Representation ALL Notes for teaching

8/7/2019 Representation ALL Notes for teaching

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TEACHERS' NOTES

Representation: the key questionsMost eachersi llapproacheyConceptsn an ntegratedayan dno assumptionsremade ere boutho wor when he concept f representationi be ntroduced.t isassumedha tmost oursesi ll begin

with an ntroductory nalys of a media extand an atternp'to outl ine he KeyConcept5. hematerialsnth epack reorganisedroundiveke yquestionshichmake p he ieldof study.

. What ense f theworld s his ilmmaking?What in dof wodddoeshe i m construct?)

. Whatdoest claims ypical f theworld? Ho w re am iar'types' se dn he ilmasa formofshorthando representeople?)

. Wh o s eally peaking?Wh o s n control { he repres-"ntationsn he i m - whose alues nd deas reexpressedn he ilm?)

. Forwhom? Will iffereni udiencesake ifferenteadingsf the ilm?)

. Whatdoes t representor us and why? Towhatextentare he representationsn the film partof thestrugglen he realworld'toeithermaintainr changehe power elationshipsetween roups fpeople r sets f ideas ndvaues?What s he politicalole f representatns?)

lBasedn Richard ye r 1985)Takingopularelevisioneriously'n Phillp rummondndDavid usted(eds) eleylslonndSchooling, fi.l

These uestionsndicatehe complexltyf anyanalysisf representation.eexplorehem n relationothree ilmsErn Brockovich, ildredPierce n'.lThe nsider. hiswill enable comparisonf relatedrepresentationsoth across me(M/dredPierceo ErinBrockovrch)ndacross enre.

Unit1 ntroduceshe iveke yquestionshlleUn s 2-6exploreac h uestionn urn.The wo CaseStudiesffer hechance f developingtudents'nderstandingf representationhroughmakingcomparisonselweenErinBrockovich, ildredPierce ndThe nsiderexlraclsrom hese ilmscanbe usedif there snot ime o includeompletecreeningsspecificxtractsre ugqestedase tudies and2) .

In Case tudy1 we apply he lvekeyquestionso FflnBrockoylchndcomparehis ilmwith lhe /nsider,addressrnghe different pproacheso realism nd he discoursef social lass.ThisCaseStudy lso upponsstudents ndertakinghe OCRmodule n American inema nd Social lass: eehe separate oteon this.)

CaseStudy focuses . MildrcdPierce ndErinBrockovichn the context J he womant picture ndexploreshe treatment f genderssuesn both ilmsand n The nsider.

Finaly,he threeshofrstudies xtend he rangeof film exampleso includeola rernt (RunLalaRun),LaHaineand he P/ano. hesehree ilmshavebeenusedextensivewith ASand A Level tudents ndhave eneratedtrongnvolvementit hrepresentationalsues. ymoving utside o ywoodo considerEuropeanndNewZealandepresentationshe yofferan alternativeod e f study nd he potent l owiden tudent xperience.ac hilm has een hoseno enable tudy f speciJicepresentationalsueswhich anbe elatedack o theunits. tudentsanextendheirexplorationf the ssuesfrepresentationshrough tudyingheseilms. lternatively,neof the hree i ms n he Short tudiesouldbecome major ocusof classroom ork with essattentionpaid o ErinBrockovich.he ilms n the ShortStudlesremore hallenging,ut he yar eaccesslean dwillpresenttudents ithmoremeaty're0resentaton 5ue5.

Referencesre ncluded itheach ni tan da fullBibliographyndFimographyssupp ed n hispack.

Knowledge of 'film language'lf studenls re o produce ighqualitywritingabout epresentationn lm, fE importanthat heyareweLlpractisedn close nalysisf specificilm sequences.hismeanshat heymustbe ami arwithspecia ttermnology nd he range f concepts ssociatedith camerawork,ighting, roduction esign, ound ndediting.heresno tspacen hispacko introduceil m anguagessuch ut heCase tudie5ncludeoodexamplesf close eadlng upportingtudyof representationssues. orkinghrough hese xampleshouldprovide oodpracticeor students nd ndicatehe ypes f textual videncehat mightappearn examinationanswers.Also eeAn Introductiono FilmLanguage',n InteractiveD-ROllpublishedy bfl Educatn.)

Terminology and student readingTh eUnits ave een esignedsstudent otes ndshould eaccessibleo bothASand42 students.hematerialsncludedn he pack av e een sedn public vents ith studentsieas hebasisorpresentationsndd scussions)nd he evel as een ound o beappropriate.owever ASclasses,nparticular,here sa wlde ange f reading bility nd eachers aywish o support tudentsyworkjngthrough ome ect ns n more etail ndaddingheirow ng oss.



The ourexaminationndcourseworkpecificationsddressedere ometimessedifferent heoreticalerms o describene sameconcept.heonly ime his reates potentialroblems n Unit6. TheoC Rspecificationeferso 'messagesnd alues,whereasot hAQ Aan dWJEC se he er m ideology'.incehe attersmore learly efinedn Media tudiesiterature.t has een sed ere.

Acquiring film and related materialsFor he workon film analysisuggestedn the pack, ouwili needa video opyof ErinBrockovich, ildredpierceand he /ns/der.t DVDfacilitiesreavailable,he DVD opies f EflnBrockovich ndThe nsider tehighly ecommendeds heyboth comewith extramaterialwhichwill support representaliontudy. t isalso mportanto use he widescreen1:2.35) ersion f lhe /nslijern order o fullyappreciatehe compositionseaturinghe elationshipetweenJeffrey igand ndLowell ergmanndalsoMichaelVann general

approacho miseen scdne. lt salwaysmportanto u5e ilms n their correct spect atio f this spossibie.)

Getting started

Unit1 - Representationan introduction

Obiectives:Students hould

1. beable o definerepresentation';

2. know he iveke yquestionsha twillenabiehem o exploressuesf represenralon.

lvlany tudentsind t easiesto engage ithconceptualor kafterworkinghrough text.Th ebest tarting oint or hispacksascreeningf Eflt Brockovtchnd a general iscussionbouthow to reada film-A useful uestiono startwith is:

How shouldwe approach rinBrcckovich?sl. a Julia obea6ilm?

. a Steven oderberghilm?

. a genre icture?

. a true story?

. a filmabout ollution?

This iscussioni ll aisehe generaluestionf representation ha t s he ilm rying o say boutheworld, boutErinBrockovichherself r about hespecificas e f environmentalamage?

From ere,t is possibleo outlinehe keyquestions unit 1.These eyquestionsreelaboratedn n units2- 6which oucan ake nanyorder. lternatively,oucould se aseStudy ,which raws n each f the keyquestiofsn urn,as he ocus f your ourse,usinghe

additionalnformations equiredro meach f the units.

Unit 2 - Realism

Obiectives:Studentshould

1. understandheconcept f realismnd hat here rema|ydifferent ays f representingheworld n i lm;

2. earnha t heappearancef realitysconstructed.

A useful ayof staning or kon realisms o study range f short xtractsrom ilmsmentionedn he pack, oncentratrngn hecharactersovingn heirenvironment.he \r ' lo xtracts entionedn he irst;xercisencase tudy includehort cenesn whichwe se eErin rockovichet nt ohe rca ronJyo head traightnl oan accidentndLowell ergman ee t effrey igandna Louisvillehotel.Thisoffersa contrast etweennaturalistidobservational'andexpressionistic'tyles. scenerom he ilanoih,,,wrng necharactersovinghroughhe expressionist'forestnd rom a Haneshowingheyouths n theestateould e usedo reintorcehedistindion.he tart f the irst unof Lolan lola rennt ncludesnanimationequence,hichworkso suggesthe metaphorf acomputerame.

Askstudentso groupor contrasthe extracts ccordingo thesequestions:

. Are he characterseingpresentedo us asordinary eople r as arger han ife,cbaracters?

' ls he ocationeing resentedas s' n heworldwe knowor asa theatricalet n whichwe expect ighdrama?

' ls hedirector ppealingo ourknowledgef theworldwe ive n or o ourknowledgef other i ms?

Thisshouldbe relativelytraightforward ith ErinlLa ame n one sideand The nsiderlThe iano n the other.Lola s nrereslngbecausehe sbothan. nimateder o ndan ordinaryoungwoman. fullcoveragef the deasn he unitwillmean ooking t anextractrom anavowedly ocial ealistilm suchas KenLoach's amngstonesandat a film that playswith ideas f realism uchas heBlairWitchProject.

It susefulf studentsreaware f theconcept f ,anti-realism,(Category) but t maybe difficullo findcontemporaryxamples.he'antl-realist'de a anbe

llustratedypointing

o anycinematiceviceha tbreaks'realist'conventions.hi sncludesharactersatkingdirectlyo th ecamera ndsurrealistokesha tdisrupthe ransparencyf the mage. hese ornetimesppearn mainstreamomedtessuchasBlazingaddlesUs 1973), he spoofwesternn wh cha chase roundhe desert evealshe siuiio orchestra layinghe musicbehinda large o.k lnA selfmadeHefo France 996) he story spunctuated y musicrom an on-screentringquartet. his ilm canbe usedo discussealismndanti-realism.



Th eunits n hispackmake p an ntegratedchemef work. nUnit6 realismscritiquedsa conservativeestheticha tdoesn'tchallenge ow deas bout he world areconstructedndpresented.his sa point hat maybe easiesto makeusing he traditional'forman dcontent' istinction.Socialealist'f i lmsn particularrequite ikelyo beprogressivencontent,ocusingttention nimportantocialssues,ut heyare onservativen ormal erms. ilmsha tuse antasy ndexpressionismaydeal nlywith seeminglyescapist aterialut heir ormal xperimentationanmove udienceso'think ifferentlynd hereforeubvertonventionaiehaviour.

Unit3 - Analysinghe typical

Objectives:Studentshouldunderstandhat

1. ilmsuse types'asa central eferenceoint or their constructionf character;

2. charactersn filmscan be representedn a continuum ehr''/eentypical' r 'individual'or novelistic)epending n the typeof filmand heir ole n t.

This nitexploresowpeople re haracterisedn ilm,withsome omparisonith he novel. ou ould ntroducehi sunitby makinglistof well-known haractersrom ilmson the boardand a5king tudentso discusso what extent heyare epresentingypesof peopleor uniquendividuals.

Exercise: econstructingypes

In he films fieyselector thisexercise,tudentsmayuse heirown knowledge ndexperienceo drawout the cu ural referencesnrelationo types.However,n example f thissortof deconstructionanbe carried ut in relationo OErothe,WhereArt Thou'lIhepoints oucould rawou t nclude:

. TheUlysseseference:

GeorgeClooney layshe roleof Ljlysses,4ccilThefilm s based n an amalgam f Homer's dysseynd a 1930V40sscrewballcomedy', ullivan's ravels,irected y Preston lurges.What do students nowabout Ulysses?lyssess he archetypalleader f agroup f adventurers'fromreekegendsndalso hegenericomicscrewbacharacter'f the manwho sclever utno tsensible.

. STereorypinql 'e Deep outh':

AI Lhe olesn he ilm, ncluding lyssesvlccill, erive omethingro m he stereotypesssociatedit h he'Deep outh', speciailyduringhe 1930s ruraldumb icks',ackingophisticatlon,ll-educated,redulousndaddictedo hillbil ly usic

. Th e tar:

Clooney imself rings star mage ssociatedit hsmooth ophisticationha tca nbe eversedn his ole. he1930s etting lso llowshim o'play'with he dea f becomingmodern ay larkGable,eadingta r f studio raHollywood,omplete it hpencilmoustache.

Unit4-Whosevoice?

Obiectives: lLdentshould noersrdndha t

1. ilmsareconstructedy creativeeams;

2. he deas ndvalues'spoken'n he ilmar enot necessarilyhose f thepeoplehe ilmpurportso represent.

A usefulway nto hisunit s o refer o the screeningl ErinBrockovichnd/o(The nsider r anyother ilm students ave ecentlywatched.Ask hemwhose view' sbeingmoststrongly xpressedhrough he ilm. s he directorrying o get acros5 pdrucurarmessage?oeshe star ave ny nfluenceve rwhat sbeing aid?Wh oelsemight e nfluentialn he constructionf the i lm?Ho wmight he message'r standpoint'f the ilmbe nfluencedy tsbackers?

Thediscussionf 'voice'needso be dealtwith quitesubtlyboth becausehe answer o lwhose oice?' s not entire straightforwarcl,and because ost ilmsaremadeby peoplewho themselvesaveprobably ever xperiencedhal the charactersn the film aregoingthrough. nsteadheyarecollectively,hrough heir ndividualontributionso thewholeproject,rying o convey omething bout hecharactersnd what they epresent.heproducer nd director robably ave he strongestnf uence verwhat s conveyedhrough he

film, but the starand othermembers { the productioneam mayalsohave ome nput n termsof theirown interpretationsf what thefilm sabout. hepoint o emphasises hat ilms on'tsimplyeflect ociety.erhapsrefract' lght ea bettermetaphor ilms xistwithin society,hey nteractwith events ndchanging ttitudes.

Unit 5 - ldeas about audience

Obiectives: tudentshould nderstandha taudiences

1. may nterpret epresentatlonsn differentway5accordingo their own cultural xperiences;

2. influencehe constructionf representationshrough heir expectationsf starperformancesnd he decisionsheymakeaboutwhatkinds f f i lmso watch.

This nit eferso the ecentncreasen he opportunitiesor audienceso dlscusshe ilms heyse e nd o developheir nterestnparticulartars nd ilms. his sapparentn he groMhof internetites ith user omments'n Jilms swellas'fansites' nd previewsites' iespeculationbout uture ilrns). ccesso the InternetN,4ovieatabase,mazon tc.will enable tudents'to et a sense f

different udienceesponsesroundhe world,and also o observe ow starpersonaerebeingdeveloped.

Th eunit ncludesshort uestionnaireesignedo ai dstudentsn reflectingn heir wn responseso films ndsome f thepossiblereasons hy heymight read' ilms n particular ays. t focusespecificallyn ageand gender. heconclusionshey drawJrom heresultsf a surveyanbecomparedith conclusionsrawn romanalysinguser omments'n he nternet.



Unit 6 - ldeology

Obiectives:Students houldunderstandhat

f. ideologylays n mportantole n he constructionf representations;

2. here redifferent ays f thinking bout deologyncludingiscourseheory nd he heory f hegemony.

The deas nd hestudent xercisesn Unii6 are mportantor studentst all evels,utAS eachers aywish o use hisUnitseectively,perhapse-introducingt at 42. This squite complex nit,howevet on'tbe afraido have go with t, hough ouma yneed o helpsome tudentsunpick't. You ould tart yaskinghestudents hetherhey an dentify particularorld iewbeing resentednanyof the filmsyou have hoseno focuson. AteErinBrcckovichr lhe /ns/der romoting r challengingnyparticularnterests? re

theypromotingr chal nging nyparticularie wof, or mplying ny udgementsbout he ole f,women r men n societv?re hevsetting p any'ideal' bouthow ndividualshould ehave?

Case tudy1

Thiscanbe usedasa reference oint hroughout the studyof representationr giveno studentso help hem consolidateheirlearning.n extra ote sprovidedn he understandingf social lassn America.

Exercise representing eal events

In hisexercisetudentsreaskedo compare ow ealitys econstructedn he \,voi lms. lthough oth ilms t broadlynt o heconcept f 'Ho ywood ealism' nd transparency', n isat one pole',movingowards ocial ealism/naturalism,nd he /rslder satthe oppositeole,movingowards nexpressionisttylese e ni t2 for definitions).ecould how ifferencesike his:

Erin

Cameras a detached bserver

More ong hots

'Open',non-threatening 6e er scdne

'Naiura l ' l ight

Locationnremarkable

The nsider

Camerasmore ikea spy, n nvestigatotand-heldwobble' uggestsncefiainty

More lose-uos

Framingscut-off'or locked y doors, indows,urniture tc.

'Dlsturb g' m/se n scdne

Llqhtingsmore'low-key'th expressionisthadows

Locationmphasisesindows,orridors,oors

Thevisuai tyle n this sequenceffers uesaboutgenre. heexpressionisttyleof lhe /n5/deruggestshe thrillerand-especiallyheconspiracyr paranoiahril ler' thesensehat hecharactersre onstantlynder urvelance. his sconfirmed y RusselCroweS dgypefformance.

CaseStudy2

This ase tudyexploresender epresentationn relatlono filmqenres. ssigning film o specificenres notnecessarilytraightforwardand n itselfmaynot beparticularlylluminating. owever,t ispossibleo recognisemixof genericeferencesndanalyse ow hese elpconstructepresentations.he historicalvolution f how womenare epresentedn societysexploredn relationo ErlnBrockoylth ndMildredPierce t'No ilmsmadenearly 0years part.The epresentationf the malehero sexploredn relationo lhe inslder, hichcouldlead o a furtherexplorationor interestedtudents f how he representalionf menhaschangedn the ast50years.

Shortstudies

The hree ilms na se d er c rovidedditional ateriaor hestudy f representation.ouma yprefer ithero give tudents copy feach tudy eparatelyfterwatchinghe elevanti m,or o give he mal l o thestudentsndas k hem o chooseneof the ilms oexploren more etail san ndividualtudy.

Fudher uggestionsor workon specificilms ndcombinationsf fi lms reglven nderhe ilmography.



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Objectives

Representationsoneof the KeyConceptsor Fim and MediaStudies t ASand 42. Knowledgend

understandingbout epresentationssuesreassessedt both evels cross range f modules nd

students realsoexpectedo be aware f representationssuesn heirpractical roduction ork.Th e

materialsn th e packVvill e usefuln addressingwide range f issues,ut he main ocus songender epresentationith some overagef class ndethnicity.

Thispack ocuses n representationsn fiction ilms,using xamplesrawn rom Hollywood nd

European inema. hesame deas ndapproachesxplored ere anbe appliedo non-fictionilmsas

wellas elevisionrogrammes.ll mha sbeenchosen s he ocusof th e pack,bothbecause f itspopuarity i, ' ith tudents nd alsobecausepecificil m itles reavailablen video VHS nd DVD). ll

th e main itles iscussedn the packar eavailablet the timeof writing. nd becausef theirgeneral

highprofile, re rkelyo remain o'or some me o come.

Th emainaimsof thispackare:. to encouragetudentsowards onceptualnderstanding,o hat heyar eable o distance

themselvesrom he extsbeing tudied ndengage n a critca lanalysisf how representationsre

constructed

. to support tudentsn writingabout epresentationssuesnd particularlyn using ppropriate

evidence rawn rom close extual nalysis

Specif cation references

. AQA: A5/1 Readinghe Media,AS/2Textual opicFllmand Broadcast iction,A2l4 Texts nd

Contextsn the MediaA2l5 Possibleopic or Independenttudy

. OCR: S/1Textual nalysis: ection Opiion American inema ndSocial lass, 2l5:Womenand

FilmOption, 216Media ssues nd DebatesFilm ption)

. WJEC:AS2 ,4ediaepresentationsnd Reception,2 Unit4Investigating ediaTexts

. WJEC ilmStudies: sefuln introducinghe

ke yconcept nd aspectsf work acrosshe courseincluding tars ndperformanceUnit6)

CONTENTS & OBIECTII 'ES

. Teachers'notes

. Unit 1: Representationan ntroduction

. Unit 2: Realism

. Unit 3: Analysinghe typical

. Unit 4: Whose oice?

. Unit 5: deas boutaudience

. Unit 6: ldeology

. CaseStudy l: Americancinemaand social lass ErinBrockovich nd The nsider

. CaseStudy 2: cender representation ErinBrockovich,Mildred Pierceand The ns ider

.Three short studies. RunLolaRun;La Haine;ThePiano

. Bibliographyand filmography

. EssayQuestions

. Appendix:a noteon social lassn America

Filmslluslratedn hestrip:ErinBrockovich2000Columbia ictures)ola rennl (RunLola Run) (1998X FilmCreativePool)



UIUIT 1

It isgenerallyecognisedhat all media extsar e constructed',hat spu t ogether y creative nd

technicaleamswho followstandard roceduresor selecting,ompiling nd editingmaterial.

Documentariesnd newsprogrammesn televisionre us tas constructed's iction ilmsmade or

rne crnema.

Accordingo onewriter Dyer, 985) epresentationanbe ooked t in the ollowingways:

. As re-presentation:resentingealiiy ve ragain o us .Realitysmediatedhrough ormsof

representationvailablen he culture.

. As being representativef in the sense f bejng rypical'.This,of course, aiseshe questionofwhat s'typical'.

. In he sense f speakingor and on behalf f somebody r a group.

. In recognisinghe existencef audienceesponses,i th different udiencesespondingo different

kinds f representation.

In his nlroductoryni ton representatione Vvill r ieflyoo kat ho w ilm developedsa

representationaledium nd dentifyhe mainquestions e need o exploren order o understandhow'representation'orks n film.

PhotographicealismCinemanheritedhe dea f photographicealism. hotographysa mediumhat worksby ,capturing,

images sgradationsf lightan dshade n a light ensitlvemulsion. hene wmedjum, evelopednthe irsthalfof the nineteenthentury ouldhave ee nused rimarilyo create bstractmagescomposed f shapes,olours nd exturesamodern ersion f thismightbe he lightshows,n clubsand bars).But t became pparent eryquickly hat the popularity f photography erived rom its

ability o record mages f people,places nd objects a form of 'mechanicaleproduction,. y he

late nineteenth entury had become ommonpracticeo record magds f big publicevents s well

as he personal' i lestonesf lifesuchaschildhood..arriage tc .

Thebeginnings f cinema

As well asphotographicealism,inema lsodrewon other orrns f art andentertainmentuc hastheatre,music allan ddance. n he wentieth enturyt added ound nd colour expandingherange f representationalevices. inema ouldhave evelopedn manyways,bu t he dominant

form became narrativeinema,elling tories verninetyminutes r se.and sing iconic,images'resemblances'f imagesn he realworld.A fi lm sessentiallyseries f events ecorded y hecamera.n examininghe processesf representatione will ocus, n part,on the echnology ndtechniquesf cinema nd he waywe 'read' inematicmages y recognisingertainechniquesnd

drawingmeaningrom hem.

Cinema ndcultural ontext

Popularinemasbased po na common ndeEtandingf the social odd.Over he as t10 0years ndmoreof filmmaking, languager grammar f images ndsounds asevolvedha tallowsilmmakers

to representhis world. Audiences exposedo film and elevision, ften rom an earlyage learn hislanguageuickly nd he cultural nowledgehat we requireo understandopular inemasno tsomethingwe usually allupon consciously.t hasbeen naturalised' o hat the process f constructingmeaninghroughcreating epresentations,s undertaken y ilmmakers, asbecome nvisible.

Elef ining rFepresentatiorr!

The development of film as a FepFesientational rrredium



Audiences

The construction f representations ay havebeen renderednvisibleor to put it anotherway. he constructional evices

havebecomeransparentwe see hrough hem o the constructed eani ng),ut hisdoesn'tmean hat audiencesjust

Ii ebackand et i lmssimply ol lover hem. nan yaudienceherewill be ndividualsr groups f individualsho readan

image r a sequencen a film n different ays.Filmmakersannot igidlyix a representationnd demand hat heir

audiencesnderstandhe film n a certain ay .Representatronsanbe reinterpretednd made o have ifferent

meanings y peoplewatchinghe i lm though t couldbe argued hat he viewer'sirst ask s o try o understand

what he ilmmakersre rying o represent.

Here re iveke yquestionsha tca nbe used n exploringhe term representation'nd reflecthe complexityf any

analysisf representationadaptedro m Richard yet 1985):

. Whatsense f the world s his i m making? Whatkindof worlddoes he ilm construct?)

. Whatdoes t claim s ypical f the world? Ho ware amiliartypes' sed n th e i lm asa formof shorthando representpeople?)

. Who is really peaking?Who is n controlof the representationsn the film - whosevalues nd ideasare expressedn

th e film?)

. Forwhom? Willdifferent udiences akedifferent eadings f the ilm?)

. What does t representor usan dwhy? Doesrepresentation'ave politicalole n, or example, aintainingower

relations?)

The critical task - a note to studentsr

A typicalVediaStudies xamor courseworkssessmentill require nalysisf specificepresentationsn a

selected edia ext.Where t ispossibleo select fi lm,yo uwill usually rite abouta particularequence,ften

th e beginning r ending f a fi lm or a pivotal equencen he middle f the film.Critcalwork will nvolvethinking bout he echniquesse dby ilmmakers,he relationshipetween he ictional orldan d he realworld

- the cultural ontext and he mportance f the audience.he mportant ointso bear n mind n answeringquestionsn representationn fi lmsare:

. Yo ushould rovideevidence'or anyassertionou make: ou need o demonstrateou rability o'read'

sequencesn termsof theirus eof fi lm anguage. epresentationsreconstructedhoughcamerawork,ound

and editing ndyoushouldwriteabout magesn hese erms.

. Al l yourworkon the KeyConcepts f narrative,enre, udience nd ns titutionhould e ntegrated:ou may

need o refer o them n your esponseo questionsbout epresentatior.

Fleferences

Richard yer 1985)Taking opularelevisioneriously'n

Television nd Schooling, bfi

PhilipDrummondin-d.Davidustededs)



UNIT 2

On eof the main easonshywe enjoyi lms sbecausehey ppearo representhe,real orld,, worldthat is both amiliar nd new o us or theyplaywith the deaof what s real'.However,he realcan,tsimply e captured'y hecamera r he microphonendput on screen. hatappearsn screen il lalways e he result f choices nd selection.

Th emainpoints ewant o exploren hi sunitare:

. There remanydifferentwaysof representinghe realworld on a cinema creen.

. The'effect' f realismanonlybecreatedhrough onsiderableartif ice' realismnl yemergeshroughconstruction.

There re ewwords hat ancarry smany ifferent eaningss he rioof 'real', realist,an d realism,.lnthisunitwe do notwant o ge tmiredna compiicatedhilosophicaliscussionboutwhat s ,real,bu twe

do want o understandow i lms epresenthe'realworld' theworldwe negotiatevery ay.

We candistingu h ivebroad ategoriesf representaijonsf theworld:

1. Films hich re transparent'npresentingvents the dominanttyle f Hollywoodinemahatdoesnot draw attentiono itself.Camerawork,oundandeditingaredesignedo facilitate asy ccesso thestory nd he events nfold n a logical anner.he ictional orld s ecognisable,ut hepeople ndth eevents reusually'largerhan ife' more eautiful, ore alented,,eventsremore xcitinotc ) ndwe must uspendur disbelieff the ilm sgoing o beenjoyable.

2. Films hichpresentvents rawn romeverydayocialif ean dwhich dopt camera,ound ndeditingstyle hat drawsattention o the 'authenticity'f theeventsiewe wouldexperiencehem ike his n the'realworld').Thesemightbe describeds'socialrealist',but note hat thereareseveral ifferent ealiststyles nd hereforeeveralifferentinematic'realisms'.

3. Films hich re learly'fantastic' vents redepictedha tcould ot,or at east re ery nlikelyohappenn real' ife. he amerawork,ound ndeditingmaybe usedmore ekpressionisticay, .Despitethe element f fantasy,hese epresentationsill stillhave omethingo sayabout he ,realworld,.Forexample,udiencesndcritics re nterestedn he characterf Ripleyn,the /len eriesswellaswhatthe ilmha s o say bout ender olit ics.hedifferencesetweenhe transparent,nd he fantastic,

typeof film maybe veryslight.A comedy et n anoffice, ike What Women yanr US2001). s'transparent',ut Being ohnMalkoylth US2000), n whichcharactershysicallyainaccesso theactor's rain, s a fan'tasy. n he otherhand,a sciencelction ilm,whichpresentsvents s ogically

based n scientificdeas,s ikelyo be transparent'.

4. Films hichdeny hepossibilityf a 'realist'epresentationndwhich hereforeispenseit h heusualconveni nsof (fictlon)ilmmaking.heseilmsforeground'he process-ejf-makingf lmor'constructing' story so hat actorsalk directlyo camera,he cameras n shot,events represented

ou'tof sequencetc.Theymightbe described s anti-realist'.However,lthoughhisapproachs basedon a denialhat'realism'seither ossibler usefui,hi sdoes ot meanhat t cannot omment n he'realworld'. ndeedilmmakersuppoftinghi sapproach ouldargueha t t is heonlyway o exposethe ealityhat susuallybscuredn mainstreamllms. his ategorys are n contemporaryinema ndalmost nknownn Hollywood-t is argely product f thesocalledcounter inema, ovementf the1960s nd1970s. owever,spectsf theapproachurfaceccasionallyeq he e,organisationf thenarrativen PulpFictionUS1994)). classicxample f anti-realismomesn jeanLuccodards ouf ya

blen France 972)abouta strike n a factoryThe ilm begins y showinghe two 5tarsyvesMontandand ane onda)igningheir ontractsndacceptinghequesor working n he i lm,whrle voiceoveraddresseshe audience.hs technique mphas iseshe constructed-nessf the film.



5. Filmswhich play'with the ideaof 'realism'.Often dentified sexamplesf contemporarypostmodern' culture,llrns ike TheBlair

witch ProjectUS1999)or 'mockumenlariesrke h6 /5Spmd/ap (US1984)use ealistechniques,uttheyare essentiallyoncerned

with commentingnother i lms atherha ndealing irectly ith he'realworld'. hissa centraleature f the dea f'postmodernity'ha taudiencesake ense f a fi lm,an dderive leasurerom t, hroughheir nowledgef other rlms,ather

than heirknowledge f the worjd.This ategorys a very oose efinition, ut t is mportant o recognisehat the wholeconcept f

'realismn he cinema' as ome ntoquestionndwe need o emphasisehe luldity f definitions. .

All orms f representlnghe'realworld'workwith codes ndconventions'f realism . ealismsno tslmply 'slice f reallty' uta set

of conventionsbouthow o representeality. or nstance, ostJiLmshat dealwith the historical astprovide areful eproductionsf

clothing, alrstyles,rchitecturend urnishingsecausehey ando hlsaccurateLyndbecauseudiencesxpectt. Butno oneca nbesurehow people poke500years goand audiencesodayprobably ouldn'tunderstandhe accents nyway. o authentic peech's

no ta realistonventionndeven f it was he ilmwouldu5 e ubtitles another onventlon.

We need o distinguishetu/een ollywood'stransparentealism'Category)and socialealisrn'Category). t isperhapsasiero try

an ddefinesocialealism'first.

Social ealism

This oncept erivesargelyrom he so calledneo-realist' ovementn ltaly n he 1940s. heessencef neo-realismas he dea hat he

story ame ut o{ the ifeon the street, r thevillaqe. s Roberto osselliniut t 'thesubject f the ilm s he worLd'.Rossellini953). n

otherwords, he ilmmakert im s o put'reality'on the screen, ot o invent storyand use eality s he backdrop. llied o thisconcentrationn socialssuesssubject'content'wasnaestheticr'styie'thatncluded:

. shooting n authenticocations;

. usingnon-professionalctors r actorswith the correct lasyregion ackgroundor the characters;

. usingong ake5 ndan , documentary-typeamera tyle;

. not using hememusic r special ffects.

In he 1940she dea f locationhooting en tagainsthe standarddea f 'creating'ndcontrollinghe representationf the real

world' n hestudio. hene wapproachasperhapsess adicaln Britain here ocumentaryilmmakersadalreadyada major

impact n ictioni mmaking uringhe Second orldWa r

Theneo-realistpproach as akenup by new ilmmakersn Asia,Africaand LatinAmerica, artlybecauset was he east xpensive

approacho production,utalso ecausef its ocus n socialssues.n Hollywood,hevogue or ealismn he ate1940s asdevelopedy eftwingwrltersand producers ho began o explore ocialssues.hisbeingHollywood,manyof these ssuessuch s

antisemitismn CrossflreUS1947)), ereworked nto crimenarratives,ften ilmedon the streets f NewYork.Something f the feel

for NewYorkstreets evelopedn the ate 1940s urvivesn contemporaryelevisionolice eries uchas NYPD lue.

Thebest-known odern xponentsf social ealism reprobably ritish irectors, enLoach nd MikeLeigh. lthough heyapproachproductionn distlnct aysand heircharaqtersreconstructedifferently,oth areconcernedo offer ilmsabout ordinaryives'n

recognisableocations.n Loach casehis has ended o be he Bfitain f council ousing statesn Lon on Laclybnd,dyblrd),Manchester(Raminqtotes) r GlasgowMyNames Joe). oach'silmsareoJten abelled s gjrim' r bleak'by unfriendlyritics. owevet he ilms

otferbothcomedy ndmelodrama,houghLoach oes ot add alse'glamoui r special ffects. udience leasuresexpectedo derive

fromengagement ith he charactersnd heirpredicaments,hicharemundane nd amiliareg n Rammg tones, familys hrown nto

crisis ecausenunemployedan sdeterminedo buyhi sdaughter communionress).

Representationsn social ealistilmsare'concernedith a sense f location nd he credibility f rhecharacters.oach actorsandLeighs)are rawn rom a poolof workinqclassalentwith clear egionaldentitiesincluding obertCarlylen RiffRaff andCarla's ong,

PeterMullan n My Names Joe,and RayWlnstonen Ladybird, adybircl).

AndrewHigson as uggenedhat onebf thedefiningeatures f thegritishNew ffi;e iilmsof the 1960swhichweredrrectlyssociatedith

socialealism)wasThatLongShot f OurTown romThatHill' Higson 984). he ilmmakersonfirmedhesense f autheniicityy showing

cityscapeith mills nd oundriesnd herowsof workers'back-to-back'ouses.he1960silmsalso enefitedroman nflux f young

acting alentwithNodhern orking ljss oots Albert inney,omCourtenaytc) many f the successfuliddle lassilmstars f theperiod

couldnot play redibleharactersn heseilms. n Loachbilmsof the 1990s, similar efiningmage f 'place's he ongshotshowinghe

central haracters,ften na batteredransit an,drivinghrough nestate f high-riseLals.

Ken oa( reflectsn h' sapproacho shootirgn a realisrtyle:

I think oushouldeel ubconsciouslyhat he objectsn he rame rebalanced,ut f yo ucome ut of a shot ndsay Ah .yes,

isn't hata stunningrame?'thenou'veost hepoint f it. t shouldee mus t ight, lthoughnan mplicitatherha npredictable ay. t shouldn't trike ouasa self-conscious lyeautiful hot; hat'sshowing ff.

Ithinkyo uneed o communicatehe5ense f landscape,ut t 's he andscapehat sbeautiful,ot heshot. ts mpoirantha t

yo u ink heaudienceo the andscapesunselfconsciouslysyo ucan.(Loachnterviewedn Fuller,998)



Natunalisrn ws Expre5sionisrn

NaturalismNaturalismerlvesro m he heatre the nineteenthentury henactors toppedpeakingndgesturingoward,heaudiencendattemptedo speak ndac tmore aturallyr realistically.lthough arly inema sedhe stv|sed esture5of traditionalheatre, odern inemaendsowardshe naturalisticpproach.

Naturalistctingsstil i 'construct'- style f acting. om e ctofs dopt heapproachf tryingo ,become,their

character,indingways o be'absorbed'nto someone lsespersonality,nd hereforeo representt more ealistically

(Thiss he basis f 'Method' cting opularro m he 1950shrougho the 1970s.)Likewise,aturalisticameraworkttemptso depictheworld aswe see t'. t requiresreat kill o ,disguise,

th econstructionie he movementf thecamera ndchanglngf the ens). hi 5 tyles ound n Hollywoodtransparent

realist'i lms swellas'socialealist'i lnrs.

Naturalismsonlyon ewa yof representingth e eal'. or nstance,he hand-heldamera nd hewobblysubjective,

shot s not partof naturalism ecauset representshe character'sointof view and s notan attemDto reoresentgeneral erspectiven realitv.

Exercise

Placehe o owingilms nd v programmesrong continuumro m naturarrsto 'non-naturarrst,:

ER,EastEnders.he Brairwitch project,ThisLife,Ally McBear, reepyHolrow Erin Brcckavich,Mv Names Joe.TheSopranos,asualty,eachers

Overall,aturalismsopposedy'expressloni5m,.

ExpressionismExpressionismsan art movementhat emergedn the early wentieth entury n i m the term expressionist,eferso awa yof presentingn m age o hat hecharacter'smotionsreexpressedhroughhe depictionf the,externalorld,.Thls tylesalso ntendedo evoke nemotionalesponsen he audience.ighting,amerawork,ar irectronndmusicca nal lbe used'expressionistically'.

Ina genre uc h shorror,he disturbed in dof a characterr heexlstencef secrethoughtsanbeexpressedhroughshadows, ngled ompositionsnddistorted iews.

Realistilmswill tend o avoidexpressionism.t is mportanto note he difference etweenhe shadows reated y heus e f naturalight na realisvnaturalistil mand heshadowsntendedo beseen xpressionisticallyn a thril lerthoughit is,of course,ossibleo consciouslyix he wo na ,realistthril ler,).

Exercise

. ldentifyom eilms ouhavewatchedha tuse mixture f naturalismndexpresstontsm.

Flealism and the ttFanspaFent, Hollywood film

Flealisrn and emotion

The learestifferenceetween ollywoodndsocialealisms n heapproacho the material.nbroaderms, ocialeatistilmmakerswant o exploreocialssues,singndividualtories sa focusor ilms et nspecificocations.hepurposef socialealisms oeducatend nform while eing ntertaining)ihe appealo realismsperhapso addweight o the argument. ollywoooenerarLydoeshe opposite presentingnexcitingtory bout n ndividualrt hsocialssuessbackground.

hepurpose

f a Hollywoodilm sto entertainnd he ealismhould upportha tpurposey nvolvingth eaudiencen hestory.

Two nterestingilms o comparen termsof realism reSpike eesDo TheRightThing us 1989)and JohnSjrgleton'sayz N the Hood(LJs 991). ingletonrieso showLo sAngeiesas s' ,whereaseewantso make-hisowntatementi

.. staltingro ma tangibleealityth e il mwa sactuallyho ton Stuwesantvenue etween unc yStreet ndLexingtonAvenue),pike ee erforms seriesf manipulationsha tartfulJyransformvery eal ettingnt oa theatricaltage... echoosesn areaof Brooklynhal symbollzeshe blackghettowith itssubstandardousing nd record-highumber f welfarerecipients. etLee!blackghetto s not devastatedy poverty, nemploymentnddrugabuse.f Lee3 tylized ed-stuyssodifferentrom he LosAngeles hettodepicted y ilmrnakerohn singleton,t is becauseee aestheticoncerns eliberatelyover5hadowhe depth nd ntensityf racial ndeconomicxclusion.(Catherineouzoulet997)

on eway nwhichHollywoodas mbracedn dea J ealisms n respecto emotion nd he experiencef cinema.incehe 1920sHollyvoodhasbeenat the forefront f technoiogicalevelopmentsesignedo findwaysof makinghe experiencef sitting n acinemaea tmorereal' ciosero a situationnwhich hesoundsnd magesn he screenverwhelmhe audience.s headvertisingfor l\,4AX,he mostspectacularorm of cinema, uggests,t isalmost ikebeingput ,into,the film rself.



soundwith greaterrequencyangeand ess oise, olourwith higherdefinition greater larity), idescreen,D etc canall becombinedwith productionechniques hichattempt o emulate umanexperience. goodexamples he opening I SavingrivateRyan Us1998) hichwa swidely raisedor tsdepictionf the D-Dayandings. any eteransuggestedha t he ilm ecreatedhe error ndconfusion f the realevent.For hem,and or many ounger iewers nd isteners,t placedhem n the battle cene, xperiencinghehorrorof the moment.Steven pielberg sedhand-held ameras nd underwaterhots ombined ith extremelyuggesrve ouno

' effects o createhe effectof carnagen the waves nd on the beach.Hebasedhe visualmage5 n documentaryhotographsndshot nsucha way hat manyof the actorswereunaware f the camera.

Althoughhissequenceasseen sdepictinghe violence f war n a 'realistic' ay, he ilm tself emainsn exampJef a transparentHollywoodilm.By akingus nto he battle,Spielbergs appealing ore o our nstincts

nd mmediatemotionalesponseshan o ourintellectualonsiderationf 'realevents'. hecamerana social ealistilm would emainmuchmoreof a detachedbserverf the battle,analysinghe action nd using ifferent oldiers'esponseso buildup an deaof whathappenedhat day.

Exercises

. Selectny wo film5whichmight e ermedsocialealist'. hat s heevidenceor his laim?

' Take contemporaryollyr,voodil m ha tyo u hink snot'socialealist'. ha tevidencean oupresento supportou rchoice?

' All the mainBritishelevisionoapoperasCoronatlon treet,Brookside, astEnders,mmerdale)avebeendescribedsderivingro m Britishocialealism'.elect nyONE f these oaps nd ndicatehe extento which ou r electedoapmaystillbe categorisedn thiswayand how far it hasmovedaway rom realtst oncerns.

Does ealismmatteranymore?

Critics nd ilmmakersave rgued t ength bout ealismn hecinema, ut recent evelopmentsave onvincedom e ostmodernistcriticsha tmuch f the discussionsbecomingrrelevant.hey rguehat:

' Becauseigitalmagesanbesoeasily anipulatednd eproduced,t is mpossibleo tell he'real'fromhe flctional,sohe dea f'authenticity'a5 one.

' Many ilms nd elevisionrogrammesre hybrids',penlymixingfact'an d iiction' tyles,ocalling film reallst,tsbecominges susetul.

This sa viewpoint oumight ike o considern relationo recentHollywoodilm\s ased n 'truestones', uch sErinBrockovich, helnsidef, and PrivateRyan.

Writing in exams a note to students

Mostof th especificationso not expectou o knowall he argumentsbout ealism,ut yo ushould ecarefulnyourtextual nalysisf yo u efer o a particularyp eof cameraworks realist'. ake ure oudescribehe echniquendrelatet to a specificor mof realism.

Flefenences

Graham ullered) 1998) oach n Loach, ondon: aber ndFaber

AndrewHigson1984) Space, lace, pectacle'nScreen ol25 Nos4-5,July-October

Catherine ouzolet1997)TheCinema f Spike ee: mages f a MosaicCity, n Mark Reid ed)Splkeee3 Do the Right hing,Cambridge niversy Press

Robeafo ossellini1953)A FewWordsaboutNeo-Realism'n Retrospettlye,April, eprintedn DavidOverbyed)A Readern Neo_Rea/rsm,alismanooLs 978

Etocumentary filrn techniques

our concern ere sprimarily ith fiction ilms andsometimesilmsbased n realevents)ather handocumentaryecordsof actual vents. owever,heconventionsf documentaryilming includingobservationalameraramings',an dhetdcameras,oice-overstc.) analso eappliedn ictionilm5 ndusedo suppod ot hHollywoodndsocialealjstlms.



UNTT 3

Constructing representationor a film text isa process f translating set of complex andsometimesontradictory)deas boutpeople, laces nd eventsnt o rnageshat canbe understoodquitequickly y an audience f diversereaders'. l l communication ustdealwith the voical tsome evel we oftenus egeneralisationso ge tacross ur deas.

In his unitwe !\/i l l oncentraten examininghe ypingof charactersn narratives,owever therelements f narratives,uc hasplaces nd historic eriods, realso epresentedhrough yping, tsome evel. ountriesn Africamaybe ypified spoverty tricken,he medieval eriod f historyma ybe ypified sbrutal, ut he realityywasoftenmorecomplex ndnuanced.

Human eings recomplicatednd getting o knowsomeone roperlyakes long ime.A filmmakerha sonlya few minuteso introduceharactersndenable udienceso ge t o know he msufficiently

well to understandwhy they act in a particularway.Thereforeilmmakersend to relyon ourrecognitionf types. his onstraintsshared y othermedia, ut t ismostacute n a fiction jlm ha tsets ut to tellwhat mightbe a complex tory n hespace f a concentratedinetyminutes r so.Atelevisioneries r a soap perawill have longer im ewith he.centralharactersnd nore hanceointroduce ew aspectsf theirpersonalities.

Charactersn filmsvs novels

Films resometimesompared ith novels ndwherea fjlm san adaptation f a novel, t usuallysuffers y comparisonn he eyes f many ritics. heymakea distinctionetween haractersn i ms,who maybe'types'- ie not unique ndividuals,nd charactersn novels, ho are'individuated,-fully'rounded'and elievables unique umanbeings.

Richard yer 1979) uggestedhe ollowing etof binary ppositionssa starting oint n hinkingabout ctional haracters:

Character ype

typical

few traits

immediatelydentifiable

pre-given ersonality

no developmentithin he narrative

usually secondaryharacter

indicatesociety

Novelistic character

unique

multiplicityf traits

graduallyevealed

discovered ersonalfty

develops ith narrative

usually central haracter

indicateshe ndividual

However ye r tresseshai the oppositionsepresent continuum nd hat anycharactern a flctionwill be situatedsomewhere etween he 1wo extremes.

Exencise

. Makea listof charactersro m ilmsand novelsha tyo u knowwell, he nplacehem on acontinuum etweencharactervoe'an d novelisticharacter'.

Characterypes re, n act,used uiteoften n novels. om ewriters mphasiseharacterraitsbyusingnames r physicalescriptionshat mmediatelyuggest type. n Thackeray,sanity air, orexample,he cunning eroinesBecky harp, cynical ld man s Sirpitt Crawley ndan honest ndunselfishharactersCaptainDobbln a dobbinwa sa workhorse).he de aof a ,vanityfaif is akenfrom lohn Bunyan's legory Pilgrim'sProgressn which 'Christian' eeks he way to the CelestialCityin he company f 'Hopeful' nd Faithful'. hesame pproach anbe used n ilms: n HitchcockPsycho Norman 'Normal'?) atessa serial i l lerwho stuffsbirds. he ate of hisvictimMarionCranes reflectedn hername acrane sa wadinqbird).



Dyerb ppositionshed ighton the distinction etween'novels'and'genreiction'andbetweengenre ilms'an d aft' or'authoredilms',which ayclaim o the siatus f novels. enre extsuse ypes xtensivelynd sometimesse hem o commenton society enerally. rt filmsare more nterestedn individual haracters,pending ime fleshing ut' characterisations.hisdoesn'tmean hat the novel/artilm issuperior o genre exts,simplyhat they organise epresentationsn differentways.

We can recognisehreedifferentcategories f type operatingacross ll media exts.

Archetype

Archetype eansiterallyhe originalmodel'.Archetypesxist hroughouthe history f the narrativeorm.From olk ales ndlegendshousandsf years ld o modern tories e comeacrossheroes' nd villains',earthmother' nd prodigason','princess'nd shining night'etc.The eferences o a charactero wellestablishedn traditional iorieshat herypeappearsotranscend istory r a specifi c ulture

Generic type

Genresend o offera means f discussingontemporaryociety y using 'stock' etof characters.hese hafactersreunderstood or eby refefenceo other ilms n the same enre han by direct eferenceo th e realworld'.Each ewqenre i lmadds o the epertoire f charactershat makeup the genre.

Genericypes reeasyo identifyn thosegenres hichhave distinct etting ike he gangsterilm. Forexample, angsteri lmsfrom he 1930s o the modern eriod ontain imilar enericypes n all he films.Thepower-hungryoungmanwho wants obecomehe boss',he womenhe becomesnvolved ith (oftenhonest ut blinded y ove),he whitehairedmother'from he

old country',he boyhoodriendwho hasbecomehe police fficer these enericypeshave erved s he baslsor manysimi lari lms.

Howevet heirpositionn the narrative aschanged nd he characteristicsf the ypehave volved. orexample,he imitedworldviewand ackof self-controlf the earliest an g eader,Rico' Edward . Robinson)n itt le CaesarUS1930) anbecompared ith he educated nd worldlywise \,4ichaelorleoneAi Pacino)n Gadfather (lJS1974). hegangstersf the ate1950s ad become n ntegral ar tof society ith more ophisticatedusinessealings nd inks o corrupt olit iciansnd poTicechiefs. heGodfather eriesepresents'genre e-working' nd ,becauset isa series,here smore i me availableo explorehecharacters. ichael orleonesarguably more rounded' haracter,ut we stil l earn bouthi mwithin he {ramework f ou rideas bout he genericyp eof the gang eader

Genre nowledge lays n mportant ole n the constructronf characterss sshown, or exampe, n DonnieBrascou\ 1gg7).This ilm ells he story f an FBI gent Johnny epp)who infiltrates Mafiagangaftergettingan ntroductiony a veteranMafia soldier'AlPacino).hestory evelopsnt oa 'hybrld' f a gangsteril mand a 'malemelodrama' ith ou r nterestn th eclose riendship,lmosthat of fatherandson,betweenPacino nd Depp.ScriptwriterPaulAttanasio rgueshat hiswa spossibleecause edidn'tneed o fil l he scriptwith gangland ction the audience lready new hat.Th egenericypingofLefty Pacino)llowed he audienceo quickTy ov eon to the relationshipilh Donnie Depp).

A note to students

Whenyou ar ecarrying ut a textual nalysisf any ilm, t will be helpful f yo u ry o tease ut anygenrereferencest the beginning f yourwork. f yo ucan dentify genre, ou maywell ind hat someof thecharactersre raceable ack o 'genericypes'.

stereotype

'Stereotypes'recompositemagesha t representeople nd deasnsociety y emphasisingeftain ommon.features.he ywere developed y social cientistso group people or research rojects.New stereotypes re createdand recogn ed all the

time.Stereotypesepend n a shared ultural nowledge nd o thisextent om epartof the stereotypicalmagemust ring rue'for mostoeoole.

Comparedo genericypes, tereotypesremoreaccessible.s f,ey ety n?"red cultural no wedge, eadersan eadilymakesense f them.Popularelevisionsoaps,itcoms tc)andpopularournalism ak eextensiveseof stereotypes.nstantlyrecognisableeople nd situationsllow he widestaccesso a story. ut hisaccessibilitysboth a strength nd a weakness.Stereotypesmerge nd develophrough he repetitionn images f featuresikedress,peech, ehaviourtc .Unfortunately,oncea characterr situation asbeen ntroducedn a stereotypicalay, t ca nbe difficulto fi l l n the detaisand rnake heimageunique. hestereotypeeferso assumptionshat mayalready xist n readers' eads, otentiallylocking moreconsiderednderstandingf the character

Stereotypesan be verypowerful mages hat embodystrongemotional esponses. s stereotypes evelop,we often respond o

themwith a sense f ldentity r alienation an 'us'an d them'situation erhaps. hestereotypeshat aremostdiscussedreihose n which ypingas them' sclearest. uch mages reseen s negative'- e he yquickly voke person r groupseen s'anti-social'r 'not likeus'.Peopleyped n thisway ar e ustifiablyngry ndattempt o challengehe process.his truggle verrepresentationsbased n a power elationshiphere he weaker roupsn society anbe yped n negative ays.



A few years go, he Guardian ewspaper,oping o attractdiscerning'eaders,anwhat quickly ecame celebratedelevisionadvertisingampaign. headvertisernenthowed smartly ressed anwalking own he street.He ssuddenly ushed iolentlyby a youth, dentif iablehen as he stereotypef the streetmugger'. s he audience waltshe inevitablenatch f walletetc,a heavy bject rasheso the pavement.heyouthha ssavedhe mans ife.The nferencesclear:he Cuardiansa newspaperfor thosewho know hat t iswrong o jump o conclusionsased imply n stereotypes.essa erkins1979)went beyondhi sposition nd suggestedhat rejectingtereotypessalwaysbad' s not helpful . he hallengederiainmyths boutstereotypes:

. theyar enot always'wrong'n content;

. theydo not refer nly o 'minority' r 'oppressed'roups;

. theyar enot necessarily'si mple';

. theyar enot rigidand canchange.

lf yo u rememberhese our polnts, ouwill be able o give tereotypeshe considerationheydeserve.

Exencise

Typesn soapoperas

Soap peras rovide oodmaterialor exploringyping. heyoftenpursueuniversal'tories bout amllies ndcommunitiesha t producearchetypalharacters'nd heymustalways e accessibleo the 'casual iewer' o heya so usestereotypes.n addition,he generic haracteristicsf soapoperasnfluenceyping soapsraditionallyfeature trong emale haracters,ftenas centraliguresn a 'communal'ocationike he pub).

. Take our avourite oapan dprofi le om eof the leading haractersn termsof archetypesr genericypes.

. Compare ou rselectedoa pwith either nother oap ou know ess ellor an episoderom several earspreviouslyyo umight ind on eon cable elevision).

. How are stereotypes sed n your exampes?

lf you watcha soapovera Iongperiod oumaynotice hat when new charactersre ntroducedheyare il.elyobe stereotypal ,but the long unning ime meanshat heygradually ecomemore individualised'eq heBaltersbya.nrlyn CoronationTreet).

Who are he badguys?

We canalsoexplorehe useof stereotypesn action nd crime ilms, or example, y ooking t the portrayal f the vil lains'.

Exencise

. Makea listof ten action-adventur er crime ilms ha tyou have een. dentify hat characleristi cshe vi ains nthem have n commonan dwhat nationalit ieshev eoresent.

ln he last enyearsHollywood ascreated wovil laintypes'.One s usually layed y Brit ish ctors AlanRickmann DieHard,both BrianCo xan dAnthonyHopkins s Hannibal'ecter) nd s ypedas clever',evil 'an d sophist ated'. heother salmosiinvariablyMiddleEastern' nd s ypedas devious',fanatical',cruel' tc.Bothof these ter eotypesrebased n a sense fbeing un-American'r 'other'.The ypingof Europeanss not particularlyamagingo usand hasbeenpartof Holln,/ood's

relationshipith Europe ince he 1920s. ut he ypingof Arabculture s other' s moredisturbing,n that Hollywoodsconformingo a governmentdeologyhat seesMiddleEasternountriesexceptsrae asa potentialhreat o American ower.

These tereotypes ork by contrastinghe 'honest', straightforward'nd morallyupright'American erowith the British/Arabvil lain.t isa simple ower elationshipn which hepowerof the dominantAmerican)yp ecomesrom being he opposite f theBritish/Arabype.(A neat nversion f thisprocessomes n fhreeKmgs US19991n whichan American oldier, layedby MarkWahlberg,sbeing ortured y an raqi {ficer layed y saidTaghmouai.he raqi almlynformshe Americanhat he earned isinterrogationechniquesrom the Americans.)

Exercise. - Eleconstructing types

. Take ny ecentHollywoodilm ha tyo u have een nd ry to distinguishhe useof archetypes,enericypes nd

stereotypesn relation o two of the centralcharacters.. Analyseo whatextent he same haractersarchetypal,eneric nd stereotypicaland o whatextent he starLmage

also omesnto olav.



Representationnd challengingtereotypes

On eof the main easonsha t representationasbecome major ssue, oth within he everydayiscussionf the media nd nacademici lm and media tudies,s he understandinghat audiencesreconsciousf being'misrepresented'orot representedat all.Forexample,n a rapidly geing opulationth eproportion f people ve r60 s rising),om epeople rgue hat herear etoo few 'representatives'f the whole ange f olderpeoplen UK society. hey uggesthat he ew charactershat do appeatlike Victor vleldrew f One Foot n the Grave,are easily onstrued s stereotypes, ecausehey are repeated t the expense fmore varied epresentations.

We tend o notice epresentationsf our own agegroupor cultural rouponlywhen heyar ecleadywrong' l don't behaveike

thatl)or missing.f we agreewith the representation,hen we ar equitehappy. he ackof olderpeople n televislon oftenseen s he faultof the relativelyounggroupof 40 year-oldsho commisslonndscheduieelevisionrogrammes.

However,t is difficult o challenge egative tereotyping ffectiveiy.t i s not simplya rnatterof replacing 'negative' ype with a'positive'one. nderpressurero mvarious f ican-AmericanivilRights roups,Holllv,r 'oodegan o addresshe representationof black haractersnd he casting f black ctorsn the '1970s.Theydiscoveredhat changingsolatedharactersn a story edto charges f 'tokenism'(iehe'token'blackpolice fficer n a station ouse). lack ctorswanted o play he ull range f parts- theyha dbeen he victim' r the villain',heydidn'twant now o be only he saintly ero.HoLlywoodasnot soved heproblem ompletely ut, as ar asAfrican-Americanepresentationsreconcerned,hereha sbeena gradualmprovementn herange f roles nd representationsince he 1970s. osomeextent,ThirdWorld'vil lainsHispanicswellasArab)have eplacedAfrican-Americanss epresentativesf dangerous'other'ultures.

There sa 'doublewhammy' n that anyonero ma cultural roupwhich snot widely epresentedn the mediamust irst ightveryhard o havea voice t al Butwhen heydo ge t he chanceo 'speak'throughhe media, here san expectationhat heymustspeak or everyonelse n hat cultural roup.Thisha sbeena particular roblemor Black nd AslanBritish erformersndwriters,suchas he quartetbehind he televlsion eriesGoodnessGraclousMe. Theseries asbeen successful,argeiyby creatlngcomedy hat parodiestereotypesf'Britishness'nd lndianness',eversingepresentationso greateffect.But now hat heyhavebeen uccessful,i l l he highprofile f the performers ean hat heyare rappedwithina particularole?Are he y'representative'f British sians ecauseheirshow s he onlyone of i tskind?Will he ybe criticisedf thev make futureprogrammehat sn'tabout he same ubject r whichappearso criticisetherBritish sian!?

Summary

The difference etween ypesand 'fully-rounded haracters's a matterof degree.All characters,t first,will appearas a type: hekindof personhat sbeing epresented.ome haractersil l develop sa litt lemoredetail sadded o th e irst mpression,utthey emaintyped' n someway.Majorcharactersremore ikelyo begradually'fi l ledn'with the developmentf a trulycomplex haractetn essdeep'films,he maincharacters aybe developedhrough twists' r reversalsa clash f

contradictoryraits esignedo shock r amusehe audience,uc hasa scruffy haracterurning ut to bewealthy, r a studious,thoughtful haracterurning ut to be brutal nd huggish.

Fleferences

RichardDyer 1979)TheDumbElondeStereotype, fi

Tessa erkins1979) RethinkingStereotypes'n tdeologyand CulturalProduVfloh, ds Barrettet al, CroomHe lm

Partof our easy dentificationf certainypes s ied up withou r knowledge f stars nd heir ndividualstar mage'.Stars, s distinctro m staractors', reoftenassociatedith a specificoLe hichserveso 'type' hem overarange f new roles. orexample, henClintEastwoodinally ecamb staras'TheMan With No Name'in he1960s, he persona f the outsiderwas impoftant n the subsequent uccess f lhe Dirty Harryseries f cop filmsand was hen satirisedn Ihe EveryWhich 4laycomediesn the 'l9B0s.



UNIT 4

lf we accepthat all representationsre constructions',henwe alsowant o knowwh o isresponsibleor the construction,ecauset mightmakea differenceo howwe perceivendunderstandhe ilm.We want o knowwho isspeakinghrough he mages e se eon the screen,and o what extent he ilm representsho it appearso represent.orexample, re ilm saboutworking lass eople ctually rittenand directed y hem?Or ssomeone lse esponsibleor th escript tc,an ddoes hismatter?

ldentifyinghe voice' f a fi lm scomplex ecauseilmmakingsa collaborativenterprisend manypeoplema yhave n nfluence n how a particularepresentationsconstructed.hi smeanshat o alarge xtent t will be he shared utlooks f the ilmmakersather han he deas f one or twopeoplehat will be mportant. ven o, he organisationf the processf fi lmmaking ill conferpoweron a small roupof individualss he decision-makersn each ilm.Theproducer,he creativeteam (director, criptwritetcinematographer,ditor,etc) and the starsare generallyhe peoplewhohave he most nfluence ve rhow charactersre epresentedn film. n this unitwe explore hat hi smeansn termsof who is eally'speaking'- hose iewpointsactually eing epresented.

Producers

At the top of the pyramidn ilm production re he producers.he yma ynot be aswell knownasthe directors,ut t is heirdecisions o whether he production oesaheacl nd, o a ceftainextent, ow andwhen t iscompleted. heyhave nfluence ver he ke ydecisrons:

. They hoosehe subject f the iim andwill oftendecidehe approachhe ywish he directorotake,given he argetaudiencehey dentify.

. They aise he money or the ilm (i e he yare esponsibleor the studio,s oney) theyar econcernedhat he shootwill be completed ithinbudgetan d hat he ilm will be successfuli thi lsdudience.

. Theywill probably ave he inalsay n ermsof editing he ilm and re-cuttingt i f previewaudiencesuggesthat his s necessary

Thecreativeeam

Although he producerma ymake he nitial ecisionsboutsubject nd approach,he inecontrolover he representationsf people nd deasn the ilm s ultimatelyhe responsibilityf the

,creative

team': he director, riter, inematographer,ditors, esigners, usical irecror,rc .

The influence of Hollywood

A majorpressure n mostproducers nd their creativeeams s Holiywood or rather he desire o bea successfulart of the highlyprofltable ndustry hat Hollywood epresents.romeproducers orkdirectlyor the studios, hilemanyothers reno w independents',unning mall ompanies,ndputting ogetherpackages'o be inanced y he Hollywoodtudios. ostsuccessfulroducersnddirectorsrewhitemiddle-classalesiving n LosAngeles. hough omear eundoubtedly,liberal,r'progressive'n he kinds f fi lms hat heywould ike o make,Hollywood sa whole ends o be'conservative'intsapproach.n act,becausetscentral biectives o sell i lms, ilmmakersnHollywoodnecessarilyay essattention o the rangeof people epresentedr how they areportrayed.

Hollywood ants o sell i lmsboth nationallynd nternationallynd his equiresilms hatenteftainwithoutbeing oo disturbing r disruptivef social rder Hollywoodilmsusually mploywhat s

seen sa 'happy nding' nd hisnegateshe possibilityf challengingstablishedepresentations.na film ke Runaway rlde US1998),here s no realpossibilitvha t he ilm coulden dwithout heJuliaRobertsharacterettingmarried even hough herear ecouplesn America ho live ogetherand nevermarry ndalsowomenwho happilyemain ingle. olllr/ood s rarely head f audiencetastes. roducers ay ease udiencesith what seem ike adical tories nd newstylistic

Filrn Pnoduct ion



approaches,nl y o pullbackat the end andoffera resolutionhat drags he storyback nto he mainstream.wo ilmsworthconsiderlngn this contextare ThreeKings 1999)and Traffic 2OO1). oth made by 'independent' irectors,hese llms offerstories bout, espective, he GulfWa rand he war on drugs'.Both ilms oy with criticismsf American olicy nd offerinnovationsn cameraworknd editing.t couldbe argued hat ThreeKingssmoreconsistentn its limited) ritique, hilefrafflc, n the end,conformso Hollywood3 ainstreamutlook.

Thedominancef Hollywoodn the film ndustrymeanshat mostsuccessfulndwidelydistributedilms eflect mericandeasan dvalues. ollywoodilms ntroduce merican ultureo internationaludiencesnd helpsell he American ay of life.Theyar escreenedverlv/heren the worldand heirsuccesss reflectedn he sales f associatedmerican roductssoftdrinks,as tfood, music tc) hat arepromotedhrough, or example,product lacement' the prominent isplayn ilmsof American

brandsik eCoca-Cola,pple,Budweisertc .Thus,we should ot underestimatehe strong inkbetweenhe representationfAmerican ulture nd he health f the American conomy.

Producing utside he mainstream

Theonlyway or mostproducersutsidehe mainstreamo make ilms s o raisemoney ndependentlynd o produce n lowbudgets. owevetwhile heyma ykeep ontrol ver epresentations,he yoften ind t difficulto negotiat e istributionealsthat allow he ilms o be wideLyeen. n American inema,hi shasbeena majorprobiemor African-American,eminist ndpoliticallyadical ilmmakers.Films uch as Go Fish US1994),Do the Right hmg (US1989), Mi Wda Loca US1993) havegenerallyound t a muchgreater truggleo reach wide audlencehan ilmsproducedor the mainstream.

Most ob roles n film production re gendered'n someway.Womenare most ikely o succeed sproducers, rlters, fiim)editors

and (costume) esgners. n he lastdecade,herehavebeensomewomen n top studio obs (egsherryLansing, hairof theParamount ictures oard)and in controlof independent roductlon ompaniesegcail Katz,producer f ThePeiect Storm lJS

2000),Christine achon, roducer f Go Fishand VelvetGoldmine GB/US 998). Interestingly,he highestprofie ob - the directorhasperhaps ttracted or e oungwomen nto i mnrakinghan he es s rominent,ut equallymportant,ol eof the

cinematographer erhapsecausehis equires ore echnlcalkills ndproductionxperienceaccesso training as raditionallybeenmoredifficult or women).The emale ilm editor s a conventionhat goesback o the earlydaysof cinemahistory, henediting or'assembly')asseen san activity ith similaritieso the productionineof machinistsn a clothingactory.

'When t comeso technicairadeshere sstil l n mpressionhat a manwill be more eliable.hats ne easonwent intoproductionswellasshooting. oW 80% of the echnicianswork withar ewomenan d choose eople ho aregoodattheir obs. t's mportanto lookbehind ouaswellasahead o make ure hat herear e ounger omencoming p.

(PatHollandTheTelevisionandbook olland 000:p78)quoting personalommunicationith director/cameraerson

turnedproducer, iane ammes.)

Fleseanch Exencise

. Examineo what extent oles n filmproduction re gendered'. ouca ndo thisby studyinghe productionreditsof a selectedrouoof fi lns.

. Watch he endcredits f fi lmson televisionr videoor lookat the creditsistingn anycopyof Sight nd Sound.

. Youca nalso90 to the InternetMovieDatabasehttp://uk.imdb.com)nd ookup ndividualilm itles us e he'combined etails'menuoption o showall he crew oles). i lms irected y womenar esometirnes ore iketo use emale rewmembers,o yo ucould ookat fi lmsdirected y KarenBigelowMarleenGorris, aneCampion,ArnyHeckerling,ennyN4arshaetc.

A useful ource f informations he UK lead ndustry ody' or he ilm andbroadcastndustries,killset.n the

Skillsetwebsite,at http://wvr'wskillset.org,ou will find detais of the results f the industry ensus f 2000,showing breakdown f female ndethnicminority mploymentcross ifferentob foles n he UK ll man dbroadcastndustry.

Hollywood tudiosmake ilmswith Af ican-Americantars nd arget ilms owards frican-Americanudiences.ut o whatextent re he representationsarried y hese ilmsderived irectlyrom Af ican-Americanulture? owhat extent o theyrepresenthe voice' f Af ican-Americaneople? lackilmmakersnd cultural rit its re hemselvesivided n this ssue.



Discussion

Explorehesediscussionoints:

. How mportants t that i lmswith African-Americanublectmatter remadeby Af ican-Americanilmmakers?.

. Ar eAfrican-AmericanuperstarsikeoprahWinfrey r Will Smith n anyway representative'f African-Americans

generally?anon estarbe representativef a wholeculture?

. ls t better hat Af ican.Americanilmmakersompromisen the representationsheycreaten order o achieve

wide distributionia he Hollywood tudios r should heycrealemorechallengingepresentations,ve n f they

will onlybe seen y smaller udiences?This uestion asdogged he career f the leading f ican-AmericanfilmmakerSolke ee.)

These uestionsreequally pplicablen the UK.Aftera periodn the 1980swhenseveral ritish lack nd Asian ilmmakers

wereable o make ow-budgetilmswith public unding, t hasbecome er ydifficult o f und commercial lack rit ishilms:

'TheBritainha t s being isseminatedn cinema creensround he world ssteepedn heritage,iterary ulture nd

conventionaldeas f class elations.t isalsooverwhelminglyhite, n sharp ontrasto ourworkplaces,ighstreets nd

bedrooms hich ella verydifferent tory.Alexander000)

Thishas edsomeblack iLmmakersn he UK o selup bfm - black ilmmaker agazine nd o buildup a base f black alent

capable f producingndependentlynd obbyingor funding.

Skinshades

Oneaspedr Tcinema hat showsup the 'eurocentricity'f cinema s he photography f dark skin ones.Formanyyearsmost

camera nd ilm manufacturersnd echnicalraining ssurnedhat he normal' kin onewa s light'. t wasdiff iculto showa dark-

skinned ctor n sucha way as o accuratelyepresent radations f skin one someblackactorswere iterally'faceless',n

comparisonith ighter-skinnedolleagues,osingheir eaturesn shadows r with underexposure.his san example f a kindof

institutionalmis-representation'.WhenirectorsikeSpikeLeestartedout, they workedwith blackcinematographers,uchas Ernest

Dickerson ho had developedhe techniqueso presentBlack ctorswell (eg DenzelWashingtonn Mo' BetterBlues US1990).

stars, ecausehe yar eactually een n the screen, laya major ole n expressinghe voice'that sbeing epresented.here sa

close orrelationetween he popularity f stars nd he range f possibleepresentations.onsiderhe A List' tars t the start

of the 21stcentury: omCruise, omHanks, ilel ibson,Nicholas age,Willsmith,Ji mCarrey, radPitt, uliaRoberts tc.These

are he starswhose ilmsconsistentlyttractmore han$100mill iono the NorthAmerican oxoffice. t issignificanthat here

isonlyon ewomanan donlyon eAf ican-Americann this istand t remains fact hat:

. African-Americanenar emore ikely o find ead oles hanAfrican-Americanomen.

. Malestars resti l lable o find ead oles venwhen heypassifty,bu t his s muchmorediff icultor women.

. There smorepressuren female tars o conform o fashion nd conventionaldeas f beauty being badly ehaved' r

'dressinqown' s more ikel y o hurta female tar han a male tar.

Starpersona nd performance

Fans atch ilms n a different ay o casual inema-goers.dentificationith stars, r morecorrectly,he 'star maqe' r

'persona'ie he representation'f the star hat exists n the cinema creen nd n secondary edia uchasTV nterviews,

gossipmagazinestc), san mportant ar tof Hollywood nd othercommercia!ilm ndustries. ften t is not he ictional

character ilh whom he an identifies,ut he starpersona nd he per{ormance.t maybe more mpoftant or manyaudience

membersha t Me lcibsondances ndwaxes is egs n WhatWomenWant tJS 001) han hat he characteroes. he ilm and

itsnarrative aybe quicklyorgotten, ut a new aspect f Gibson'sersonas rememberednd may nfluence ow his uture

fi lmsar eunderstoodnd alsohow audienceshinkaboutmale tars enerally.

It isnoticeablehat he popularity f certain tars eemso be retatedo polit ial, ulturalan dsocial vents. heaction tars f

the 1980swereSchwarzeneggernd Stal ne.but now he stars re essmuscular nd arguablyprettier' l ikeKeanuReevesn

fhe Matix (tJS 999)).t i s not us t hat Schwarzeneggers older, ut hat he star magebuiltaround ipplingpecs',ew words

and a lackof emotion s no onger n unewith the currentdeaof an acton hero igure.BruceWill is sa goodexample f a slar

whose magehaschanged o meet different deasof 'a hero'. n the Dle Har"d eries e represented similar igure o Stallone

an dSchwarzenegger,ut in the ast ewyears e hasmanagedo change isstar mage o emerge sa more ympathetlc

character. s n lhe Sith Sense US1999)and UnbreakableUS20OO).



Exencise: The .eomrnutation, test

Yo uca n earn greatdealabout star mage' nd he ways n which t ca nbe used n a film hrouqha simpleexercisen'commutation' r 'substitution'.

. Take nypairing f starswh o usuallyak eon different inds f roles:

. WillSmithand DenzelWashington

. Demi Mooreand GwynethPaltrow

' Thinkof a well known oleeachha s akenon ,e9 Will Smith n ndependenceay US1996),DenzelWashingtonin Ph adeph a (US1 93).

' Whatwouldhappen f yo uswappedhe stars.Would heywork n theirne wroles?Whatwouldn'twork?Woutowe believen WillSmith sa lawyer?WouldDenzelWashington ave he ightnessnd almost omic iminqnecessary or /ndependence Day?

lf the swap spossible,hen he star mage sno t well-definednd snot contributing uc h owards herepresentation,ut f theswap s mpossible f the ictional haracter ouldbe changed ignificantly,he nweca nargue hat he starpersonasan ntegral ar tof the representation.

Flefelrences

Karen lexander2000)Black ritish ineman the 1990s: oing, Going,Gone, n RobertMurphy ed )British Cinema n the 90s, BFI

PatriciaHolland 2000) he Television andbook 2nd ed), Routledge

bfm, black lmmaker: wwblackflmmakermag.com

Editorial ffice: uite , 5 Blackhorseane, ondonEl 7 6DS. elO2O 5279582



UNTT 5

lf representationsre'constructed',hen o be readand understoodheymustbe'de-constructed,y heviewers the audience. hisprocess f deconstructionnd nterpretations not necessarilyonsciousndditferent udiencesespondn differentways.Forexample, film that ispopularwith American udiencesmay lop in Britain, ecauset doesn'tpresenthe wodd n a way hat connects ith a British udience.Someilms,and heway hey representhe world,will be moreattractiveo femaleaudiencesr audiencesfromparticularthnic roups. n hisunitwe willexplore owaudiencesnterpretepresentationsn i lm,and how hey ncreasinglynfluencehese epresentationshrough heirexpectationsf stars nd he typesof film theywatch.

Exencise

. Select recentlyeleasedilm.

. Compareourown responseo it with other esponsesrom:

. youfpeer roup

. your eachers' nd/orparents' eergroups

. viewers' ommentsecorded n websites uchas http://uk.imdb.comrv1,1r'r'wamazon.comComments ith political erspectivesanbe ound on WorldSocialistWebsitehttp://wv\,v,/.wsws.org)r fromgayand esbian r feminist ublications(eghttp://glweb.com/lesbianJlicks).)

. In noting he responsesf others ry to assess hetherage,ethnicjty r gendermakesdifference:re hereanypatternso the kindsof comments eoplemakeabout he film?Are

theredifferent ational r regional esponses:o people.in mericaespond itferentlyo people

in thiscountry? owhat extent s t possibleo identifywhethera particular ointof vieworpoliticalutlooknfluencesn ndividual'sesponseo a film?

We all bring o our reading different etof expectationsnd experiencesf the realworld,other ilms,books, elevision rogrammestc.A film likeAmerican eauV U51999) hat for someaudiencess arealisticommentaryn a mid-life risis, ay or others eclich6d onsense,nd orothers n nsiqhtnt oan experiencehey haven'thad.

Variousspectsi an ndividual Sxperienceay ffect is/hereadingf a fi lm,such s:

. being nale r emale

'age. experiencef the culture eflectedn the ilm

. frequencyf watchingi ims r going o the cinerna

. knowledgebout heparticularil m backgroundeading,tc )

. polit icalutlookincludinghe personalolit ics' f race, ender ndsexual rientation).

Preferred, egotiatedand oppositional eadings

Yourown readingmight ollowa 'preferredeading' f the ilm(whatmostpeoplehink,or how he ilm sintendedo be read).However mong nygroupof peoplewatching film, herewillbe a range f responsesto the ilm asa storyanda similar ange f responseso representationsf individuals,laces,ulturestc.

Thesewo 'user ommenls' n ulia Roberts' erformancen ErinBrockovichrom he IniernetNlovieDatabasefferan example f howdifferent esponsesanbe o the same ilm:

JuliaRobertstrugglesery eautifully,hilst lways ppearingxactlyikea multi-mill ionairesspretendingo bepooran dhe rperformanceas ll he depths f a puddle.

Erin's enuineompassionanonlybe eltso ntenselyy he people he nteractsit hbecausehe

Individual Fesiponsest to films



is a woman.of coursehe fact hat she s not a perfect areerwoman, n termsof professionalttitudeandwardrobe tyleetc...adds nother lement f reality sshe snot THEperfectwoman yet shesucceedsn a love way and with 5uch upportfromus :people atchinghe moviel

A 'preferredeading's not necessarilyorrect there s no 'correct'way o reada film. f yourown responseo a film s negative,ou

mightdevelop 'negoiiatedeading'. orexamp ,you may nitially eject he waya film representsoungpeople, ut onceyou haveconsiderednd discussedt you mightunderstand hy it worksJorsorneormost)people. lternativelyoumaybe will n9 to 'forgive'

the representationsecausehe fjlm isenjoyabien otherways.However,f you rejecl he representationsnttrely our eadingmightbe'oppositional'youwouldarguehat he ilmmakersav eailedn heir epresentationf young eople,he representation5re5implynot convincing.\,4ostppositionaleadingsome rom ilm criticswho write rom a pafticular ointof vlewor political erspective.

However, o consideredeading f a film canbe based imply n a political r prejudicedeaction t shouldbe based n evidenceromthe ilm tself.

An interestn the audience ndwhat ndividualudience embershink spartof a modern pproacho audienceheory sometimesreferredo as receptiontudies'. ome tudies f audienceesponseso popularilmshave allen nto he rapof portrayinghe audience s'passive'willing o acceptwhatever iewof the world he ilmmaker ffers.However,videnceuggestshat:

. Audiencesctively ake onnections,nd ecogniseheconstructionf charactersr deasn a filrn.

. In order o entertain,ilmmakers ust indne wways o developepreseniationso maintainhe fterest f theaudience.ven enre

films, eliant n the ecognitionf familiarharacters,us t flerne wways f thinking bout hese haracterso keep udrence

attention.Audiencesend o'use'fi lms atherha nsimply'consume'them.ndividualsatch ilms or specificndvariousurposes.ometimeswe ust want to be entertainedandhow we like o be entertainedaries) ut at other imeswe want o find out aboutsomethingabout ashion, ays f behaving,ifferentultures,tc .Whatmay ee mtacky' r nconsequentialo onegroup n heaudience aybeof supre'ne'nponan(eo others.

Forsomepeople ilm opens p a newworld or offersaccesso a worLdheyaspireo be paa( f. Some f thegaywritingaboutcinemareveals ow mpofiant ertain epresentationsavebeen. n he ilm documentaryheCelluloid loset, arvey iersteinxplainshat even

the worstkindof camp tereotype assomething e welcomed hengrowingup, because epreferredvisibilityt anycost I'd ratherhavenegativehan nothing'.Hisown identitywasva dated nd he hadsomeoneo identifywith.

Th eadvent f video ndof the nternei as idedhe developmentf f i lmcollectionsnd hecelebrationf individualilms ndstars.Fi lmsemainn printon video ecausehey ell nd heres ncreasingvidenceha t ans nowwhat he ywantan dar epreparedo pa y

to ge t t. Fllms rebecorning ore ikebookso be bought nd .ept,en tan dborrowedndwatched gain. heopportunityo seefilm epeatedlyresentshe possibilityf greater udiencenvolvement,n erms f greateramlliarityi th (and rtical ppreciationf)

the film'snarrative nd characters,nd how these re epresented.

The nternetsstil l relativelyew actorn he producrionf fi lm5, ut t isbecomingpparenthat he ntensenterest future lLmshas hepotentlalo influenceilmmaker5.s umoursre irculatedbout he next i lm n a 'franchise'Wh o s he nextBond il lain?nwhatdirection ll heX-Men erieso?WillSigourney eavereally ake lien ?etc) roducersay tart o gaugehe acceptabilityof certain evelopmentsn the basis f whai fanssay.

Ne w echnology ay lso hangeepresentationsn another ay n he uture.DVDSffer outtakes'nddeeted cenesr evenalternativendings.Would t makea differencef, wlth a film like helmaand oulse, nstead f driving vera cliff rather han surrender

to the police,he two womenescape ver he border o Mexico?f audiencesoulddecide his or themselves,he concept f preferred

an dnegotiatedeadingsouldbegino change.

Fleseanch Exencise

Th ebestwa y10exp re he deasn hlsunit s o carry ut yourow naudienceesearch.heai mof thisparticular

questionnaires o exp re he inks etween ge , endet nd ilmchoice.

. Use nequestionnaireor each esoondent.

. Approachswidea range f different udienceroups spossible,ncludingou rpeers.

. Once ou have ollectedhe responses,ollate nd analysehe nformation. onstruct series f questionso answer

that elate owpeople hooseilms o theirag ean dgender,uch s:

. What s he most mportantualityn ilm or people ge15-25?

. What s he most opular enreor hisag egroup?

. Whatproportionf respondentsneach gegroup se he nterneto accessnJormationbout fi lm?

. Towhat extent s herea clearmatchbetween ender ndgenreprefefence?

. Write p a shoft eport bout heconclusionsouca ndraw rom hi squestionnaire.

The impontancle of the audience

The irnpact of nevn technology on audiences



1. What age group do yo u belong oi

f rs-zs under 5 tr---t-- --L l zo-J) L l ro- l ) ! over 5

2. Areyou

! v"t" f remale?

most important qualit iesof a film for you:

it isexciting

it is realistic

it makes ou hlnkaboutsomething

it makes ou augh

other:pleasedentify

4. What is the most imoortant feature of the star of a film?

3. Which are the

TTITT

! nelsnesattractive

f, vou 1"" 1l^aTou ca'r dentilywrth h m/her n t1e .ole

I huZtn"sbelievablen he ole

! h"Ah" s hesame endersyou

! other. leasedenti{y

5. Which type of film do you enjoy most?

! action-adventurethri l ler

horror

comedy

romance

scienceiction

other:pleasedentify

6. Which of t he follow ing is most important in makinga decisionabout which film to see:

nnnnIf

! what he ilmcriticsay bout film

! what riends hohave eenhe ilmsay boutt

! what yo.r hought f The ast i rn with t1e sar'te Ta r

! how rhe railer ro aovertisrngresenthe fi lm

I other: leasedentify

7. Do yo u use he internet to find out about films?

I ott"n ! Sometimes I occasionally ! ru"u".

8. Do you participate n discussions bout films on the inter net?

! ott"n ! sometimes ! occasionaily ! ru"u"r.



UNIT 6

Late n 1999, wo mengot together o discusshe creationof the world3 biggestmediacorporation.GeraldLevinof Time-Warner aidof his meetingwith SteveCaseof AOL:

We haddinner. pent he entire ime alk ing boutvalues, orldviews nd deas nd hat,swhen t became lear o me ha t perhaps e s hould ry and do it .(Quotedn Casey 001)

A dealworth billions f dollars ndaffectinghe wholeof the world mediabusiness,assealed,partly t least, n the basis f a sharedviewof the world'.Thesemen ecognisedha tshared aluesand deas bout he worldwereas mportanto themas he economicsf theirbusiness.\,4ostpeople ind t easiero ge ton with (o rat least ivean dwork closely ith)otherswhose deas ndvalueshe yshare, nd peaceful ocialnteractions argely ased n people haring raccommodatingac hother's alues nd deas bout he world.

On eattribute f media exts s hat heyexpressnd circulateideas ndvalues'. xaminationspecificationsefer o media heory nd he circulationf ideas nder uchheadings s messages

andvalues',deology,egemony nd discourse.n thisunitwe lookat these oncepts nd examinehow an understandingf them helps s understandow ilmswork with audiences. Hollywoodproducer nc edenouncedhe deaof'message ictures',ayinghat f he wanied o send heaudience message,e' dus ea telegram. ut Hollywoodilms and all ilmsat one evel r another- deal n messagesndvalues',hough heyar eno t necessarilybvious, r even onsciouslyintended.f ideology perates sa processf naturalisingertaindeas o hat heyappear s'common ense', e need o develop trategieso exposetsworking.

We tend o take or grantedmany aluesn society s natural' nd common ense,. owdo yo uthinkyour if ewillwork out? vill you get married nd become parent?Many eenagersskedhatquestion ill probably nswerYes', ecauset seemsike he natural'hing o do. But s t?Th edivorceate s ncreasing,orepeople recohabitrngno he birth ate sat a aisto c low. f youdecide ot o ge t married,o ge t divorced r not o have hildren reyou acting unnaturally,?

Wheredoes he dea hat gettingmarrieds'natural'comerom? s his dea hangingo reflect hangingrealityor has t survivedor some reason espitechanges n society?

Twohundred ears go peoplemarried rimarilyor economiceasons.$lowhe prospect f marrjageis inked o romance ndwe assumehat he happy nding' o a romance ill be a wedding. et ,

whilemarriage ti l lha sa highstatus, ur deas boutmarriage ave o be seennexr o ourwillingnesso ge t divorced r to 'co-habit'.Whiiesomedecisions e makear ebased n ,economics,,

others re nfluenced you r values ndou r deas bout he world.

ldeologysconcerned ith ideas ndvalues nd how theyevolve sa way.ofexplaininghe worldaround s.As people rowup they earn bout he world hrougha variety f experienceshome,school,eligiouseachings,ocial vents nd ,of course, ccesso media epresentations.

Marxism

In relationo ideclogyMediaStudiessbroadlynfluencedy he deas f KarlMarx 1819-83).vlarxwroteextensivelybout deologyn he rnid-nineteenthenturyBecauseis deas ecamehe basisfor muchpolitical ction n the wentieth entury,he word ideology' asbecome omething f apoliticalootball neverthelessi issti l la useful riticalool. ForMarx, he processf learning boutthe world produced

a'false

consciousness'the ideas itted together n such a way that they maskedthe reality f the ndividual'sositionn th'eworld.Why,he wondered, id he mass f people ut upwith poverty nd misery hen heir ulers njoyed ealthand ulfilment?



Accord g to N.4arx,hroughout istoryhe poorha dbeenkept n heirplace y orceof armsand by religiouseachingsha tsupported strictly ierarchicalociety it h land-owning ristocratst the top and andlesseasantst the bottom. vlarx oted

that under he new system f capitalism,he ndustrial orkerswerekept n theirplace ot onlyby orceof armsbut alsoby an'ideology'that volved nder api talism,ncorporatingnd modifying ome raditional eliefs. or nstance,electveeading fbiblical ources romoted apitalistnterprisend gnoredhe morecommunity-baseddeals f muchChristianeaching.deas

aboutequality nd nequality lsoevolved.Whereasn pre-capiialistociety ocialnequaiityended o be seen s belngordainedby God, n capitalistociety conomicnequalityended o be ustifiedn ermsof how hardworkingnd enterprisingperson

mightbe. People er epoor, apitalistselieved, ecausehe ywere azynot becausehe yweresocially isadvantaged.verallthe capitalistsucceededn convincing ostof the populationhat'private rofitwa sgood' or society sa whole.

Marxsetout a viewof humanhistory onceivedsa struggleo control he means f producing eaith,primarily agedat the'polit ical' nd economic'evel. ut hiswork on ideology lso uggestednotherypeof struggle t the evel f the ideological'

a struggleo defend r challengehe dominantdeasn society.hi s anbe explored y ooking t what hashappenedo theideaof 'the amily'over he ast wo hundred ears.

Family alues

In 1800, amilies id notconsist nlyof parents nd heiroffspring, ut of a muchwidergroupof relations nd hangers n'who lived ogether n poor amilies verybody orked on the an dor in cottage ndustries.n most ich amilies, en managedtheirestates.andomen ived lifeof leisuren householdshere he domestic ork wascarried ut by servantsmany fwhom weredenied family ife).

Economicnd political evelopmentsver he nextcentury nd a halfdemanded ug echangesn family nd communityife.Asthe factory ystem eveloped nder he ndustrialevolutionhe old social tructuresrokedown.Thecollapse f the raditionaleconomy nd

demandsor labour n industrialentresorced amilieso move o find work,breaking p communitiesndcausing ocialnstability.deas bout amily ifeha d o changeo accommodatehese hanges, ut also o provide basisor

social tability.he nuclear'amilydevelopedsa moremobile conomic ni twhichenabled eopleo maintain loserelationshipsven f theyha d o moveaway rom heircommunities.deologicallyt alsohelpedmaintain ocial tability,artly tleast ecauset gavepeople close ocial roup o identify ith, a 'havenn a heartiessorld'.The amily ontinuedo changeover he twentieth entury, ut he dea of the family hat wasdevelopeduring he nineteenthentury a mother, fatheran dtheir mmediate ffsprinq, here he atherworksan d he mother ooks fter he family has emained tronglynfluential.

The amilyon screen

Th edepiction f the ypical mericanan dBrltish)amily n mainstreaminema as ended o reflecthe nuclearamily both n

endorsing nd satir isingt. The'ideal'householdasoftenbeencharacteriseds mumand dadand'2.4'children,he statisticalaverageor many ears. his amily s representedn countless ollywoodfamilymelodramas'nd comedies,nd n elevisioncomedres.

PleasantvilleUS 1998)is a 'teen comedy' hat gentlysatirises 950s eievisionamily deologies sing he fantasydeviceofsending pairof 1990s eenagersack o the 1950s nd rnprisonlnghem n he weirdworldof the televisionitcom.What

theydiscoversa worldwheremothers ta yat home n theirneatsuburban omes aking ie swhile athers o to work,returning omeat thesame ime every ay o proclaimHoney,'m homel'.Thisphrase ecamehe ndustryerm orprogrammesn whichall he stories ere rivial nd nothing bad'everhappened. e can augh t thisnow especiallyhe nwe

ar esurrounded y soapoperasn whichevery indof family s epresented,et he ift ies de aof the ideal amily' ives n in

manywaysan dsti l lha san nfluence n both representationsnd realworld'policy ecisions.n Pleasantville,he 1990s

teenagersre rom a single arent ouseholdas n C/ueless1995) nd rnany thermodern eencomedies).hi s llows he ilm

to bothcomparehe cosiness'f the 1950swith he uncertaintyf the 1990s, nd in d social enefitsn aspects f l ife n the1950s.

Once he deal amilyha sbecomehe normasa representation.t follows hat anyotherkindof family, r anyotherkindofcommunity r householdn whichpeople ive ogether,sseen sat bestdifferent nd at worstdeviant. 0 amilymelodramasn

the 1950s ftendealtwith the hreat o the family osed y adultery r the mpossibilityf family ife or single arents. ilrnsand elevisionramas bout he problems f living utsidehe deal arnily ervedo reinforcehe common ensedea hat anuclearamilywasessentialo a happy nd ulfi l l ing ife.

Any attempt o present film in a realist tyle s ikely o support he dominJft ileology.Transparentealist nd naturalistilms ofHollywoodend o suggestha t this s he way hat he world s'. n order o break hrough he false onsciousness'f the way nwhichwe normally ee he world, we mustquestion he depictionof the world 'as s' and seek o understand hy it is hat way.



Exencise

. Conduct simplecontent nalysis,toind out how amll ies re epresentedn the medra.

' Loqall he referenceso famil iesn a range f media exts: elevisiondvert isementsuringan eveningbiewing;w soaps nd sit-coms vera week;colecting ewspapersndmagazinesnd rooking t both advenisementsand newsstories.

. What kinds f famil ies re epresented?

' Sorl he differentepresentationsnto hosewhichare celebrated,and hosewhichare n someway'deviant '?lf a representationsan advert isement,hinkaboutwhat is beingadvert isednd whataIproach

rs aken are non-nucrear'amir iesr househordsresented ith humour, s odd,,or with aona"rn,

",eedirg omethingpecial)

' Try o determine hat kinds f narrat ivesreassocialedit h the representationsf famil ies. oanyoatterns merae?

Theoriginal onceptionf ideology as hat t wasconcerned ith social t t i tudes asedirmlyupon".onori.

f f i"r"r,au, _faMarx, deology asa function f the control ver he means f production.hedominantdeology as hatof the rul ingindustriallassnd tseffect as o naturalise'theominationf theworkinglassy he ndustrialists.n n" *"'n1|jlr, '."nturythe deologicalam eo beseen s mportantn t sown jght ndnotsimplydetermined'yeconomics.hilosopnersan opolit icalhinkersevelopedlternativeays f thinkingboutdeology,pecificallyhegemony,

and discourse,.

Here rea couple f examplesf the kindof analysisoumightdo:

Popstars

The2000docusoap bout he creation f the bandHear'sayffered fascinatingnsightnto he way n which he press uickly' typed' he bandmembersKimwaspicked ut asa single arent, omethinghehad ni i ial ly eptsecret, nd hrsbecame otonlya dist inguishing

eature, ut alsoa way of emphasisinger'dif ference ndsuggestrngarrativesbouther howwould taffecther futurecareer,what potentlalstorieswill develop?

Erin Brockovich

ln he openinq ection f EflnBrockovich,hen Erin s being ross-examinedn court n herclaim or damages,he defendant,scounseJsks era question nd she evealshatshehasnotone,but wo ex-husbands.he snow a single"womanith hreesmall hi ldren nd wo divorcesehindher she ooks t the ury n defiance.hey ookapprehensiven6iErinoses er emper.The nferencesclear Erin seither ool ish r wilful,but she sn't o be rusted. hecourt. leapso the conclusionnatshemarried ithoutenough houghtand hat osinq er emper sa typical haracterlaw. deologyatherhan egal vidence insthe courtcase nd he nice'middle-classoctor sbel ievedwhenwe know hewas responsibieor the accideit l .

Hegemony

This erm derivesro m poli t ical istory nd referso the powerof onecountry verseveral thers.n l /ediastudreshe term sassociatedith the ltal ianheorist nd pol i tical ct ivist, ntonioGramsci1891-1937).eemphasisedhat he control t societyby onegroupor onesetof pol i t icaldeas as not necessari lychievedy orceor control f arms, ut bypersuasionnd'consent'-the basisor democracy he ulersmanageo convincehe mass f the populationhat herare ,better

off,acceptinqurrent overnmentol ic s l\y'aintainingegemoniconirol s husa procesi f constantly

einforcinghe messageanddevelopinghe argument.

Theconcept f hegemony llowsor substantialhangesn ideas ver ime,even hough he samegroups emarnn power.These roups onstantlydjustheirown ideas nd in d new ways o gain he consent f those heydominate. egemonysauseful oncept ecauset suggestshat people an ry o understandow the dominantdeas emain ominant crarnsci asagreat uppofter f jmprovementsin education.

It couldbe arguedhat hegemonicower' sexerted y he Hollywood tudioshrough heiroverseasradeorganrsatron,heMPAA MotionPicturesssociat ionf America).nonesensehis s hegemonyn the raditonal poit ical istory, ef init ion:hestudiosoccupy'mostcountr iesy owningcinemas nd distr ibutors,sual lyn partnershipit h local ompanier.h"yaun

"nrrr"hat heir i lmsqetshown.But he studios lsowork in he Gramscjanense f an hegemonic ower, persuading.us hat heir

ilmsare he bestand hat we have right o see hem.This perates t governmentevelwith th e powerfulMPAA obbyrguingor a 'freemarket 'n fi lms n Europe ndat th e popularevelwith the appearancef Hoilyworid

tars t f i lm estivalsndn chatshows n a 'charm ffensive'Pol i t iciansnd ndustry rofessionalsaybe wellaware f the economic ower hat heN4PAAields ut audiencescrossheworldarealways i l l ing o acceptglamorous'ndexcit ing mericanj lms.Nobodyorces

o watchAmericani lms,but in real i tyheyhave ittlechoice inceHollywood orninateshe il m ndusrrv.

clthen ways of thinking abour ideorogy - h.g.r.ffi



Discourse

TheFrenchheoristN/ichel oucault1926-84)scredited ith inlroducingdeas bout discourse'nt oculturalheoryFoucault asinterestedn power elationshipsnd he ways nwhich anguageanbe usedo wieldpower.He challengedhe raditionaliewof language sneutral, ssimply escribingeality, ndarguedha t anguagereates eaning y he way n which t iSused.

Discourseanbe houghtof asan arenan whichcertain ordsar eused. n he arena,t is arel y fair ight someof thegladiatorsrebetterat using nd manipulatingords. t is a struggle t the evel f the deological,struggle ith words atherthanweapons, ut a 'real' truggle onetheless

Theway wordsar eused o describeeople ffers goodexample f how discourse'works.hat does t mean f someone alls

anyone ver he ag eof'l B

a 'girl 'or a 'boy'? Girl 'asa descriptionf a woman mplies erhapshat heyhaveno tyet grownup ,that he yar enot o be reated sadults not to be given esponsibilityr'grown-up' asks. oeshe malemanager, ho refersto his emale taffas he girls',ake hem seriously?t suggestshat here sa power elationshipnvolved ere, n contrastothe waywomen hemselves ayus e girls' sa tit le n a phraseik e a girls'nightout'.Womenmayus e he erm hemselveswhen he ywant o have un and o 'let hemselveso' , but his sonlypossibleecausehe yhave eclaimedhe word so rtbecomes codehinting t a sense f solidaritygainsthe menwho treat hem as girls'. imilarlyn Af ican-Americanulture,the useof the word nigger' etweenwo blackmengains ts powerby usurpinghe racisterm usedby whites.Gay'used obe a derogatoryerm o describe omosexual en ,but hasno w beenadopted san acceplablend celebratoryabel.

Exencise

. Thinkabout he useof the term boy' o describe dultmales.

. How manydifferentwayscan 1be used?

. What kindsof power relationships re nvolved?

('Boy'was used sa racisterm n America efore he CivilRightsmovement f the 1960s.Oneof the ways nwhichslaver wnersmaintainedontrolwa s o typeslaves s child-like'nd unableo governhemselves.)

Applied o fil ms, he concept f discoursean be usedwith any orm of meaning roduction visualmages nd sound ffects,aswell asspokenanguage. discoursenalysis ould ook or sets f relatedmagesn a film,al ldealing ith the same ssue.There ouldbe several iscoursesperatingn the extat the same ime,so n a film ike erminatorUS1984) nere sadiscourseboutgender th e ransformationf Sarah onnor rom luffywaitresso warrior attling he very male' yborg) ndabout echnologynd ts mpact n society.

Discourse nalysiss usefulbecauset allows eaders o get beneath he surfaceof the text and to discover ow ideasare beingrepresentedystematically.e can note instances f images hat seem o belong o a specific iscourse nd analysehe struggleover deas epresented y competingdiscourses. hisanalysismay revealaspects f the film3 ideology hat are not obviouswhenwe first watch a film.

Fleseanch Exencise

. What are he discoursesperating n ErinBrockovich r The nsider?

Fleferenees

Gill Branston nd RoyStafford 1999)TheMediaStudent'sBook,Routledge,Chapter12

JohnCasey2001),Gerald evin nterviewGuardian 0 March



CASE STUDY 1

ErinBrockovichrovides goodstarting oint or an analysisf representationn American inema.In hi scase tudywe 'interrogate'he film.askinghe iveke yquestions:

. What kindof worlddoes he ilm construct?

. Ho wdoes he ilm dealwith types?

. Who is really peaking?

. Forwhom?How didaudiencesespondo the ilm?

. Whai ideologies oes t represent?

We hu shope o discover hat kinds f representationsrecreatedn the film and how theycontribute o our overallunderstanding f it. Througha comparisonwith rhe /nsiderwe will focuson

representationsf social lass.

ErinBrockovichscloser o idealsof'social realism'han most Hollywood ilms(seeUnit 2). Thestoryisbased n a series f'real' events nd addresses'socialssue,. he ilm begins ith a tit lecardconfirminghe origins f the storyan d he central haractersbased n the womanwno carned utthe nvestigationsh e ls oappearsn the ilm asa waitressn a diner,akinqan order romJuliaRoberts).hestyle f the film salsodeterminedlyealist:

While t wouldbe a stretcho say hat with such cenesdirector] oderberghpproachessomethingikea KenLoachilm. hischaracter-basedaturalismswonderfully nforced.There's o modishascination ith the bric,a-bracf ordinariness.oronce,MiddleAmerica

isn'tplayed

ut asa vast ashion hootand heresnoneof the misanlhropicnthropologyfToddSolondzdirectorof Welcome o the Dollhouse1995)]or LarryClarke directorof Kids(1995)1.RogerWade, 000)

Wademakes orre moortanLoinls, ut theyneed'unpicl, g '.

Thedirector

Steven oderberghsnot an obvious andidateor making 'realist'f i lm,ollowing isexperimentswith editing ndmanipulationf the mage n Out of Sight1199a) ndTheLimey 1999),hough heLlmey eflected equencesrom Ken Loach's ocial ealist ilm poor Cow(1967).Soderberghscurrently ho t propertyn Hollywood a gifteddirector ho hasmoved nt o he mainstreamro mth e independent'ector.n Ff lnBrockovicheexperimentsgainby not doingall he things hatmostcontemporary ollywoodilms eelobligedo do, so ha t he m pact f the ,real,

story hinesthroug .

Mise en scdne

Thecameraworkspurelyunctional nd he editing lassicallyinvisible,,o hat herear every ewspecificmageshat we remem berapart ro m hose f Erinherself).nsipad, e aresweptalong nthe story. sWadepoints ut, he ilm avoids mphasisinghe ordinarinessf the ives f thecharactersith a celebrationf 'trash ulture' there sno implied riticism f anybody ecause ftheirclass osition nd charactersrenot made nto'qrotesques'.

Actingstyle

Theactingstyle ! 'naturalist' ecausehe actorshavebeenencouragedo simplydo what the characterwould do in a realsituation there s no attempt o 'perform'. nstead.he action smemorable ecauseof its mportancen the narrative. oderbergh helpedby the careful eiection f supporting ctors,suchas he casting f Albert Finney. British ctorwith enormous xperiencefouroscarnominations),includingn social ealist ilms,Finney rovides mutedperformanceo allow he focus o remainonJuliaRobertsalthoughhe certainlyperforms'n the finalscene).

But f the othercharactersre presentedstraight', uliaRoberis s Erin ives ,starperformance,.Fewother ilmsappear n the surfaceo depend o muchon starappeal.We are ntrigued ecauseErin sa realperson.Was heasoutrageousn termsof dress nd anguage sRoberts, erformance

\Athat kind of rrvoFld does the filrn constnuct?



Other types'

The epresentationf Erin eedso be consideredext o all he otherpeoplen EdMasrys ff icean d n he community f

Hinckley.part rom Finney,ll of the actors avebeen ast or their 'ordinariness'.t ls noticeablehat comparedo theglamorousaw officesseenon American elevisionegA/t McBealor lA law) the workers n Ed Masry3practice re varied n age

an dbodyshape nd are ar roma glamourdeal. inneyonce vir i leeadingman)hasbecome crumpled nd overweight

figurewho, even n expensiveuits, an'tbe smart. hepeople f Hinckley enerallyoo kas f theybelong n a small own.This

ordinarinessontraststrongly ith the legal suits'who represent acif ic as& Electr ic:n example f a stereotypeeingused

to establishhe enemy'.

George,ikeErin, s irst ntroduced sstrongly oded, n thiscase sa laid-back iker, n ex-hippy:. longhair, eard nd bandana;

. bike, attoos, ewellery,eathers;

. doesn'twork ull ime.

Does he stereotypeuggest dangerousharacterr onewho has implydropped ut' of the rat raceT heaudiencesesponse

to Georgen his nit ial ppearanceil l depend n theircultural nowledge bout his yp eof character aterwe Jearnha t

Georgescertainly ot dangerous',ut he may ndeed e outsideheworldof paidwork. n a narfativeense,t helpshat

Georgessodifferento Erin n termsof commitmento work,as hisallows he possibil i tyf confLicto develop etweenErin's

work and homeenvironments.

Working lass nvironment

ErinBrockovichbnvestigationakesher o the MojaveDesert o the north eastof LosAngelesn SanBernardino ounty.Unlike n lhe

/nslderhere s no attempt o emphasiseanger hroughshadows nd expressionistighting. n his case he sunlight s he

impoverishingactor, corchinghe earlhandwith the wind reducinghe featureso milesof sandy cruband straight reeways. here

is ittle o do in Hinckley nd nowhere o go.We assumehat Erinherselfives n a suburbof LosAngeles nd drives ut to the desert

(emphasisedn the scenewhen she ingsGeorge rom hercar o helpkeepawakeon the long drive).Erin's wn house s modestand

utilitarian ikehousands f others n the area it is nol the 'whitepicket ence'suburbof the mid-west,he kind of home represented

as deal rnall-town merica, or s t the tenementbuildings f NewYorkand he eastern ities. t issimplydrab uniformity. he

subtlety f the representationf the environments evident n the cinematographyhat carefully ses unlightbothas a source f

bl isteringea tan dasa golden lowwhen hings o right or Erin.

Class in lhe ,nsider

Th eworldoI The nsidersdeterminedly iddle lass. l l the maincharactersreeither n seniormanagementr in he upper

reachesf the media r the law. t ispossibleo makedirect omparisonsetweenhe homes f ErinandJeffreyWigand.Hi s

exudes ealth n the orm of furnishings,quipment tc.Evenwhen he s orced o 'downsize', isnexthouse asa computernthe basement. hen \,4rs igand ooks hemakes astawith fresh egetables,ot unk ood.

Other omparisonseinforcehi scontrast:

. WhenErin nd Edmeet, t isovercoffee.Wrgand nd Bergrnan e etovera Japanese eal, r in luxury otels.Wigandan d

Bergman hare n ntellectualistory. ergmanspresentedsa famous eporter ith a backgroundn 1960s adicalismnd

aroundhi soff iceare magesrom he news torjes e hascovered.

. When Erin mobilewon't work shegoes o a payphone Bergman aiksout into he sea rom hisbeach ouse.Wigandan d

Bergman xist n a world of phones,axes nd email.Bergmansso well connected'thate canconduct onversationsith

Wlgand, he FBI nd he Mississippiublic rosecutorhilstworkingon thestreets f NewOrleans.

. Wigand sseeminglyecuren hismiddle lass orldand hasa longway o fallwhen hingsgo wrong.Thescene hen he FBI

arrive o investigatehe death hreatsshowsup hisvulnerabili.ty.

Thereare severalvoices' n ErinBrockoylch.rom the real ErinBrokovichl o the voiceof the director, nd includingseveral

contr ibutionsrom women nvolvedn he production.

ErinBrockovicherselfook herstory o CarlaSantos hamberg,artner f producer ichael hamberg.heShambergsxpressed

interest,ndsuggestedir ing rofessionalcriptwriterusannah rant. hepackage asdeveloped ith DannyDevitoat Jersey

Films ndofferedo JuliaRoberts. nly henwa sSoderberghffered irection. oderberghas hapedhe narrativehrough

shootingand editing.He makesa referenceo deleledscenes n the DVD,someof which he had o fight to get past he editor,

AnneV Coates, nother oman's oice n he creativerocess.oderberghas undoubtedlygoodchoice nd capable f

responding ensitivelyo the script.Nevertheless,he strongpresence f women as executive roducer, criptwriter nd star s

evidentn he attentiono the mportant etails f a womans ife,particularlyn relationo issuesf childcare. owevetwith thepowerof JuliaRoberts' erformance,shendoubtedlyontrolshe narrativeoice n he inal nstance.

Exercise

. Whosevoicesare representedn The nsider?Make a comparison etween he /nslderand ErinBrockovich.

Whose rvoice' is in the filrn?



ErinBrockovichwas releasedn the 'dead' box officeperiod n March.With no 'blockbusters' s competition,a strongopeningdelivered y the 'starpower' of JuliaRobertswas convertedby excellentword of mouth' into a surprisingly ood NorlhAmer icanross f $125mi l l ion a'mass'audience.

Thebo xoffice ake rnplies lso hat herewas more hanone audience rouping perhapshe subject ontent ttracted'green' udience. select roupmightbe attracted y Steven oderberghgrowing eputation,ut he success il l be mainlyth e result l attractinghe asualmoviegoer

We ca nassume 'preferredeading' f the ilm onewhich he ilmmakersrobablyntended nd mostof the auqrencegree

to . l t recognisesri nBrockovichsan ntelligent omanwho findsherselfn a desperateituation, ut sable o flseabove erproblems nd discover er alent.Hardwork an ddedication llied o humanity nable er o helpa community nd indsomesortof usticeor peoplewho have ee nwronged. his s he readinghat earnedhe film tsOscar ominationsnd t conformsto the deaof th e feelgood'movie.Bu t t isn't he only eading.

Exercise

' Lookat a rangeof reviews f Ern Brockovich ndcheck he internet or responsesosted aboulErinBrockovich.Whatalternativeeadings f the ilm do viewers ffer?

The nsider as ess uccessfulommerciallynd t isworth ooking t audienceomments n this ilm aswell.Russellrowewa sOscar ominated sBestActor or hisportrayal f JeffreyWigand, ut at thisstage e wasnot the starhe hasbecome rnce

Gladiator.The nsiderwas presented, nd generally ccepted, s a more serious,ilm, perhaps jmostan American art, film. ltsproducersnd distributorsid not expectt to attract mass udience nd hi sperhapsmeant herewas ess ressuren directorMichaelMann o go for'feelgood', l lowing im o createdarker' epresentations.

Exencise

' Summarise t least wo alternalive eadings f lhe inslder rom the audience esponsesecorded n relevantinternetwebsites.

ldeologically,Erin

Brockovichl ivotsboth wayson the American egalsystem: awsuitsare he only democraticweaponwith which o hobble he itansof industry,ut the awyers ho wield he writsan d ake he depositionsrescum...

.. .However nvironmentallyound he surface olitics,uliaRoberts'stonishingta rvehiclespropelledy he oldest ffossiluels. heecological indsetsnothing f not raditional. G&E'5rime sno ta violation f civil aw bura srnagarnsrnature, rapeof the and.Male, cientificationalityaspoisonedhe nurturing oil, efil ingMotherNature nddeforminghe roffspring. he okens f Erin3ecundity'They'realled oobs, d.') re he breastplatef an avengingngel,heearthymother ome o banishhe despoilersnd nurse erchildren ack o health.Ohomas oherty neaste 000)

Doherty ives om egoodstarting oints or a moredetailed nalysisf what sbeing epresentedn termsof environmentalndgender olit ics.

Exercise

' Examine omeof the underlying ssuesepresentedn Erin Brockovich.What ideological erspectivesoes t appearto represent?onsider,or example:

. What happenso the victims f pollution ho do not have ccesso smart awyers?

. DoesErinBrockovicheallyhavea happyending?Erindoeswell;.andhe victimsget compensation, utthey arestill ikely o dieyoung rom debilitating iseases. hat perspectives representedy presentingthisasa happy nding?

. Doherty uggestshat Erin san archetype' an earthmother'type, nder hreatby (evil)male cientificrationality whoseperspective oes his represent?

. Makea similar nalysisf the deologicalerspectivesepresentedn The nsider.

Flefenences

ThomasDoherty 2000) Reviewof ErinBrockovich'n CneasteVol XXV No. 3

RoqerWade 2000) A law unto herself n s/ght and sound, N/ay The ilm is reviewed y AndrewO'Hehir n the same ssue.)

Which ideological positions aFe Fepnesented?



CASE STUDY 2

Gender ifferencesreculturallyormed. heyexist n the basis f the biological,ut buildahugesystem f differentiationve rand above t. Sowhereas ou rse xwill determine roadlywhether r not yo uca nbeara child, or examplethough ven his snot a universalruth),gender-basedrguments ave nsistedhat because omenbearchlldren,hereforehe yshould e he ones o stayat homean dbring hem up. lt 'sonlynatural' ays wholesocialsystem f laws, ax arrangements,hildcarend so on. (Branstonnd Staffordj999)

The act hat so muchof socialif e s gendered'n someway meanshat we areal lunderpressureomodify ur behaviourccordingo prevailingiews boutwhat s'natural'orappropriaten beingeithermaleor fernale. epresentationsf genderssues rea source f debate nd confllct ecausesome ritlcs nd audiencesee he repetition f certain epresentationsn he mediaascrucialo theperpetuationr potentiairansformationf traditionaldeas.

In hiscase tudywe examine ow malean d emale enderdentities ave een epresentedn threefilms.ErinBrockovich nd MildredPierce US1945)are ilms about women - narratives o personal

that the filmsare namedafter the centralcharacterErn was madesome ifty yearsafter Mlldredandwe mightexpect o seea few changesn he depiction f a woman'sif eoversucha longperiod.Bycontrast, he storyof JeffreyWigand n The nsider s hiddenbehinda more mysteriousitle andexploreshe consequencesor a manwhenhe putshi scareer t r isk.

Exencise

. Discussha t yo uunderstandy he ollowing ew stereotypes:

. ' ladette'

. new man'

. 'man n a mid-life risis'

. 'modern areer oman'.

. Select ne of the above nd searchor representationsssociatedit h the type n

advertisements,ew s tories,elevisionrogrammesnd ilms.

On eof the mainaimsof the eministmovement uring he 1970swa s o challengessumptions

about he roleof women n society.hepolitical trugglehat ensued oncerned oth he concreterealitiesf women3 ives equalpay, bortion ights, iscriminationt work etc and herepresentationsn he media hat reinforcedraditional iews bout he woman,s lace n he home,.Filrrs ikeMildred Piercewere studiedas part of this process.

Representationsre. o a certain xtent,he product f unequal ower elationships.ny change nthe statusof women in societyhasan impacton the statusof men. \ilany raditionalsocietieshathave ee ndefined spatriarchiesie governed y men')produceepresentationsha t placewomenin a subservientosition.Whenpatriarchys challengednd he power elationshiphanges, en,sstatus sdiminished,ve n f thismeans 'sharing' f power ather han a reversalf the relationship.Such diminution f powerma ycause reactionrom menaswellas be reflectedn newrepreSentatlons.

Durinq he 1990s eriod f 'post eminism', ocial ommentatorsotedseveral ew rends n emaleand malebehaviour oungwomen, nfluencedy he many hangesn women3social oles ndattitudeshat ook placen the inalquafter f the wentieth entury,ee mmoreconfident,in

control' and assertive. ome heoristshave eferredo this development s ,postfeminist,and see treflectedn the emergencef'ladette'culture youngwomenexpressing,laddish'

interestn

Ghanging rnale and fernale identities



alcohol nd menas se xobjects'.n schools, ir ls reoftenmoresuccessfulha nboys n passing xams nd heyhave een hemainbeneficiariesf manyof the changesn employment atterns.

In contrast, enof allages resaid o be now finding if emoredifficulto the extenthat many ritics ave dentified 'crisis fmasculinity'.heexpectationhat menwill be he mainbreadwinnernd headof the amily'ha sbeeneroded, nc men naverespondedn different ays o thischange.On he one hand, here s he new man'who represenisless ggressrve,or esensitivexpressionf manhoodhan he traditiondlhe-man'ordomineeringatriarchaligure. oungfathers,or example, remore ikely o sharen childcaref not housework. n he otherhand, lad'culture ouldbe seen sa backlasho the ne w

order',with youngmen eassertingtraditional ale nterestn beer, ootball ndwomenas,sex bjects,.

Exercise

' Referring ack o the stereotype ou investigated adier,what kindsof narratives nd genresare used nrepresentinghe ype n filmsor televisionrogrammesou have een ecently?

Film s not a mirror n whichchangesn society recleady nddirectlyeflected.nstead,hese hanges aybe reflectedubtly,fo r example,n th ewa ygenfes raduallyhange, hen ilmsar emadewhichar evariationsn, or 'inflections'f, existing enres.In he ast wentyor thirtyyearsmany ilmshaveplayed ith an dsubvertedraditional otions f men's ndwomen's oles,ro m

Sigourney eavet or example, layinghe actionhero n theAiien ilms, o ArnoldSchwarzeneggerlayinghe roleof nurseryteacher n Kmderga,ten op (Us 1990). Sometimeshesesubverted magesemergeas new genenccharacters,eflectingchanging ocial tt itudes boutwhat t meanso be a manor a woman.

Exencise

. DiscusshetherErlnBrockovichs

. 'anold-fashionedtar ehicle'

. a woman'sicture

. an nvestigativehriller.. Whatelementsoes t have f each f theseypes f film?

Theconcept f a woman's ictureefers ack o the 1940swhen he studios roduced icturesargeted t predominantlyemaleaudienceswhich uring he 1930s nd40 soutnumbered al eaudiences).tarsikeBetteDavis, oanCrawford nd BarbaraStanwyck layedstrong'women aughtup in romancesnd crimemelodramas. centraleature f these ilmswa soften he'dual ife'of the centralemale haracter in he homean d outside'. hewoman picturemightbe defined s:

a movie ha t places t the center f itsuniverse femalewho is rying o dealwith emotional,ocial ndpsychologicalroblemsthat arespecificallyonnectedo the act hat she sa woman. Basinget 993)

Thegeneric lements f the woman's icture ouldbe summariseds:

. a centralemale igurecaughtbetweenhe demands f home,work and romance

. a female est riendassupport, ompetingmale overs

. a difficuJtelationshipith a daughter

. the heroinespunishedor wanting oo much

Mildred Piercesa classic oman'spictureand it is useful o compare t with Edn Brockovrch.Mildred JoanCrawford) s asuburban ousewife ith two daughters,he ovingKa yand Vida, he daughterrom hell '.Whenhe rhusbandoses is ob an dthe couple gree o separate, ildredmust ook or work. Sheeventuallyet sa ob asa waitressnd earnshe businesser yquickly.A sequencen the early ar tof the film displays ostof the genericeatures f the womanspicture. t work Miidredmeets da ,a tough-talkingareer omanwho becomes er best riend.At the same ime shemust endoff the advancesf he rhusband3 x-working arlner nd dealwith the hostil ity f Vidawho issnobbish ndcan'tbearhe rmother o b e workinqwithher hands'.We can epresenthe dramatic onflictsn he narrativeik e hts:

love/sexual desire

The raromants picture

Home work



In he 1940s, everali lmsdepicted womanwho sought o bet terherself nd o makean ndependentifeas caught n a

conflict etween hese hree ets f demands, hileher close oman riend ypically adonly wo sets f demandso dealwith.

The ndependent omancouldnot be seen o succeedn having ll hree to do so wouldgo againsthe prevail ingdeology

that he woman's lacewas n the homewith the children.nevitably,hewa spunishedn somewa y at the end of the ilm.At

the end of MlldredPlerce, l ldred indsherself eingushered ac k nto her marriage fter he terrible eeds including urder)

committed yVida N.4ildreds mplicit ly uil tyof raising idabadly.

E n Brockovich nd the 'modernwoman'spicture'

American he21st enturys ery ifferento American hemiddlefthe20th entury.rin oes ot ace uch heart-rending

quandary boutwork and home.She oses er over, ut his doesno tseem o be a majorblow.Erin sstrong nough o take tand carryon. The emotionalstruggleat the cenlteol Mildred Pierce ssjmplynot there n ErinBrockovich home and love/sex

seem o have eendownplayedn order o allow work' o takecentre tage. here remoments hen t seemshat radlt ionalgeneric arratives ightcome ntoplay, uc haswhen Erin rrives ome rom herconfrontationhe PG&Eawyers,he inds

George bout o moveout. This s he classicussle etween ork and ove/s ex.ut Georgemoves ut and ifegoeson. Even

thoughsh ema ybe disappointedo ioseGeorge sa lover, e returnso lookafter he children.

Th esupport f otherwomen s usuallymportantn he woman3picture'.n ErinBrockovich,here s he beginning f a

relationshipetweenErln nd hewomen n he office, ut Erin oesnot have close emale r iendas such.Perhapshis s a

function f the impoarancef the investigation,hich akes ttention way rom Erin personalife. However, t several oints

in the story vents replayed ut betweenErin nd otherwomen.For nstance,t the end of the ilm when he audienceearns

about he successf the legal ampaign,t is hrough conversationetweenErin nd he womanwho will recerve large

compensationayment. his cenes designedo showGeorge hat Erinwas ighting or and ollows he scenen whichErin

triumphs ver he slick female)awyerwho Edhas akenon to the team.We mighthave xpecied scenen whichErinhears

the announcementf he rvictoryro m a udge,but his s not offered.We concludehat Erin's ictory s herown woman' s

what s mportant.

ErinBrockovichsa 'modernwoman's icture'n hat t putsa woman ife centre tage'. obe a professional,ri nhas o

organise hildcarendherwork meanshat shewil l sometimese unableo seehe rchildren t al l or a few days.Of course,

there s no reason hy Erin hould uffer eyond he usual psand downsof a working ife,but it doespose problemor the

fi lmmakers.hedesireo present rin sa womanwh o cansucceed nd be ulf i l ledn the world of work seemso takeover he

narrative.t even ubdueshe mportant uestionsbout he activitiesf PG&E hichcouldhavebeenused o heightenhe

tension f the i lm asa leqal hri ller.

Most egal nvestigativehri l lers rebased n the ension enerated y a narrativehat depends n a serioushreat o the

investigatorf the legal ase ails. n The nsider, effreyWigand oses is amily nd hiscareern the obaccondustry n

A Civi l ct ion US1999)he JohnTravoltaharacterisks isbusinesso pursue similar ivi l ase bout ndustr lalol lut ion. an

Brockovich, owevet subverts his narrative.Ed \,4asryeaches pointwhere his busness son the line - but what does Erin isk?

WhileMildredn th e '1940sis punished'or her desire', rin, n 2000,seemso triumph n herambition ithoutever acinggreatdanger. heonlymoment f the kindof tensionhat s usually eneratedn a egal hri l ler omesowards he endof the

film when Erin sapproachedy a ma nwhenshevisits seedy at Fora mo ment, he possibil i tyf a thriller arratives easingly

set up. But hen t turnsout that he man s going o giveher he evidenceheneeds. he hri l ler otential f the original tory

ha sbeen uppressedo highlight rin sa modern ucces sfuloman.

ErinBrockovichlso gnoreshe possibil i t iesffered y melodrama. elodramasa looseerm hat hasbeenwidelyused n

theatre nd cinema.t doesnot define genre nd hasbeenused t variousimes o meanalmost ompletelyppositehlngs.

Herewe will use t in the revised ay hat hasbeenpromoted v i lm scholarsince he 1970s.

Th eword meanslterallymusic' melos) lus drama' nd melodramaeferso the display f the characters'motions xpressed

throughmusic, ighting, olout art direction tc melodramasabout excess'.hesubjeclmatter soften he amily nd he

relationshipsetweenamilymembers. ften amilies ave ecrets things hat can'tbe said and he repressionf these

secrets, eanshat, nstead f being poken,here san eruption nto he miseen scdne, hichbecomesexcessive'.n Ern

interpersonalr family ensions arelycome o the foreground, n contrast o the rnelodramat inlensityof Mildred Pierce.

Mildred Pierces a womans pictureand a classic rime melodramaramedby film noir. Mildred's tory s old in flashback s she

explainso the policewhat hashappenedo herwhenshe squestionedbout he murder f hersecond usband. hemiseen

scdnencludeshe darkshadows ndpools f bright ightoI filmnoir and F,eprison ars' reated y he sunlight treakingthrough he venetian lindsn lvl i ldredhouse. n he confrontation setweenMildred ndVida, he intensity f the emotions

betweenhe m sexpressedirectlyn the dialogue.t isalso einforcedhrough \y'axteiners ramaticmusicwhichshifts one

within he scenean dwhich s ntroducedn the credits swaveswashagainsthe shore) nd becausef JoanCraMords

Derformance ith its oronounced estures nd looks.

Enin as an investigat ive thr i l leF

Melodrarna in The Insiden and Mildred Pience



Mildred, sa woman n the 1940s, asplenty o losean dshe osest - punishedor beingan ndependentoman,a motheran da lover.He reldest aughter espisesnd betrays er,and herotherdaughter ie saftercatching neumonia. urexpectationsre or highdrama nd he ilm delivers.

Male melodrama

Malemelodramasen d o focuson fathers nd he crisishey ace n respect f ' leadlng' nd protecting'theiramily.Whileamelodramaticseof expressionisttylemiseen scenen The nsidersprimarily function f the hril ler enre,he melodramaticelements f a family n crisis realsoplayed ut .The act hat he central haracterf JeffrevWiqanddoesnot it the raditionalviewof the assertive al eheightenshe ension.

Wigand s about o 'blow he wh stle'on 'big obacco' nd heyar eou t to stoph m. Theeffect n his amily sdevastating.tthe startof the ilm he Wigands rea conventionaluclearamilywith a highstandard f living, ependant n JefffeyWigand'ssalary. henhe oses is ob , he amilybeginso 'downsize', ut t is he nvasion f the family's rivacyhat real beginsodestroy effrey nd his amily elationships.

Look arefully t thesequencehat begins ith the emaildeath hreat itself n excessive'ignal ith the mailbox oundfollowed y a blood edscreen nd a messagen capitalswE wL L KILL ou, wE wtLLKtLL ou ALL,SHUT HEFUCK p!,Th esequencelso ncludes:

. th e bullet n the mailbox

. Wigand's dmissionhat he hashademotional roblemsn the past

. his allas he attemptso stop he FBI aking he computer way.

Wigandeffectivelybreaks own'n thissequencend t is at this

pointhat he decideso go aheadwith his estimonyarguablyan emotional' ecision,ince e s not hinking learly r dispassionately).n he nextscenen the Newyork hotelbefore he

taping, t becomes pparentha t Jeffrey asno t told hiswife abouthi sdecisionnd she eaveshe able n despair.he inalshotin thissequencehowshe rs dingdown he wallof the washroom a clear ignal hat he marriagesalsogoingdown.

Wigand! responseo the danger e aces nd he disintegraiionf his amily ontradictsur viewof the raditionalmale'hero.Instead f takinq ontrol ndbeing esolute, esuffers lm ost ike he raditonalheroine f the woman's icture. e semotionaland iable o lose ontrol.He s not physicallyble o defend imself r his amily nd he eels venmore ulneraoreecauseonce he has osthis professional tatus the respecthat camewith his high-poweredob) he has ittle experience f fight ing aistreet evel.

wigand s, n Russellrowe's wn wordson the DVDdocumentary,justan ordinary loke'who soverwhelmedyconsequencesf hisdecisiono 'blow he whistle'. he radltionalhero' igure n lhe /,lsiders he Al Pacino haracter,owellBergman, ho persuades igand o testify nd ights enaciouslyo pu t he actsbeforehe public.He s both n control

fthe

situation ndentirely ur eof himself, cting san nterestingoil o Wigand,sharacter.

Exercise

. Summariseow he charactersf Wigandand Bergman ortray ontrastingepresentationsf men.

' Compare he sequencesn Ern Brockovich nd lhe /nsrderwhere he two mainprotagonistseturn rom theirtriumphs n the egal ront o a homewithouta partner Erin eturOso findGeorge bout o leave,Wigandcomes ack rom estifyingn Mississippio an emptyhouse nd a letter).

. How mportants hisscenen each ilm?

. What evidence sprovidedabout the maincharacters?

. Ho wwe ar easked o understandheir eelinqs nd emotions?

Fleference

JeanineBasinger1993)A Woman'sView:How Hollwood Spoke o Women1930-60,Chatto&Windus

Gill Branston nd RoyStafford 1999)TheMediaStudent'sBook,Chapler 12, Routledge



THREE SHORT STUDTESIN REPRESENTATION

To explore epresentationn more detailwe look hereat three verydifferent ilms.

The ilm industryends o assumehat menand women avourdifferent enres.Holllvvood xecutivesurgently eek esponsesrom exhibitors n the audience ompositionor new ilms.Genres ssociatedwith male udiencesen d o include ction-adventurendscienceiction, hile hose ssociatedithfemale udiencesncludeomance,omanticomedy ndmelodrama.ecently,he ndustryasrecognisedhat here salso significantudiencef youngwomen or horror ilms.

Hollywood as raditionallyried o combine ction-adventurend romanceo appealo a wideraudience.n recent eaE, hi saction-romanceenreha sevolvedn relationo the representationfwomen: he Leadingemale haracter asdevelopedrom being he victim/princesso takingon th ehero ole.An early xample f thiswas n he medicalhril lerCornaUS1978), nwhicha young

female octorexposeshe trade n bodyparts' tolenro m patients ho have een accidentally,allowed o die n surgery. rit ingabout he film n 198'1,Chrlstineeraghtynoted hat while t wasnot unusualor women o ini tiate ction ncrimemelodramas,t wasnew or a female haracterous ehe rprofessionalnowledgeratherhansexual ttraction)o investigatepossiblerime ndoulwit a pursuer.hese ctions:

call[s]nl oquestionhe ormof th e il mand he raditionalol eof the heroine, t the evel otonlyof content ut alsoof feeling, f experiencinghe enslons f a thri er. Geraghty,1981)

Sincehe 1980s,herehavebeen everalemale nvestigators/actioneroesn highprofile

Hollywoodilms.

Flesearch and discussion

. Considerhe following emale ction oles oo k them up in a filmguide f yo udon't knowabout he character):

. Sigourney eaver s Ripleyn he A/len eries

. JodieFoster nd Juliannevloore sAgent Starlingn SiTencef the Lambs ndHannibal

. LindaHamilton sSarahConnor n Terminator

. Jamie eeCurtis s vlegan urnern B/ueStee/ nd asLaurle troden Halloween 20

. Ange na olie n TombRaider

. Whichof these oles o you hink aremost nterestingn comirenting n the changingexperiencef women?

. Concentratingn us t he representationsou knowwell, o what extent o yo u hink heseroles restil lmaleac ton rol es hat havebeen il ledbv emale tars?

Lola ennt Germany 998) hows he potentialor the action omance enre o evolve ven urtherto create new orm n which emale nd rnale haractersre e,imagined.hepremjse f the film sslmple. ola ails o meethe rboyfriendManni.D stracted, e oses bagof moneybelonglngo hispotentiay violent oss, diamond muggler. nless ola an eplacehe money n the next20minutes,Manni.will ave o face heconsequences.he ilm he noffers hreedifferent ersions fwhat happens s Lola unsacross erlin ttemptingo acquirehe money.

lola and Narrative

Th enarrativetructure f lola renntcomprises prologue hich ncludes l the charactersho will

appearn he film,a shortsequencestablishinghe situation,hree ersionsf Lolas'run'andashortconcuding equence. hat becomes pparents hat over he hreeattemptso completeheru nsuccessfully,ol a s learning boutherself nd he woddaroundher. n he hirdattempt hefinally eaches pointwhereby sheer orceof will (marked y a piercing cream)heappearso stoptime ts elf. his sa film n which he female haracters not onlV entral, ut also in control' f the

Lola Fennt - Flun Lola Flun



narrative. t the end of the film,partly ecause f heractionsan d he knock-on ffectshat heyhave),Manni urnsout to haverecoveredhe moneyhimself. ar rom negating ola's id o saveManni, his evelatjonerves nlV o emphasisehat he ilm sIess bout inding he money nd moreaboutLola indingherself.

tola an d genre

Th eordinarinessf Lola nd \,4annierivesro m a specific etof genericeterences,hich ikemany noderniirns, edte o arangeof genres.The raceagainst ime to find the moneysuggests suspense r thril/ernarrative.The bagof money s possiblyfaise ocus the thrileraspect eemso revolve round he ate of the bag,ye twhenManni ecoverst we realiset was not soimportant. he ilmalso ontains lements l lh eyouthpictureand amilymelodrama.ola! amily s dysfunctional'.ermotheris an alcoholic,er ather sadulterousnd t issuggestedhat he mayno t evenbe herbiologicalather

A pairof motifs symbolicmages epeatedn differentorms) erhaps ignalhe most mportant enre eferencen the ilm.Attool,Lola ennt sa romance. ola nd Manniar e ordinary oungpeople' nd what smost rnportanto them s heir ove oreachother this s what Lola iscoverst the end of the film. This eadingsconfirmed y he director nd starwh o giveadetailed ommenlaryn the DVDof the i lm.)

Exercise

The ovemotifs n the ilm are he coiour edand referenceso hearts nd heartbeats.

. Toexposehis'discoursef romance' oteal l he uses f redand all he referenceso hearts nd heartbeats.

. Pay peciai ttentiono the briefsceneseaturing ola nd vannibetweenhe irstan dsecondruns'an dbetweenhe second nd hird'runs'.

. Does he evidenceroduced y hissearch upport he reading f the film asa romance?

lola as a game

Afterseveraleferenceso football, ol a3 unstartswith an animaled equence hich esembleshe progressf a warrior/hunterin certain i nds f computer am e a referenceha t s reinforcedy he music oundtracknd he rapidpace f the editing). sLola rogresseshrough he gamesh e learns' nd, ike he charactersn level' ames, he ncreaseser power. n he fina runshe eaps ver he vicious og at the top of the stepsOn epossibleeading f this filmasgame' s hat t establishesola samodernwoman adeptat gameshat have ometimesee nseen s argelyor boys. t also eferso the emaLeco nofcontemporaryaming, ar aCroft.This s a potentially roblematiceferences Lola eems either'super',or overtly lamorous- instead, erclothes nd behaviouruggesthe ordinary'.

The dea f the ilm asgame semphasisedy wo motifs eferringo t imewhich un hroughhe il m the clock aceand he

image f thespiral. heclock ace scircular ut wo-dimensional,he spiral uggeststhirddimensionnd he de a f being'suckedn' until ou reachhe end.The ilmcontains umerousircles,lock aces ndspiralsManniphonesro moutsidehe'SpiralLe'ightClub, he animated ola egins er un downa spiral taircasetc).Perhapshe spirals ike ife tself a plungent oa whirlof experlence.earningo existn he spirals ike earningo live he wayyo uwant.

lola and realism

Lola ennt alsoprovideshe clearest ossible emonstration f how to use ilm and vldeo echnology o createdifferent'realisms'.hedirector asused ivedifferentilm/videoormats:

. For he present' hen either ola r Manni s eatured,he filmstocks35mmand colour the conventionalormat ora modern eatureilm.

. Whena sequencesshown epresentinghe past,monochromeilmstocks used.

. lf neitherMannior Lola s eaturedn the'present', ideo s used.

. 'Snapshots'a montage f stil lss used o showwhat happensater o someof the minorcharacters.

. Animations used or Lola nd he crouplern sequenceseferringpecificallyo the gameelement.

Eliscussion

. Wh ydid he director ant o differentialehese spects f the ilm narrative?

la Hame France 995)

. uses istinctlveamera, oundand editing echniqueso representwo verydiffereni ocations: housing state nd he citycentre;

. ha san obviousmessage' that societys ailing n itsattemptso understandnd respondo the youngpeoplen he housingestates utsideParis;



. isa resolutely'male'fi lm,ocusing n a crisisn male dentity;

. dealswrtl ' rssuesI elhni( ty asan aspect f social xclusron.

la Hane sabout wentyhours n he l ives f Vinz,Said nd Hubert,hree oungmen rom esbanlieues the housing stateslocated bout wentymiles rom he centre f Paris. n he previous ight herehasbeena r ioton the estate n whichAbdel,afr iendof the hree entral haracters,asbeen hot.Vinzha sstolen police evolvern the nreide nd has owed o kil lapolicemanf Abdeldies. he i lm covershe events f the nextday.

It is rare o finda f i lrnmaker ho sets ut to use amera, dit ing nd sound n a directlyepresentatnalway. \,4athieuassovitz,the director f LaHane decidedo usecompletelyifferent tyleso representhe housing statewherehi smaincharactersiv eand he centre f Paris hich s ikean alien and o the youths.

For he estate,Kassovitzses tereophonicoundand a tracking amerawith long akesandgreatdepth of field,allowng the youths

to walk hroughhe estate nd o beseenwilhin he environmenthich s helrhome.DeepocusmeanshateveMhingnframeisin sharp ocus.Kassovitzlaimshat this approach epresentshe sense f communlty nd dentity hat the youthsexperiencen theestate.For he scenesn Paris,he camera s usedmoreconventionaLLyith shallow ocusand moreuseof cutting han long akesandtracking. hesound s mono, n tune with the reativelyflat' image.Theoverall ffect s hat Paris eems oth an a ien andscape ndone hat, hroughhe edit ing nd ighter ramings,eemso constrainheyouths.

Exercise

. Comparehe differencesetweenhe wo scenes:'1) n the estatewhere heyouths rebarbecuingausages

on the roofand2)

n the art galleryn Paris. oo kparticularlyt. cameramovement, dit ing nd raming.

. the amous switch hot'when he youthsirstarrive n Paris ndpose n a balcony verlookinghe city.

. Whatparl icularechniqueso you noticen eachof the scenes nd howare heyused?

Masculinity

LaHaine s not aboutgender:t is not interestedn theyoungwomenon the estates r in comparing ow menan dwomen eactto events.tssubjects he emasculated'oungmen,unemployednd acking sense f purpose nd direction. emin t cr it icshavenoted he way hat he youths seAmerlcantreet ulturewith itsmisogynisticanguagendviolenceo expressthemselves.hisphenomenons recognisedsa causeor concern cross urope nd NodhAmerica.

Eliscussion

. Discuss hether he youths reawareof theirpredicamentnd what hey cando to escaperom t.

. Noneof the youths asa father heycan urn o canSamir,he police ff lcerwh o 'sprlngs' aid ro m hepolice taton, act asa surrogateather?

Ethnicity

The typing'of Sald,Vinzand Hubertas NorthAfricanFrench, ewrsh nd WestAfricanFrenchbeu4blancet noir) s deliberate, utthe main oncern f the ilm snot wlth he ssue f ethnicity ssuch. nsteadhe r io representhe dea f 'social xclusion'.yselectingifferent thnic roups,he i lmemphasiseshatwhat heyhaven common soppressiony he police.

Delivering messageLaHaine sa f i lm with a distinct nessage. etaphorsnd symbols re used o representhe argumenthat French ocietysheadingor disasternd hat he breakdownn communicationetweenhe poljce nd heyouths n the estate samanifestationf the widerproblem f a society t war with itself. t the staar f the i m, a voice ells he story f a manwh ofalls rom a skyscraperndas he allspasteach loot saysSo at so good... ' ,ard the same tory s repeatedwice ater n thefi lm.To emphasisehe point, he onlyuseof colour n he f i lm comes n he openjng hot.Whilewe hear he story f the all ingman or he f irst ime,we watcha Molotov ocktaila ightedpetrol-soakedag n a bott le)whichsmashesnto an mage f theworldand burstsnto lame.

This mage f the world urnsup again n a second isualmetaphor n a posterwhichannouncestheworld syours'.Said'claims'his mageby changingyours'o 'ours'. hestatemenls,of course,ronic.Paris learly oe snot belong o the youths

they are excluded n almosteveryway. n a third scene, ne of the youths ries o 'switchoff' the lightson the EiffelTowerbyclicking is ingers, ut i t doesnot work 'thatonlyhappensn he movies' ays nother th e ights o of f when he youths

moveaway). n his epetit ion,he word society'epaces he word man'.Thesehree philosophical 'sides reaterepresentationf a polit ical rgument bout he powerlessnessf the youths nd he fate of society.



ThePiano Ausltalia/France992)

. referso a genre melodrama)hichuses xpressionismndsymbollsmo representhe emotions f the characters;

. combinesepresentationsf gender, lass nd race n a specificontext colonial xperiencen Ne wZealand);

. became ontroversialecause udiencesfeministsn partlcular)ea d he resolutionf the narrativen different av san daudienceesponseenerally asvery trong, ither or or againstt.

Ada sa singlewomanwith a youngdaughteriving n he 1gthcentury. heha sbeenmutesince he birthof he rchildan donly

'speaks'hroughhe rpianoplaying. ermiddle lass cottishamily rrange ermarriageo Stewart, setter n NewZealand,but whensh emeets erhusband he efuseso consummatehe marriage.nslead hebeglns relationshipith herhusband'slandagent,Baines a manwh o ha s gonenative' nd ntegrated imselfnto Maoriculture.

Melodrama

ThePiano asal the classiclements f a melodrama. motionsreseverelyepressednd his s representedhrough heclothlng nd postures f the actors,he music nd he depiction f the natural nvironmenthroughexpressionistamerawork(seeBruzzi 993). similar indof emotionalntenslty nd struggle etween ifferent esiresxistsn lhe Piaroas t does nMildredPierce, ut in lhe P/bnooveand sexualdeslreare complicated y race,classand farnily.ThePiano s potentally amod-"rn oman picturen which he womansuffers ut alsoperhaps alns form of freedomn he end. AsinMildredPiercethe reationship etweenmother nd daughters mportant in ThePiano lota'speaks'or hermother, ut alsobetrays er.

Thecentralmage f Adas pianoworksasa symbolhroughouthe film, muchas he motifs n ola rennt,but n a muchmore

dramaticashion.t isalmost s f Ada's ense f identitys representedy he physicalresencef the pianoand he music hatshe sable o playon it. Whenshear rves n Ne wZealand,he efuseso move rom he beach nes sher piano anaccompanyher. t is hrough he piano nd herplayinghat shedevelopshe relationshipith Baines nd near he end of the ilm sheappearso allowherselfo become n tangled ith the pianowhen t sldesoverboardro m he boat.Theendinq f the fi lm sambiguous:oes he ivehappily verafter or is hisa fantasyhat sheexperiencesssh edrowns?

Race and class

The hree entral haractersn he f lm ar e genericypes' rom he colonialmelodrama'. neof the maincriticismsf the film sthe way t useshe stereotypef the child-llke,innocent'Maori n order o present moreprogressivetory bouta woman'ssexualiberation.hestereotypetresseshe natural' exualityf the vaoriand by extension, aines. tewart, y contrastscalledol ddr yballs' nd sextremelyepressed.he Maoriar earguabLyittlemore hanan exoticother' a means y which heVictorianamilymelodramaanbe played ut in an env onmentwh ch actsasa cata st or the releasef Ada's exual eslre.Baines,he agent, s bothsociallynferioro stewart nd tainted' y hisadoption f lvlaori ulture. he acial emenlmeansha t

Ihe Plano ranscendshe tabooof th e whitewomansettler nd he native'man becomingntimate.

Discussion

. How does he Plano omparewith MildredPierce ndErinBrockovichsa 'woman'spicture'and with Mildred Piercean dThe nsider sa melodrama? hichgeneric ements o he ilms hare ndwhatdifferencesanyo u ind?

. What do you hinkAdawantsout of l ife?Ho wdo you understandhe endng does heachieve hatshewants?

Fleferences and fuFtheF reading

Stella ruzzi1991)Undressinginema, outledgeother ersionsf thismaterlal ppearedn Sight& Sound ctober1993, ndWomenand Fllm, Sight& SoundReader,carlet ress 993.The 1993S&S ssue lso ncludesomments y he i m'sdesignteamon theiraooroach.)

VivienneClark 2001)ThePiano,York FilmNotes

iill Forbes2000) La Haine' n Jill Forbes nd SarahStreet eds)EuropeanCinema: n lntroduction,palqtave

Chrisline eraghty1981) ThreeWomen's i lms'Movieno s27 28

RoyStafford12000) a Haine,YorkFilmNotes

TomWhalen 2000)Run,Lola.Run' n Fi lmQuarte vd 53, no 3

Ginette incendeau2000) Designsn the banlieue: athieuKassovitzs'aHaine(1995)'n Susan avward ndG netteVincendaued)FrenchFilm:Texts nd Contexts,Routledge

Websiteor loia renntr ttp://www.tykwer-online.decermanwith an Englishersion)



ESSAY QUESTIONS

1. What s here o be said or and against tereotypingn the media? nswerwith referenceo

specific itles. AQAA level)

The ollowing uestionsave eenadaptedrom specimennd actual xaminationuestionsordif{erent pecilicatron5.

2. With detailedeferenceo two characterson e n each ilm), omparehe ways n whichsocial

clasvstatuss representedn wo filmsof yourchoice.OC R S)

3. Comparehow representationsf:;-aiat<lQl / statusare reflectedn the themesand subject

matter n two filmsof yourchoice.OC R S\

4. (a )Explainhe meaning f TWOof the ollowing erms:

stereotypical,ealism,epresentations

(b )A new elevisionoa popera et n a British it yvvili nclude everai arts or ethnicminority

actors. haractersill nclude dedicatedoctor, strugglingtudent, n harassedinglemotheran da shopkeeper.elect NFof these haractersnd givea briefcharacter rofile,

explaining ow t challenges ore raditionalepresentationsn other exts ou have

studied.wJEcAS)

5. Examinehe posteror the ilmA/lens ndcompare nd contrasthe representationf the

heroine nd he useof narrative nigmas reatedn the posterwith the mpressionsivenby

the opening equencef the film. WiECA2)

10.

12.

Compare ow representationsf social lass status re eflectedn he themes ndsubject

matter f your wo chosenilms. OC R S N/ledia)

With detailedeferenceo yourown researchindings, iscusshe degreeo whichgender s

an mportantactor n the work of women ilmmakers.OC R 2 Media)

Discusshe representationsf masculinityn the films ou.have tudied. oumay, f yo uwish,

concentraten a particulargegroup. ASFilm)

Discuss hat yo u in d nterestingn the representationf the amilyand/or ender otesn the

fi lmsyo u have tudied or this opic. ASFilm)

Do he films ou have tudiedor this opicconstruct very imilarepresentationf national

identity r are heredifferencescrossou rchosenilms? ASFilm)

Comparehe representationsf homosexualitynd heterosexualityn he filmsyo u have

studied.What similaritiesr differencestrike ou as particuladynteresting?ASFilm)

Popular ainstreamilmsar eoftenaccused f reinforcingominant alues nd of lull ing

audiencesnt oa passivecceptancef these alues. rom ou r i lm studies. o yo uagreewith

this? A2 Film)



APPENDI)(

Americans'nderstandingf 'class'sdifferento mostEuropeans'nderstanding.heconcept fsocial lass erivesrom Europeanconomic ndpoli i icalheorists f the nineteenthentury. hey

recognisedhe mportancef social ackgroundn determininghe qu a ty of people'sives nd he

oDoortunitiesvailableo them.

In Europe,he co ection f statisticsn occupationalackground asbecomehe basisor official

classificationf socio-economicroups.n he UKwe haveboth he Registrar-General'slassification

(collated n the basis f census atacollected very enyears) nd he advertisingndustry's

classificationA, B, Cl, C2, D, E).Th e working lass'n thiscountry C2 ,D, E) sofficially hrinking

and he ower middle lass'C1) sexpanding s ob schange.

In Arnerica,hereha snot been he same overnmentnterestn occupationalackgroundnd more

importancesgiven o income. here s no official merican efinition f 'working lass',henearesto a UK-styleefinitions bluecollar', hichdescribes anual r factory-basedobs.

'Middle lass' oughly quateso 'whitecollar' r office-basedobs.Social lassn America anbe

defined s the prestige f your particularombinationf money, ccupationnd education'see

the websiteww2.9asou.edu/cevpsc250/ch8/index/html).

Americas he rlchest ountryn the world but t alsohassomeof the biggest ifferencesetween

'rich'and'poor'and he differencesrewidening. ome 5 million eople ut of a population f

around 70 million reofficiallyn poverty.n Europeanerms, he poorest eoplen America ould

be consideredn underclass'ecausehe yhave itt lehopeof engaging ith'normal'everydayife.

There s no welfare tate'or National ealthServicen America though he poorest eople o get

'welfare' nd reeemergencyealthcare.hosen poverty redisproportionatelyickor disabled

and n single arent amilies.

ln both he UK and he US, ocial lassssomethinghat people'feel'and ometimest isat odds

with how theymightbe classifiedin he UK)or perceivedy others in both countries).ot h

societieslaim o be classless'ut hi s s ar rom he case nd class arriers't l l lexist.n Britain

these arriersremostevidentn termsof culture ndattitudes, ut n America,money spossibly

more mportant.n both countries,lass tatuswill be ndlcatedhroughdress ndspeech nd

aspects f social ehaviour.

Ethnicity as raditionallylayed muchmore mportant ole n American ocialife han n he UK

- America as ounded n the basis f large calemmlgrationrom different arts f Europe s

wellason a history f slavery nda more ecentnflux f people ro mCentral merica.

A furtherdifferences he mportancef 'ruralAmerica'n determining ttitudesowardswork and

culture. arge arts f America resti l leconomicallyependent n agriculturend'primary

production'mining,orestry tc), nd Amerlcan ulture raws n a more ecent istoricalast hat

includes xperiencef 'frontier ife'. n Europe,deas f sociaclass nddeference'mightsti l l efer

back o the aristocraticandowner nd he landlesseasant'.n America,he ndividuaLioneer

farmer/workingowboy ersushe corporateanching usinesssa morepotentopposition layed

out many imes n Westerns uchas Pat Gaffettand Bi y the Kid (1913)ot Heaven's ate (1980).

The scenes n ErinBrockovich hot n Hinkleyoffera modern mageof 'cityslickers' otentially ut

of Dlacen the countrv.



BIBLIOGRAPHY

* Studentextbooksuitableor exploringhe heoreticaldeas ehind ey oncepts.

AllyAcker1 91)ReelWomen, atsfordAhistoryf womenilmmakers.)

Karen lexander2000) Blackritish ineman the 1990s:Going,Going,Gone' n Roberl \,4urphy(ed)Bitish Cinema n the 90s, BFI

DonaldBogle 1994,2nd edition) oms, Coons,Mulattoes,Mammiesand Bucks:An lnterpretative

Historyof Blacksn American Films,Conlinuum A historyof the representationf African-Americans

in Hollywood.)

Jeanine asinger1993)A Woman'sView:How Holfi,woodSpoke o Women 1930-60,Chatto&Windus

* Branslon nd Stafford 1999\TheMediaStudent'sBook(znd Edition),Routledge

SteflaBruzzi 1997)Undressing inema,RoutledEeThe oleof costume n cinemaand how it helps

construct identities'.)Otherversions f this materialappeared n 5/9ht & sound October1993,and

Womenand Film,a Sight& SoundReader, carletPress 993.The 1993 S&S ssuealso ncludes

comments y he ilm3designea mon theirapproach.)

JohnCasey2001).Gerald evinnterviewGuardian 0 March

VivienneClark 2001tThePiano,York FilmNotes

SteveCohan and lra RaeHark eds) 1993)ExploringMasculinitiesn HollywoodAnema, Routledge

ThomasDoherty 2000)'Reviewof EflnBrockovich'inCineaste ol )fiV No. 3

RichardDyer '1993)TheMatter of lmages:Essaysn Representation,outledge

Richard ye r 1985)Taking opularelevisioneriously'n PhilipDrummond nd David ustededs)

Television nd Schooling,BFI

JillForbes2000)'LaHaine'in il lForbes nd Sarah treeteds) uropean inema:

an ln!todudion, Palgraue

Graham ullered ) 1998) oach n loach,London: aber nd Faber

Christine eraghty1981)ThreeWomen'sFilms', ovienos27/28

Christine ledhilled.) 1989)Home s Where heHeaft s,BFI A collection f essaysn th e

melodramand he woman'si lm.)

Andrew Higson 1984) Space,Place,Spectacle'n ScreenVol 25 Nos4.5, July-October

John Hilland PamelaChurchGibson eds)11998) heOxford Guide o Film Studies,OUp(seesection

on 'Fi lm ex tand context: ender,deology nd d entities')

PatriciaHolland 2000)rhe Television andbook 2nd edition),Routledge

bellhooks 1996)Reei o Rea/race, sexand class t the movies,Routledge

Pat Kirkhamand JanetThumim edt (1995)Me lane: Masculinity,Moviesand Women,Lawrence nd

Wishart

* Nick Lacey 1998) rrage and Representatlon, acmillan

Catherine ouzolet1997)TheCinema f Spike ee: mages f a lvosaicCity' n MarkReid ed)

SpikeLee'sDo the Right Thing,CambridgeUniversity ress

RobertoRossellini1953) A FewWordsabout Neo-Realism'n Refrospettlye, April, reprinted n

DavidOverby ed)A Reader n Neo-Rea/rsm,alisman ooks1978

ElaineShohatand RobertStam

1994)UnthinkingEurocentrism:Multiculturalismnd the Media,Routledge

RoyStafford 20OO) a Haine,YorkFilmNotes

YvonneTasker19931Gender,Genreand the Action Cmema,Routledge



YvonneTasker'1998)WorkingGirls:Genderand Sexualityn PopularCinema,Routledge

Ginette incendeau2000) Designsn the banlieue: athieuKassovitzs'aHaine 1995)' n Susan ar//ard ndcinette

Vincendeaued) French ilm: Texts nd Contexts, outledge.

RogerWade(2000) A law unto herself in Sightand sound, May

TomWhalen 2000) Run,Lola.Run' n FilmQuarterly o 53, no 3

Filmography

Suggestions for films to study

A CivilAction (US1999) Go F/sh US1994) O Brothe, WhereArt lhou2 (US2OOO)

AmericanBeauty US1999) la Halne France 995) ThePiano Australia/France/

BeingJohnMatkovich us 2ooo) The tnsiderus lggg)Newzealand1992)

TheBtairwitch pro(ectus 1999) Ktds us 1995)Pleasantvileus 1998\

Boyz N the Hood t)s 1gg1) Kindergartencop us 1990)Psychous 1960)

Thece utoid closet us 1gg5) Ladybird,Ladybhd(uK 1gg4)PulpFiction (us 1gg4)

ciueiessus 1995) l/trle caesar us 1930) RamnqstonesuK

1993)

crossfiretJS 1947) Lota enntRun LolaRun)savingPrivateRyan us 1998)

Dle Hard(us 1988)(Germany 998) rhe Sith Senseu5 1999)

TheMatrix(us lggg) This s spinalTap us :9a4)Do TheRight Thing US1989)

Donn! Brascous lggl)Mi vida Loca Us 1993) Toutva bien (France 972)

Erin Brockovich(us ooo)Mildred Pierceus 1945) IJnbreakableus 2000)

Godtather rtJs 1914)My Name s Joe(UK 1998) What WomenWant (US2001J

Welcome o the DolihouseUS1995)Action/romance

CrouchingTiger,HiddenDragon Usnaiwan/China 000)(with femaleactioncharacters)

Youth pictures

Three harming ay omances:

BeautifulThing UK 1995)(Workingclassboyson a Londonestate,directedby a woman)

GetRea/ UK1998) Middle lass oys n Basingstoke)

Show Me Love Sweden1999) Youngwomen)

These ouldbe compared ith each theror with moreconventionaleen omancesn Cluelessr Pleasantville

Gender relationshipsLookat maleand female elationshipsn Hitchcock! ilms(eg Northby Northwest US1959),Vertigo rJS1958)and psycho

(U S1960) and at mo dern ilrnswhichcomment n Hitchcock,uc has ?pparternent France 996)

Ethnicity

BamboozledUS200'1)sa controversialut fascinatingilm romSpike ee hat directly hallengeshe ways n which he

historyof African-Americantereotypes as been discussedn recentyears. t includes compilationof someof the worst

excessesn Hollywood nd canbe profitably tudied ith referenceo Bogle 1994).

Other representbtions

WonderlandUK 1999)offers strikingly nconventionalie wof London sa placeo livean dwork, utilisingdirect

sound', vailableightand real ime'shooting. heviewof Londonife t offers oul dbe contrasted ith moregenericilms

suchas Face UK 1997) Northand EastLondongangsters)nd Notting Hill (UK 1999r.

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