How does your Media product represent particular social groups?
In media & film, the representation of social groups is portrayed as a norm throughout most, if not all films in the horror genre. These particular social groups follow a similar trend throughout the horror genre's entirety, such as the 'dumb blonde', 'black male', 'older individual' & 'Inexperienced teenager' stereotypes.
JL
26/03/15
JL
26/03/15
In media & film, the representation of social groups is portrayed as a norm throughout most, if not all films in the horror genre. These particular social groups follow a similar trend throughout the horror genre's entirety, such as the 'dumb blonde', 'black male', 'older individual' & 'Inexperienced teenager' stereotypes.
For our Opening Title Sequence, we chose to use Brandon as our victim for the reason of having him relate to the core viewers watching our OTS. Having the victim appear as a clean & pure teenager challenged the conventions of media and stereotypical roles of victims in horror films, usually being an attractive dumb blonde women. However, the victim being a teenager conforms somewhat, as many slasher & psychological horror films feature a younger roster of victims. For our killer, we decided he should conform to the general slasher & gore villain; anonymous, large & hulking and wielding a brutal weapon that could be used a butchering tool. Having the killer appear bloody & sound fearful helps to convey to the audience that he is our killer, as well as suggesting a psychotic or insane sense by the things that our killer says during the OTS.
JL
26/03/15
For our Opening Title Sequence, we chose to use Brandon as our victim for the reason of having him relate to the core viewers watching our OTS. Having the victim appear as a clean & pure teenager challenged the conventions of media and stereotypical roles of victims in horror films, usually being an attractive dumb blonde women. However, the victim being a teenager conforms somewhat, as many slasher & psychological horror films feature a younger roster of victims. For our killer, we decided he should conform to the general slasher & gore villain; anonymous, large & hulking and wielding a brutal weapon that could be used a butchering tool. Having the killer appear bloody & sound fearful helps to convey to the audience that he is our killer, as well as suggesting a psychotic or insane sense by the things that our killer says during the OTS.
JL
26/03/15
The dumb blonde stereotype, which relies on the main victim to be blonde, makes dumb mistakes, be typical to trip over and to run upstairs for safety, has all evolved during the long period of horror films becoming more popular and mainstream. Good examples of this are 'Friday the 13th' and 'Scream', both of which support the stereotype in a blonde victim being not just helpless from the killer, but dumb & annoying. JL 26/03/15 |
Seen becoming more popular in more recent horror films, black males are seen to generally be killed off either very early on, or very late into said film. In either case, the character is usually either a weak addition to the roster of victims, or strong enough to handle himself up to the end, of which he'll likely go out in a cooler way than most. JL 26/03/15 |
Elderly's in horror films have a tendency to be wise, knowing what is going on and how to solve the general dilemma of what is being portrayed. For example, the roster of victims in said horror film might come across, or seek out this individual, and more likely than not the character will be an old man or women. On the other hand, if the older individual was to be the killer, they are generally portrayed as wise & calm, yet psychotic to the point of committing some of the most cringe-worthy scenes we've seen in horror films as of late. JL 26/03/15 |
Unlike the typical older adult which is usually cast as the victim(s), young people or teenagers have a range of appearances when it comes to horror. For the most part, this calls about using the 'sins' to determine whether a character will die, these being; Have they lost their virginity? Do they smoke? Are they blonde? etc. The Scream series' is very well known for using teenagers as the roster of victims, as Ghostface specifically targets people who have committed any number of these 'sins', and who aren't 'pure'. JL 26/03/15 |