Fish Tank genre analysis

The scene I'll be focusing on is where the social worker visits Mia and tries to talk to her about going to study at college. The opening scene is Mia waking up, the audience hearing filtered diegetic sounds as though coming from outside her room. The camera angle is placed next to Mia as though you're in her bed alongside her; showing the audience from her point of view. The tracking shots conform to the realism, allowing you to follow Mia's movements. Disruption occurs when Mia wakes by the sound of her normal family environment (e.g dog barking, thudding) her then beginning to open her eyes, being brought back from the quiet and still of the shots the camera uses when she was sleeping. 

Her mother comes in and states calmly theres someone in the house for her. 

Most texts today mix genres. how true is this of your three main texts ? (District 9)

In the text 'District 9' it is a mixture of documentation style and Sci-fy. These are both prominently shown through different scenes and use prime evidence of the two genres. Examples of the document style genre is shown through the stock footage and the use of interviews of the 'public' that use mid shots and close ups set in the film as simular as a real version; the realistic conventions show the documentary features but only act as a style due to the unrealism. The other half of the mixed genre is Science fiction, the use of high mechanisms and advanced technology opens up this idea of a new distinct world. The use of robots and high tech equipment, contrasting with the Dystopian surroundings and slums the aliens were forced to live in; this shows a diverse mix of representations of the setting. 

-merging

-dystopian

-use of real derelict houses that were once used as family homes

Throughout my three texts I have explored a number of mix genres. In my first text 'Fishtank' the film mixing the two genres social realism and documentary. The different aspects of the film such as the documenting of

Text Characters

Ideas and research-

representation book:

Pleasure in Looking/Fascination with the Human Form
A
The cinema offers a number of possible pleasures. One is scopophilia. There are circumstances in which looking itself is a source of pleasure, just as, in the reverse formation, there is pleasure in being looked at. Originally, in his “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality”, Freud isolated scopophilia as one of the component instincts of sexuality which exist as drives quite independently of the erotogenic zones. At this point he associated scopophilia with taking other people as objects, subjecting them to a controlling and curious gaze. His particular examples centre around the voyeuristic activities of children, their desire to see and make sure of the private and the forbidden (curiosity about other people’s genital and bodily func- tions, about the presence or absence of the penis and, retrospectively, about the primal scene). In this analysis scopophilia is essentially active. (Later, in “Instincts and their Vicissitudes”, Freud developed his theory of scopophilia further, attaching it initially to pre-genital auto-eroticism, after which the pleasure of the look is transferred to others by analogy. There is a close working here of the relationship between the active instinct and its further development in a narcissistic form.) Although the instinct is modified by other factors, in particular the constitution of the ego, it continues to exist as the erotic basis for pleasure in looking at another person as object. At the extreme, it can become fixated into a perversion, producing obsessive voyeurs and Peeping Toms, whose only sexual satisfaction can come from watching, in an active controlling sense, an objectified other.
At first glance, the cinema would seem to be remote from the undercover world of the surreptitious observation of an unknowing and unwilling victim. What is seen of the screen is so manifestly shown. But the mass of mainstream film, and the conventions within which it has consciously evolved, portray a hermetically sealed 



Archetype - Same, structured

Woman as Image, Man as Bearer of the Look
A
In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female figure which is styled accordingly. In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at- ness. Woman displayed as sexual object is the leitmotif of erotic spectacle: from pin- ups to striptease, from Ziegfeld to Busby Berkeley, she holds the look, plays to and signifies male desire. Mainstream film neatly combined spectacle and narrative. (Note, however, how in the musical song-and-dance numbers break the flow of the diegesis.) The presence of woman is an indispensable element of spectacle in normal narrative film, yet her visual presence tends to work against the development of a story line, to freeze the flow of action in moments of erotic contemplation. This alien presence then has to be integrated into cohesion with the narrative. As Budd Boetticher has put it:

What counts is what the heroine provokes, or rather what she represents. She is the one, or rather the love or fear she inspires in the hero, or else the concern he feels for her, who makes him act the way he does. In herself the woman has not the slightest importance.

An active/passive heterosexual division of labour has similarly controlled narrative structure. According to the principles of the ruling ideology and the psychical structures that back it up, the male figure cannot bear the burden of sexual objecti- fication. Man is reluctant to gaze at his exhibitionist like. Hence the split between spectacle and narrative supports the man’s role as the active one of forwarding the story, making things happen. The man controls the film phantasy and also emerges as the representative of power in a further sense: as the bearer of the look of the spectator, transferring it behind the screen to neutralize the extra-diegetic tenden- cies represented by woman as spectacle. This is made possible through the processes set in motion by structuring the film around a main controlling figure with whom the spectator can identify. As the spectator identifies with the main male1 protagonist, he projects his look on to that of his like, his screen surrogate, so that the power of the male protagonist as he controls events coincides with the active power of the erotic look, both giving a satisfying sense of omnipotence. A male movie star’s glamorous characteristics are thus not those of the erotic object of the gaze, but those of the more perfect, more complete, more powerful ideal ego conceived in the original moment of recognition in front of the mirror. The character in the story can make things happen and control events better than the subject/spectator, just as the image in the mirror was more in control of motor co-ordination. In contrast to

woman as icon, the active male figure (the ego ideal of the identification process) demands a three-dimensional space corresponding to that of the mirror-recognition in which the alienated subject internalized his own representation of this imaginary existence. He is a figure in a landscape. Here the function of film is to reproduce as accurately as possible the so-called natural conditions of human perception. Camera technology (as exemplified by deep focus in particular) and camera movements (determined by the action of the protagonist), combined with invisible editing (demanded by realism) all tend to blur the limits of screen space. The male protagonist is free to command the stage, a stage of spatial illusion in which he articulates the look and creates the action. 


'The patriarchal ideology is reinforced by the fact that the presidents wife is fatally injured through ignoring her husbands advice and not returning home from a business trip.'  Independence day article from  'Studying the media Tom O' Sullivan'

What can a comparative analysis of bio pics Walk The Line and Gia reveal about cinematic representations of women?

aim 1:

aim 2:

aim 3

What can a comparative analysis of Biopics Walk the line and Gia reveal about cinematic representations of women?

For this investigation I will be looking at two biopics that explore contrasting ways women are represented in my chosen texts. I will be applying Mulvey's theory of the 'Male Gaze', looking at the objectification and purity shown through the individual female characters paying particular attention to how they are both represented, differently but the same. The first film I will be looking at is based on the life of Johnny Cash, the period of time where male dominated roles of society started deteriorating after the end of World War 2; looking at close reference to the way the women were portrayed purely as objects and how their roles get transferred and transfused with the male's position and responsibilities how they became the figure of what women are to this day looking at close reference to how the world war changed that. [1]
 The second text I'll be looking at is a film called 'Gia' which is based on the life of popular model, Gia Allemend. The biopic portrays her animal characteristics and the rebellious behavior she introduced wide audiences to, portraying a counter stereotype of the female presence than the usual womanly characteristics from earlier 1900's. [2] Both women are shown differently throughout the two texts, but still consist of being objectified throughout the scenes. I will be comparing selected scenes and backing them up with deep analysis and exploration.

Aim 2: How are women presented differently through and from patriarchal societies?

Looking at my first text ‘Walk The Line’ the main role of J.R's wife is to be a mother, remaining at home looking after the property and doing housework as most women in the 1960's were expected to be doing. Prior to World War 2 lots of women were becoming more powerful from acquiring the male jobs whilst they were away, adapting and escaping their subordinate roles to be more than just a housewife. [3] The devalued society of women in the early 60’s was soon rendered with the first wave of feminism. Subjects against the political discussion said that “a woman could either be a career woman or she could stay at home and have children. There was no way she could do both” [3] The role of Johnny’s wife conforms to the primary research through her archetype status, looking after the children whilst her husband takes on the business career. Introducing the role of June Carter, (a performing artist Johnny meets and falls in love with) her position contrasts with his wife’s career as an artist and her ability to travel around freely and unconditional. The two women show the roles of a mother and a woman with a career, the significant subordinate differences they are open to and the way they both conform to needing men even though the role of June is a much stronger character and defies to not needing Johnny throughout the film. From point of view tracking shots and close ups we begin to see June being opened up to the audience, she is rarely shown as being weak and her character isn’t exposed but the interaction with Johnny corrupts her and she begins to lack in concealment, she starts to become vulnerable and the camera focuses on her emotion and interactions with others, allowing the audience to allow her story and character as passive. One scene shows June Carter conforming to Johnny where he convinces her to come on his tour by bribing her with money for her children’s well being. The close up details and rigid hand held camera work makes the audience feel more involved with the characters. The desperation that Johnny prevails alongside close up camera shots of his eyes focused on June, the camera swapping to her from J.R’s level looking down on her. (TWO READINGS WORD?) This scene shows the two different readings of the passive audiences, conforming to their preferred characters. These kind of interactions engage and inform audiences on the lives of higher status people, previewing us with something that the ‘fans’ don’t usually see. This inside story creates a shared meaning for us as an audience enabling us to relate and feel empathy for June, from the way the male reacts and is strongly besotted with her.

-scene where Johnny asks her to stay on tour, convinces her? Conforms to him, sings and goes on tour

manages to turn her mind set into him.

Aim 3: How are women placed in stereotypical gender roles?
There are two prominent stereotypes of women in my first text, Johnny’s wife Vivian was left whilst her lover sends the cash she needs to live; thus showing the dependency house wives had on the male figure, making his role seem like a necessity.  Looking at the scene where Johnny phones Viv whilst she’s at home with the crying children, the camera uses close up shots and camera angles that overlook her body, showing the fragile position she’s in, capturing and streaming the point where she looks most vulnerable. The scene focusing on the incapability that she possesses, showing the audience that she has a lack of control without the male figure around. This scene allows the audience to make their own interpretations highlighting the build-up of emotions and vulnerability she’s in instead of showing the other 9/10 of her living where she is more capable.
June was first introduced to J.R when he listened to her on the radio as a young boy. His low status and love her music enabled him to look up to her as a role model with the high class and power she possessed at such a young age. This social difference shows the controversy of the change in representations from childhood to becoming a man. The preponderance of her position remained until J.R then grew up and became Cash and the authority and ‘power’ conveyed over to him. This is shown when June supports his headline act. [1]


Aim 2:  Different forms of female representation
throughout the text/Opposing forms of representation?
Looking at the second text the main character is Gia Allemend, the female protagonist. Her position has a variety of representations, the main one being her ability to be outgoing and using her sexuality to her advantage, the empowering character has the ability to control men with her appearance; in the resource ‘Miss Representation’ it says ‘The Male Media represents females in power trivially’ [4] The scene that she’s is presented this way is when a male enters a cafe she is working at and her she uses her ability to seductively control his actions and make him entranced by her with her language and looks. Her body language towards the male as she swings her legs and body of the bar to sit in front of him, holding his eye contact using the camera enhance tension in the scene by using close ups and using high camera positioned shots, looking down on the male from the counter to show her control over the situation. The scene also includes a two shot where the camera shows a mid length position and presents the two opposing characters face to face, this could involve Strauss’ theory exploring the binary opposition between the innocence and power; the male being shown as the innocence and Gia as the opposition, influencing and succumbing him to fulfill her desire. Gia’s characters is extremely objectified, applying Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze that will engage the audience, making the extremity of her character turn passive with the familiarization of sexual behavior. Allemend’s character has unusual masculine qualities, her ability to overpower the male whilst still being objectified as such shows something different that's not usually expected and will corrupt the audience’s recognition and intrigue them more so, appealing to the male gaze.

[1] Walk The Line

[2] GIA

 [3] http://www.archives.gov/atlanta/education/resources-by-state/wwii-women.html

[4] Miss Representation – 2011

‘the socially constructed nature of sexual difference’ - (Harrison Ford) in Mike Nichols’ Working Girl (1988)

genre formulae-

challenge prevailing ideologies?

The usefulness of having predicted elements is that a communication will be understood because they’re expected (or conventional) in which people anticipate in certain situatuations or context.

Rhetorical sensitivity – it is a way of thinking about what should be said and then deciding a way to say it / how



(Unofficial not finished)




Notes~

-Mulvey theory

-Rebellion

-Cultivation theory (how people are influenced from them)

-Place and a time

‘it could be argued’

-messages are shaped – constructed?

Explore the ways in which your chosen texts reinforce or challenge typical representations of gender.

~ Explore the ways in which your chosen texts reinforce or challenge typical representations of gender.

' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV1436VsnZY ' 

In the film 'Sin City' there are a few contrasting representations of gender, exploring typical representations and some showing signs of the opposing gender. For my first example I'll be looking at the opening story in the first scene. The strong connotations of the red dress on the first woman we meet, immediately introducing us to Maulvey's male gaze. The male tell her 'You're everything a man could ever want' this is shown and evident by her body language and dialogue, showing her objectification as she takes the cigarette the male hands to her. This is typical of a women's representation in most Noir genre films from the previous genre conventions. The non digetic jazz music in the background compliments her movements, by playing the notes loud and striking, then hearing them drift off quietly, representing the woman. The contrasting digetic police sirens could represent the danger that is going to occur, (him). 

 

' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwyLbX4uOS0 '

The next gender representation I'll be looking at is the females in the fight scene. There is a group of ten/fifteen women dressed in objectifying clothes all well trained and as tough a trained soldier. This is a contrast to the usual representation of women, unusually only portraying them to be mothers or innocent young girls and the men to be the strong, merciless ones but this is twist in the normality, gaining audience gratification. The women have a dominant role throughout the film, the representations of the prostitutes are far more deadly than other film scenes featuring the objectified women.

 ' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrL7su3LMsg '

The final gender representation is the helpless child victim in one of the first scenes. One man loses his life saving the girl, (similar to the Malve scene where he loses his life trying to help Goldy) The girl is held hostile by the male. We then see near the end of the film where the child grows up and is working in a bar as a stripped for male based gratification. This is showing the audience that women are male dominated and that they maintain power through their sexuality and physicality the majority of the time. The main characteristics of women are either shown sexual, violent or criminals, common for a Comic book genre convention usually showing women to be the male's property or usually a strong sidekick, representing them both negatively and positively.

Notes: talk about women acting like men-young girl (weak)?-men in controll (opening scene)goldy having controll of maulve. The heart shaped bed showing  'she shivers in the wind like the last leaf on a dieing tree'Include some technical details (camera/lighting/sound)

Fish Tank - Scene analysis

For this analysis I will be looking at three advanced scenes from the Social realism film 'Fish Tank'.The first scene I'll be talking about is the Car scene.This scene is different from all of the other rural and raw footage from the majority of the film. The subjects involved for this scene is the mother, her two daughters (One just fifteen and the other a young child) and this new male figure who plays the role of the father. This scene shows the Connor ( the male ) to be the hero in regards to prop's theory, by the fact that he's came and rescued this family and shown them a different aspect of the world they know. The car journey is a form of escapism for the family, giving the audience gratification from the fact they know they all are experiencing an un-profound life which is something very unusual from what they're used to. All aspects of the Mise en scene present this part of the film to please the eye, the use of good weather, the digetic music coming from the car speakers and the characters singing along, the mid shot of slow motion to show the capture of the ideal perfect moment that Mia (15 year old girl) is experiencing. All these things make the audience aware of the current lift of mood and atmosphere. This scene shows the 'family' to be like an ordinary happy family, allowing you to forget for one scene about the way they all act towards each other really and truly under the surface of all the happiness portrayed.

Meeting The horseTracking shots of Mia were taking place for this scene. Skirting around the edges of the rural landscapes of this poverty filled area, showing the audience shots of the broken barbed fences and empty landscapes and creating a struck back scene as she walks off to a place she doesn't know. The hand held camera movement captured a white horse, and makes it look as though you're seeing through Mia's eyes. The close ups of the horse automatically give you the thoughts of Mia and create enigma codes for the audience as well as her, conjoining both the audience and Mia; the gratification audience will gain from this is the social integration and the insight gained after she enters the space of the horse and field owners. The tense close ups as she steps closer towards the horse, giving the audience something to hold onto and be intrigued by. The only sounds you hear are her footsteps and hush toned voice calming the horse as she begins to inspect it's chains. This scene shows her first bond between another subject, we don't see a bond anywhere else in the film apart from when Connor enters her life. The fact that no aggressive and un practical behaviour takes place let's the audience see a different side to Mia, making them understand her character more. The similarities she has to the animals, subtle signs signifying her care for them. (E.g the poster on the back of her door in her dismal and blank room.)This scene presents is a good additive to the social realism in the film, the similarities of the roped horse and the caravans in fields are very common and can be seen through our eyes regularly. 

Living room Urinating. 
After finding out Connor has a wife and child of his own Mia performs and uses animal characteristics, the way she takes deep breaths (panting) and taking what she doesn't know it's not hers to take (hunting). The moment she see's the child's toys scattered around the lounge, she's positioned crouching and then starts to urinate on the family room carpet. This could show her lack of care and thoughts or show the emotions she feels by the anger and distraught feeling it could of created. Her behaviour is also very male like by the way she moves and acts, taking a beer from the fridge (which is classed as a typical male drink) and the fact she smokes and drinks illegally. This opens up realms of jealously that could be at the back of her thoughts, the perfect life that is shown for Connor and the fact that he gained their approval and then left them for his original family shows anger towards him and an envious guilt towards the two women in Connor's life.