2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Inspired by a visit to a homeless shelter last summer, during which we had the stereotype of the homeless (as druggies, wino tramps and bag ladies) challenged, I wanted to show that many types, ages and classes of people can find themselves on the streets. The character Sam is upbeat, positive, polite and posh, and it is these qualities which will repeatedly save Taylor and him falling into a hopeless pit of pity and despair.

Levi-Strauss's literary analyses identified that all narratives are organised around conflicting binary opposites, which are employed to gain understanding of people and events. Sam and Taylor are examples of binary opposites; girl/boy; white/black; working class/middle class; weak/strong; and naïve/experienced. These qualities may have associated, secondary, inferred and perhaps unequal, binary oppositions, values and stereotypes, e.g. uneducated versus educated, or vulnerable/invincible, so the first impressions quickly build a mental picture of the characters which can be valuable but which can also impact our opinion and expectations of that character.

Please wait for all four pictures. the presentation is not finished until the screen goes black.

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