Representation

Hello Blog. Today we’ll be talking about representation in our film.

Our film is representative of teenagers in relationships that are in most horror/thriller genres. Our film follows a theme of being careful of who you allow in your life specifically “boyfriends” and “girlfriends”. Young adults often get wrapped up in their significant other and turn a blind eye to ordeals that happen with them, which cause them to get into dangerous situations? Our main character has a “carefree, happy teenage girl” aesthetic. However as the story continues her reality becomes much darker as her boyfriend ends up killing her.

Our film is stereotypical to young adults/teenagers in horror/thriller films. There is a scene where Jasmine goes to greet Jonathan, her boyfriend, outside and doesn't find him causing her to return outside. When she closes her front door Jonathan is seen by the audience but not by Jasmine. He's dressed in all black with a robber/killer ski mask. This convention is very stereotypical for our type of film especially since it’s a “jumpscare” for the viewers. Additionally, after Jasmine sits on the couch he jumps out and scares her while simultaneously raising a knife to her neck. The entire movie and the way we filmed it including the background music is very typical to the genre. With that in mind I will say there are a few things in our film that challenge representation. We give the character more depth, instead of entirely following the "helpless victim" stereotype. We did this by showing more of her personality, lifestyle, and routine in order to shape a certain perspective of her in the audience’s mind.

Additionally, I think we could add even more depth to our characters. For Jonathan the boyfriend we could give him more screen time and show how he acts as Jasmine’s boyfriend rather than just a killer. For Jasmine we could do the opposite and show her from the perspective of a person that has a life rather than someone who’s so fixated on her boyfriend.

Hope you enjoyed 😊