Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The social groups key to our film consist of gender and age and as our protagonist is a female in her early twenties, we have decided to combine these two categories and focus on the representation of young females.

How are females generally represented in film?

Female characters are often said to be under represented in film. Some typical ways that they are portrayed include: being hypersexualised and having traditional roles.

1. Hypersexuality of women

According to a study in 2012*, 31.6% of female characters were shown to be wearing stereotypically "sexy" clothing. This can range from tight fitted clothing, underwear and in some cases nudity.

Example: Nancy Callahan from Sin City.

She is wearing tight leather trousers and her stomach is exposed

 In addition, many females have extreme amounts of make up suggesting this is perfection. 

Example: Elizabeth from Bad Teacher.

She has heavy eye-liner, mascara, lipstick and blusher

Finally, females are often put on display for the gaze of other characters.

Example: Mikaela from Transformers.

2. Traditional roles of women

Many female characters are mothers with children. These characters are often performing tasks such as cleaning and cooking,

Example: Leigh Anne Tuohy from The Blind Side.

How are young females represented in film?

Young female characters who are for instance in their twenties are typically represented to be: lacking in ambition, pursuing a romantic relationship, hypersexualised, drama queens/damsels in distress.

1. Lacking in ambition
Female characters in some films may not have a distinct goal or set of desires.

Example: Bella from Twilight. She lacks aspiration to make a success of her life and has few desires, e.g. wanting to be with Edward. 

2. Pursuing a romantic relationship 
In some films that have this, the female's romance is the primary or secondary focus of the plot.

Example: Iris from The Holiday. 

3. Drama queens/damsels in distress
These characters are often presented as extremely feminine and weak. They are not accustomed to dirty work and can be obsessed with how they look. Drama queens are often popular.

Example: Giselle from Enchanted

                                                      Representations in our film

Our protagonist is a strong, confident female character; what a femme fatale ought to be and so she breaks many of the common female representations in film. 

*Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California, studied the 100 top-grossing fictional films from 2012