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.