Analysis of scene 2 of Fish Tank

Mia, after entering her home, goes straight to her pet dog. Along with other scenes such as the one where she tries to steal the horse, this shows that she only gives affection only to animals and prioritises them over humans, possibly because she sees the other humans in her neighbourhood as hostiles, showing her aspirations for a better life away from where she is living now.

After receiving a telling off from her mother, she shouts "you're what's wrong with me", this suggests that she wants to be the authority figure of the household due to the lack of a father figure (which is typically an authority figure in the Social Realism genre) and her mother is trying to prevent this by governing her.

As she lies on her bed after storming upstairs away from her mother, there are shots of old school pictures of Mia with a female friend which suggest that her attitude and personality have become more aggressive over time as she is no longer in school and seems to be hostile to any female shown in the film.

She may not just wear sportswear because it's cheap, it may be to give the impression that she is an athletic, physically tough person or to show her aspirations of becoming a dancer.

A typical convention of the Social Realism genre is the use of hand held cameras, these capture the protagonist's point of view so that the audience understands their intentions and the narrative. This is shown in Fish Tank as Mia enters the flat to an over-shoulder shot of her point of view of her home. This effectively views the flat from her perspective of what she calls home.

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

District 9 is a prime example of how most texts today mix genres. This film features conventions of two varying types of genres, which is known as a "hybrid".

District 9 consists of a hybrid of documentary style and Sci-Fi film conventions, some of which more subtle than others. For example, the vast use of stock footage and edited news headlines on screen at the film's opening and ending scene show obvious conventions of a documentary style text, whereas the blood splatters on the camera lens shown in the fight scene towards the end of the film give subtle connotations of how this film is being presented as realistic as possible; typical of an informative, documentary style text.

District 9 - Characters and Genre

Wikus van de Merwe is the protagonist in District 9, he is represented immediately in the opening scene of the film as a pen pushing office worker. His transformation in this film with how people treat him as soon as he reaches the body horror phase relates to the Apartheid in Johannesburg, people immediately avoid and alienate him from the rest of humanity due to his differences. This links to the discrimination and conflict between the black and white people during the Apartheid.

Genre Conventions

District 9 contains conventions of both Sci-Fi and documentary style genres, this is known as a hybrid.

The genre conventions of Sci-Fi are:

- Polysemic narrative: there is more than just one meaning than the obvious aliens vs humans plot, there is a deeper meaning to the film, which is how people discriminate against differences, namely the Apartheid between black and white people in the region where this film is set.

- Body Horror: As the film progresses, Wikus, the protagonist, transforms from a human into an alien "Prawn". This transformation involves scenes of gore as his teeth and finger nails fall out and this alien arm is produced. These scenes partly pay homage to another film called "The Fly" of the same genre, where a human transforms into a Fly due to a scientific experiment gone wrong.

Genre conventions that are of a documentary style are:

- Characters acknowledge the camera

How is masculinity represented in the music video Gin and Juice by Snoop Dogg?

Masculinity in this video is represented in a contrasting way to the previously analysed video, Little White Lies by Deaf Havana. This is a more serious video which shows masculinity in a more realistic manner.

Elements of the Male Gaze theory are very evident throughout, one particular scene which shows this is at around 1:28 with a woman dancing at the house party. The camera shots force the viewer to look at her in the way that a heterosexual male would, with close up shots of her body tilting slowly down her body. This is also shot in slow motion for the male gaze to take effect to it's full extent.

Scenes like this run throughout the video, showing the male's power over the females and giving a representation that males view females only as objects of sexual desire. This gives the males superiority over the females.

There is, however, one female who has definite superiority over Snoop Dogg in this video; the mother character. She bosses the children and him around and this had negative effects on his masculinity, showing that he is not superior to all people, especially this authority figure and women. However, he fact that none of his friends saw him prevents the rest of the characters fro thinking that he isn't the alpha male.

The father character in this video also brings out the true masculinity being represented as he is the true alpha male, being able to boss Snoop Dogg around and tell him off, like a typical father figure. Snoop Dogg is only the alpha male when his father leaves the scene, showing that, without an authority figure present, he believes that he is the alpha male out of all of his friends and the younger brother characters in the video. This shows that he is slightly arrogant and very confident in himself, which is a characteristic of being a very masculine male. 

How is masculinity represented in the music video Little White Lies by Deaf Havana?

The music video to this song gives off a comical representation of masculinity by showing four football hooligan men watching a match then going out to a night club to celebrate in the 1980's.
They use exaggerated movement in the way they click their fingers and strut while they walk in the scene when they are travelling along a street, showing that they think they are the alpha males and better than everyone else.

When they get to the night club, they completely skip the line at the entrance and greet the bouncer at the door with a friendly point and wink. This shows the other people waiting in the line and the audience they are superior males to the rest. This scene uses more exaggerated movement in their greeting method and the way that they pull their shirt collars up for the comical effect f their arrogance.

As they enter the night club, they play with their collars once again, showing that they are preparing to go "on the pull", this usually only happens with very masculine men who regularly sleep with many women, which usually takes the female gaze (similar to the Male Gaze theory, but opposite) to do.

Their appearance also adds to the comical masculine parody effect; their apparel is a typical representation of a 1980's football fan in the first few scenes, to some laddish typical 80's party-goers in the night club scenes, their hair is also stereotypical of the 1980's men - Mullets. Their apparently superior fashion sense in this video is also a contributing factor to their comically alpha male masculinity.

There is further evidence that the masculinity in this video is represented in a comical way by the actual physical build of these characters, they are not at all the typical alpha male that is usually shown, these men range from short and stocky to tall, skinny, lanky people with fairly chubby faces with uneven teeth, whereas the typical masculine white male would be muscular and tall built with an edged, angular face with a broad chin and straight, white teeth.

There are also elements of the Male Gaze theory in this video; the tilting close-up shots viewing Portia Conn's (the woman who sings in the last scene) body force the audience to view her from a heterosexual male's perspective. The slow motion effect also slows down the process, forcing the audience to "check her out" for a longer period of time.

The lighting and focus in this scene also give a sense of intimacy, blocking everyone else out of the view and showing her looking directly into the camera as if she is looking straight into your eyes.

How typical is Sin City to Noir and Comic Book?

The second scene of this film involves a cop called John Hartigan who is pursuing the kidnapper of a young girl. This scene has elements from both Comic Book and Noir Genres, but mainly from Comic Book. There is evidence of this in the amount of violence there is in this scene and how exaggerated some elements of the violence are, for example, when Hartigan shoots the criminals, they fly across the room as if hit with an explosion rather than a bullet. Another example would be the amount of times Hartigan gets shot by his corrupt cop partner. This shows some superhuman qualities that would certainly not exist in any non-hybrid Noir film.

There are also other scenes in this film which represent the Comic Book genre through the conventions of over-exaggerated violence and superhuman-like powers. Marv, for instance, has certain physical attributes that no regular human being could ever achieve possessing. One example of this would be towards the beginning of his story, when he jumps down around 5 flights of stairs and just grabs the hand rail to stop himself from falling any further, seemingly physically fine with no injuries whatsoever.

Another example of Marv's superhuman qualities is when he repeatedly gets ran over by a car being driven by Goldie's twin sister. After being thrown into the air and slamming to the ground, he just gets bad up onto his feet and brushes himself off, only to get ran over again and again, repeating his actions each time.
He also gets shot many more times than any human can withstand without having noticeable consequences to his health, until the very end of his story where multiple gunmen with machine guns finally end his spree of revenge. These superhuman qualities are definitely typical of the Comic Book genre and not of Noir as it shows that Marv is some form of unstoppable, indestructible (until the end of his story) super being.

There are also an equal amount of Noir conventions in this film; the most noticeable being the methods of lighting. The film contains only low key lighting and is only set at night. This gives off a dark, menacing representation of the narrative and characters. Another aspect of the lighting affecting the characters' narratives would be how their face is mostly in shadow during conversations. This is a typical convention of Noir films and shows their inhumanity and lack of value for human life.

Fish Tank Analysis #2

The Kidnapping scene

This scene begins with Mia seeing Keira (Connor's daughter) and recognising that she is vulnerable as she is out of sight from her parents. Looking out for witnesses, she seems to be some sort of natural criminal, this reflects on her background as an underclass person and represents people of her class negatively.

As Mia runs off with Keira, she uses persuasive language that wouldn't usually be used when communicating with a child; her tone of voice is aggressive and she swears at Keira. This shows how Mia herself was brought up by just her mother and how she treated Mia as a child. 

Further evidence of this shows when Keira runs away from Mia and then gets caught by her, after a minute or so of Mia being kicked in the shins by the child, she pushes the child into the nearby lake. This shows that Mia does not know how to handle a child at her young age through lack of experience with a child who is not her little sister (who she shouts abuse at and fights with regularly). 

This is contrasted slightly when she pulls the child from the water and takes her home. Mia seems caring towards Keira now that she has been made upset by her. This shows that Mia has some moral standards and feels some guilt for pushing the child into the lake. This is one of the few times the audience sees Mia showing any emotion towards something other than aggressive anger, a sign that she is starting to change for the better and growing up from the hostile "chav" child that she was at the beginning.

Fish Tank Analysis

The Fishing Scene

This scene begins with Mia getting out of the car with her little sister, mother and her mother's boyfriend, Connor leading them to a nearby lake. The entrance to this lake is blocked off by a large gate to prevent vehicles from entering, as Mia, her sister and her mother do not hesitate to think twice about the fact that it may be illegal to enter this area, this shows what kind of moral standards they have - evidently very low. 

The kind of language that they use to speak to one another also reflects their morals; extensive use of swearing at each other shows that the way they have been brought up was flawed by the lack of a father figure to properly discipline the children, also, the mother is also very young and drinks and smokes which also affects the children's moral standards. The way that they talk to one another also shows that they do not get along with each other as a family with just one parent.

All lighting in this scene (along with the whole rest of the film) is naturally occurring, this emphasises the raw reality of this film's genre - to make it seem as gritty and realistic as possible. This is a typical convention of the Social Realism genre.

Their behaviour in this scene compared to other scenes in the film has changed vastly. This scene shows them having a family outing and spending time with each other for the first time in this film now that Connor is with them. This represents males as more powerful than females and better leaders of a family by being the key to keeping a family together and well disciplined.

Shortly after arriving at this lake, Connor wades in and urges one of the girls to join him to aid his fishing. Mia instantly wades in after him, showing a connection between the two (definitely not the last time this happens in this film) and establishing the role of a father figure for the family, although, Mia may do this because she finds Connor attractive due to a previous scene which involved a large amount of the female gaze (similar to the male gaze, but instead of females viewing other females from a heterosexual male's perspective, a male is forced to view another male from a heterosexual female's perspective). 

The question that I will work on.

The question that I am going to answer is "Do different genres of music offer contrasting views on masculinity?"

I will compare and contrast 2 albums from 2 artists. I will be looking at their music videos, lyrics and album covers and comparing and contrasting the representations of masculinity shown in them.

Skyfall Analysis - Glass marksman shot scene

Right from the beginning of this scene, the audience can easily distinguish different character categories based on Propp's theory. It is clearly shown that the villain is Silva from the fact that he has his group of armed henchmen protecting him and holding James Bond and at gunpoint. This is a form of iconography as villains always have their group of henchmen protecting them. The audience can also tell that Silva is a villain by how he has Severine entrapped with her hands tied up. Severine is the "princess" character, according to Propp's theory, as she is in distress and appears to have been beaten, probably by Silva's henchmen. The audience can tell that Bond is the hero from the start by the way he does not appear scared or distressed by the fact that he is being held at gunpoint by the villain, a sign that tells the audience that Bond will overthrow Silva's power and bring him to justice. Bond also has morals, as the hero, he must not kill the innocent. He hesitates to take the marksman shot until he is forced to, in which case he purposely misses the target on top of Severine's head. This contrasts to Silva; he has no morals or conscience at all and doesn't hesitate to shoot and kill the damsel in distress just to get on with his job, further supporting his role as the villain.

James Bond male gaze

The James Bond franchise is a clear example of film objectifying females and forcing the audience to view females via the male gaze. The scene within "Die Another Day" when James Bond meets the character Jinx demonstrates my previous statement by the various ways the camera shows Jinx as she emerges from the sea; the shot has been edited to have a vignette effect when Bond is looking through the binoculars at her to make the audience focus on just her and to view her literally from Bond's eyes, as a male. The moment when she dramatically emerges from the water is shot close up and in slow motion. This has been done to, in a sense, force the audience to look at her body in the way that a heterosexual male would "check her out". 

After Jinx emerges from the sea, she dramatically struts up to her towel with exaggerated body movements at the bar where Bond is to dry herself off, but still having a full face of makeup somehow perfectly intact, this is a hyper-real representation of females, or even a representation of Bond's fantasy; how he sees her. 
As she does this, Bond begins to converse with her by saying "magnificent view", of course, he isn't talking about the surroundings, he is referring to her body, further objectifying her character.

They then begin to talk about predators and prey, Bond states that "Predators usually appear at sunset". After being asked why, he says "it's when their prey come out to drink", as Jinx ironically takes a sip of her Mojito. Of course, he is referring to predators as himself - the male, and the prey as her - the female, but rather than a predator feasting on their prey, he uses these statements as a form of innuendo. This also puts emphasis on how the male has been constructed to be a powerful being - more so than the female. Males are also seen as active and set the narrative/scene and females are seen as passive and go along with it, or continue the narrative. This is typical of a patriarchal spy film.

A Niche Audience

A niche audience would consume forms of media that are specialised for a particular audience. 
For example, very obscure television channels, like the "SyFy" channel or The History Channel have been constructed to be consumed by only a small variety of audiences. 

In the case of certain TV shows, a series like The Walking Dead would be considered as niche in the UK as it is a survival horror/drama show about a group of people surviving a zombie apocalypse. This most certainly shows that it has been constructed solely for fans of zombie related media a not for a general mainstream audience.

Further evidence that this is a niche show is the fact that it is not shown on any of the most popular channels; the only channel that it is aired on in the United Kingdom is the channel "5*". 

In contrast to the UK, The Walking Dead is an extremely popular mainstream show in America, mainly due to the scheduling and placement of it (what time is it aired and which channel it's aired on), it is shown on the most popular channels at prime time, the time of day when the largest number of people are watching the television. 

If The Walking Dead were to be aired on prime time television on one of the popular channels in the UK, it would be classed as a mainstream show here too.