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

How does your Media product represent particular social groups?

  Wendell 'Bud' White

Child like fit of rage

John Luther

Our opening is slightly limited in terms of representation, as we only portray a single male character, however arguably this marginalises both female characters and minorities within society. A term that could be used to describe this exclusion of certain social groups is representation by omission, which would suggest that by not representing these social groups, we have in fact created a representation of these groups through their marginalisation and unimportance throughout our opening. Furthermore it could be argued that our thriller reinforces concepts of male dominance in society, and also conveys a sense of male power through a formal and business like costume. We have portrayed the typical archetype of a hard-boiled detective, much like the character Wendell "Bud" White in LA Confidential, who is a brutal and ruthless detective, yet upholds some degree of a moral compass and the will to do good in the world. However we manipulated this archetype in order to present a more complex and 3 dimensional character, and to show the realistic and gritty potential for police officers to be massively affected by years of being exposed to the world of crime and violence, both psychologically and physically, a portrayal that is both heavily influenced by and similar to the character John Luther from the TV drama 'Luther'. Through this representation we wanted to convey the idea that rather than 'Furnace' being the highest authority of power throughout the opening, he loses this power towards the end and leaves the audience in a state of shock
and confusion, and rather than thinking he is powerful and controlling, we want the audience to feel
that although he holds great physical and mental power, he is incredibly unstable and volatile, making this power ultimately meaningless as he is likely to express his emotions in a child-like fit of rage which immediately removes any sense of formality and authority.

Example of formal costume used

It could be argued that our representation of crime and violence is glamourised through its positioning the audience with our character, as though we are expected to support and encourage his actions. However we strived to make our presentation and overall tone very gritty and realistic, and therefore wanted to convey the fact that the audience is supposed to come to the understanding that our characters actions are not morally good or condoned, but instead a dark reflection of his damaged psyche, and therefore incredibly difficult to judge in a binary way, therefore leaving his actions with a sense of ambiguity and spontaneity.