Thriller Evaluation: Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My opening to a Thriller interacts with several well-known stereotypes, both challenging and utilising a range of social assumptions.

Michael Caine in 'Harry Brown'

The conflict between different generations in Blind Faith is represented as a violent and ongoing one. As in Harry Brown, the older generation asserts its authority against the perceived hoodlum youngsters, but unlike the film, in which Michael Caine seeks revenge on a gang of teens from a South London estate for the murder of his only friend, the character of Jason is positioned as the villain. He is disillusioned in his overwhelmingly racist religious beliefs, so tries to protect his daughter by attempting to murder Caesar. Similarly to Harry Brown, the teens are the victims of the violence of the elder character, but instead of being a vigilante force for justice, Jason is the insane culprit to an unjustifiable attack on an innocent teen.

Noomi Rapace in 'The Girl Who Played With Fire'

  The representation of female characters in my film is limited to a degree. The only female lead role in Blind Faith is Sorrel, who plays Helen. Helen plays partly to the stereotype of the femme fatale, leading Caesar into dangerous territories with her feminine charms, but she means well and maintains her composure throughout. We sourced her defiant personality from Noomi Rapace’s portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in the Millennium trilogy. In my cut of the footage I wanted to create a female character that could hold her own in the presence of her villainous father, but still manage a stable relationship with Caesar. Caesar himself lies within the stereotype of the protective, heroic man. He is chivalrous and respectful of his girlfriend and determined to defy the wishes of Jason, who plays to the stereotype of the overprotective father. What may not be expected by the audience is Jason’s psychopathic will to kill Caesar.

There is not necessarily any clash in my film between social classes. Caesar is intended to be from a similar background in society to Jason and Helen’s working class family, though his great ambitions for his future have spurred him to break out of the bottom demographic via extensive study. The conflict is instead linked to Caesar’s race.

The most important decision in choosing the actors to play the three main roles was choosing Caesar as the hero. The underlying theme of the film is the threat of racism, whether brought on by religion or upbringing. We wanted to challenge the racial stereotypes and cast Steven, the white British father, as the main antagonist so as to label racism as criminal. A crime can be committed by anyone of any race or gender, and the prospect of racial role reversal was an exciting idea, so it was decided that Caesar would be the moral figure, much like Det. Somerset in Se7en.

Status is touched on briefly in the continuous door-slamming transition sequence of Blind Faith. Caesar and Helen walk up to the porch of the house side by side and interlocked with each other; their close proximity suggests they are in a relationship. Jason opens the door for Helen and the audience comes to assume that he is a figure of authority in her life. He slams the door on Caesar, which further shows authority and Jason’s dislike of him. The building up of the repeated action represent's Jason's pent up fury slowly rising to fever pitch.

Contemporary Britain in Blind Faith is represented as deceivingly safe. The suburban community is a family of sorts spanning all nationalities, and nature, although separated from humanity, is never far away. But when night falls the streets take on a completely different persona; danger may lurk around every corner, out in the woods or even on the street where you live. Any major settlement has its own seedy nocturnal activities and inner corruption, as seen in Witness and in Jackie Brown, when Ordell persuades Beaumont to sit in the car boot before killing him.

My thriller communicates a message of equality and how multiculturalism must be accepted in modern society. It takes into account that hate crimes and racism are still prevalent, but teaches the audience that such opinions are ignorant and immoral, and with work racial hate criems are preventable.