Evaluation of Distribution Institution

From left to right: Jordan, Shehan, Kennedy

 

This DVD extra feature can be seen on the blog in a reduced quality format. 

Evaluation of Representation of Social Groups

Evaluation of Representation of Men

Our cast is a heist film, with an all-male cast, as is very common with this genre of film. As our piece has an all male cast the representations are mainly focused around men.

There is in our piece a common convention of a traditionally 'feminine' role being played by a male actor.

This can be classed as a more stereotypically female representation because the ‘damsel in distress’ or the one who needs assistance the most is often a woman.

The character Jessie Attica, in the film Takers is the one who fills this role. He is the one in the film who ends up in trouble and almost getting caught by the police.

In our piece Caleb plays the same stereotype, he gets singled out more because he is the youngest (the same in takers) and he is in need of reassurance to make sure he stays on task.

He also makes a big mistake by setting the alarm off in the building, almost getting the team caught, and turns up late.

This fits in with the stereotype of the feminine role because it’s common in film genres such as ours, that the women is the one who is always in need of assistance or reassurance of her role in the film.

You could argue that by having a male taking this role, we are breaking stereotypes and broadening traditional gender roles.

However, as pointed out, we have an all male cast so this role is filled by a man by necessity.

Thornham would argue that the fact that we notice that it is a man in this role actually reinforces the fact that it is traditionally a feminine role, when it would receive little comment.

Creating Representations through Roles

The Weak Link

Elements such as mise-en-scéne and camera angles and movements help to create this stereotypical role in our piece.

The use of actor creates a sense of vulnerability as our actor is young; this gives the impression that he may make mistakes because he is inexperienced.

Also close up shots such as below, along with the dialogue used show how he is singled out more, and is in fact the ’weak link’ within the group.

Our use of editing during the rooftop conversation scene show how Caleb’s character has no authority and is the one character who almost ruins it for the whole team.

This is done through our shot-reverse-shot sequence.

The focus is mainly on the boss and his talking to Caleb, this use of screen time shows authority and power over Caleb’s character.

His position of relative weakness and isolation in the group means that this is a negative representation; suggests that to be a 'real' man, you need to be accepted and cannot make mistakes.

Caleb rooftop scene

Chris Brown (Jessie Attica) chase scene

The Weapons Expert

 

Another stereotype that’s common in the heist genre is the‘weapons expert’. This character shows power not through dialogue or screen type necessarily, but more through his skills and his abilities with weapons.

As in our piece my character is the one with the gun and the only one to be seen with any kind of weapon, this creates shorthand to the representation of power.

 

My character is toward the end of the two minutes shown to have a gun, and because of this one particular shot he gains power over all other characters except the boss.

 

Through the use of a close up shot we see where my character gains his power; my character is cocking the gun in a way that seems like he has done it before.

 

This is the same in the 'Takers' movie where the character Jake Attica also gains authority and power in the scene through holding the gun in a particular way to show confidence and experience.

 

 

Jordan  AKA - weapons expert

Micheal Ealy AKA - weapons expert

The Boss

The boss will always be shown to have the most power because he is the leader of a group of men that in some ways can be seen as a gang.

Stereotypically the group of males in a heist film coming together in a heist movie are always going to have a lot of power.

And are seen to come together to cause some kind of trouble (gangs) and when it comes to their leader he will still be represented stereotypically as the one character with the ability to hold the group together and harness this power.

In our piece represented by the hat (not taking it off shows lack of subservience) and the amount of screen time. Boss dominated opening. First seen in low shot of feet walking up stairs - traditionally connotes a person to be reckoned with.

Hat and waistcoat

Low angle - mystery

Summarising Our Representations

Adorno believes that stereotyping of characters is necessary in art forms such as film, as it creates a shorthand of meaning that can be conveyed in a quick and more efficient way to the audience.

As our piece is only two minutes in duration it was very necessary to do this use of stereotyping characters as we wanted to get the characters across to the audience.

The representation of each character is also hard to present to an audience in a heist film unless you are using the common character stereotypes.

As we have an all male cast, men in our film necessarily are represented in a number of ways as they have to play all the narrative roles.

However, some roles are clearly presented as more desirable and the representation therefore more positive e.g. boss, weapon's expert.

Therefore our representations tend to reinforce the idea that these roles are the most aspirational for men.

Evaluating Representations in our Piece

Representation of Men

• In heist films the actors look quite organised and prepared to undertake the task of robbing the bank, therefore it forces the audience to visualise them as mature and in control. The way they’re also dressed represents them as a well-structured group as they are in suits. This is both positive and negative in terms of male representations as this business-like approach is being put towards criminal activity. However, a key aspect of the heist film is that we want the main characters to succeed in their con because they will defeat a bigger villain. This kind of antihero is a popular male stereotype.

Suited antiheroes

Popular antihero Jack Sparrow

 

• Our representation of males could be seen as stereotypical as in our film, they are made to look powerful and smart and willing to take the risk to get something they want as to rob a bank you will need all this things in order to complete the mission without getting caught.

• In our film they are planning robbing a bank. All this fits into the organised or controlled and power category. This is stereotypical of men who are known to be the powerful and always in control type.

• The use of all male in a group coming together is stereotyped as being trouble. They are almost in a way, a gang, and gangs are stereotyped as groups of individuals who come together to cause havoc. This in a way allows the audience to predict what these group of young men are coming together to do. Furthermore their different roles make it clear what function they will play in the narrative. 

Stereotypical press representation of male gangs

 

• However, the heist film completely subverts this representation of gangs as all of the characters are likeable villians and we are not threatened by them but will them to succeed. This is despite the young age of our characters as younger males are often associated with the more negative gang culture depicted above. The wearing of suits helps distance our 'gang' from the aggressive stereotype - it suggests their crime will be more mental than physical. The locations also help as they are not run down urban locations.

Our more likeable gang

 

• Male groups are also seen in this sympathetic way when presented in film such as ‘Fast & Furious’ or ‘Takers’, the audience are expected to feel sorry for them and like them even if they commit these crimes.

 

• As our cast is all male, we see some of them having to take on more stereotypically feminine roles. For example ‘Caleb’, who is the person that’s trying to deceive his group so he gets to keep all the money, could symbolise the stereotyping media encourages which is that women are mostly used as 'seducers' in a film. And in our film, Caleb is the 'seducer'. Our other roles are classic heist roles as seen below:

Jordan with the gun represents power

The Leader's last to leave. This is to
show the audience the leader figure in the
 group

 

Caleb singled out from the group. this
is a way to give a hint to the audience
that he doesn't fully fit in this group

Hero shot. The audience see them
more as hero's then villains.

 

'Fast and furious 5' Hero shot
 

According to Ros Coward, the representations of men across all media tend to focus on the following:

-Strength- physical and intellectual

-Power

-Sexual attractiveness

-Physique
 

-Independence

• You coujld argue that our representations have a similar focus so in some ways we have reinforced the stereotyping of masculine social groups. For example we have the genius of the group, who would be expected to hack top secrete computers. In Ros Coward’s theory, this character would fall into the ‘intellectual strength' category.

 

• Additionally we have the leader who has all the ‘Power’ as whatever he says goes. Without him everything is likely to fall apart. This is made obvious to the audience as we have given him the most screen time, he wears a hat and is positioned centrally in the group shots.

 

• Furthermore, in our film we have the 'driven' character that is clearly driven by more as in his dialogue he quotes “how much are we talking”. He is also the person nobody messes with; the audience is notified about this as he is the one holding the gun at the ending of the 2 minutes in our film.

 

• When planning to undertake a job, you will need to beat the competition. This supports the stereotyping of masculine as being competitive with other men and attempt to avoid defeat. The con group in our film will be looking to defeat the government in order to steal the money from the bank.

• Over all, the stereotyping of men has fit into Coward's theory, and therefore is potentially rather limited, but according to  Dyer, as long as people tell the difference between media and reality, stereotypes “do not harm”. Our use of the hero shot at the end scene creates empathy which makes the characters seem more heroic rather than villain. This encourages the audience to tell the difference between media and reality as in reality we would hate people like this because we know what they’re doing is wrong.  On the other hand, in media, since the audience are given a chance to almost bond with the characters they will feel more sympathy if they don’t manage to rob the bank or if one of them gets killed by the police and this could make them more sympathetic to petty crime in real life.

Evaluation of Representations

Issues Around Representation

In our heist film, we have an all male cast. This is very typical in heist movies. Our cast are also young, therefore this is a good opportunity to look at the representation of young males.

In Britain. There is a very stereotypical view on young men in particular is that they are prone to violence. Pretty much most people who wear a hoody are stereotypically seen as a threat by the public.

Press photo of male gangs released by London Met

If our film was to focus on this kind of representation, it would create a negative representation of teenagers and male teenagers in particular. However I feel we have offered a much wider range of representations and a much softer and more comedic overall representation.

For example our teenagers are wearing suits and looking professional to commit a white collar crime which is more of a scam than a crime. This is also a negative representation, but due to the almost Bugsy Malone style appearance and youth of our cast, the audience will not find it very serious. This is one of the main factors in our representation. We are not expecting people to take it seriously.

Our more light-hearted representation

 

Ros Coward argues that 'Masculinity' is a concept which comes in for a quite rigid stereotyping in the media. Representation of men all across media tends to follow a list of things which includes:

 

• Strength (Physical/Intellectual)
• Power
• Sexual attractiveness
• Physique
• Independence

She also argues that men are often limited to very basic limited roles in film including:

• the rookie who learns a lot gains the leadership
• the victor – who can defeat the competitor physically, intellectually emotionally.
• the bonder – male friendships and liked by everyone
• overcoming fear of 'castration', not really physical but a symbolic stealing of their masculinity, often created by a romantic relationship.

'Boss' walking toward the meeting area

Everybody leaves, but he remains

Jordan cocking the gun

Hero shot

This shot compares with our hero shot. This film is also an all male cast.

In our film we have a leader who gets jobs for the team, a silent but intellectual geek who gets angry really easily, a ladies man, a guy who is strong enough to fight. We also have a traitor in the film to show that in most trusted places there are lies/untrust. The family like feeling is created in the group in various ways, such as handshakes and listening to each other. From our extract the audience get a hint that the trust in group membersis not very strong despite appearances. So although we seem to have the limited roles Coward suggests, the plot line means these change around a lot in the film and are not fixed.

We have given most screen time to 'Boss' to show he is the most important and the main character in the film. He talks smart and dresses smart. His attitude towards the subject shows his experience in such matters. Jordan's dialogue shows that his interest is for the money. At the end of the two minutes, he cocks a gun which shows that he is bit of a show off and he is the one with power. Ken gets the shortest screen time as he is not as important as other characters. But his dialogue with Tony shows he has built up trust between the group. Tony is represented as the guy who suspects and think more, talk less.

A critic called Adorno said that “stereotypes act as a short hand” this means that they help us to predict whats going to happen and who is going to play which role. In our film we put this into practice by choosing specific characters to specific roles. In most cases it helps the audience predict. For example, Jordan has a weapon, this could predict that he could shoot someone important and will therefore act as a catalyst for further action. Ken is quiet and aloner but will inevitably be needed at some point to save the group.

Representation and character roles are totally linked, and character roles ar edriven by narrative and genre. So I would argue that overall our male representations have all come about because of the genre we chose . Yes they are stereotypical but ours is a light-hearted heist film and they will not be taken too seriously.

Another film critic called Pickering said that “stereotyping can be damaging to a social group, creating limited rolls”. This could be problem in our film as we are reinforcing common stereotypes. However this is as a narrative technique and not intended to be taken seriously.

A critic called Barker said “In heist films, gender roles are shared between and often men carrying out both masculine and feminine roles”. He also quoted “when there are women in the cast, they usually fulfil the role of love interest”. In most films this seems to be a fact. For example films like 'Fast and Furious' follow this argument, but in the same film the argument is contradicted by female casts doing dangerous things, which is very stereotypical. A film that fully follows this argument is 'Takers'. The team is a all male cast, one of the casts has a girl friend, which seems like she fulfil the role of love interest.

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