Video Project Evaluation - Question 2

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

A2. Caspian’s genre and fact that there is only one person seen in the sequence make representation quite obscure, unlike a social realist film, which would probably include many more types of people and ideas and values. In Caspian’s opening sequence it is rather simple, the main character is shown in a smart middleclass appearance, dressed in a shirt and leather jacket, and has I nice car, he is a shady character who carries his weapon close to his chest, and is prepared for the danger and confrontation that he might come up against. A strong masculine character, he represents the residual view of a man who is powerful and in control. As the main character it can be said that his gender conforms to the genre as it does not challenge the genre of spy/action films by going with a women lead. The fact that he smokes, and uses a Zippo lighter promotes a glamorous shade to his character, reflective of a James Bonds like persona. The voice at the end of the sequence could be said to be stereotypical, it is Russian, and is behind the mysterious phone in a hidden package, he is just a voice on the end of a phone, the speaker is unseen and unknown. This media language could connote Russians as spies and untrustworthy characters, a stereotype that was held strongly in the cold war in the western world, especially in 1970s USA for example.