Evaluation Task 2- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

‘Latency’ negatively represents two social groups, in which they adhere to popular and pre-established stereotypes. The primary representation I will be exploring is regional identity; Russia V.S the West, the Russians in ‘Latency’ adhere to the stereotype that they are usually the “bad-guys,” and are the portrayal of evil, in a war-time setting. The secondary representation is that of gender, or a lack of.

Firstly, the editing techniques used in ‘Latency,’ lend support to the negative representation of Russian’s. For example, shot reverse shot is used in the first minute of latency, which shows that our main, English, character are fighting an intimidating and foreign looking enemy: the Russians. The use of shot reverse shot, traditionally is used to show interactions with the protagonist and the antagonist. In this case, shows to the audience a clear divide between good and evil, or in this case, the West v.s. the East In addition to this the shot duration suggests that the russian characters are inferior to the English characters, as they their shot durations was significantly shorter. For example, the longest shot duration for the Russians is 3 seconds. In comparison to this, the longest shot duration for the English characters was 57 seconds. 

Finally, latency further emphasized the Western superiority stereotype through making inconsistent after effects, in particular, special effects. Firstly, the english characters got larger and more intimidating muzzle flashes, than the russian characters. This suggests that the English character’s have more powerful guns; have more advanced technology due to having more money. The connotations behind having larger muzzle flashes are that the English character’s in Latency are superior to the Russians; they can afford better and more powerful guns. 

Firstly, the dietetic dialogue of the ‘bad guys’ is what confirms to the audience; that the ‘bad guys,’ are in fact Russian. When the main character, Callum throws a grenade into the bus one of the Russian soldiers says, in Russian, “Grenade, run!” This tells the audience that the bad guys are Russian, adhering to the stereotype that Russians are usually the bad guys, in a war setting. The audience Instantly recognizes the dichotomy of good and evil, through only a few moments of speech. One could argue that the director of Latency may have made the decision of making the  enemy Russian, to reiterate the strength the echoes of the cold war have on modern society. 

An additional point on dialogue; in terms of talking time, the English soldiers have forty five times more dialogue than the russian soldiers. The Russians have a total of 2 seconds of talking time, whereas the British characters have around 2 and half minutes of talking time. Finally, the English soldiers are again represented to be superior to the Russians. This is achieved through the diegetic sound of gun fire. The English characters have louder, more intimidating/seemingly superior gunshot sounds, whereas the Russian’s diegetic gunshot sounds contrast this, as they are quieter.

Out of the four technical areas, camera has the least amount of examples. Despite this, it is clear to see that the director’s intention was to represent the English characters as more important than the Russians, through giving them significantly more camera time. The Russians had a combined total of 14 seconds of camera time. The other 2 minutes and 31 seconds are dedicated to the English characters. The English characters have more than 10X the amount of camera time than the Russians. This further suggests that the director is representing the Russian characters to be inferior, or not as important as the English characters.

In addition to this, camera angles were used to make the Russian soldiers seem more intimidating and imposing. For example, a low angle was used on the Russian sniper who shoots David. The use of the low angle makes him seem more intimidating and evil. Additionally, the fact that a low angle is used suggests that he is hidden away, suggesting he has an unfair advantage, and isn’t fighting in the same style as our main characters and so are therefore “bad.” 

Finally, the director portrays a sense of uneasiness through using close up and shaky camera work to film the Russian soldiers. In contrast to this however, the shots of the English characters are from a further away distance, and are more steady than the shots of the Russian’s. This creates the impression to the audience that the Russians on screen make them uneasy/anxious. This follows the negative representation of Russians that has been present throughout the sequence. 

Finally, the mise-en-scene present in Latency helps convey, again that the Russian characters are inferior to the English characters. Firstly, the Russians soldiers are wearing what looks like cheaper costumes, e.g. hoodie and an out-of place hunting hat. This suggests that they have less money than the west, cant afford uniform costumes/ aren’t as organized. This is therefore another negative portrayal of the Russian characters, that make them seem inferior to the English.To further suggest this point, the props the Russian’s are using as  guns are less consistent and cheaper than the guns the English characters use. For example, one character on the Russian team is using a brown AK-47, a totally different gun to all of the other guns his teammates are using. This again suggests that the Russian’s aren’t as organized as the English characters, and can’t afford uniform guns.

 Finally, the use of the red-smoke as a part of the set for the Russian’s ‘base:’ the bus, creates connotations that they are evil. Red is usually associated with violence or evil, and so by using the red smoke in the Russian setting, makes the suggestion to the audience that the Russians are evil.

Our secondary representation group is gender. All characters, and the entire sequence are male dominated. This adheres to the stereotype that only men can be soldiers. However, there was some subversion into gender stereotypes present in the sequence. For example, when Callum starts dying, David becomes incredibly emotional. This subverts the stereotype that men are ‘tough,’ or aren’t capable of feeling that level of emotion. 

In conclusion ‘Latency’ negatively represents two social groups, in which they adhere to popular and pre-established stereotypes. ‘Latency' appeals to the cold-war way of thinking;  Russia V.S the West and represent their Russians to adhere to the stereotypes, such as being evil, or having lesson money, or being less organized. The female gender is deliberately not shown in this piece, as it adheres to both stereotypes that women aren’t in the army, and should instead be at home. Overall, ‘Latency,’ negatively represents both Russians and females.