Representation

Representation

• 1.
  Dilini Gorsia Representation Media representations are the ways in which the media portrays particular groups, communities, experiences, ideas, or topics from a particular idea or perspective. They can be identified as stereotypes, archetypes and countertypes and can be individually described using age, gender, social class, ability/disability, sexuality, ethnicity and regional identity. Our production “The Darkness” has a very relatable character, for most university students. The setting for the opening sequence is a very typical rented house that Rachel shares with some of her other university friends. As she shares the house with others all the rooms are pretty neutral in colour and dull looking due to the fact that all the students are on a very tight budget. One character that reflects Rachel well is Nina Dobrev who plays Elena Gilbert in the American supernatural drama, The Vampire Diaries. I think this because much like Elena, Rachel is a fairly innocent yet mysterious character. Her personality shows that she is the protagonist throughout the film and is a brave female character that is trying to discover why the darkness has come into her life. Furthermore, Elena is also around the same age as Rachel and is a university student in the current series. We chose to use an innocent looking female so that the audience will instantly know who the protagonist is and also so that the audience immediately sympathise with her character. However, we also know that Rachel is brave and in some ways ruthless therefore this adds a hidden element to her personality. This is very similar to Elena as there are scenes in the vampire diaries were Elena shows bravery although we know she has dealt with a lot of grief in her life. Our antagonist is very similar to two antagonists in two very different films. Firstly, our antagonist Lucy, is very similar to Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) in the film ‘Orphan’. This is because they are around the same age and have very similar personalities. By this we mean, Esther is extremely dark and suspicious in terms of her attitude during the film. In addition to this Esther has a disability which is the same one we used in our synopsis to describe Lucy and is a form of representation. This disability is known as hypopituitarism and is a hormonal disorder that stunts a person’s growth. This is why the girls seem around 10 years old even though they’re really much older. As well as this, both characters are very cunning, disturbing and manipulative throughout the films although they may sometimes be portrayed to the other characters as innocent and vulnerable. This can be seen as a countertype and a stereotype. It is a stereotype in horror films as children have been used more and more over the past decade as antagonists in this genre. However, it can also be seen as a countertype in society as it is very unlikely that a “child” would act in this way.
• 2.
  Dilini Gorsia Oursecond antagonist representation is Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earle Haley) from a re-imagining of the film ‘A nightmare on Elm Street’. Our character Lucy maybe different to Freddy Krueger in terms of age and gender, however their role within each film is very similar. Just like Freddy, Lucy also appears as a character in the dreams of the protagonists as they both have a reference to the childhoods of each of the students. Once again both characters are vindictive and manipulative and of course scary/thrilling.