Our thriller instantly shows the stereotypical roles within each gender, with the male characters being in control and dominant, whilst the female character Tiffany is the victim of the crimes. This confirms the conventions of gender within thrillers. The majority of all crimes are committed by working class males, so we utilised these groups in order to show a truly represent the crimes currently within the UK. We also used two male characters in order to portray how vulnerable Tiffany is and the danger she put herself into.
We utilised two different social classes when representing crime, we show Blake as being a member of the working class through his costume and actions within the opening. The manual labour Blake is seen doing in the opening links to the idea that he is used to getting his hands dirty and therefore more likely to carry out a murder. This shows the working class from a negative viewpoint and represents them as being deviant criminals.
The other social class we used was the middle class, we did this in order to show the divide between social classes. The reaction to the murder differs between both characters showing the different norms and values of each social group. Blake is seen to be dragging the body of the girl through the snow, which links to the idea that he has no remorse, this is key to his character because it shows that he either had strong motives behind committing the murder or is unfazed by deviant actions. Peter is shown throughout the scene to be sitting in a bathroom distraught. This links to the middle class having the correct values because he feels guilt where Blake does not. We did not add the upper class into this because we were trying to show a true representation of crime currently within the UK. To add to this link to crime we cast the characters as both being Teenagers. This was especially effective because it represents youth crime within the UK and also strongly links to the riots, which caused many social classes to fight back against society. This links well to Peters motives within the thriller because he is a member of the middle class who's actions caused him to sink down to the stereotypical level of the working class.
The stereotypical views of women were the social group we aimed to represent within our thriller. We decided not to challenge the thriller conventions of women but instead to confirm them... This was in order to give the true representation of women within crimes. Our thriller 'The Red Snow' works well due to the devices between social classes and genders. The 3 characters link well to the 'Good The Bad and The Ugly' due to their roles within the thriller. Blake being The Bad due to his lack of remorse, Peter being The Good, because he represent the feelings of the audience and the guilt shown in the bathroom scene shows that he has the same norms and values as the target audience. Tiffany is The Ugly due to her timid nature and the fact that both The Good and The Bad hold all of the power, leaving The Ugly in the shadows.
The costume of each character represents their status within the society... Blake's hoody and track suit links him to being poor and therefore we link his lack of money to his motives and reasons for becoming involved with the crimes. Peter's large coat links him to the fashion of middle class teenagers, this shows us that his connection to Blake is uncommon and that Blake may have been an unwelcome influence within Peters life. We see Peters vulnerability when the camera cuts to a birds eye view of him holding his head in his hands. Tiffany's costume is of a similar style to Peters which could link to the idea that they are connected through a friendship group. Tiffany's costume also links to the fact that she stands out as a victim. Her large red coat links directly to the small girl in "Schindlers list" who is caught and killed by the Nazi's.
Our thriller instantly shows the stereotypical roles within each gender, with the male characters being in control and dominant, whilst the female character Tiffany is the victim of the crimes. This confirms the conventions of gender within thrillers. The majority of all crimes are committed by working class males, so we utilised these groups in order to show a truly represent the crimes currently within the UK. We also used two male characters in order to portray how vulnerable Tiffany is and the danger she put herself into.
The other social class we used was the middle class, we did this in order to show the divide between social classes. The reaction to the murder differs between both characters showing the different norms and values of each social group. Blake is seen to be dragging the body of the girl through the snow, which links to the idea that he has no remorse, this is key to his character because it shows that he either had strong motives behind committing the murder or is unfazed by deviant actions. Peter is shown throughout the scene to be sitting in a bathroom distraught. This links to the middle class having the correct values because he feels guilt where Blake does not. We did not add the upper class into this because we were trying to show a true representation of crime currently within the UK. To add to this link to crime we cast the characters as both being Teenagers. This was especially effective because it represents youth crime within the UK and also strongly links to the riots, which caused many social classes to fight back against society. This links well to Peters motives within the thriller because he is a member of the middle class who's actions caused him to sink down to the stereotypical level of the working class.
The stereotypical views of women were the social group we aimed to represent within our thriller. We decided not to challenge the thriller conventions of women but instead to confirm them... This was in order to give the true representation of women within crimes. Our thriller 'The Red Snow' works well due to the devices between social classes and genders. The 3 characters link well to the 'Good The Bad and The Ugly' due to their roles within the thriller. Blake being The Bad due to his lack of remorse, Peter being The Good, because he represent the feelings of the audience and the guilt shown in the bathroom scene shows that he has the same norms and values as the target audience. Tiffany is The Ugly due to her timid nature and the fact that both The Good and The Bad hold all of the power, leaving The Ugly in the shadows.
You say.......The majority of all crimes are committed by working class males, so we utilised these groups in order to show a truly represent the crimes currently within the UK....
ReplyDeleteReally? Where is your evidence?
....Extract from ....From National Statistics Online - http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/sep/05/men-victims-domestic-violence
"Men commit more crimes than women. In 2002 male offenders in England and Wales outnumbered female offenders by more than four to one.
and
Men outnumber women in all major crime categories. Between 85 and 95 per cent of offenders found guilty of burglary, robbery, drug offences, criminal damage or violence against the person are male. Although the number of offenders are relatively small, 98 per cent of people found guilty of, or cautioned for, sexual offences are male.."
This is the type of evidence you need.
Your comments about representation of social class are interesting but you need to be aware of the dangers of negatively stereotyping working class youth and suggesting the middle class are not deviant. Your film does represent aspects of the British class system which is one of the most stratified in the developed world with those at the top having the most and those at the bottom having the least!!! Thus they are easy to blame for the country's problems.
To raise your grade I'd suggest that you indicate in this answer that negative stereotyping of those at the bottom of the heap is dangerous because it indicates that those with the least are a threat, have no conscience and should be put away. In a court of law your hoodie may be wrongly convicted whilst the middle class boy is let off because he is priveleged and his family could pull strings.
The interesting aspect of your production is that the offender could be either one of these two characters, that Peter is infact guilty and is hiding his crime whilst the hoodie was roped in to get rid of the body, or Peter is transferring his guilt to Blake...hmmm interesting.
Complex issues here but for Level 4 try to think beyond a simplistic solution. I think this could be a great film if it revolved around a miscarriage of justice and the wrong boy being convicted of the crime. Much more interesting that hoodie bad, educated boy good!! I think you're intelligent enough Robin to think about these points.
The reference to Schindler's List is excellent, the image of Tiffany suggests she is a metaphor for crimes against women. The little girl in Schindler's List became a metaphor for the 6 million Jews who died in the holocaust.