Two British films are at the heart of this study of how our society is presented on screen. As well as considering how the political and gender-related messages of the films are generated we also use this topic to explore 'narrative theory', addressing how storytelling approaches differ and why particular ways of structuring and presenting plot are especially powerful.
Films: We Need to Talk About Kevin (Ramsay, 2011) and Trainspotting (Boyle, 1996)
Topics to revise: Core Study Areas: Film Form, Context, Meaning and Response
Specialist Study Areas: Narrative and Ideology
Above are two excellent videos that examine and explain how representation is used to communicate with the audience. Mr Gardner also looks at how you can consider context and film form when looking at representation. The second video focuses on gender stereotypes and includes reference to some theory such as Mulvey's male gaze theory. Both of these videos feature excellent analysis of the films we study.