Fish Tank - How typical is your chosen text of its genre?

Fish Tank is a Social Realism film starring Katie Jarvis, an underclass teenage girl who isn't an actor.

The text adheres to the Social Realism genre as the theme of a non-nuclear family is represented, however, when Connor is present there is an element of a nuclear family. This is shown by the point of view shot from Mia's perspective of Connor playing with Tyler. In this shot, the audience see Connor tickling and picking up Tyler as she is laughing - as a father figure would to their child. The audience see that Tyler is blocking the front door in effort to prevent Connor from leaving which suggests that she has instantly become attached to him, reiterating the fact that they don't have a father/male figure in their lives. The point of view shot connotes a calm atmosphere as the shot is still and it implies Mia's reflection and appreciation that he is making the family happier than when he's not around. It could also connote that Mia is jealous of the attention that Tyler is receiving from Connor and therefore she cannot help but watch them.

The director adheres to the narrative theme within Social Realism films of desiring a lifestyle. The editor uses a mid shot of Mia, in her kitchen, watching a music video and attempting to dance in the style that the girls do. In the shot, we can see a side view of Mia dancing with the TV in the shot and a shallow depth of field as the background of the working class kitchen is not in focus. This connotes that she has been influenced by what she has seen on TV and as she doesn't have any experience of middle-upper class so it implies that she assumes that they have an aspiration lifestyle.

Sci Fi Conventions in The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games contains typical and re-occurring conventions from the Sci-Fi genre. The genre conventions could be categorised as narrative themes, character roles, iconography/mise en scene and technical conventions. The narrative is typical of the genre in many ways.

The narrative theme of an anti-establishment ideology is present in The Hunger Games. This is seen in the particular scene when a large screen in used to broadcast the history of Panem to district 12 before the reaping. In the broadcast, they show how the districts tried to revolute against the Capitol and how the Hunger Games is a consequence of their ancestors actions. This shows that the districts are against the Capitol and tries to defy their power and orders, however, due to them being underclass they were unable to defeat the Capitol and now must serve them as punishment.

A classic iconography found in the Sci-Fi genre is military officers, this is present repeatedly in the Hunger Games as they use military officers in white uniforms to keep the citizens in line.

Noir Genre Conventions in 'Drive'

Drive conforms to typical conventions of the Film Noir Genre.

Technical Codes
- The use of low key lighting casts a shadow on the protagonist's (Gosling) face when he is around the table with the woman, man and little boy. This showed the dual side of his character as the dialogue portrayed that he was helping to protect the family and he feels humbled by the relationship that the man has with his son, however, the high contrast caused by low key lighting implies that he will have to do bad things to achieve what he wants. This is later proved.

- There is a high angle shot from Gosling's view point whilst looking over the red-headed woman on the bed. This angle showed the authority and power hat Gosling had over the woman which also related to the Film Noir Narrative theme of 1950s gender politics as the man is showing dominance and control over the female.

- The director uses a shot of Gosling stepping back from high key lighting into total darkness of low key lighting . This is when he is in the bathroom after having killed the intruders, by stepping back into the low key lighting this suggests that he has done something bad and shows the flaws in his character. This contrasts from the former shadowed lighting to show how his character has developed in his flaws.


Characters
- The cynical protagonist in the text is Ryan Gosling (Driver). He is shown with a selfless personality as he risks his own safety in order to protect Irene (post-modern femme fatale).

Representation Theories

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The Male Gaze – Laura Mulvey – Feminist Theory

Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema – Written in 1975
The cinema apparatus of Hollywood cinema puts the audience in a masculine subject position with the woman on the screen seen as an object of desire. Film and cinematography are structures upon ideas. Protagonists tended to be men. Mulvey suggests two distinct modes of male gaze – “voyeuristic (women as whores) and fetishistic – women as unreachable madonnas”. (Also narcissistic – women watching film see themselves reflected on the screen). (Film texts: Alien, Jackie Brown).

People who criticise her ideas say that she is ignoring the fact that all genders – male and female want to feel dominated and overwhelmed by the cinema experience. Also, she ignores the fact that men are capable of ‘metaphoric transvestism’ whereby they are able to view the film from the perspective of a woman. (Thelma and Louise, The Piano, Knocked Up, Brick Lane).

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Creative Advertising Techniques

 Advertising is a form of communication used to encourage or persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners; sometimes a specific group of people) to continue or take some new action.Read more...

Means-End Theory
This approach suggests that an advertisement should contain a message or means that leads the consumer to a desired end state.

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Cultivation Theory
Unlike social cognitive and priming effects, the cultivation effects analysed by American communications George Gerbner are honed through much longer exposure to the media. Gerbner and his colleagues carried out longitudinal surveys of people’s opinions on certain subjects- the key variable being how much TV they watched. Variations in opinions held by those who watched lots of TV compared with those who did not were measured to compare the ‘cultivation differential’. In practice, this means that those viewers who watch lots of TV are found to have different opinions about the world outside of t heir front doors than those who watch less TV. So TV cultivates the opinions of people who watch several hours of it each day, every day.


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Lacan – Psychoanalysis and ‘The Mirror’

Unlike social cognitive and priming effects, the cultivation effects analysed by American communications George Gerbner are honed through much longer exposure to the media. Gerbner and his colleagues carried out longitudinal surveys of people’s opinions on certain subjects- the key variable being how much TV they watched. Variations in opinions held by those who watched lots of TV compared with those who did not were measured to compare the ‘cultivation differential’. In practice, this means that those viewers who watch lots of TV are found to have different opinions about the world outside of t heir front doors than those who watch less TV. So TV cultivates the opinions of people who watch several hours of it each day, every day.

Theories

Laura Mulvey - Male gaze

Cultivation Theory

Hyper-reality

Feminism/Post-feminism

Lacan - Mirror Sage

Uses and Gratifications

Bechdel Test

Muller Mullerlicious Corner (Nicole Scherzinger) Advertising Campaign

Special K Advertising Campaign

A1. To what extent are your chosen texts typical of their genre?

The text I have chosen is 'Fish Tank' and is typical of its genre of social realism because of the technical elements which are used. For example, a held camera shot is used when Mia is running through the walkway outside of the flats when she is chasing after Connor. The jostling of the camera as it follows Mia creates a sense of realism as it makes the audience feel involved within the scene and this therefore creates empathy towards Mia. It also creates a faster and more intense pace which adds to the the context of the scene because the audience then feel the sense of urgency and panic for Mia to find Connor.

Another feature that makes the text typical to its genre is the use of natural lighting. For example, it's dark at night time when Mia is running through the field after she has kidnapped Connor's daughter and he is now the chasing her. The dark, low-key lighting reflects the dark nature of the scene and creates suspense for the audience as the lighting makes the scene poorly visible so it's harder to see the commotion. The causes the audience to feel panic towards Mia as the dark lighting makes the scene feel unsafe. Also, because the text uses natural light this emphasises social realism as it shows a real-life day.

Also, it shows a common representation of females as being naive. For example, Mia sees an advertisement for a dance audition, however she doesn't realise that the audition was for a strip club. Mia remains unaware of the matter until she watches the girl that auditions before her and when Mia is on the podium in the strip club and is asked if she has any hot pants. This highlights that Mia is still a child and is unable to make her own decisions and again shows the social realism genre by showing the harsh reality of Mia's life.

How typical is 'Sin City' of its genre?

Sin City is a hybrid as it mixes two classic genres together to create a new, post-modern text. It is a combination of Film Noir conventions and Comic Book conventions.

Features typical to Film Noir include: use of voice overs; use of low key lighting; certain character roles and a non-linear narrative structure. The text proves typical of the Noir genre as it a voice over after John Hartigan has just been shot. The voice over allows the audience to know of his inner thoughts and feelings, in this instance, he is expressing the pain he is in and is trying to motivate himself to carry on and complete the mission.

A feature which shows that the film is a hybrid of Film Noir and Comic Book is the use of the trench coat. The trench coat is worn by Marv when he goes to complete a mission. This is true of the Film Noir genre as the coat gives a high end, business-like appearance of men from the 1940's. However, it is also true to the Comic Book genre as the trench coat is used to represent the stereotypical cape worn by a superhero. As Marv walks and runs through the city, the coat flaps in the wind causing it to look like cape. Also, to maintain the hero-like attitudes, Marv removes the cape every time he hurts or kills something and puts it back on when his actions have benefited his mission. This is done so not to taint the character of the hero.

Also, the film follows typical character roles from the Film Noir genre. A femme fatale uses their sexuality to gain power and then is often killed due to their own actions. This is shown through the representation of Cecile. Cecile is first shown as the camera lingers on a full length shot of her naked body. This shows features of Mulvey's Male Gaze as she is objectified and sexualised. Later in the film, she tries to take control of the mission by surrendering Marv's weapon to the police officers, however they are corrupt cops (also typical of the Film Noir genre). By doing this, she gets herself killed. This shows the women of the film as being naive and in need of a man.

Revised Coursework Question

 How are females represented in a carefully constructed way in order to sell products?

Narrative Structure - Todorov's Theory of Equilibrium

The Proposal

1. A State of Equilibrium
In the opening of the film, the audience see two separate scenes. Margaret in her expensively furnished and neatly tidied apartment, jogging on a treadmill and reading work in the early hours of the morning before she goes to work. The audience then see her getting ready and entering work in clean business wear. Conversely, the audience see Andrew waking up late to his alarm in his messy apartment then rushing through the street of New York to get to work on time for Margaret to receive her coffee. Margaret is a successful book editor and spends everyday degrading and making her assistant, Andrew, work for her with no rewards of his own.

2. A Disruption of the order
Margaret is called into her bosses office to be informed that she faces deportation back to her home of Canada due to her expired Visa. This means that she is unable to work for an American company and therefore would lose her highly ranked job and have to move back to Canada. The man that will succeed her and take on her job, once she is deported, is the man that she recently fired.

3. The Recognition that the Order has been Disrupted
Margaret has come to terms with the problem and to avoid deportation she tells her boss that she is engaged to her assistant Andrew (an American citizen). Their marriage would mean that she can stay in America and continue working as the book editor. He, after Margaret's pleading, agrees that they will marry and later divorce to avoid her deportation and as repayment Andrew will have his book published. However, they has to convince the INS Agent that they are legitimately in love and are going to be married otherwise Andrew will be charged and imprisoned for fraud and Margaret will be deported.

4. The Attempt to Repair the Damage

Margaret accompanies Andrew to his hometown of Sitka, Alaska for his 'Gammy's' 90th birthday. They use this trip to try and trick Andrew's family and friends into thinking that they are truly in love and will be married. In this attempt, the encounter more problems such as: Andrew's family deciding for the 'couple' to be married that weekend on 'Gammy's' birthday and the INS Agent pays them a visit and warns Andrew's father and the couple that if they proceed with the marriage and are proven wrong they will be arrested. This then differs from the original attempt to restore the equilibrium of Margaret and Andrew marrying and later divorcing him. Margaret, due to her feelings developing feeling towards Andrew, changes the equilibrium to her leaving admitting that the marriage was fraud and goes to leave America so that Andrew can get off scot free.

5. A State of New Equilibrium

The two accidentally fall in love with each other whilst trying to trick everyone else into thinking that they are in love. Due to them falling in love, Andrew tries to stop Margaret from moving back to Canada because he wants to be with her and eventually will marry her. The new equilibrium is that they are now a couple and can legitimately justify to the INS Agent that they are in love and will be married.

Western Genre

The film 'The Good, The bad and The Ugly' is typical of its western genre by iconography, narrative, representation and ideologies.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly contains key iconography which connotes the western genre. Within the text, the characters are seen carrying and using guns and have bullets strapped around them. The costumes consist of leather cowboy boots, beige coloured clothing and a stetson (cowboy hat). Other elements of mise en scene include the isolated desert along with an open ground space which is typically used for a showdown.

Within the narrative, the events that take place such as a showdown between two men are common conventions of the western genre. Also, the shooting and killing of men is a common feature. The structure of a western film often involves a large and suspensive build ups to a showdown. Propp's theory of character types is shown as the hero within the scene kills the villain and is triumphant in the text. Also, the villain is shown as a weaker character once he is defeated either by escaping from the scene or dying.

CRASH is represented by showing the men within the scene as macho and strong.

The James Bond franchise is a clear example of the film objectifying females and forcing the audience to view females via the male gaze. The scene within 'Die Another Day' when James Bond meets the character Jinx demonstrates the previous statement by...

The use of technical conventions such as a slow motion shot, a post production technique, when Jinx emerges from the water. This is unrealistic, however, it is used to highlight the importance of the female character and to supply the male viewers with a longer time to gain female pleasure. Also, it implies that Bond's world has been slowed down due to the dream-like beauty of Jinx.

Another camera convention used is vignetting to show the scene as if through Bond's binoculars - this shows that the scene is from a male point of view and therefore the audience see it from the same view point. This shows the focus is on Jinx as the rest of the world as been removed from the shot. The vignetting shows a mid-shot of Jinx to show her face and her body movements within the same shot. This is done to emphasise that, both, her face and her curvaceous body are visually pleasing.

The use of music is used to emphasise the importance and the beauty of Jinx. As Jinx jumps up from the water, the music volume and pitch rises to a crescendo which highlights to the audience that she main focus of the scene. The rise of pitch makes it seem more feminine and the build in the volume shows her significance compared to the rest of the views seen through Bond's binoculars.

The dialogue exchanged between Bond and Jinx is suggestive and flirtatious. This shows hegemonic ideology as Bond first appears to be dominating the scene by saying "magnificent view". This is use to suggest that the view of the female is "magnificent". By saying this, he has shown his interest in her and has objectified her by judging her on her initial appearance.



Using a slow motion camera shot
Music volume and pitch rising when Jinx rises out of the water
Use of vignetting to hone in on Jinx
Dialogue exchanged between Bond and Jinx is suggestive

Coursework Practise Question

How does the media use idealised women to advertise junk food focusing on Haagen Dazs advertising campaign and uses a more realistic representation of women to advertise healthy food focusing on Special K advertising campaign?

Stereotype

Mr and Mrs Smith
In the trailer, the showing time of male and female is equal, however, they are represented in different ways.
Brad Pitt is in skin-tight t-shirts which accentuates his physique and defines his muscles showing him as a strong and macho character. Pitt is also shown to be wearing suits throughout the rest of the trailer which portrays him as a sophisticated and high class business man. He's frequently seen using a variety of guns and weaponry which shows a bad boy character and his dominance over others. Pitt is seen surrounded my males which suggests his male brovado and he is playing cards and gambling which also shows his masculinity. I feel that a stereotypical male representation has been created of Pitt, however, in elements of the trailer he seems inferior to a female which breaks the stereotype.

Angelina Jolie is shown as a strong and dominating character too, however she is still sexualised. During the trailer, she is shown in dresses even when she is on a mission. One clip shows her in a body-con PV dress which is extremely objectifying as it shows her cleavage, legs and figure. This then implies her appearance overpowering her knowledge. Adding to the sexualisation, the is shown several times in her underwear and dressing herself, this is done to entice the male audience. Jolie is feminised as she is shown using a handbag, a typical female accessory, as a gadget on one of her missions. This then contradicts the traditional stereotype as she uses the handbag purposefully and to enforce her power. Also, she is shown to be surrounded by men which shows her using her sexualisation to her strength by seeming to be at men's disposal and undermining them. This is done to adhere to Laura Mulvey's theory of Male Gaze, as it is an action film which stereotypically attracts a male audience. Finally, clips from the trailer show her in her kitchen in an apron which presents her as a typical suburban housewife. However, the rest of the trailer and the film defy this as she is undomesticated and has the same ranked job as her husband. Although Jolie is stereotypically sexualised and objectified, she also defies the female stereotype and is in as much control as Pitt.

Both Pitt and Jolie are represented as being upper middle class due to the house that appears within the trailer and the film. It is a large, lavishly furnished, detached house which implies that they are wealthy. Also, they are portrayed to be of a similar age which again adds to the equality of the characters.

Favourite TV Programme

Brothers & Sisters

Brothers & Sisters is an American drama about an upper class family, made up of 5 siblings (3 brothers and 2 sisters) all aged over 20 and their mother. They live in California and their father created a family business but had a secret affair and later died. The series is about the problems that arise due to the father's mistakes and the effects that it has on the family.

The gratifications from the program include escapism as the constant challenges that occur leave the audience intrigued and interested and you forget about everyday life. Also, it gives emotional release, for example, when Justin is called back to Afghanistan after recently coming out of rehab for his drug addiction. It also gives positive emotional release, such as when Kitty and Robert are able to adopt a baby boy. Brothers & Sisters gives aesthetic enjoyment as all of the male cast are good looking and have a fit and manly appearance, particularly Justin, Tommy and robert, which is pleasing to the female audience.

It also enables me to connect with my family as we rarely have chance to be together, however, we make time to watch the program together. Over the series you become emotionally attached to the characters and their life situations so it can act as a substitute for real-life companionship. I feel encouraged to carry on watching it to satisfy my curiosity of what will happen next. Finally, I am able to find models of behaviour from the characters as they are all successful in their careers and work hard to do well.

Another gratification gained from the program is the variety of subject content that the text contains. For example, it has business content relating to the Ohja family business and, family content about the issues that they encounter and how they overcome them and romance content. Romance is also able to target a wider audience as it has a homosexual couple within the plot as well as other heterosexual couples.

Brothers & Sisters gratifies all of the 4 sections of the Uses and Gratifications theory. The text follows a mainstream narrative structure by Todorov as during each episode the equilibrium is disrupted and the rest of the episode is used to restore it. For example, in one episode, Justin Walker had overdosed on drugs and is in a critical condition. By the end of the episode, the family have found Justin, taken him to hospital and have began looking for rehabilitation centres. However, the scheduling and placement of the text is Niche. Before the program finished, it was shown on More 4 at 10pm which was necessary due to some of the adult content that it contains. Also, More 4 is not a very popular channel and was not accessible to all TV owners. More 4 was a channel set up by Channel 4 to target an adult audience which sophisticated and intellectual content.

Mainstream and Niche Audience

A mainstream audience applies to a text that appeals to a wider range of people as the content gratifies them all due to its range of characters and topics and therefore attracts a larger audience. These texts are shown on the main TV channels that are available to most of the population and are shown at peak times. Ensemble casts appeal to a mainstream audience as the variety of characters can be of different ages, races and in life situations that will appeal to more people. E.g. X Factor, Big Brother, Coronation Street

A niche audience is targeted to a specific audience, which mean the audience is usually smaller, as the content would only interest and gratify an passive audience. They are shown on less popular channels or on channels that are only available if they have been paid for or subscribed to and are shown at non-peak times. E.g. Time Team, Homes under the hammer, Sky Sports