How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our film is in the horror/ thriller genre so can be aimed at any age category. It is ideally aimed at the younger adults between the age of 15 and 30, because there is a lot of action, drink and drug use, and wouldn’t be suitable for anyone under the age of 15 and maybe wouldn’t be of interest to the more mature adults. This is because they may have less of a vivid imagination, and are less knowledgeable of today’s youth culture of partying, drink and drugs. ‘Blackout’ is about a 19 year old girl who gets abducted from a night out of which she cannot remember and finds herself in the middle of the woods the next morning, having no memory of how or why she is there. It turns out her drink was spiked, and a man took advantage of her whilst she was under the influence of drugs. This could represent the tragedy we have in this day and age of young girls being unaware of the dangers of binge drinking and getting into states where they cannot fend for themselves, resulting in events where they are abducted and abused, like in ‘Blackout’. In recent news, Melanie Hall’s body was found on the side of the road from when she went on a night out with her friends, just over ten years ago. She was obviously abducted, with reasons that are still unfound. But it could be the same situation as the character from our film was in. She may have got her drink spiked, and things turned out for the worse. From knowing about the whole film and the whole story line, Rose is from a wealthy and well balanced background, where her parents give her the best of everything, including a private education and expensive luxuries. She has led quite a sheltered life, thanks to her parents. At the age of 19, she decided to rebel against her parents wishes of studying constantly and not drinking or going to clubs because they disapprove. She found a new group of friends, who were bought up differently to herself in working class families; who then influenced her to attend a local rave on the night of her attack. This shows the audience the issue of rebelling against parents wishes, and that sometimes a little freedom is what is needed for a ‘balanced’ upbringing. You can also tell she is from a higher class family and background because of what she is wearing. She has on a purple dress, which is embroided with sequins, and she is wearing high heeled shoes. Her hair and makeup are also done to perfection. In the club scene, you can see the others there are not dressed as smartly, and they are a lower class status. For example one of her friends is wearing a hooded jumper at what is supposed to be a rave. Stereotypically, when people go out to a nightclub, they do not wear casual wear, they wear something more formal. Also, it could prove that Rose is hanging around with ‘hoodies’, who are stereotypically thought to be of lower class, and ‘rough’. I think we have decided to portray upper middle class families in a negative way, because the film shows, although they may have money to help their children get the best things and education out of life, it needs to be balanced with a social life and fun time with friends.