Evaluation Task 2: Social Group Representation in 'SOLO'

Panopticon Building Theory

In our thriller 'SOLO' we have represented different social groups of disability and gender in a variety of ways as well as surveillance of society.
The majority of the powerful figures of society, owning the most successful businesses, are often men such as the famous figures of Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, founders of Google, owning billion dollar companies. They are able to gather information on the popluation, sifting through personal files and documents and ultimately able to invade citizens privacy, unbeknownst to the users of the companies. This recalls the theory of the Panopticon building designed by the philsopher and social theorist, Jeremy Bentham, in the late 18th century in order to allow a watchmen to observe inmates of an institution without them knowing whether they are being watched.


On the other hand, the film industry depicts many vulnerable men in leading roles, contrasting to the powerful masculine roles of society and action films. For example, 'Forrest Gump' portrays Tom Hanks as a character with a learning difficulty, ultimately an idiot savant managing to invent products and companies, breaking records and becoming a war hero and a symbol of the anti-war movement.
Another example of the vulnerability of men in films is Dustin Hoffman in 'Rainman' as he is portrayed to possess a learning difficulty and is therefore an autistic savant.
Other examples of vulnerable masculine roles in renowned films include Sean Penn in 'I Am Sam' and the character of Lenny in 'Of Mice and Men'

As our thriller involves a teenage autistic boy accidentally hacking into the FBI mainframe this therefore represents the male gender in a negative way. As the boy also writes up a statement on the FBI website once he has hacked into it saying, '"US foreign policy is akin to Government-sponsored terrorism these days … It was not a mistake that there was a huge security stand down on September 11 last year … I am SOLO. I will continue to disrupt at the highest levels … " which is a direct quote from Gary McKinnon's hacking of the United States military and NASA computers and therefore reinforces the negative representation of disability and gender as the autistic boy unnecessarily and purposely disrupts the workings of the organisation once he has trespassed confidential territory without permission.
The whole incident happened as a result of the boys autism and his interest and ability to break codes which are displayed to him, just as the code for the FBI mainframe was displayed to him on his own computer. The fact that he is autistic presents the ability to comprehend and manipulate advanced technology. The fact that he is a male does not help to promote a positive representation for the gender as typically males are seen as more adventurous and daring in their choices.

Our thriller links with various other media such as films, news and literature.
Firstly, our thriller is based on the incident of Gary McKinnon hacking into US military and NASA computers under the name of 'Solo' and therefore facing court trials and possible extradition from the country. Our thriller also links to the films 'Mercury Rising' and 'War Games'.
'Mercury Rising' stars Bruce Willis as an outcast FBI agent who is assigned to protect a 9 year old autistic boy who is the target for assassins after cracking a top secret government code. Whilst 'War Games' is about a young man finding a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III. Both films include the use of technology and gaining access to top secret servers. 'Mercury Rising' also includes the detail of an autistic boy cracking codes to reveal top secret information through the use of technology.

Our thriller also relates to the book 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'. The novel is narrated in the first-person perspective by Christopher John Francis Boone, a mathematically gifted boy of fifteen with Asperger's syndrome. Therefore involving the aspect of disability at a young boy's age and seen in a negative way by all other characters in the book for a period of time.