Social Group Representation

In general, women in film are considered to be inferior the majority of the time. They are usually given negative characteristics such as being greedy or dumb, or often times are not even given much of a character. It is not uncommon to see male-dominated films, where women will only appear as the smaller unimportant side characters or the “prize” that the guy has to earn at the end of a movie. The point is, women are not given important roles in film, and this is especially present in the genres that our movie has taken part in.

Typically men are casted as the main characters in a crime movie. However, when a woman is casted, the creators of the movie will make them have more masculine qualities because they try to fit them into a male stereotype. In general, women are seen as the weaker sex and are represented well when they exhibit more male characteristics.

Class is another social representation that is depicted in crime movies. Whether it be through mine-en-scene or cinematography, a film in the crime genre will usually have some distinction between members of different social classes and statuses, as this a big theme in crime.

As I said in the beginning of this blog, I have always been an avid fan of crime/mystery. One show that I have always loved was “Murder She Wrote”. This television series follows the story of author, Jessica Fletcher. Her career is writing murder mystery novels and alongside that, she helps to solve several murder mysteries in her real life as well. Often times, she is not given full support because she is an elderly women who is dealing with dangerous criminals. This show is very apparent in its centrality of men. Most of the authority figures such as the police, or even her friends, are males. She is one of the only few women in this show and it helps to establish the gender bias present in the crime genre.

Women in the mystery genre are generally seen as the victims and are therefore very vulnerable and helpless. It is very rare to see a strong empowered female being a lead authoritative figure in film and especially in genres such as these.

Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote is a female detective. Does not have the typical look of a detective, but is constantly surrounded by male figures in every episode of the show.