Question 2

1. HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT REPRESENT
PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

2. Representation of Females
Within early thrillers, females were often under represented. They were often
characterised as being:
• The victim
• Weak
• Dependent on the male protagonist
• Often sexualised
However, it is not unusual in modern thrillers to see females being represented as:
• Stronger individuals compared to their old representation
• Less easily intimidated
• Independent
• In some case, the antagonist
Psycho, 1960
One of the most
famous thriller
scenes shows a
female victim in a
very vulnerable
position at the
hands of a male.
The fact it is in a
shower reinstates
the idea of
sexualisation.
Hanna, 2010
The main
protagonist in this
modern film broke
conventions due to
her non-sexualised
codes of dress and
the amount of
action she
participated in.

3. In our thriller the antagonist is female and has power and dominance over the
male character as the male becomes vulnerable and runs away when the female is
in shot.
This means that female representation within in our thriller is:
• Complying with the more modern conventions of female representation
• But, is unconventional in the lack of compliance with the more traditional
representation of females in thrillers

4. In most thrillers, the role of the protagonist and antagonist are both usually taken
by a male lead and they are usually represented as being :
• Strong and dominant
• Powerful
• Intelligent especially in mystery thrillers and usually the one to solve any
enigma
• Generally the one to survive or cause deaths
Representation of Males
The Imitation Game, 2014
The males greatly outnumber
the females and are dressed in
smart suits showing
professionalism. Although
sitting down, the main male
character can be identified as
he is being surrounded by
others and appears to be the
one intelligently solving a
problem.

5. In our thriller the protagonist is male which conforms to the expected
conventions however his power is weakened towards the end of the production.
• In compliance with the stereotypical representations of males, upon the first
sighting of our male character the audience is under no false misconception of
his weakness.
• However, when the ghost appears, it is here where the male connotes
weakness and inferiority

6. Representation of Age
The main character is a young male aged 23 as this is around the age of our
target audience so there can be a connection made adding to the realism of the
production.
This young age is not necessarily common to find within thrillers.
Although the this character is playing a role of an estate agent, it was important
to keep his age represented so therefore we decided to
• Dress him in a suit but not to have a blazer
• Have rolled up sleeves
• This downplays the seriousness of his profession
• It also shows the aspect of young naivety
• He also wears an expensive looking watch
and slicked back hair to connote that appearance and
materialism is important which are traits connected to
modern day young people

7. Representation of Professionalism
Professionalism is represented in Forbidden by through the male protagonist as
he is playing the role of an estate agent.
• Estate agents are often deemed untrustworthy and often quite sly/slick
• To represent thus we have chosen to use a suit without the blazer, rolled up
sleeves, slicked back hair and an expensive looking watch which represents
the stereotypes of an estate agent
• However, we wanted the audience to feel empathy towards the main character
as he is the protagonist and is the one that put in a vulnerable position
• To do this we used many high angle shots of him and close ups to fully see his
worried expression