Our thriller conforms to the stereotypical representation of a patriarchal society of male dominance and women as the victims. However it also challenges social groups because we looked at homeless people. We kept to the idea of the woman being the victim but challenged the stereotypical view of a woman by making her homeless. We wanted to explore the dangers of being homeless and show how vulnerable homeless woman are to abuse. The idea that the homeless girl provides for herself and works day in day out to sell The Big Issue, promotes the idea, how did she get to become homeless? This also challenges the thriller convention by making her confident to stand alone all day in the streets trying to make a living, like the character Jackie Brown, who plays with stereotypes such as, gender, ethnicity, class and age- which is very controversial for the thriller genre. We wanted our homeless girl to push the audiences pre-conceptions of the homeless being typically male and show a strong, interesting lead woman.
After doing some research, I found that typing into google: ‘Young homeless women in the UK’, I found an article from The Independent which states, ‘The number of homeless women has risen by nearly 80 per cent in five years’ (3rd August 2008)
The stalker in our media production does reinforce the typical connotation of a powerful man, such as Jason in Essex Boys. The stalker as a voyeur is inspired by Norman Bates from Psycho who spies on Marion Crane. We wanted the audience to realise that not all respectable looking people are friendly. The use of putting the stalker in a suit makes him look upper class, which ultimately makes people respect him and also shows his power, as well as making him look very un-suspicious, like John Doe in the film Seven who plays a genius psychopath. However we have challenged the media stereotype of the older middle class man being respected and law abiding. BBC TV News are full of images of men in suits and in control.
The stalker in our media production does reinforce the typical connotation of a powerful man, such as Jason in Essex Boys. The stalker as a voyeur is inspired by Norman Bates from Psycho who spies on Marion Crane. We wanted the audience to realise that not all respectable looking people are friendly. The use of putting the stalker in a suit makes him look upper class, which ultimately makes people respect him and also shows his power, as well as making him look very un-suspicious, like John Doe in the film Seven who plays a genius psychopath. However we have challenged the media stereotype of the older middle class man being respected and law abiding. BBC TV News are full of images of men in suits and in control.
Our film also reflects the anxiety and pessimism of austerity in Britain and the effect it has had on the youth unemployment. Unemployment in the UK has rose by 129,000 in the three months to September to 2.62 million as youth unemployment rose above a million. ‘The jobless total for 16 to 24-year-olds hit a record of 1.02 million in the quarter and female unemployment was at its highest for 23 years.’ (BBC News).
An interesting and well informed response with some excellent references to statistics to support your interest in the effect of The Coalition's cuts in public service jobs on women in particular.
ReplyDeleteRe your reference to Jackie Brown, you need to explain why the representation of Jackie challenges the traditional representation of gender and women in thriller films. For example thrillers such as The Third Man, Once Upon a Time in America, and Tinker Tailor focus the action on ethnically white men with economic power. Whilst in Jackie Brown the focus is on a black woman with little economic power because of her lousy job and few savings who is driven to being a drugs mule. But rather than being a victim she outwits the law and the gun runner Ordell and survives. Your film also focuses on a young woman with no economic power and who is prey to an unscruplous man. The big question is how your film will empower her!
Is she an undercover cop or has she got her own ideas about avenging him by photographing him from her mobile phone then passing the information onto the police or?
Try to strengthen with advised revisions if time allows. Level 3ish at present.