Afro-Caribbean young males is switched and he becomes the victim of what possibly could be seen as a racist attack as he is threatened by a white male in his 40's named Bill; reversing the stereotype of what is portrayed by the media.These are ways and reasons how our media product represents specific social groups. Although this representation of a deviant youth is from an ethnic minority, it may offend ethnic minority communities because it strengthens the negative representation of this group which is shown by the media.

An image of John in his stereotypical costume

Secondly, we have Bill, the oldest character who is a white male. Like John, Bill conveys to stereotypes but also breaks certain representations. For instance Bill is an electrician in his early to mid 40's, he is represented in what is typical for a handy-man - in heavy duty work wear. Bill is hostile to John in the opening of 'Transit' and the audience view Bill as a more trust worthy character than John because part of Bill's career is to be in other peoples houses as he is an electrician, he is also in his early to mid 40's which effects hi stereotype, because this age category doesn't suffer the bad publicity as youths, John's age group. John stereotypically is the character who is feared more than a male in his 40's like Bill who has a career to focus whereas John is seen as the menacing character.

Furthermore, Bill breaks the stereotype by being the older white male who is alarming and feared considering that John stereotypically has this fear to his character. 

The representation of females in 'Transit' is limited due to there being only being one female role. The only female role in 'Transit' is Hanna, who's role is fairly minor. Hanna breaks the stereotype of women in film by costume. Her costume is that of an average dressed teenager of the modern day, and doesn't have a glamorous costume like those found being worn by femme fatale's such as Eve in 'Once Upon a Time in America' whose costume features pearls (to signify tears) and another femme fatale being Laura Manion in 'Anatomy of a Murder' (1959) whose costume involves the revealing of skin, unlike Hanna's costume.

Laura Manion from 'Anantomy of a murder' note that skin visible

Hanna may partly break her stereotype, however reinforces a female stereotype with in film, when she is found dead in the lift and therefore represents the stereotype of the traditional femme fatale being the victim and is killed because they are defenseless. A way our group could have played a twist and reversed this stereotype is that we could have made it that Hanna defends her self successfully from her attacker, and make an escape. This representation of female youths could possibly offend those wanting help bring gender equality particularly in film, because we are not promoting gender equality. An example of a character with a strong lead in a film would be Lisbeth Salander in 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' and if were to expand upon 'Transit' to make it a full film, then flashbacks of Hanna would be included and possibly show how she is a strong female character, like Lisbeth Salander. Hanna's look is based on Lisbeth Salander, noting the hair. 

'The Girl in the Dragon Tattoo' - Lisbeth Salander

As a group, we decided to base Hanna on protagonist from the action thriller 'Hanna'. Hanna (from the action thriller 'Hanna') is a 16 year old who was raised by her father to be a skillful assassin. She is perfectly able to defend herself from those wanting to kill her. However Hanna from 'Transit' is killed off in the lift.

Traditionally in thrillers the female character is a passive victim, for example in the thriller 'Psycho'.

Hanna from 'Transit' having a very similar appearance to Lisbeth Salander