Wednesday, 2 March 2011

How does the representation of a particular social group change over time?

How does the representation of a particular social group change over time?


The film Alfie was set in the 1960s that showed the representation of family in a different way to films contemporary such as Kidulthood. In the 1960's families were more traditional in the values they portrayed and their beliefs. They believed that if a woman became pregnant, it was vital for them to be married to ensure they stayed a part of society and remained respected. A key scene that supports this was when Gilda was in hospital after giving birth to her son and told them she was married to Alfie by wearing a wedding ring. This explains that people stuck to the general expectations of parenting in the 1960s. A theory that supports this is Stryker as he claims that if there is a social expectation, people stick to it. Therefore, if females were pregnant they were seen to be married, this is why Gilda pretended to be Alfie's Wife. 

In comparison, Kidulthood was set in present day and showed a group of teenagers behaving in different ways. The one character who came from a typical family were her parents stayed together, was the only character to show her unhappiness by committing suicide. However, the other females were seen to come from broken homes with parents who were divorced but dealt with life as it went on. A key scene would be at the beginning of the film where katie was being bullied by other students and the other teenagers were ignoring the fact this was happening. This represents families as this shows how children's behaviour can change due to their background and lifestyle (parents lifestyles). A theory that supports this is Marcuse as the media creates a profile that divorced parents can only create a misbehaved child. If this is what is in the media then people believe it due to them being a passive audience.

Film's aren't the only form of media that represents families in different ways as the TV series Misfits shows this too. In the TV programme, nathan, the main character, is thrown out of his house due to bad behaviour and upbringing by his mother. This shows how people push each other away in certain circumstances. 


- Good key scenes are used as examples
- Good background knowledge to help the reader understand the time periods etc


- More terminology and theorists are needed
- More analysis of key scenes

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