Evaluation task 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our product has two social group representations; gender and social class and status. Because the characters are of different genders, there is a contrast that highlights the stereotypes and the representation is primary. Since they are of the same social class, there is no contrast and this representation becomes secondary.

Subverted representation of genders

 We adhere the representations of gender for the first part of our scene. The opening shot is of a woman cooking, the camera takes close shots of kitchen tools and how she fixes her hair, which are all female aspects. The filming angles are high or on the level with her head, which are used to present a fragile character.  Subversion of the stereotype appears as soon as the man's body is revealed, since it is unusual for a male character to be injured by a female due to differences in physical strength. This is done by a low angle panning shot, so that the actress would look more intimidating and be in centre of the audience's attention. Most of the later shots of her are done from the low angle, such as reverse shots from the man's perspective. In contrast, most of the male's shots are from the high angle or on his level, depicting his weakness. Camera movements in the handheld shot are used to show the woman's anger when she sees her husband's attempt to escape, an emotion not associated with gentle female nature. The over the shoulder shot of her holding him on the floor, grabbing the tape and the closing shot further develop her image of an aggressive figure by showing her rushing into and out of the frame. Due to the absence of a contrast, there weren't any representations of the couple's social class to show through the use of camera. 

High angle shot of Chris, portraying him as a victim.

Fading into the opening shot with increasing radio music sets up the slow pace of editing for the first part of the opening. The moderate speed of cuts between the shots of the woman presents her as a calm tempered character, adhering the stereotype of female gentleness. The frequency of transitions rises after introduction of the wounded man and reaches its peak during the fight. This makes the woman appear fast and aggressive, subverting the stereotype of women being peaceful and slower than men. The duration of the man's shots are longer than those of the woman. This is mainly because he is the victim, the figure the audience cares about. But he presents even more interest due to his gender, since it is unusual for a male to be be harmed and scared by a female. Therefore, longer shots of him adhere the stereotype of men being physically and emotionally stronger than women.

Fade into the opening shot sets slow pace for the scene

The heroine's costume is a dress and an apron, an appearance that adheres the stereotype of women as peaceful house wives. She also has make-up bruises on the hands and face, which denotes that she was beaten, most probably by an abusive husband since women suffer from domestic violence more than men. However, in general she looks healthy and active, her facial expression is calm. This contrasts with the man's paleness, wounds and expression of fear as he looks up at his murderess. His black and white costume is dull and connotes that he is near death, while the woman looks more energetic in red and blue colours. The location is a cosy kitchen with many colourful, fragile and soft items on the cupboards. This connotes that its owners have kind tempers if they like to live in such a warm environment. Women are stereotyped to spend more time at the kitchen than men, so the audience associates the set design with her character. The juxtaposition of the woman's nice surroundings and her murderous temper subverts the stereotype about the female tolerance. Features of the mise-en-scene can also tell us about the family's social status. Because the man is in the formal wear one can tell that they are not of the working class, but the quality of the woman's dress, the modest size of the kitchen and the simplicity of the meal prepared by the wife, connote that they are a middle class instead of a high class couple. 

Office clothes represent him as a middle class worker. White shirt highlights his paleness.

The soundtrack for the opening is a composition played on the radio. It creates juxtaposition by contrasting the pleasant, relaxing jazz music with the violence that takes place on the screen. The type of the soundtrack adheres the stereotype of women’s gentleness and tranquility, since it is a slow paced and calm piece of music. There is also a continuous sound of vegetables sizzling in oil, which adheres the stereotype of women taking care of the kitchen and the food preparation. The cutting noise creates tension by reminding us of the knife that the man was stabbed with, therefore subverting the stereotype of inoffensive females. The man’s moaning subverts the stereotype of masculine strength and intolerance to the pain. Low quality of the radio sound connotes that the couple is not in the higher class, since they cannot afford high quality speakers. Because the working class is associated with poorly educated people, and jazz is an intellectual music genre, the fact that it is played connotes the couple's higher social status. Therefore, the audience assumes that the characters are in the middle class.The scene adheres stereotypes of this status by combining the facts of financial limitations and the above average level of cultural knowledge. 

Chopping sound subverts the stereotype of harmless females

Conclusively, the extract mostly subverts stereotypes of gender and adheres stereotypes of the social class in its representations of these social groups. Representation of the status is less effective since there is no contrast, so adhering the stereotypes helps the audience to identify what social class they are observing. The effect on the audience is achieved through the use of camera, sound, editing and mise-enscene.