D2

It is clear how some aspects of Star Wars' appeals to various elements of the target audience. This can clearly be found through different groups such as age, gender and social class. This is illustrated below:


A.) Gender
It was found through the Box Office sales, how those viewing Star Wars: The Force Awakens were generally from the male population. This was found through the tickets being sold, where most were male with no children- 71%. 21% were found to be families purchasing tickets, which is a lot less popular with regards to this film. Although the film's opening shown 71% of the audience being made up by men, this later fell to 65%. Therefore the results found can clearly show how it is males that are more interested in viewing this film. we can find several reasons for this, such as the attraction of males to several characters involved in the film. For instance, Kylo Ren takes centre stage in the film and ultimately replaces Darth Vader who was the villain in the original trilogy. Finn, who is the new found main character, also may appeal to the male genre as he is a storm trooper who has broken out of the First Order. He may clearly appeal to younger and older males as those younger may find him interesting and illuminating in the film, whereas the older generation may be attracted to him as they are relating this with the traditional idea of star wars and the transition from the dark to the light side.


B.) Age
It was announced by Director J.J. Abrams, how he wished to make 'adults feel like children' in the latest film by Star Wars. Therefore the film is heavily marketed towards the traditional fans who grew up with the franchise. 70% of ticket holders were found to be between the ages of 18 and 49 and were male. To support this, researchers found that the typical follower of the Star Wars franchise is a 46 year old married male with children, this is the perfect age demographic from a marketing point of view as the older male will most likely buy his children all of the Star Wars merchandise and may even take them to see the film, this will then be a huge part of the children’s childhood and the thoughts and feelings for the franchise can keep being passed down to each generation, forever keeping the franchise alive. If the male is a fan himself, he may want to go and see the film on his own first, then either go again with his children or purchase a DVD or digital copy for home viewing.

IMDB found that reviews were more positive from under 18’s whilst those over 18 were more negative, under 18’s both males and females gave an average review of 8.8, whilst females over 18 gave an average of 8.4, then males under 18 gave the lowest average of 8.2, this may be because they are comparing it to the past trilogy which they have grown up on, however now they’re older and no longer children they aren’t as impressed as they were when they were younger.

C.) Lifestyle
With the demographic of Star Wars being older males with some sort of an income, their spending power can be seen in the sales of cinema tickets and merchandise. For example, Movio Media found that the average purchaser of an advance ticket for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, in the US, is a 34-year-old male, it was also found that 70% of ticket holders are men between 18 and 49. The average purchaser, according to Movio Media, was known to travel to see big-budget fantasies such as Jurassic World or Avengers: Age of Ultron on the opening night.


D.) Spending Power
The spending power of the average demographic is highly noticed by Disney and so they create and price merchandise that will be accessible to their audience. For example, in comic book stores around the world you can purchase figurines of some of the characters, these can price somewhere between £250-£350, this may appeal to some of the male demographic who have nothing to else they wish to spend their money on, this type of merchandise is aimed more at the older audience as the figurines would be treated like collectors’ items, rather than the figurines you can buy in the Disney store which are designed for the children to play with. For the wealthier demographic merchandise such as $2000 Stormtrooper Costume can be purchased from some online sites. As well as watches being sold for around $200-300, these products are something which would highly appeal to some of the wealthier demographic.


Sources:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/majority-of-star-wars-the-force-awakens-goers-are-adult-men-with-no-kids-a6781341.html
https://www.quantcast.co.uk/blog/the-fans-behind-the-force/
http://money.cnn.com/2015/12/21/media/star-wars-the-force-awakens-box-office-numbers/
http://variety.com/2015/film/news/star-wars-the-force-awakens-ticket-sales-breakdown-gender-average-age-1201625277/

P3/ D1 Focus Group

Featured above is evidence for the focus group which we created in order to present how the audience engages with Star Wars: The Force Awakens. We asked several questions during this, each regarding the film, such as what each person's favourite film genre was, along with specifically addressing Star Wars, by asking who their favourite characters were and why. It was discovered through this how the males preferred the characters who are portrayed more dominantly in the film, such as Kylo Ren and Finn, whereas the girls preferred the characters such as Princess Leia, who comes across as more feminine and is a clear independent female role model throughout the film. It is clear how Charlotte prefers character 'Rey', who is also evident for portraying a positive and strong representation with reference to the female population. Where both genders agreed however, was through the use of special effects in the film, as both agreed that this is an excellent way of enhancing the film's settings and atmospheres in scenes such as the 'Village Scene'.
It is clear through the video, how several age groups are mentioned, such as older viewers along with those from the younger generation- "My younger brother also enjoyed this film" and "My dad enjoys the older characters in the film". It is clear from this, how not only do several age groups enjoy the film, but the older category of the audience are most likely to view the film to see the older and more traditional characters, perhaps to relate to them from the previous Star Wars films. We see also, how certain scenes are 'favourited', such as the 'Village Scene' and are enjoyed most by those who are male and of a similar age group (17-18yrs).  This can clearly be used as evidence to show varying perspectives of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, by addressing various age groups and discovering the views of those male and female.