Representation

Representation in films is the way people, events and ideas are presented to us, the way the media wants you to see it.  Events are mediated, which means they are re-presented to us. Representation of age, gender and stereotypes are used frequently.

An example of this is a football match on tv. They only focus on key moments, it is nothing like how you would see it in real life. The way it is filmed is to often make our team look better. This is done by zooms, camera angles, close ups, cut aways (e.g to managers), reduce and use hyperbolic sounds. This is done to make the audience see certain things and feel a certain way.

In films males and females are represented in certain ways. For example men are often seen as: masculine, competitive, physically strong, ambitious. Women are seen as: feminine, weak, passive, emotional, ruthless, sensitive, independent.

Females

In horror and thriller films females are often seen as vulnerable and helpless, they are seen as the weaker sex. In some horror films you see a beautiful woman running away from her killer. They are usually seen as needy and need a male to save them. However woman's role has changed. Now we see woman being able to defend for themselves and protect themselves and others, even killing the villain. In more recent films, females have often been the last one standing, they are seen as dependent and have unisex names.Although males are seen as strong, in horror films females often take over. An example that goes against these conventions is Angelina Jolie's character in 'Salt' as she is the protagonist and is dependant on no one but herself. Another example is mr and mrs Smith, as in this film we see both male and female protagonists. And throughout we see they are both dominant and able to defend themselves, however we often see Brad Pitt trying to take control but never does.
Males
In these genres, males are more dominant and a powerful figure, so are often the protagonist and are seen as the hero. Being the protagonist they normally save the victim (who is usually a woman) so are seen as brave. They are also very mysterious and clever. An example is Liam Neeson's character in 'Taken' who is very secretive but it very intelligent, his job is to protect the females and bring them to safety.
The characters in horror films are usually teenagers which is the same age as the target audience, this makes it more appealing and relateable  They are often stereotypical teens, often a group of popular kids including the pretty girl and jock, the scene before the violence starts will involve sex, alcohol and drugs. The story will normally be the group of teens getting into trouble because of this, this makes them more vulnerable.