representation introduction

1) Different groups represented in Taken trailer:
Men
Women
Americans

2)Men: the portrayal is definitely dominant; Liam Nelson's character must be portrayed to be as strong, brave, all-knowing and dominant in the movie, and the trailer represents him as exactly that. An example of this is his dominant, confident tone during the call, where he establishes his bravery. The reading becomes dominant through this, as the audience translates this reading as what producers aimed for it to be.

Women: the portrayal is once again dominant; for the sake of the story-line, producers must make the daughter in the trailer seem weak in order for the story to move forward and open the sequence of events. This dominant reading was very well received by the audience, as strong evidence to mould their reading was used; for example, when the daughter called her father in tears, in a frightened state. This reinforces the stereotype that women are weak and cannot save themselves.

Americans: The producers very confidently tried to enforce the stereotype that Americans are heroes and the most powerful in every action movie. This means that there is a dominant portrayal, once again, of Americans.


3)One group that may be offended by this trailer is the European. This is due to Americans exploiting this group as the weak villains in mostly every action movie, enforcing stereotypes that Europeans will never be as smart or as powerful as Americans. 

Another group that may be offended by this trailer is women; this trailer portrays the father (men) as the brave heroes and the daughter (women) as the 'damsel in distress' that is incapable of saving herself and therefore needs a man to rescue her. This offends women as it reinforces the stereotype that men must be the protectors of women, as they cannot protect themselves.