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

'Loanshark' Main Character Vs. 'Taken' Main Character & 'Mission Impossible' Main Character...

Our film represents particular media social groups through character. I'm going to be comparing our main character with the same character role from another mainstream film. 

Because of the lack of opportunity to search for, and hold auditions for our main character, we decided to use a student from our sixth form, however because most students have different timetables, and other commitments, we went with Graham, as he was the best choice to go with. He looked the part, and looked exactly how we wanted our main character to look. Our target audience are males aged between 14-35, so Graham was the perfect choice being young and average looking.


Most action films tend to typecast their main characters, so for example Daniel Craig being cast as James Bond as he dashing, strong, Liam Neeson being cast as Bryan Mills in 'Taken' as he is strong and has experience in action films, and Tom Cruise being cast as Ethan Hunt in 'Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol' as he has had experience in action films, looks dashing & is strong etc. 

So we decided to make Graham's character look average, and more realistic by allowing him to have a family, having financial problems, and wearing casual clothing. Compared to Liam Neeson's character (opposite), he doesn't look as if he would be the type to go against hardcore criminals. This was our goal. We wanted his character to be able to be related to by the audience, we wanted them to be able to sympathise with his character, and want to watch to see how he copes and whether or not he succeeds. This is what most people can relate to, seeing people who are exactly like them, being able to succeed in the unlikeliest situations because that's what they want to do.


Finally, because he is a average, fairly poor man, he doesn't have all the fancy gadgets like Tom Cruise's character in 'Mission Possible' does. This means that he has to this on his own, with just a gun and his bear skills. This makes it that little bit more realistic, and more relatable with the audience. 

Therefore, our main character represents the average man, aged between 20-30, so our target audience can relate to him, and that he can show that main characters in action movies don't have to be buff, good looking & experienced characters, and can show that just because you are not skilled, doesn't mean you can't do anything,  and that anything is possible when you put your mind to it.