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

• There are two social groups represented in our media product: Mentally disabled middle aged males, and young white females. The two groups are fairly common in horror/thriller films, as mentally unstable males are commonly conveyed to be dangerous social outcasts, because it is a good source for an antagonist. Young white females are commonly conveyed as innocent and naive, and we have done the same.

• The negative representation of the mentally unstable man is a residual ideology, as it is socially unacceptable to consider a mentally disabled person to be dangerous for no reason, whereas in our media product we have chosen a mentally unstable man because it challenges the social norm, and therefore frightens audiences as they do not know what to expect.
• The girl is portrayed positively, as being very innocent and frail, through the use of mise-en-scene. Her brightly coloured clothing and blonde hair make her look very vulnerable, and so when she is killed, the audiences will be surprised as she is an unexpected target for murder because she seems so innocent. She is depicting the traditional gender roles for females, as they are usually conveyed to be like this in most media texts. 
• The use of sound and camera/editing techniques reinforces the representation of the man, as the sound is quite discordant and ambient, not really matching what is going on, showing how the man is deranged and detached from society. The scratchy, 'grungey' effects also reinforce this, as the audience do not know when to expect one of the effects, just like they do not know very much about the antagonist or what to expect from him. The use of canted angles and some slightly shaky camera techniques also reinforces his discordant nature.

• Our media product constructs an ideological discourse quite conventional of horror/thriller hybrid films in British and Western culture, as the mentally unstable man is portrayed as a dangerous social outcast, and the young white female is shown to be the victim, an element common in many other genres other than just horror and thriller. The negative representation of the man is quite unconventional, however.