2. How does your Media Product represent particular Social Groups?



The focus of our representation was on age and gender, but we also represented young asian british people, and our three characters were middle class.

AGE:
As it was a Coming of Age Drama we had to focus our representation on young people:

Typical Representations of Young People:

How young people are represented in our opening sequence:

• Carefree and fun-loving - The jumping picture they take in front of the sunrise
• Affectionate and loyal to one another - Jess and Noah wanting to go with Lila
• Not as dangerous criminals or 'yobs'
• Middle class instead of the typical British spoilt and stuck up upper class stereotype or the lower class council estate chav stereotype - Their voices, indie costumes
• Emotional and thoughtful - Lila with photo of brother and looking up at the sunrise
• Trying to live life - In this there is an awareness of aging, and living while you're young

Normally in Coming of Age Dramas the binary opposite of an 'old' person is contrasted with the young protagonist, however we did not have sufficient time to put this into our opening sequence.

GENDER:

Lila and Noah's relationship:

• Initially we didn't want Lila and Noah to become a couple, and we were going to break the convention as we were tired of a female protagonist always having to find romance to complete her story and make her happy
• However, we realised that it would be very unsatisfying for our audience if they didn't end up together
• We used Noah's interest in the bucket list and the romantic way he takes her hand when the trio run up to the edge of the hill to hint at their romance

Ways we conformed to conventions:

• The female protagonist has a romance with the male sidekick just as in Post Grad where Ryden ends up with best friend Adam
• The female protagonist is in touch with her emotional side
• The male character is strong and physically active as when he jumps over the bench, just like Mike in 17 again who plays basketball
• Noah's line 'Kiss as many girls as possible in an hour... I'm OK with that' is quite stereotypically male, connoting that he is flirtatious

Ways we broke conventions:

• Our protagonist is female - usually in coming of age dramas there is a male protagonist such as Oliver Tate in 'Submarine'
• Lila is strong and independent - she doesn't need them to go on her journey with her
• Both the female characters are wearing trousers and baggy clothes - characters not sexualised by their costumes
• The male character seems more concerned and emotionally available, taking interest in Lila's list unlike conventional males who are usually insensitive and direct
• Noah also doesn't fit in with the alpha male stereotype, as he is not leading their adventure, and Lila breaks across his argument with Jess showing that it is her not Atticus who is in charge