2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

We tried to positively represent several social groups such as:

• Women
• Teenagers
• Families (particularly relationship between daughter and father)
• Racial minorities

 and develop some common stereotypes in our opening sequence.

Gender


Our opening sequence shows a positive representation of women. In most horror films women are portrayed as weak and vulnerable, often playing the role of a victim or support character. Although our female protagonist is also a victim to some extent, she shows courage and is independent as the tries to fight the demon inside her. When she gets into the closet and calls her dad, it shows that she still needs support from her family however.

The Final Girl Theory is a convention of thriller and horror films where there is a last woman or girl that survives to the end of the film to confront the killer. In our film, Violet could be seen as the final girl, as she survives her mental condition and in the end confronts the demon possessing her. This again shows her brave side and that she is more of a female 'hero' archetype than a victim.

Likewise men are represented as powerful and in control as Violet seeks her dad for help when she realises something is wrong. We don't get to see him and only hear him on the answering machine, but this still shows that Violet depends on him, and that he is capable of protecting her. Our film follows the convention of having a male who is in charge and has an important role, however the female is also represented as strong in her own way.

An example of a conventional female character with a vulnerable representation is Janet in Final Destination 4. When a car wash malfunctions she is left helpless and desperately tries to call her friends for help as she nearly drowns. 

Ethnicity

Our media product also has a positive representation of racial minorities, as our protagonist, Violet, is a young Asian female. This goes against traditional horror and film conventions where such characters are often given supporting roles. She also opposes the audience's expectations as traditionally a white protagonist has been used in horror films. For example Rachel, the lead character in The Ring can be seen as a conventional white female protagonist. However, even Rachel steps outside the stereotype - she has to be brave and save her daughter alone as ultimately nobody can help her. The Ring also shows that female protagonists rarely rely on physical strength like men - instead she has to be resourceful and use her wit.

As our film mainly focuses on Violet and her personal experience there is not much being shown of other characters, so to solve this problem the film would later introduce characters of a Caucasian background or a few male characters to represent a wider range of social groups.

Rachel - The Ring