Stephen- Evaluation Question 2

How our thriller opening represents particular social groups

Here, I'll be discussing how each of our characters have been portrayed, using the four different technical codes to show how it has been done as well.

Geoff

Geoff has been seen as being an emotionally weak man; breaking the stereotypically strong male protagonist. He is clearly proven to be distraught and an emotional wreck; not being able to think clearly. This can all be seen in the editing of a shot, where we have made the shot out of focus, in order to reflect how his character is feeling.

The camera angles are always eye-level with Geoff, giving the viewer a surprising feeling of being on the same level as him, even though he is a detective.

Additionally, the age group represented here, a late 20's man, is portrayed as being too weak for their job; something that is implemented into the plot perfectly. However, this is a rather negative view upon this age group, how at that age they are too young to be doing any real work. As the story progresses, we realise how strong Geoff actually is; resulting in a much more positive view upon him, sadly this is only the opening. The reason for this weakness is to make the character more realistic; causing the story to be more gripping and thrilling for the audience.

From the costume of Geoff we see that he is clearly a high class male, with a nice suit he has clearly worked hard and it has payed off. This is a somewhat positive portrayal of the social classes; how when you work hard it will pay off.

Susan

Susan is portrayed as a stereotypical girl who is running instead of fighting; a rather negative portrayel but also realistic. You wouldn't stand your ground against a tall man, no matter your age or gender, if you haven't been taught how to fight. Because of this, the opening is far more, again, realistic. The audience understands Susan's attempts of running instead of fighting.

However, when the Assailant gets infront of her, we witness her attempts to fight back- showing that she is strong in an emotional form. We know that she will fight when she needs to; a very positive and modern look upon women.

From the ending of the opening we can hear Susan resist the Assailant,continuing to fight back after clearly being beaten (Both in the physical and emotional sense.) Throughout the film itself we witness Susan only get stronger; breaking the social convention of how a man has to rescue the woman.

The Assailant 

Not much can be seen about the Assailant except his ethnicity; he is white-british. From that, we have a negative portrayal upon the ethnicity; which will only get worse over time. This isn't a stereotypical thriller bad-guy's ethnicity, however, as they more often than not go for Russians or Italians; with Mafia backgrounds. We chose this ethnicity so it'll be more relateable; everyone knows a white-male, as opposed to an Italian mobster. It gives the feeling that, perhaps, the person that you went to see the movie with could be an assailant.

This also portrays males to be dominant and strong; a positive outlook for the males in the audience but rather degrading for women.