How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The protagonist in my film is a young teenager who’s characteristics subvert the representation of females in horror films. My main character is a young teenager and this is often used in Slasher horror film however she is tough strong and sporty which subverts the characteristics that are often given to young teenagers and adults in horror films. The characteristics of females in horror film is that they are often weak and vulnerable , also the mise en scene used in films like “Prom night” and “ I know what you did last summer” show that the girls are quite feminine in terms of their costume and the way they move and speak ,however my character wears sporty outfit suggesting to the audience that she is active and shows masculine trades in terms of how she moves and her body type this completely goes against the whole idea of having the pretty girl as the main character and the damsel in distress.

My character also represents an ethnic minority group of black women and being from London it adds an urban style to the film and reaches out to a niche audience. This goes against the idea that slasher horror films are often played by characters who are Americans and it is usually set in America where the girls do cheerleading for the boys and look dolled up and pretty .

In the paste films women were traditionally represented as the damsels in distress such as in “Psycho” who were being punished for their sins by men; this reflected our culture at the time. However with the influence of feminism and our new ideology of powerful women our modern culture no longer sees women as victims but as strong women in both hero and killer characters such as in “Jennifer’s Body” and ‘’ The descent’’ show how empowering women are

In her most influential book Gender Trouble (1990), Judith Butler argued that feminism had made a mistake by trying to assert that 'women' were a group with common characteristics and interests. A contemporary approach to gender representation was introduced by Judith Butler (1990) who suggests that gender is not the result of nature but is socially constructed. That is to say, male and female behaviour and roles are not the result of biology but are constructed and reinforced through media and culture Butler argues that there are a number of exaggerated, disruptive ‘tongue-in-cheek’ representations of masculinity and femininity, which draw attention to the idea that gender is socially constructed and cause what she refers to as ‘gender trouble’. Gender trouble is evidence in the way horror films have portrayed women and given them characteristics like weak, vulnerable and sexual . But also have given men the characteristics of being strong , brave and the heroes . These stereotypes is repeated in many different horror slasher films for example prom night , Halloween and scream.

Blonde

The female protagonist in a slasher horror film

White

Feminine(costume)

Popular Not very smart

Everybody boy likes her

Weak Vulnerable

Beautiful

Damsel in distress

Rich

American

Sexually active

Wears lots of make up

Young teenager

Common characteristics of females in slasher horror film and my own female character in my film.

Often finds herself in unfamiliar places

Female protagonist in my opening slasher horror film

Black African

Strong

sporty

Working class

Wears no makeup

From London

Not popular Also lacks logic ( runs in to a subway)

Left isolated in unfamiliar location

Vulnerable

Common characteristics of females in slasher horror film and my own female character in my film.

I believe that The horror genre itself is influenced by what our culture perceives as horrific; war, terrorism, global issues, political issues all affect what society fears. This has what has changed the horror genre and why women are represented now no longer as the victims but strong, powerful heroes and even killers because women have more power in society; which is the fear of traditional anti-feminists. Whereas a global fear is terrorism which is why the horror films today such as “Saw 2” focus less on male and female representation and more on working together to escape from the fear itself of death.

I have been influenced by the work of Judith Butler because her feminist approach is important to take account of in the media industry . Having an equal representation of women and men is something that I STRONGLY believe is important because It is evidential that horror films have all conformed and used the same characteristics for their female characters which can be quite degrading and unfair representation at times. So keeping my views in mind I have decided to subvert the usual characteristics given to females in a slasher horror films in my own opening sequence horror film and challenged this in many different ways.

• Although I subverted some of the characteristics of my female actor I have also made sure I have met some of the stereotype and characteristics that is associated with female protagonists these were the fact that female protagonist are often presented as lacking some logic and this is shown through my character who runs in to a subway after being chased by the killer. In horror films like scream the female actors often run up the stairs rather then running through the open door because they are presented as being “stupid” and this often gets them killed and in my film towards the end my female character runs into the killer which suggests to the audience that she is at a dead end and there is a high chance of her dying because of her “stupid” decision to run in to a subway.

• Also my female character fits perfectly into the age group of teenagers therefore this meets the conventions of horror films that often use a teenager as they protagonist. By using a teenager as my actor I’m able to reach teenage girls who might be in a similar age group as her because they might identify with her because of her age and this common ground might helped to draw young teenagers who are my target audience in to my film.

• In most horror films the women are left isolated with the killer and she is in no place to get help , this stereotype is what I used when I was picking my location for my horror film . I wanted to place my character in a location were she was isolated for example the subway and graveyard because this goes with the stereotype of women being all left alone in a place of danger which is often repeated in many horror slasher films were the female finds herself in unfamiliar place isolated from everyone.

•The murder in my film shows an element of sociopath through mise en scene he wears a white mask and this is often worn by the psychopaths in Halloween and scream who use this to hide their identity and in my film this is no different . My killers identity is unknown but he also shows the different characteristics that are often portrayed of the killer in Slasher horror films. First of all he has a limp which suggests that he has some sort of physical damage and suggests that he must participate in some sort of activities which involves a lot of danger , for example killing people. Some people might make think that maybe he has been shot. Although when he is running it looks quite comical , people then start to realise how dangerous this killer is because of the high determination and motivation of wanting to kill someone. This is often how the killers are represented , they have a cold personality and do not give up till they kill everyone and my antagonist shows these characteristics as he drags his leg and runs fearlessly after the protagonist.

• also the antagonist is my film is a young teenager and this can be seen through his body language and the way he moves because of this reason some people might think that it might be a person who the girl is familiar with for example a boyfriend or a crash because in films like scream the boyfriend is the sociopath who gets along with everyone but also who is killing people one by one. This type of characteristics given to young teenage boys shows how twisted teenage minds can be and how teenage boys can some times can go out of hand at a time of stress where they are going through a period of they life where they are just lonely and don’t know what to do with life or they have no job and are short of money . Most excuses and reasoning will come down to the fact that stress is common in teenage boys and the way some teenagers deal with that stress is negative and can be seriously scary and damaging at times.

Representation of sociopaths in horror slasher film

Wears a mask to hide identity.

Strong

Fast

Male

Determine to kill

Black costume

Abnormal behaviour

Often has a story for why they kill... Jealousy, Revenge and some times Psychological issues

Comes back many times even after being shot

Often really smart , cover up they track

Strong /fastManages to run fast even with crippled leg

Crippled leg

Abnormal behaviour , wanting to kill the protagonist and following her around

Wears a mask to hide his identity

How I adopted the stereotype of psychopath in my own film

Young male

Black jacket inspired by the costume worn in scream.

Smart because he finds another route which leads him to the protagonist

Determined to kill , drags its leg across the floor to run after the protagonist.

Overall I think I that I made a good decision to keep and follow the stereotypes often shown in a slasher horror film in terms of the mise en scene of the killer but I also feel like I made the right decision to subvert the stereotypes of female characters that are often presented in horror film by challenging them and presenting different social group through my media but also by keeping some of the elements to keep my audience still interested.