How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Gender:

Women:

Women are represented in quite an emergent light in my piece, through the femme-fatale. She is the dominant character because she is in control of her sexuality and she manipulates the male in to doing what she wants.

She is often the one who initiates flirtatious behaviour, such as stroking her finger down the glass, taking her cigarette out with her mouth and initiating the kiss at the end.

However this also frames women in a very residual light because she is still using her sexualisation to draw the male in.

The way her character is positioned to the audience also shows her in quite a residual light. For example when she is running her fingers up the glass it’s almost as if looking from the male gaze making her the object rather than the subject. This is a very residual idea of women being the subject to the male gaze.

The close up of her eyes is also quite sexualised as she is looking back and forth to the male

drawing him in further.

The femme-fatale also has more screen time that the male and when she is in a shot it is usually a close up. Even when there is a two shot of them together the camera always seems to be slightly closer to her connoting her importance and that everything that happens, happens because she wants it too.

 Unlike most typical Femme-fatale she is not wearing particularly revealing clothes and they do not suggest anything untoward. She draws the male in purely through her flirtatious behaviour.

Men:

Men are shown in both a residual and emergent light in my piece. For example at the very beginning he is seen to be quite cold. For example this close up shows him staring fixed at the camera in contrast to the females shifting glances.

There is also a difference in the way the male and female behave towards each other. For example at the beginning when we see the women running her fingers seductively up and down the glass we are then shown the shot of the man just casually picking up his glass, there is no sign of flirtatious behaviour from the male.

This follows residual ideology of men because it is the woman who is being sexualised and the man who is observing.

However, although the woman may be the one who is sexualised it is the man who is the most vulnerable because the woman is using her seductive charm to draw him in and take control. we get a sense of the males vulnerability when the male says “I felt like a helpless baby” It is almost as if the woman is toying with him showing her availability but making him wait and work for what he wants.

This is a very emergent idea of men being the weaker sex and allowing the woman to take control.

The finishing shot at the end of my piece also frame men in quite a residual light as all we can see is his silhouette dehumanising him making him

The shot of the mysterious male holding the gun demonstrates phallocentricity. The fact that he has a gun shows off his masculinity and sense of power and strength. This is almost like a shot from James Bond “The Man With The Golden Gun

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