Evaluation Question two

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Elizabeth Fritzl is the main character in our film, from a young age she is repetitively sexually abused by her father. The three of us all agreed that we should represent others who have suffered similar abuse. We took time researching media which includes similar characters and eventually found two which particularly stood out to us...

Eastenders tackled paedophilia with a child abuse plotline. The character Whitney Dean was sexually abused by her step-father which strongly links to the theme of our opening.

Another media product we found was a campaign advert for Barnardo’s Children’s Charity.This advert doesn’t link AS well to our theme as it focuses on child prostitution, but is still relevant due to some of the nature in our film.

The image on the left shows a still of Whitney Dean in an episode of Eastenders. Due to the different costumes, Whitney and Elizabeth don’t look very alike. When considering costume ideas for Elizabeth we had to consider the fact that she is now in her 40’s and has been imprisoned for over 24 years, therefore she didn’t have the luxury of modern clothes, jewellery or makeup etc. Whereas Whitney is a modern character and of a younger generation. She has a different attitude towards her situation as she is not physically trapped like Elizabeth is. Although these two characters do not relate physically, they both share similar emotional situations, as both characters have been sexually abused by their fathers.

The image on the left shows a still from a campaign advert for Barnardo’s Children’s Charity, about the prevention of child prostitution. This situation may not be the same as Elizabeth’s but it does link with our theme, both little girls are innocent and vulnerable. The audience does not see either the little girl or the mans face during the advert, but this particular shot is similar to one which we included in our opening, as you only see the hand of Josef Fritzl. Another similarity between the character in the advert and young Elizabeth is their childlike appearances. In the advert the child Is dressed very ‘girly’ with sparkles and jewellery, which is very stereotypical for a little girl. Similarly we symbolise innocence in our product as Elizabeth plays with her cuddly toy.