PLANNING: STEREOTYPES AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Stereotypes and Social Groups

Stuart Hall, when stereotypes appear in the media such as in films like ours, they reinforce stereotypes. Audiences may decode the messages embedded in the stereotypes differently; however, genre conventions tend to repeat and reinforce specific stereotypes. 

Stereotypes are used by filmmakers like ourselves for various reasons. They can provide visual shortcuts, for example, through clothing codes, that help our audience to understand our characters. In our film, the character of Dan Clifton, the runner dresses in as a typical young athlete in trainers and shorts portraying an image that most people would be able to relate to. Stereotypes also help our audience to build character reliability: for instance, the character of Dan's girlfriend is strong and independent, which could be seen as an anti stereotype and should appeal to our target audience of young women, as will the athletic likeable character of Dan. Genre stereotypes also signpost audiences by the use of certain stock characters and the predictability of certain narratives. An example of where stereotypes will occur in our film is through the detective. The detective follows the stereotype of being intelligent, stubborn, determined and experienced. Another example of a stereotype in our film is the serial killer. We have made the serial killer fit the stereotype of a mentally unstable psychopath.  

Social Issues:

There are many social issues that are present in the 21st century.  The mind map below highlights some of them. After discussion we thought it would be best to focus on one aspect of the social issues highlighted and we decided to concentrate on the area that relates to mental health as this is a very large social issue especially at the moment. 

In our film the serial killer has faced many social issues in his past and therefore the state of his mental health is the focus of his character. His mental issues have been brought on by feelings of inadequacy. As his sporting records have been taken from him and his girlfriend has chosen to be with the current record holder he is filled with anger and hatred and wants vengeance on Dan who he sees as the root of his unhappiness. 

I created Pinterests that show different interpretations of social issues and stereotypes and social groups which we will include in our film.