How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product represents one particular social group in particular; young gang members, otherwise known to many people as ‘youths’. In our film we depict young stereotypical gang members. Gang culture and crime is currently a very hot subject in the media. In London there have been 169 separate gangs identified; with more than a quarter said to have been involved in murders. Gangs are responsible for more than a fifth of youth crime in London, according to the Metropolitan Police report seen by BBC London and the unpublished report found that nearly half of London gangs had been involved in serious assault.

Due to this many people in today’s society people have a very set view of what many people are like or act like just by where they come from/what they look like, they stereotype many youngsters with the same negative label just because of the behaviour they see some individuals doing. We have played on this stereotype of gang members by using characters which talk using incorrect grammar, wear tracksuits, bandannas, live in a particular urban area, fight, don’t work and whom generally live up to this bad label. We chose to represent this particular social group because we feel that the audience will be able to relate more to people like this because this it’s a very common social group found in today’s society rather than the stereotypical older aged, suited and wealthy gangsters found in many American gangster films. Also by choosing to use this particular stereotype it is incorporating a very much debated and problematic modern day issue of gang warfare and crime-maybe even sending a message to people who are part of young gangs who watch the film, making them realise that it can have devastating consequences as well as attracting a wider audience of people who have heard about it in the media and are intrigued or who are just generally interested by the culture itself.

In the introduction of our film we also play on the stereotype of this particular social group further by creating our film title in graffiti. Graffiti is a typical thing expected of gang members nowadays whether they be marking territorial boundaries, warning rival gangs or simply to glorify their own gang, therefore we chose to incorporate it so reflect that the social group we are depicting is fighting for territory.

However we do not only depict a negative stereotype of gangs, we also depict a police type force within society (TAGS). These are a group of people who are trying to stop the gang culture within the streets. This is a stereotypical image of ‘do-gooders’ within society who are trying to make it a safer and better place. The TAGS force that we represent are all suited and respectably dressed, well spoken and generally live up to the people that you see within society who are seen as doing well for themselves and whom people look up to. It’s ironic that within our media product we have depicted both positive and negative stereotyped groups in both extremes, however I think that this will appeal to the audience much more because it makes for the typical ‘good vs bad’ storyline that you expect to find in a film from this genre.  

BELOW IS OUR MAIN CHARACTER JAY;

A STEREOTYPICAL GANG;