Representation: Blog task

1) List the different people/groups represented in the trailer (men/women/Americans etc.)

  • Men
  • Women
  • Americans
  • Terrorists 
  • Teenagers 
  • Foreign
2) For each group you identify, decide whether the representation is a dominant or alternative portrayal. Explain why you think this.


The representation of every group in the trailer was very dominant. The male was depicted as the hero in the trailer, the teenagers were depicted as defenseless and vulnerable, the American figures were shown to be both the heroes and victims whilst the foreign figures with the different accents were seen as the villains.

3) What stereotypes can you identify in the trailer?
The very first stereotype I had noticed whilst watching the trailer was that the male figure was depicted as the main hero of the story, and was also seen as a skilled combatant with no fear. The women within the trailer (mainly the two teenage girls) were shown to be weak, defenseless girls that could not do much. A very popular stereotype was the depiction of any foreign force being a threat to the main American figures the trailer, the creators of the trailer and movie probably used this to attract conservative Americans to the movie as this represents their beliefs and ideas 

4) Why might the Taken trailer offend or alienate certain groups?
The Taken trailer would possibly offend any non-American groups (mainly Albanians as the main antagonists were Albanian) as it shows them as threats against the American Protagonists. Female groups may have also felt offended as the trailer shows them as the typical defenseless girls that can't do anything.

5) Why do mainstream film and television texts such as Taken so often use stereotypes?
Most mainstream texts tend to contain typical stereotypes to help attract audiences that believe in those stereotypes e.g. men are powerful, foreigners are threats. But another reason could be that some genres have had their conventions changed due to stereotypes e.g. A typical convention of the fast-paced action genres is that the main protagonist is male, this may have been developed due to the fact that action movie heroes have been male for years, and changing this could seem strange to audiences, risking the chance of fewer sales. The same can be said about the foreign threat stereotype. 

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