Character Representations

1. Character
Representations
Eleni Papaioannou

2. Introduction
In this presentation I will explore the different
representations of the main character Bea in terms of
gender, age, class and ethnicity. I think it is important
to do this as by planning out the smaller elements of
her identity, my actors will have a better understanding
of their characters and can perform them to a higher
and more realistic standard. I also want my characters
to be conventional and fit with the representations of
characters found in psychological thriller films so I will
explore this too.

3. Gender
Stereotypically in the media women are presented as weak and inferior to men. From theorist
Theodor Adorno’s perspective, the “culture industry” or mass media force these dominant
identities onto audiences and they are forced to accept and conform to them. This is something I
considered when planning out the character of Bea. I wanted to conform slightly to the
conventional representation of women. This is shown by Bea’s vulnerability and insecurity as she
is being attacked by hallucinatory Justin. Also the fact that Bea struggles to see the difference
between reality and illusion also conforms to the gender stereotype that women are inferior to
men as the male characters such as Justin and Dr Edwards are able to see things from a rational
perspective. There is clear contrast in the ideologies of the male and female characters. Bea is
represented as irrational and victimised whereas Dr Edwards and Justin are represented as
helpful and logical. This also links to linguist Deborah Tannen’s theory on language and gender.
She believes that males and females belong to different sub cultures and speak differently as a
result. For example men use language as a tool to give advice (a logical and rational thing to do)
whereas women use language to give empathy to one another. This difference is clearly
highlighted in the two contrasting ways Bea and Justin confront their problems. From Tannen’s
perspective, Justin takes a stereotypically masculine approach by offering help and trying to find
a logical answer to Bea’s distress. However Bea takes a stereotypically feminine approach by
rejecting the advice and instead pushing it away. Bea doesn’t feel she has another female to talk
to about her problems which is why she isolates herself from society.

4. Gender
owever it is clear to the audience that Bea does need help as her

5. How does my character
compare to others?
Psycho was a film I looked at briefly in my research. The main female
character is Marion Crane and she is presented as the victim character as
she is violently killed by Norman. However she also breaks the gender
conformities of women at the time as she has sex outside of marriage
which would have been very unconventional. Even in the 1960s when the
film was released, women characters both conformed and rebelled against
gender stereotypes which is what I have done in the representation of my
female protagonist Bea.
Hayley shows a differing representation of women as she takes a more
dominant approach in the narrative. Hayley uses her femininity and
sexuality to her advantage to lure in her male victim. She then shows her
power and authority by torturing him. Her actions go heavily against the
gender stereotype. I would say, although Bea’s actions aren’t throughout
the film, she still does show her power. This is in the final scene when Bea
kills Justin as she believes by doing so she will now have control of her life
again. Even though she thought wrong, her intention still shows her to be a
dominant character.

6. Age
ms of the psychological thriller films I have analysed, young people

7. Age
However in other psychological thriller films such as,
Circle, there are a variety of representations within
teenagers and young adults. The first representation we
are given is of the student on the left (he is not given a
name). He is represented as being cruel and selfish as
he suggests that if they have to choose who to kill, they
should start with the elderly and leave the young ones
like himself to stay alive.
He clearly doesn’t have any care or remorse and represents young people as only
thinking of themselves. However Circle explores more representations of young
people. One teenage boy shows a selfless attitude that binary opposes that of the
student. He is willing to give his life to save a child despite him himself still being
young.
Circle has a pluralistic representation of young people that in some places does
conform to the stereotypes but in other ways does not. From this I can see that
psychological thriller films explore a wide variety of representation of young people
which is also what Bea does with her character.

8. Age
One could argue that Bea does conform to the
typically representation of young people as she
presents a danger to society by killing Justin.
However, Bea only does this because of the
growing strength of her mental illness that
causes her to not think in a rational way.

9. Class
others. Since the main target audience of psychological thriller film

10. Ethnicity
epresented as being a threat to society because they are suppose
esented in the media however they tend to be more negative in co

11. Ethnicity
have a more positive representation in the media. They are often po
• Intelligent
• A Hero
• The Protagonist
• Powerful
• Strong
o be white British people. Therefore my character’s ethnicity will be s

12. Ethnicity
ch is the opposite of the powerful representation that is often displayed. W