Mock Exam Age Examples

Men, Women & Children International Trailer

Age is one of the most prominent areas that is represented in contemporary media, and how it is portrayed depends on the group being represented and the audience of the text in question. One example of age representation is the Men, Women & Children trailer. In the trailer, it shows young adults struggling with their emotions. The character played by Ansel Elgort seems sad, and angry with his life but he seems to like a girl of the same age. This creates a stereotype of young people and shows them as dependant on other people, and vulnerable to falling in love. Also, you get a sense of the boy's anger in the end of the trailer when he attacks another person. This plays into the angry side of young people's personalities, and shows that they can be emotionally unstable. I think the way that young people are represented in the trailer is true to real life, as a large portion of people that age could probably relate to the characters in at least one way.

In the first scene that you see the girl that Elgort has an interest in, the lighting is high key and natural. It is a reflection of his feelings, and shows her in a positive light. In the scenes where Elgort is talking to his counselor, or just talking about his feelings, the lighting is low-key which portrays a deep and thoughtful mood. This adds to the perception that young people have a more complex personality than maybe expected. It shows them in a more serious light than other films, and could be taken as a statement that they are different than we may have thought.

Breaking Bad- Half Measures Scene

This scene is an intense talk between Walter and Mike. It shows people of a similar age (40-60) in a menacing and superior manner. The lighting is low key and on both Walt and Mike it uses split lighting. This portrays them in a serious light. Mike talks in a slow and thoughtful way about the story he is telling, and he uses profanity in his language. This creates a certain aroma to his dialogue which keeps the viewer on edge. Combine this with Walter's worried look, and what is created is a scared, serious, dangerous feeling. The two main camera shots used both use a close up angle, with no variety between them. This helps to focus the attention on the dialogue, which is what creates the representations. 

The scene along with other featuring Mike creates a negative representation of people of his age. Although it portrays Mike in a authoritative manner, it also shows Mike as a killer, as he says the he 'should have gone all the way', referring to shooting somebody. Throughout the whole scene, Walter doesn't say much and Mike controls the conversation. After saying his final line "No more half measures Walter", he leaves the room, creating a lasting impression of his brutal yet thoughtful character.

The Sun- David Mellor Article (15th December 2014)
This article follows on from another article that 'exposed' a conversation between David Mellor and a taxi driver. Mellor used violent language and tried to belittle the driver. In this article, David is shown carrying a pink and white swirl handbag. The main text of the page says 'I've been in Cabinet, I'm an award winning broadcaster, a Queen's Counsel and.. do you like my handbag?' which portrays him as pompous and arrogant but also makes fun of him. This reflects badly on older people (of his age) because it is a stereotype that old people are arrogant and stuck up.

On the page, it also features the front page of the article I mentioned before. This shows the headline, further adding to the stereotype, as it shows that it isn't just one article. The article is over-exaggerated with the line 'MELLOR CAB SHOCK No2'. In reality, nothing bad happened in this article, but because of the wording, the audience are led to believe that he has done something bad again.