CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION 1

CCR1- A2 by Georgie Clements

Throughout the Canva presentation above we have included both part one and part two of the Creative Critical One. We have also done a separate presentation of part two through a voice over of our short film. This includes the representation of social groups presented within our Short Film. We have talked about Social groups of the representation of the father, the mother, theory links of representation and narrative as well as Stuart Hall's - Reading the text - Reception Theory. I also have included the issues of the Short Film within the Canva presentation such as the effects of PTSD as well as the father job previously being a war photographer.

Part Two - How do they represent social groups or issues?

Script :

Slide 1- Social Groups: Representation of the Father

The father in the family fulfils an ambivalent role. The family looks up to him and represents him to be the bread winner and the leader to embodies security. On the other hand, the reality is very different as he used ot be a war photographer and has left him nursing hidden wounds, his trauma emerges of flashes of bad temper with the implication of the outbreak violence. As such, he is at once something of a hero but in present a danger to his family. On balance, he is a negative representation especially given the expectations of a stereotypical father of protector and guardian, figure head of the family.


Slide 2- The Mother

Society has huge expectations of mother as nurturers as shield that always stand between the child and any upset. However, in our film the mother is a transitorily and fragile figure. The mother was seen as the glue holding the family together, with her mysterious disappearance sending shock through to two daughters lives. Her disappearance makes them questions the solidity and safety of the family home and in particular points the finger at the father actions. Her implied criticism of the father at the dinner table seems to challenge him and undermine his authority leading to a nasty explosion of bad tempter. Stereotypically women are often pictured as vulnerable victims in crime drama and psychological dramas; the mother fills this role in this film when she is seen whimpering in her room which alarms and worries her daughter that is caused from another explosion from the father. Although the representation of the mother is a sympathetic, she could not be said to be a strong women.


Slide 3 – Representation and narrative

A sterotype is a mistaken idea or belief many people have about a thing or group that is based upon how they look on the outside, which may be untrue or only partly true. This enables the audience to recognise easily the role that the character has to play in the text. In many ways stereotypes are short cuts to understanding. In the same way when Vladimir Propp studies Russian folk tales and a set of narrative roles like hero and villain in any story. In our film the father is positioned as the villain, the mother as the victim, the daughter Alice as the hero whose quest is to solve the mystery of the war photographer and avenge her mother and sisters death. In a Short Film the audience must be able to recognise the character types and become engaged with the narrative quickly. For Levi-Strauss, the use of binary oppositions such as the protagonist/antagonist, old/young, native/foreign performs this function. In our Short Film, the audiences quickly identifies the roles and the representation of the characters.


Slide 4 - Stuart Hall's - 'Reading the text' Reception Theory 

In our short film, the audience is challenged minute by minute about how to ‘read the characters’. We tried to encode messages through the father also we deliberately gave message of him as unsettled, troubled personality who lashed out despite himself. Our preferred reading of the text, is that the audience initially sympathises with the father and other family members; however we are aware that women in the audience may take and opposite reading and interpret the father/husbands outburst as unforgivable. Negotiating the reading is the challenge we set the audience; it is perhaps not until the final scene that they are given the evidence that they need to conclude that the father is the lost cause.