Evaluation Post 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our film the main social groups are gender and ethnicity. Our lead character is a black woman in her late 20s and so we decided to mix the two groups and focus on the representation of black females.

Representation of Women in Films
Women are often underrepresented in the film industry with their roles being limited to the stereotypical, traditional roles. 

Additionally some female characters are objectified in films and their main purpose is to act as something to look at for both the other characters and also the audience. This essentially makes them sex symbols instead of characters of actual substance. An example is Gisele Yashar from the Fast and Furious series - an action thriller series of films. She is portrayed as a strong, independent woman however there are comments and scenes where her body is objectified by some of the male characters. Gisele knows that she can use her body and her sexuality to get what she needs. Whilst she is an empowering character, the fact that her figure and appearance are a key feature of her role shows that a woman's intelligence and courage isn't enough. 

During my research I found a report of a study where the portrayal of female characters were analysed in the top 100 grossing films of 2016. Below are a few pie charts I made using the statistics from the report which are relevant to our film opening and it's main character.

Representation of Black Women

Cookie Lyon from 'Empire'

Black women aren't as commonly represented compared to white women in films and television. There are both positive and negative representations of black women. We didn't want to represent our character in a stereotypical way. For example the character of Cookie Lyon in the TV drama 'Empire' is based on many common stereotypes associated with the black ethnicity such as crime, drugs, prison and music. Despite the fact that she is a successful, strong-minded business woman, she is represented negatively.

Another common representation of black women are in films such as "12 Years a Slave" or "The Help" where their characters are either slaves or treated as inferior to those who are white. This provides a voice for black actors/actresses and even though these roles are based on history and the truth, black actresses shouldn't only be seen in these roles.

Lupita Nyong'o acting in '12 Years a Slave'

Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer acting in 'The Help'

How We Wanted to Represent Black Women
Our main inspiration in terms of our lead character was Annalise Keating from 'How to Get Away with Murder'. This is because Annalise is a strong, independent woman who stands up for herself and doesn't allow anyone to walk over her. Additionally she works in the legal profession which is the same as Shania (our character). Annalise also has flaws, showing that she has a humane, emotional side as well. Similarly the lead character in 'Scandal' is Olivia Pope and she is said to be extremely powerful professionally and strong emotionally, despite having a complicated and flawed personal life. 

There are many strong, independent, powerful black women in TV dramas however there are fewer examples in the film industry. We would hope that our film can have a character that can fill the gap. Recently the film called 'Hidden Figures' was released. It is a film about three black women who worked at NASA during the Space Race. This was an inspiring film as not only are they women working in a dominantly male work field (challenging gender stereotypes) but they are also black women. The film has a positive representation of black women and hopefully will encourage more films with black female leads.

We also wanted our main character to act as a role model to the younger side of our audience (16-19 year olds). This was done through her personality and her costume. The use of a blazer and a black and white dress represents her in a smart, formal manner which highlights her professionalism due to her high profile job. This is further emphasised through her leather briefcase which presents her as organised as well as portraying her job as briefcases are commonly used by lawyers to carry documents to courts. Her organisation and also her sophistication are also conveyed through the set design. The rooms in our chosen location (Sian's house) were dressed to give a structured, neat and minimalistic feel as well as being quite feminine (as seen by the heart made of flowers on the wall in the picture below). 

Overall, I feel that we challenged both gender and ethnicity stereotypes through our lead character Shania Morcott. Shania is a driven, determined, strong minded, independent middle-class woman. She challenges the gender stereotypes of being weak, sensitive and having a domestic lifestyle.We positively represented black women and hopefully created a character that is inspirational to teens and young adults.