Evaluation 5; How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Through mise-en-scene we manage to demonstrate Ashley’s character of a sweet simple girl, specifically through the props that were used in her bedroom and her chosen attire of her plain and appropriate t-shirt and jeans. This created a stereotypical representation of the wholesome girl-next-door. As our film targets young women explicitly, it was very important to us to show them in a realistic light, so as to create a foundation for young girls to learn from and relate to.
Because Ashley succumbs to her temptations she is automatically seen as more human and therefore her character becomes more three-dimensional. This directly challenges other representations of young girls as large studios prefer to distribute an image of a teenager that’s says no to peer pressure. Conventions are challenged this way due to Ashley’s human actions.
However in the aspect of our representation of males, we have created a fairly two dimensional character. This is acceptable, due to the films explicit targeting at females. We only see two male characters within the opening sequence, who are both instrumental in peer pressuring Ashley into taking drugs and having sex. Therefore they are considered the ‘evil’ characters and thus it becomes a fairly stereotypical model of the male gender.
Youth has also been represented in our media product. We have portrayed a typical view of how the world perceives youth today, that being irresponsible, as substance and alcohol abusers and as sexually active with no regard for the consequences. However this was pertinent to our product as we wanted to show that even those of the most wholesome personality may fall to the pressures of teenagers. This was important in our creation of a realistic setting and character. It is evident from the large staircase that Ashley descends and the nicely furnished home that she is from the middle class section of society, which is then further enhanced by the diegetic sound of radio four that is being played from the kitchen.