Evaluation of Distribution Institution

 

From left to right: Conor, Rafael, Michael, David

 

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Evaluation of Representations of Men in Opening Sequence

Our Representations of Men

Theory Background

• Zombie genre makes analysis of representations of men interesting as predominantly male cast.
• This means that a range of representations are offered in the film.
• Some critics see competing representations as good (Perkins) - they prevent stereotyping from narrowing down ways social group seen in society.
• Thornham (feminist critic) thinks as men have strong position in society, does not really matter what their media representations are - hero stereotype will confirm social status and weaker roles played for comedy or overturned later.
• Coward argues against this - feels that male stereotyping is also significant and can be detrimental - even feeling forced into a hero role /alpha male role can be negative socially.

My Argument

• We create roles that suit our genre and narrative.
• As we have an all male cast, men naturally fill all these roles.
• Creates wider range of roles / stereotypes than Coward identifies BUT this is in absence of female cast members so necessity. Males take our weaker roles because someone has to play them to allow the story to unfold.
• I agree with Adorno - stereotyping necessary to create a narrative in a compressed art form like film. Our stereotypes / classic zombie roles help audience understand our film quickly.
• I agree with Thornham - our representations will not harm perceptions of men in society. Might reinforce some existing pressures to conform to 'hero' role however, but all narrative does this.

 

Our Male Archetypes / Roles

• In a typical zombie film, the hero of the movie is usually well-dressed, often in army gear or in smart attire like suits. This is done to show that the character is superior to the rest of the characters. It separates them from the rest of the group to make it easier for the audience to identify. 

• The picture on the left is taken from the movie Resident Evil, which fits our movie’s genre. The soldier is dressed in an army style completed with a gas mask and an assault rifle. This shows he is dangerous and has power. 

• The picture on the right is from our film and the character is Michael who is playing the hero/father figure role. We dressed him up in a suit to show his importance and he is also carrying a gun to show his power. Our editing will help to establish Michael’s character more as when he is first seen, he shoots the zombie immediately which saves the others. 



Stereotypical representation of alpha male in media / film



Alpha male representation in coursework

Kenneth Hall showing his power with his
 police officer outfit and shotgun.

David's grim expression showing his aggressiveness 

• The picture on the left is from the movie Dawn of the dead. It shows one of the main characters, Kenneth Hall who plays an ex-marine turned police officer. His character plays the aggressive leadership role and in terms of the actor, they have casted a well-built man who can fit the stereotypical aggressive man. 

• The picture on the right is David who plays the leader role in our film. To fit the role well, David is seen with a serious expression most of the time he is shown on the screen. This is so he stays in character which will help the audience identify him easier. 

• David’s dialogue is filled with commands and fierceness. In our editing of the opening sequence David leaves the frame as soon as he finishes talking to Rafael which shows his power among the group and where he stands to the audience. To be a leader in a typical zombie film, you need good physical abilities, so to show this, we gave David’s character sportsman’s clothing. 

• The picture on the left is taken from the movie Shaun of the Dead and the character on screen is Pete. Pete plays the short tempered and unlikable character. This is seen as he only has complaints to say to both Shaun and Ed. During his screen time, he can only be seen with a frown on his face. 

• The picture on the right is Conor Cid-Fuentes who plays the same role, when they were playing football Conor was positioned as goalkeeper and when he fails to save a goal his temper erupts showing his dissatisfaction. This will hopefully create a bad impression of his character, which is what his role is supposed to do. Conor does not have special clothing which highlights his role so we used how he acted to do this in the opening sequence. 

Glenn using his knowledge to make up a plan to
 escape the attacking
zombies.

Rafael preferring to read his text book rather
than playing football with his friends.

• The picture of the left is from the hit series The Walking Dead. The character shown is Glenn Rhee, who is one of the main characters in the series and also the intelligent character. Glenn shows off his intelligence when he is first introduced into the series as he saves the main character with his knowledge of the area which allowed them to escape the attacking zombies. 

• The stereotype that Asians are smart may have been added here because Glenn’s role is supposed to be the quick thinking character and the producers may have thought the easiest way for the audience to recognize him is to use this stereotype which almost everyone is familiar with. 

• In our opening sequence Rafael does not participate in the game of football, which is a sport loved by almost every young child in the UK. Instead he prefers to read his textbook in the side-lines. By doing this we establish him as the intelligent character and for the audience to easily remember him we dressed him up in smart casual wear with glasses. We added the glasses to his character because they commonly connote intelligence. 

Shaggy looking petrified and weak in the process.

Conor Fay showing his weak sports skills.

• In terms of appearance the picture of Shaggy in the Scooby-Doo movies, resembles the picture on the right who is Conor from our movie. Both characters have something in common and that is that they lack physically and do not seem to be good at anything. 

• In our film we used football to show Conor’s lack of physicality. Shaggy has long hair which shows that he is weak as men with long hair represents that they are more feminine. Conor has long hair on our film which is why we have decided to give him the weak/sacrificial role. 

• The big difference between them is that Shaggy is the main character and does not die early. In our opening sequence the opposite happens, Conor dies early and turns into a zombie. This is done so the characters in the film can know what is going on in their world. Another thing they have in common is that they are both tall and slender which again fits the weaker role.  

Summary

• Overall, we have used many stereotypes to help highlight the character's roles.
• Adorno says stereotyping is necessary to allow the audience to understand the plot line as well as the characters.
• Although stereotyping has its benefits for the movie it is used in, there are also drawbacks for using them.
• Our opening sequence uses stereotyping efficiently to establish plot and character and catch interest.
• We offer a wide range of male stereotypes which compete with each other and balance each other out.

Evaluation of Coursework Representations

Issues around Representation

Our two minute sequence only features a  male cast. This is quite typical of the zombie genre which tends to focus on groups of male characters.

Our characters consist of a hero (played by Michael O’Loughlin) and four teenagers of differing personalities who are all terrified when one of their number becomes a zombie (Rafael Dalpat (I), David Dizon, Conor Fay and Conor Cid – Fuentes). 

It also features two younger characters that later become endangered. These two characters take on Propp's princess role.  Cameron and Niall (The ‘Princesses’) take on the stereotypical female showing that later on in the film, they are the ones in need of rescue; Michael assists them.

Lacey suggests that in single sex casts, traditionally gendered roles are often subverted.  This is the case in our film, where the characters all have more than one role and movebetween the hero, villain and princess categories depending what part of the film we are in. 

In our film,  Michael is portrayed as an older and more powerful character. His costume is a suit, which gives him more status than the other boys, who wear casual clothes. Also due to him being the tallest character, Michael would stand out as a figure that would escalate above the zombie (Conor Fay) and ‘Princess’ in danger, Cameron. Therefore, this along with his gun (protection) establishes Michael as a ‘father figure’.  

The leader of the group is David. We see this by him making making most of the decisions within the group, For example, when the boys decide whether or not to look for Conor.

As a group, we established David as as a character who is aggressive and demanding. David is the sort of person who always acts very solemnly towards others and he wants things to be done his way.

David, the leader of the group, showing his
aggressive and demanding manner compared to Rick from The Walking Dead.

 

Rafael (I) is the mature and knowledgeable character within the group. He should be the leader as he creates his opinions based around common sense and knowledge. Showed  by wearing smarter clothes compared to the others, he is the character who chooses to sit and work instead of playing football with the others. 

The prop that makes Rafael stand out is his glasses. Glasses are stereotypically used to connote intelligence. This, therefore allows the audience to see what Rafaels' character will be like  very quickly. As a group, we felt that a character with a intelligent personality was needed for our story. This person would then think about opportunities as to how to help the boys find safety.

Glenn from The Walking Dead
 is like Rafael due to clothing and intelligence.

Here Rafael (I) decide to study than play football with the others showing
his intelligence and maturity compared to the others.

 

The next character is Conor Fay. He is the vulnerable one who is most likely to be killed first. This is proved by how he dies first and becomes a zombie. Compared to Rafael, Conor Fay and the two little boys are the weakest alongside a lack of intelligence  Conor Fay and the boys are more innocent then the others, hence the reason they die first.

Shaggy from Scooby Doo is a similar character to Conor as he is scared and left helpless. 

The boys are playing football, however Conor
isn't up to Conor CF and Davids' level.

The two boys (princesses) are shown as vulnerable characters as they don't expect  the danger, alongside the fact that  they are young.

Conor CF is the character that is known as the ‘medium’. He has the concerned side that Rafael has but like David, he lacks the knowledge that Rafael has. 

Compared to Merle form The Walking Dead, Conors' Cid-Fuentes'short temper.

The final character is Michael. He has the power in our extract as he is the tallest actor, towering over others with his intelligence and professionalism. With his gun and him being in a suit, these make him stereotypically the strongest and most powerful character.

 

The 'father figure' (Michael) is the one in power. We see this
through his character and possession of the gun. Also showing Doyle from 28 Weeks Later

representing his leadership and professionalism.

Theories about Representation

Coward breaks down the roles that men take in media texts, into four different categories. She argues that men are stereotyped a lot more than is commonly debated, as the main focus of debate is often on women.  She uses her research to show that male stereotypes are as narrow and limited; however, although they come across as being positive towards the gender, they can be just as harmful as female stereotypes if you agree with Pickering’s hypothesis.  The roles that she claims that men have in media texts are:

• To triumph over others and avoid defeat by any means necessary
• To seek approval from a father figure
• They will interact and connect with other males
• They need to have a romantic interest to purse and achieve 'victory' over

All our characters want to triumph over the zombies and want the zombie killer's approval. Bonding and romance would emerge from the plot later in the film. So maybe Coward is right to point out these limited roles.

However, our representations are more interesting and complex than this because they change constantly through the piece with all the characters showing strength and weakness, so their roles also change. We have therefore given quite a rich representation of men.

Evaluation of Representations in Coursework

Issues around Representation of Gender

Theoretical Overview

Suggestions our Representations are Harmful

- Coward suggests in film, men play one or more of 4 narrowly defined roles.
- Feels that male stereotypes are as narrow and limited as that of women but little debated
- On surface seem positive roles:

• They have to triumph over others and avoid defeat by any means necessary
• They have to seek approval from a father figure (it doesn’t have to literally be a father)
• They will interact and connect with other males (male bonding)
• They need to have a romantic interest to pursue and achieve ‘victory’ over

- Coward argues even though reinforce ideas of male dominance, as "biased and limited" as Pickering claims more negative stereotyping to be.

- A lot of this is relevant to our coursework:

- remaining boys/survivors are going to fight zombies in order to carry on surviving (triumph over others)

- help and guidance from the ‘zombie killer’ later on in the film (father figure)

- one of the boys revealed to have girlfriend later in film which would lead to the other boys working together in order to rescue her (romantic interest and male bonding)

- Coward also theorized that the representations of male characters in media texts are based around fear of ‘symbolic castration,’ meaning that they have an object that defines their masculinity they don't want to lose / aspire to gaining.

- At end of sequence, Michael comes along with a gun and saves boys

- Feminist critic Sue Thornham claims that it doesn't matter if men are represented negatively or limited in the same way that women are because they are ranked higher socially so, their media representation doesn't affect their ‘real’ life representations.

Suggestions our representations are necessary for narrative / genre

- Adorno claims that stereotypes are a necessary shorthand to allow the audience to understand the plot line and characters

- Perkins claims that stereotypes aren’t damaging if their status as a narrative device is clear as the audience is intelligent enough to understand that in ‘real’ life they don't apply

- Similarly Dyer claims that as long as people can tell the difference between media and reality, stereotypes “do no harm.”

 

Specific Comments on Our Representations of Gender

 

Our film opening features a male-only cast:
- the hero (Michael the ‘zombie killer’)
- the helpless characters in need of rescue (Nial and Cameron the ‘princesses’).
The ‘princesses’ take on stereotypically female role - suggests that Propp's archetypes not gender-dependent but needed to fulfil narrative.

The actors in our film aren't quite men yet
- to fulfil father figure role, Michael needed to be older
- you can see as we want him to look older, stronger and experienced in his job
- hence why he was wearing a suit, whereas the other boys were wearing casual clothes (e.g. the tracksuits and jeans)
- also the tallest actor in our piece so it would make sense for him to tower over the zombie and the ‘princess,’ Cameron.

In our piece, we tried to get different characters to fit each role:
- David is the leader of the group.
-We depicted this by making him make decisions, e.g.  decide when to look for Conor.
-We made David come across as aggressive and not always fair, he is the sort of person who always acts serious and gets what he wants done. 
- We can compare this role to the one of Selena from 28 Days Later who is a survivor in the zombie apocalypse who is in charge of a group and doesn't hesitate; she acts and thinks quickly, even if the result isn’t what is fair.

David is shown as an aggressive leader

Selena is often portrayed as aggressive
in 28 Days Later

- Interesting because again shows that the most crucial thing is that the role is fulfilled for the narrative, not which gender takes role.- Rafael is the quiet, intelligent one who should be the leader as he creates his opinions based around logic

- We showed this by making him wear smarter clothes than the others, as well as choosing to sit by himself and work instead of playing football, we also used to use glasses as a prop as stereotypically glasses connote intelligence

-  We felt that this role was needed for our story as we can imagine that his intelligence will help the boys find safety.

-We can compare the role of Rafael to Glenn from The Walking Dead TV series, based around an apocalyptic world filled with Zombies. Glenn is the smartest character in the series and helps save Rick from dying by using his intelligence

Showing the differences between the
physical (David) and the intelligent (Rafael)

Showing how Glenn from The Walking Dead
 is like Rafi due to clothing and visible
 lack of physical strength

 

- Conor Fay (eventual zombie) is the vulnerable one - we showed this by having him play football badly. 

- Conor Fay and the two little boys are the weakest as they seem more innocent then the others and lack the intelligence of Rafi

- This compares to Vivian (the little girl at the start) of the Dawn of the Dead remake who gets killed first due to her lack of strength. This represents the more feminine characters as the ones who are weaker and more likely to get killed, stereotyping female or feminine characters as weak and helpless.

- We avoided giving Conor overtly feminine characteristics so again, more to do with choices about role than gender.

Showing Conor Fays lack of football skill in
comparison to the others

Showing how being less 'manly' is
 stereotypically why I would die first

Showing the two boy's vulnerability 

Showing how Vivian from Dawn of the Dead
 dies because she is young and weak

 

- Conor Cid-Fuentes shares the same sort of character role as Frank from 28 Days Later as he is a caring father who is out to protect his family but doesn't know where safety and requires the help of others to get there. He sometimes shows his aggressive side when he is trying to help protect others.

Showing Conor CF's lack of patience

Showing how Frank from 28 Days Later
sometimes gets angry

- Michael has the power in our extract as he is the tallest actor, he looks intelligent and professional as he has a suit and as well as having a gun, these make him stereotypically the strongest and most powerful character.

- We could compare Michael to Doyle from 28 Weeks Later as he is a professional male who helps others achieve safety, has a gun (representing power) and becomes a leader. These stereotype professional looking men as the strong characters who are needed for everyone else’s safety.  It also shows weapons as being the ‘key’ to gaining respect and authority.

Showing Michael's more sophisticated and
professional appearance in comparison
 to the other characters

Showing how Doyle from 28 Weeks Later
 looks like the leader as he is professional
looking and has a gun

Overview of Our Work
 

- We have shown a large range of male roles.

- We do have characters that fall into the four 'narrow' roles Coward defines

- But we also have roles for male characters that fall outside these e.g. 'princess' and victim

- This is because of our all-male cast - naturally broadens the number of representations

 

 

Evaluation of Representation

 

Our Male Representations

 

• Our film was purposely created to follow the conventions of a classic zombie horror film. Genre and representation are linked as formulaic genres such as ours use a limited number of character roles.

• A stereotypical zombie horror film is based around a group of friend and one then will go missing, and most likely end up dying. One example of this is 'Shaun of the Dead'.

• In conventional zombie  films, there is always one location that the main characters can return to as it is a place of safety, it is evident that this is the garden area for the boys.

• The personality of each character in our film is similar to those in other zombie horror films.

• The first character we see is Conor. From his clumsy attempts at football, he is the weak one, the outsider.

Missed kick annoys the other boys

• David is the leader (active, decisive, not always kind), mostly represented through dialogue. Rafi is the nerd (glasses, book), represented through props.

 

Leader and nerd

• The initial victims (princesses) are two young boys. They are first seen walking in a wood. Their age makes them vulnerable. Their role is represented through casting and the location - the quiet wood has connotations of threat and danger.

 

Vulnerable children


• Conor C is the impatient man of action who does not always think things through. This is shown through facial expressions when he does not save a goal.

 

 

Frustrated facial expression



• I played the zombie killer, the father figure the rest of the cast learn from.

• Thanks to the element of costume in mise-en-scène, it is easy to tell who the superior member of the cast is. From the suit I was wearing I was portrayed as the elder, wiser and more experienced / knowledgeable character.

• The boys were forced to look up to me as I was the one who saved them; this is ironic as they literally did look up to me because I was the tallest character. The remaining boys were clothed in stereotypical teenager clothes, jeans and tracksuits.

 

Suit and serious expression

 

Issues around Representation

• In the opening of our film, we are only introduced to a male cast.  Therefore the archetypal roles Propp identifies have to be taken by men.  This is often the case with an all male cast.
• Coward suggests that the roles of men in media fall under four different points. They are:

• They must triumph over others and void defeat.
• They will interact and bond with other males.
• A romantic interest will be the cause of the pursuit
• Each character will seek approval from a father figure

• Coward explains that the male stereotypes are as narrowing and limited as those are for female roles. To link two theories together, Pickering suggests that stereotyping can be damaging to the social group and reinforces limited roles.  
• The first role Coward suggests isn’t evident in our extract. However, we had planned later in the film that the boys would fight and survive other zombies.

• Our father figure in the extract was I. It is evident that without my character, the boys would have fallen victim to the zombie. I would then progress in teaching them the ways to go about killing and surviving against the zombies.

• We also planned that one of the boys would reveal that he has a girlfriend that has been missing for several days.

• The group would bond over her rescue.

• This therefore suggests that we have used all the stereotypical and limited roles that are mentioned in Cowards theory. This could be a problem as it limits the roles of males in real life and when they cannot perform to these stereotypes, their image may be harmed.

• On the other hand it was appropriate to use these stereotypes as it allowed use to tell the story of the film easier and a lot better.

• It is also interesting that roles change through the film. Conor begins as the weak one, the victim, but becomes the villain when he is changed into a zombie and has more power.

The zombie villain

• David begins as the leader, but faced with his first zombie, runs away with the rest of the group, all of them becoming the weak victim.

Running away

• Because of the largely male cast, there is a broader range of roles than Coward suggests and these change as the film progresses, creating a variety of competing male representations.

• However, we have drawn heavily on stereotypes and ultimately all the male characters aspire to victory over the zombies so the representations are limited in this way. However, this is dictated by genre and most audiences do not take zombie films seriously.