Evaluation : Representation Of Social Groups

Social groups can be defined by age, gender, ethnicity, occupation and many more. It is a group of people that share similar beliefs and values.

When we were choosing the names for our characters, we wanted to choose a variety of different ethnic backgrounds. In particular the men’s names we chose were from a Mediterranean background, Carlos and Darius. We chose names from a similar ethnic background, because we wanted to establish that Kaitlin had a stereotypical type of man that she went for.

DARIUS#: (Quickly) This is my wife Lucy.

CARLOS#: (TO LUCY) (Bored) Hello Lucy.

LUCY#: (LOW) (Nervous) Hello

CARLOS#: (Concerned) (TO DARIUS) Is she okay?

(LUCY BURSTS INTO TEARS ON THE WORD YESTURDAY)

DARIUS#: She’s okay (.)

We have represented the men very differently in their roles. Carlos is a nice guy, a good boyfriend, who is generally interested in the welfare of others as you can see from the extract above, when he asks lucy if she is ok, he is generally concerned. Whereas Darius abuses his wife and is obsessed with Kaitlin, you can see from the above that he can’t handle hearing that Kaitlin loves anybody but him, and snaps at Carlos. Although we wanted to show that the two men are very different we also had to give them both a similarity, this is how protective of Kaitlin they are. especially in the scene below, Darius gets angry quickly when carlos says that kaitlain never talked about him. from the clip below you can distingusih instantly between them both.

Collective identity is a group of people that share a common interest or social activity; we chose the collective identity, of working women. This group consists of women, between the ages of 20-35, middle class, who are professional, this is Kaitlin and Ruby. You can see that Kaitlin is successful through her radio show and is a professional Kaitlin. As you can hear from the clip.Kaitlin and Ruby are very familiar with each other, they interrupt each other constantly. They both have similar regional accents, which shows they are from the same area and class.

Lucy is part of a collective identity of abused women, this group consists of women in a relationship who wants to leave but find it impossible. As you can see from scene below she is terrified of Darius, but she stays, because he says he loves her.

LUCY#: (D) (Terrified) Every night (.) When I came home he’s there (.) Always there (.) In a rage (.) I don’t know what to do (.) I know it’s gotten worse (.) What’s next (.) He already hits me (.) I just want to escape (.) I want to run away (.) I don’t want to come home anymore (TAKES A DEEP BREATH) Don’t ask me why I stay with him (SIGHS) Because I love him (.) That’s the simple answer isn’t it (.) He said he loves me and now this (.) I know I need help (.) But every time I try to tell someone I stop (.) I thought if anyone could help me it would be someone like you (.) I’m afraid (Close to tears) I live in fear every minute of every day (.) I fear my husband (.) and I don’t (.) I just (.) I’m scared-

Lucy feels that she has to keep up appearances as coming from a higher social status she feels she can’t let people know what she has become, as she doesn’t want to disappoint or upset anyone.