Example Questions

Who is being represented?

How are they being represented?

How are they presented as a character?

Consider political/institutional/social context.

Consider whether it is a positive or negative representation.

Representation of Men - Timeline

1940s’ – Men were represented as the main breadwinners of the household, while it was the women’s job to stay in and look after the home and children.

Most advertisements were aimed towards men, mainly focusing on products like cigarettes, alcohol and cars.

A man wasn’t seen as successful if he didn’t have a high paying career, a wife, a nice house and children to go with it.

1960s’ – From Russia with Love (1963)

Bond is the main and dominant role is this film, he is always seen as in control of the situation and even of the Women around him.

Bond is portrayed as very dominant, a mans man basically, he treats women as second class citizens and objects of his own sexual desire, E.G: The male gaze.

-       Alfie (1966)

Main character Alfie (portrayed by actor Michael Caine) also treats women as objects, so much so that he often refers to many of the women he’s been with as “It”.

During his monologues, spoken directly to the camera, he is often very rude and impersonal to the women he knows, calling them stupid and talking about them in a very derogative way.

Character grows and develops personally throughout the film, learning from his mistakes and trying to correct them in the process, ultimately fails however, as none of his past lovers want him back. Alfie is also shown to receive a sort of “comeuppance” at the end of the film, finding his current interest in bed with another younger man.

1970s’ – Kramer Vs Kramer (1978)

Character of Ted Kramer reinforces the media’s idea about male gender in terms of values and traits; for example, he has a well-paid job and nice flat, thus meaning he is a success.

Character of Joanna Kramer however, has interesting gender representation as she rejects stereotypical role, leaving her husband and child, stating that she isn’t a good mother.

Throughout the film, you see a change and challenge of Ted Kramer’s gender role in terms of being a more sensitive and caring father.

1990s’ – Thelma + Louise (1990)

Men are represented in a very negative way, very much reinforces stereotypes of men in terms of their values and traits; JD, Earl and Harlan are all examples of this.

Men are often passive, were as women are active, the women are central characters.

These “strong, independent and powerful” women show masculinity in crisis.

Brad Pitt represents the sexual objectification of the male body, this sort of this was also seen in advertising, E.G: Calvin Klein, Men’s underwear.

- Golden eye (1995)

Bond now has a Female boss, an older woman, which demonstrates how times have changed drastically.

The film makes reference to masculinity in crisis.

-       The Full Monty (1999)

The main characters reinforce the generic British male stereotype, displaying brutish behavior. The whole film makes reference to masculinity in crisis, yet managing to make it humorous, giving something for the male audience to relate to.

Representation of Women - Timeline

 1940s’ – Women are represented as housewives and mothers, they had very little economic power and most advertisements/products were aimed towards men, those aimed towards women however were of things that were typical amongst housewives, For example, kitchen appliances and beauty products.

There were little in the way of role models for women during the 1940’s

1945 (The wicked lady, Brief encounter) most were portrayed (in films) as adulteress; feisty and manipulative, and powerful women were seen as a threat to men and the women were often punished at the end of the film for their “outlandish” behaviour.

1950’s – (Genevieve) The main female role is represented as a housekeeper who looks attractive and can cook, reinforcing gender stereotyping at the time, the character however seems to push for more independence. The second female character is a model but is independent; this representation still comes from a male perspective and it reinforces stereotyping.

1958 to 1978 – The ‘Carry On’ franchise

This franchise began in the 50’s when the public was repressed, the films seemed almost obscene, and marriage was also considered a must.

During the 60’s, the country was starting to go through a sexual revolution. Eg: the ‘Swinging Sixties’, ‘The Pill’ is invented and women have more freedom regarding their sexuality.

During the 70’s, appearance is considered more and more important, Anne summers opens and starts selling ‘raunchy’ women’s clothes, equal pay is also made law, again, giving them more freedom.

1960’s – Women are represented in a more independent way, the soap opera Coronation Street was targeted at a female audience, which is reflected by the relatively strong, but still archetypal female characters. Women were still often represented as housewives; however, their husbands were regularly ‘Hen picked’.

1964 (Goldfinger) Women were also shown as ‘objects’, for example, the scantily woman is found dead in Bonds bed covered in gold, suggesting that women are considered, as gold connotes, a form of currency. This is a prime example of the “male gaze’.

During this time, cinema audiences were mainly men, the problems with this representation are this it is chauvinistic, patronising and degrading to woman, however, during the era in which the film was made, it was far more acceptable.

1970’s – The leading roles in most entertainment are masculine as cops/detectives, whilst the women are either there as the ‘princess’ or as an assistant (secretary), the women were seen as just ‘sex objects’. The programme ‘the professionals ‘was aimed at a male audience as they still had the most spending power.

1980’s – A new phenomenon has emerged, the “House husband”, this is represented in the television series Juliet Bravo, a woman is given the lead role in a relatively high power position as a police officer whilst her husband keeps the home. However, the women were still represented in a maternal nature and tended to deal with unchallenging story lines.

1990’s – (Prime Suspect) leading character Jane Tennison works within a masculine atmosphere, where most of the female police do menial work, such as filing clothes etc. When Tennison takes over, the male members try to ruin her plans, ultimately undermining her.
This show reinforces stereotypes as Tennison is an older woman, as younger women are not usually represented as being powerful and/or strong.

1998 – (Sex and the City) A show that revolves around four women, each of them represents different aspects of American women. They are generally all professional, aside from Charlotte who prefers the traditional “housewife” role, the other three women have highly paid and influential jobs and they often talk about how men are only good for things such as sex, breaking the stereotype.

Front cover analysis - Grazia magazine

Visual codes

Colour: - Bright yellow and white stand out on a neutral background, the yellow is a very feminine colour, so it fits in with the target audience, women.

Clothing & Physical appearance: - Image on front is of famous singer Cheryl Cole, looking upbeat and happy despite the coverlines that say otherwise.

Famous icon attract the target audience to the magazine as Cheryl Cole is depicted as someone that “all women can relate too”, making the target audience want to read about her.

Body language & Facial expression: - Warm welcoming smile, open body language to draw people in, however she is hiding behind sunglasses.

Reinforces western idea of beauty because of the way she looks, primped and tanned, thin with nicely done hair etc.

Composition: - Full body shot, focussing on her midsection and face, her face replaces the “Z” in Grazia.

Lighting: - High-key lighting in a very open space, maybe using natural lighting as she is outside, perhaps showing that she herself is a very open and natural person.

Language codes

Connotations of Title: - “Grazia” which is Italian for grace, reinforces that this is a sophisticated European magazine, aimed at sophisticated European women.

The British version often has the “Z” replaced with a celebrities head, making the audience drawn to it more and so that the title doesn’t obscure the main focus away from the image.

Coverline: - The main coverlines don’t actually reinforce what the main image tells us, saying the opposite to what the audience may think about the pictures. This makes the target audience intrigued.

Strapline: - The Strapline reinforces the magazines main image and goal, to be/that it is the best fashion and gossip magazine around.

Type of Language: - Informal, playful and friendly, as if reading what you or one of your friends has written.

Presumes target audience has time to spare to look at the cover thoroughly.

Also presumes that target audience has a taste for fashion, as there is lots of it mentioned within the language use.

Persuasive techniques: - The content, images and taglines combined draw the target audience in and make them want to buy this magazine.

Story idea Pitch

Horror Film Pitch


Film begins with a neighborhood babysitter, baby sitting her next door neighbors young baby when she suddenly receives a mysterious phone call on her cell phone, with an unknown number appearing on the screen.


She answers curiously, 'who could be calling her at this time of night?' she ponders. after answering she hears a low pitched threatening voice, asking her if the baby's okay, that she should probably go check on him as there's a madman on the loose. Out of fear from the unknown number, the girl rushes upstairs to check the baby and calls the police to trace the number and come to the house, eventually it turns out the number that called her is the number of the house that she's in.


Madness ensues and she find herself on a wild goose chase to escape the madman inside the house.

Horror film Trailers

Ju-on: The Grudge


- Haunting takes place often in isolated area's (Inside their house)
- Only one person at a time is haunted
- The other characters often do not believe that the main character is being haunted
- Enigma codes apply to this film as you do not know why these ghosts are here or why they're haunting the house/people


Characters - Two spirits (Mother & Son) haunting a family (husband, wife, mother-in-law)
Narrative - Set in the present
Lighting - Often dark or low key lighting, scariest scenes often set when its dark outside


In the trailer, there is a voice over of a man detailing snippets of what the film is about. there are short and fast paced clips of the characters in frightening situations and there are sharp string violins playing in the background, bringing on tension.


The Exorcist


- The possession of the young girl gets worse as the film goes along
- The possessed girl never leaves her room and you know every time one of the characters enters her room, something bad is going to happen
- The possessed girls antics don't just happen at night, but the majority of them do


Characters - The young possessed girl, the girls mother and the Exorcist/priest that helps them
Narrative - Set in the present
Lighting - Hard lighting is used in a lot of the scenes


In the trailer, there is also a voice over of a man, telling you of some of the things that happen within the film, and with all horror movie trailers, there are snapshots of the characters in frightening situations, for example, the mother walking in her daughters room to find her being possessed etc.


Silence of the Lambs


- You know more than the characters do (who the killer is etc)
- The scariest scenes happen at night or when Clarice is in an isolated area


Characters - Clarice Starling (An FBI trainee) Hannibal Lector (A cannibalistic sociopath) and Buffalo Bill (A deranged serial killer)
Narrative - Like most horror/thriller films, its set in the present
Lighting - mostly low key lighting


In the trailer the characters talk before the actual voice over, again the voice being of a man, they say things to do with what the film is about. clips are shown within the trailer of the characters in frightening situations but without giving too much away.

Copycat Advert

Here is my version of the Nivea "My silhouette!" advert.
As you can see, I have not produced exactly the same image as the one in the advert, as i could not find it, however, i do think that it is a good match.