Evaluation Question 2

Question 2 Charlotte Billingham

Within the Black Widow there are different social groups represented through characterisation, costumes, editing, camera work, props etc. The main social groups that are present in this film are:

• Teenagers- male and female• The girly girl teenager who loves nothing more than to sit and mind her own business in

her room. This teenage girl social group is also shown as being the daddy’s girl type with all her rich lash toys.

• The rough teenage boy who loves nothing more than terrorising and causing trouble. This social group isn’t rich but has enough money to get by.

• Criminals- the murdering type who love nothing more than to kill those causing them or others grief.

Character representation

The characters within this film opening have used some typical conventions that would be associ-ated with their social group. However there are some subversions that don’t conform with what we would consider hegemonic for todays society.

Crimson- Crimson the female character is a stereotypical girly girl with her pink feminine clothes, jewellery and typical long blond hair. This follows social stereotype where by all young teenage

girls are ob-

sessed with pink and have long blond hair. A film that follows this convention too is Carrie where by the main female character dresses rather girly and has the long blond hair which is a main fea-ture in our film.


However like in the film Carrie, the hegemonic ideas of an innocent teenage girl are challenged in that she ends up being the villainous killer. The way in which this innocent girl idea is flipped is similar to that of Carrie. The challenge to this social group allows the audience to be shocked and surprised at the events that finish the opening sequence.

Luke- The rough trouble making teenage male is dressed in the way in which you’d expect the ‘bad guy’ to dress. With the leather jacket and all in black, the trouble making social group of the main male character is following the hegemonic views of today. This is similar in the film ‘Divergent’ with the male character ‘Four’ who is this tough mean male. He too is perceived as this tough trouble maker through his actions as well as his choice of clothing (all black)


The character from Divergent may be perceived as the bad guy however, we soon discover like in The Black Widow, he isn’t as bad as we think. Our film and Divergent challenge hegemonic ideas where by the ‘trouble maker’ ends up being the vic-tim of the real villains plans.

Props

The props used in the Black Widow clearly represent the social groups included in the media film to help


Props

The props used in the Black Widow clearly represent the social groups included in the media film to help

The females bedroom is filled with expensive dolls and bears. This shows again her rich back-ground but also gives the audience the idea she is young for her age meaning it comes as a sur-prise when the audience find out she’s a killer.

The hockey stick at the beginning of the film is an unlikely weapon to be used or carried around on a dark night. This may show lack of experience of the criminal or suspicious figure. This may allow the audience to come to a conclusion of who the hooded figure was/ is.

Costume

Costume choices are extremely important in telling us about the character. This can give us a hegemonic out-look on a character or in some cases can be subverted to hide the true about a character like in the Black Widow.

Crimson’s outfit reveals the idea of her being this rich good girl stereotype that is never in trouble. You get the idea from her rich coloured clothing often worn by those with wealth. All her clothes are pristine with no stains, scratches or scraps on any item of her clothing. Her simple clothes suggest she doesn’t want to stand out or be centre of attention in anyway which enables the shy aspect of her personality to be subtly intro-duced.


Crimson is also seen wearing gold jewellery. it is only subtle but it again shows her wealth in that she can afford to have gold jewellery bought for her. The audience my get the idea that she is a snob before she speaks but the moment the events unfold the audience see her in a different light.

Luke is dressed in your traditional bad boy clothing. The leather jacket brings out the biker boy look in the male character instantly causing the audience to jump to the conclusion that he’s the villain in this opening sequence. The audience should see this character as the rebellious trouble maker as the idea of ‘all black’ is all part of the symbolism of darkness and trouble according to colorology of to-day. The audience are mislead as the find out to-wards the end of this opening sequence meaning the costume along with the dialogue have followed the typical hegemonic idea of a teenage male of to-day.

The Hooded figure at the beginning of the opening se-quence follows todays hegemonic idea of your typical ‘yob’ that does nothing but cause trouble on the streets. By having the hooded figure dressed in an ill fitted coat instantly portrays to the audience that this person is up to no good and is obviously going to cause trouble. The hegemonic idea allows us to give the audiences an idea about each character without having to verbally tell them. Even when the hooded figure is revealed the char-acter is still wearing the hooded clothing to reenforce the idea to the audience that they are the real bad person.


Dialogue

There is very little dialogue used through the opening sequence which is typical to most thriller open-ings. However what is said does allow the character social groups to be portrayed in both positive and negative ways.

The male character is the character that speaks the most in this opening sequence which repre-sents the idea of the trouble makers being all mouth and not acting upon it.

The aggressive tone he has towards Crimson is also part of the hegemony of the rebellious male teenager. The way in which Luke speaks give the audience the idea that he is the bad guy taking them away from the motive that Crimson has to kill him.

The female character is the opposite to Luke. She hardly speaks and even when she does her sentences often only consist of one or two words. This follows hegemonic ideas where by the fe-male shy character is quiet and obedient towards her rebellious boyfriend. The idea of her speaking very little also gives the audiences the idea of her being quite secretive but this is overpowered by the male dominance that Luke has over Crimson.


Mise en Scene

The way in which the characters react to each other and things they find out throughout this clip all add to the mise en scene created about their social group.

The facial expressions in which Luke has towards Crimson and the situation is the hegemonic reaction of a rebellious teenager today. By having his aggressive facial expressions to go with the tone of his voice exaggerates to the audiences his social group and the typ-ical features that come with his group. The exaggeration also covers up the idea of Crimson being the villain and shows her as a victim instead.

Luke’s social group reactions contrast with the reactions of Crimson. Crimson is shown to be scared and innocent. When she finishes on the phone with Luke her face shows this scared al-most startled deer look. Its as though she doesn’t know what to do or is panicking which allows the build up of the later events to increase as the au-

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Evaluation Question 2