What different social groups featured in your opening

sequence?

Our main female character is Raven. Compared to other female characters in the Thriller genre she doesn’t follow the typical stereotype as in Thriller films the female is always the “Damsel in Distress” and awaits to be saved by a hero (particularly a male protagonist). This typical character type can be seen in The House at the End of the Street as the female main is tied up and looks physically weak. (middle) Also in “The Shining” with Emily’s character as her facial expression shows she is terrified.(left)Raven (right) does show some aspects of the typical female throughout our opening sequence but she is ready to protect herself which contradicts the stereotype.

Raven also challenges the stereotype of the female characters being dressed in white clothing (to show their pureness as seen by Millie in Mean Creek) as when we first see her she is in what can only be described as “delinquent clothes” which is an anti-stereotype in itself as stereotypical delinquents are usually male orientated. The fact that she isn’t in white which represents purity makes it obvious that she won’t be a typical female character.

Costume

Although she is a main female Raven defies Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory which states that the pretty girls are only there for male amusement. Although she is there, she isn’t wearing skimpy clothes that make her look physically prettier but is wearing plain baggy clothes so the purpose of her presence is to make a statement of female strength and deterministic instead of attracting male audience members like the theory suggests- a prime example offollowing the theory is Karen from Abduction (bottom)

Where Raven is mostly anti-stereotypical she still shows aspects of a typical female and that aspect is fear. Stereotypical females are the characters are usual scared as the male characters are the brave heroic type. In this aspect of character identification Raven is stereotypically conventional to her role as a female lead. We decided to include this aspect as it is rational for someone to be scared in the particular situation but Raven channels her fear to make her stronger.

Although Raven does follow some conventional aspects of the female character type she is mostly anti-stereotype as she is able to defend herself instead of having someone to help her. She is also portrayed differently from a typical female through her dark costume and the situation of her best friend’s murder. The fact that we have reversed the gender roles makes our idea original and was notified as a good idea from our target research. I think that the anti-stereotypical character of Raven will give a positive effect as it makes the audience think about the motive of the characters and their real personalities. It also doesn’t make any non-direct attacks on a particular group of people as we have a range of factors for Raven’s personality and lifestyle.

I think that the way we created Raven’s character went well but I feel we could have made the unconventional and anti-stereotypical of her personality clearer to make the meaning more known by the audience so they can decode the character correctly.