Representation: Blog task

1) List the different people/groups represented in the trailer (men/women/Americans etc.)

White male (Father)

White females (Daughter and mother)

Foreigners (Main villain)

2) For each group, you identify, decide whether the representation is a dominant or alternative portrayal. Explain why you think this.

For every portrayal in the the trailer, the representation is dominant. They each follow typical and expected stereotypes

3) What stereotypes can you identify in the trailer?
The white male is the dominant protagonist that fights his way through the bad guys in the film. This is shown through multiple violent action scenes.

The white females are shown as vulnerable and emotional due to the only scenes in the trailer shows the two crying or needing to be saved by the father

The eastern Europeans are the bad guys who will be beaten by the Caucasian protagonist.

4) Why might the Taken trailer offend or alienate certain groups?

It actively makes eastern europeans seem to be villanous, that kind of message can be taken harshly by viewers, making that view into a harmful view of that group.

The trailer also alienates women by making them seem inferior to men due to their constant need to be saved.

5) Why do mainstream film and television texts such as Taken so often use stereotypes?

Stereotypes are an effective and easy way to build a character. If you want the audience to understand that a certain character behaves in a certain way and why; the creators can just change the characters race and make that understanding quick and effective e.g. A black gangster is a common stereotype that’s used to identify a character's motives and characteristics, a black gangster is shown to be more aggressive and violent