Drive

To what extent are the representations in your three main texts stereotypical?

Drive is a post modern hybrid, that combines conventions of both the film noir and comic book genres. Drive was directed by Nicholas Winding Refn and released in 2011. As Drive is a post modern film, we would except it to see modern representations of gender but it still conforms to the stereotypical representations of a classic texts of the comic book and film noir genres, although there are traces of more modern representations throughout the film.

Throughout the film, we see the protagonist, Driver, conform to stereotypical representations of the male gender. Driver is often represented to be very masculine, this is portrayed within the scene where the Driver is sat in the coffee shop and an older man begins a conversation with the driver, brining p a criminal job that they had previously worked on together. The Driver replies to the man in a very aggressive manor, saying "How about you shut your mouth or....." The words used and the deep, violent tone demonstrates aggressive behaviour, which is associated with being masculine

research

"The...transformations of genre can...be seen as repons to political, social and economic conditions."-
Daniel Chandler

"Semiotically, a genre can be seen as a shared code between the producers and interpreters of texts included within it."-

Daniel Chandler

"Genres are instances of repetition and differences"-Steve Neale

"difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre, mere repetition would to attract an audience"- Steve Neale

Christian Metz- argued that genres go through a typical cycle of changes during their lifetime

"Genres are not static, but evolve"- Warren Buckland

  

Does Her challenge or conform to traditional representations of masculinity?

"Does Her challenge or conform to traditional representations of masculinity?"

Masculinity is how men are perceived, it is made up of a group of social norms that are associated with men, but just like stereotypes, not all men fit into these social norms, therefore men often feel as though they have to put on a front (1) to fit into this "Box." Men are often forced into "Gender perfomativity,"(2) thus forcing them to put on a front, to try and enable themselves to fit the social norms associated with masculinity, in an attempt to avoid abuse from society. Some of the social norms that society associate with being masculine and a being a "Real man," are: athleticism, violence, toughness or independency etc, and if a male does not fit any of these they are often deem unmasculine and suffer abuse.

In the opening scene of the film "Her" we are introduced to a male character in a close up shot of his head. The lack of non-diegetic or diegetic sound means that we are drawn to what he is saying and we are forced to focus on what he is saying in detail. It is immediately apparent that he is talking about being in love and a wedding anniversary. It is clear the male character is being sensitive and discussing his feelings, therefore we get the impression that he is quite feminine and doesn't fit into the masculine group, as stereotypically, masculine men are not portrayed as sensitive or in touch with their feelings.


(1) Jackson Katz
(2)Judith Butler

Miley Cyrus: objectification task

Spring Breakers: objectification task

Who Framed Roger Rabbit: objectification task

The male gaze is used throughout this clip. The scene starts with a a shot of a female cartoons leg sticking out of a curtain, it then cuts to the reaction shot of a man with his mouth and eyes wide open whilst he is watching the female cartoon emerge from the curtain. The use of fragmentation, and scopophelia used in the opening of this scene supports the idea of character gaze, within the male gaze theory. As we see the leg coming from the curtain, there is a spot light focused on it and it is also clear that she is not wearing a lot of clothes, therefore sexualising her body parts. As the female character emerges on to the stage, she is wearing a skinny, revealing pink dress and high heels. The colour connotations of the pink dress suggests that she is seen as a very feminin and sexy character.

course work

Most film genres are often spoken about as now being stagnant and "Instances of repetition and differences"(1) In my research investigation I will be exploring whether this is the case for the horror genre, or if it is "not static, but evolving"(2). The horror genre is said to be heavily reliant on "Anxieties created by the changing role of human knowledge and science in our society."(3) This suggests that the horror genre can not afford to be stagnant, in order for people to want to continue watching it, the genre will have to evolve and adapt according to the period and social anxieties of the time. One of the arguments suggesting a reason as to why "Horror isn't as lively as it once was is because people are out of ideas," which is supported by the post-modernism theory, proposed by Jean-Francois Lyotard, which suggests the idea that everything has already been made, anything made now is just a remake that is slightly different. To aid my research investigation I will be looking at two horror films, My Bloody Valentine(1981) directed by George Mihalka and the (2009) My Bloody Valentine remake, directed by Patrick Lussier. I will be looking at these films because they will both have very similar narrative, therefore any changes will be clear and obvious to spot. Moreover, the large time gap between the making of the films will have allowed time for transformations in the ever-changing society, thus making it clear whether or not the genre has detected and incorporated these changes into the film or if it has just stayed stagnant. "Genre must respond to socio-economic and cultural change."(4) By looking at these films, I will be trying to determine weather the established codes and conventions, of the horror genre are still evident in modern films, or if they have transformed as a "Response to  political, social and economic conditions."(5) To determine this, I will be looking at: the representation and stereotypical archetypes of females within the horror genre. I will be looking at this because in the during the decades between the making of the two films, woman have become more empowered and following the second world war there has been a "Crisis of Masculinity" which suggests that it has been and is still becoming unclear what the roles of males and females are in society, as females are slowly becoming less domesticated. Furthermore, I will also be looking at the established conventions of the horror genre and exploring whether the same conventions are still evident in the remake of the film. if they are still present or if they have been changed slightly to adapt to desensitization, then it could prove whether the horror genre is stagnant or still evolving. Lastly, I will be looking at the use of new technology, to see if the use of things such as CGI has helped the genre to move forward and evolve over the years. To further aid my research I will be applying

















(1) Steve Neale- Genre theory
(2)Warren Buckland
(3)Jason Colavito- Knowing Fear: Science, knowledge and the Development of the Horror Genre.
(4) David Buckingham
(5)  Daniel Chandler

lights out analysis

"Lights out" Analysis

How has the text been encoded to create meaning for its audience to decode. Give examples of technical conventions that support your answer.

The opening shot of the Lights out short film is an extreme long shot of a house, at night from a low angle. This establishing shot reveals to the audience that the short film is going to take place in a house. Furthermore, the low key lighting and diegetic sound of the rain in the shot shows that the film is set on a cold rainy night, this encodes that it could be a horror film because pathetic fallacy and night settings are both common conventions of the horror genre. After this establishing shot, there is then a straight cut to a long shot of a lightly lit hall way. We then seen a female dressed in nightwear, emerge from a door on the left of the corridor, as she does so she is quite close to the camera therefore she is seen in a mid shot, she then turns her back to the camera and begins to make her way down the hall way. This long shot helps the audience to establish the settings, however the fact that the camera is placed behind the woman suggests to the audience that the woman may be being watched, therefore possibly making this shot a point of view shot. This helps to create tension and beings to convey the narrative. As the female character beings to walk away from the static camera towards the end of the hall way, there is another straight cut to a long shot of the woman walking towards the camera from the door she has just walked from, therefore the camera has been reversed. The director could have done this to highlight the fact that the hall way is empty.  Towards the end of the shot the woman reaches the doorway, switches the lights off in the corridor and turns to look down the hall. At the end of the hall way there is a dull light spilling from an open door, therefore creating low key lighting, which lights up the silhouette of a person standing and watching the woman, at the other end of the hall way. The low key lighting used in this long shot, helps to create a tense atmosphere for the audience, because they are not able to see much, however it still makes it known that the woman is being watched.
We then see another straight cut to a point of view shot of the silhouette. This is also an extreme long shot, facing down the hall way directly at the woman standing in highly lit doorway. This shot may have been done to make it clear to the audience that there is something else in the hall way and it is watching the woman. The hard lighting also used to create this shot as an element of the mise-en-scene, could have been used to show a harsh contrast between light and dark an therefore suggesting to the audience that whatever is standing in the hall way watching the woman is bad and that the woman is the victim.
We then see a shot verse shot sequence, between the point of view shot of the silhouette and the over the shoulder shot of the woman looking down the hall way. Whilst still standing in the doorway the woman switches the light on and off multiple times almost in disbelief. Slowly, every time the lights go out the silhouette gets closer, when she is right next to the door, the woman jumps backwards, and there is a cut to a close up, reaction shot of her face. This has been done to show the fear and confusion on the characters face, therefore helping to build the scary atmosphere.
After this, in a close up shot we see the woman tape the light switch so that it stays constantly turned on, just before this we see an extreme close up of her hands ripping some tape off. This could have been to make it clear to the audience what she was about to do. After this there is a straight cut to a long shot of a low lit bedroom, where we see the woman climbing into bed.This long shot reveals the mise-en-scene, which is very minimalistic, as all we can see is the bed and a bedside table with a lamp on it. This is significant because it draws our attention to the lamp, which is the only thing lighting up the room and we already know that the silhouette watching her only appears when the lights go out. Therefore, it foreshadows what is about to happen.

We then see another series of shot reverse shots between a close up of the woman in bed and a long shot of a slightly open door. During these shots we hear the diegetic sounds of footsteps, making it clear that there is someone else in the house and we also see the light turn off, causing the woman’s emotions to deaerate.   As the lights go out, the sound of the footsteps get heavier and faster and the camera beings to concentrate on the door for longer, this may have been done to foreshadow that the silhouette is about to enter the bedroom. As the footsteps appear to get closer to the door, there is a straight cut to a close up shot of the woman as she hides under her bed sheet, the footsteps abruptly stop and we then get a close up shot of the woman for underneath the bedsheets. These close up shots are used to clearly portray the fear and other emptions that the woman is experiencing, by revealing her face. Furthermore, the close up shots also help to create the sense of entrapment and mystery, which cause the audience to feel more sympathy for the woman and tension because they don’t know what is going on outside of the frame.