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.