Postmodernism: The only way is Essex

The Only Way is Essex

Media Language: Semiotics

Five Ways To Spot Postmodern Films

Five ways to spot postmodern film 

Playfulness and self reference 

This is when a film makes references to other forms of media, such as music videos, computer games etc,  the films are made to be known to be films for example the characters within the films would talk directly to the audience.  An example of this is the sitcom Sister Sister Both twins in the show talk directly to the audience. 

Generic blurring and intertextuality 

This when a film crosses between different genres, postmodern films would blur between theses genres a lot,  there also make intertextual references to other films. An example for this would be glee and the film brick.

Popular and commercial media meet high culture

Postmodern tend to like mixing high culture with popular culture in to the films, a good example of this would be… 

Fragmentation and the death of representation 

Postmodern film use a range of fragments from other texts, genres and cultural influences.  It says  that the modern audience are so used to reading media texts through advertising, film television and the internet that what we learn about the world is  not through first-hand knowledge but the through media’s representation. An example of this is 9/11.

Uncertainty and the loss of context 

Postmodern films can make people feel as if there are no generic rules anymore, and that representation only refers to other representations.  A good example of this is Inception as it makes the audience question at the end whether there are in a dream or not.

Reception Theory

For our media coursework we were asked to create a 2min opening sequence for a thriller, my two minutes opening sequence is about a girl ‘Rebecca ‘who kidnaps Tom. At the beginning we see her running it seems as if she is being chased but in reality she is running to the place where she has kept tom meanwhile tom is locked up in this room and has managed to get Rebecca’s phone he attempts to call for help before Rebecca gets there.

The reception theory suggests the audience constructs meaning at the moment of reading the media text. The audience considers the representation presented to them in the context of their own values, opinions and experiences so people with similar social-cultural background are likely to make similar readings. The main theorist am going to look at is Stuart hall, whose theory can be applied my two minutes opening sequence.

My target audience would be people aged 15-21, the opening sequence is at aimed at both males and females but our female audience would perhaps be more drawn to the protagonist in our thriller as it is a female. The demographic social class status would be D1-E. Our intended meaning is female empowerment; however people with different social cultural background would most definitely give a different interpretation. For example

Representation

Roland Barthes Theory 

Roland Barthes suggested that narratives are broken in to five codes they are the hermeneutic code: The Hermeneutic Code refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader. The full truth is often avoided, refers to any element in a story that is not explained and, therefore, exists as an enigma for the reader, raising questions.  That demand explication. The semantic code, this code refers to connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word. The symbolic code: This is very similar to the Semantic Code, but acts at a wider level, organizing semantic meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning. Proairetic code: The Proairetic code refers to plot events that imply further narrative action. For example, a story character confronts an adversary and the reader wonders what the resolution of this action will be. Suspense is created by action rather than by a reader's wish to have mysteries explained. The cultural code: This code refers to anything that is founded on some kind of canonical works that cannot be challenged and is assumed to be a foundation for truth. Typically this involves either science or religion. 

For our media coursework we were asked to create a 2min opening sequence for a thriller, my two minutes opening sequence is about a girl ‘Rebecca ‘who kidnaps Tom. At the beginning we see her running it seems as if she is being chased but in reality she is running to the place where she has kept tom meanwhile tom is locked up in this room and has managed to get Rebecca’s phone he attempts to call for help before Rebecca gets there. Roland Barthes theory can be applied to my 2 minute opening sequence, The Hermeneutic Code: this is when we see her running, the story here is not fully explained the audience just see a girl running and no one else it begins to create a mystery as they start wondering what is she running from. The semantic code:  This is. The cultural code:  the history of thrillers can be seen as the foundation of truth from my audience, this is because in many thrillers the female characters are often seen as the victims especially with this opening sequence because she looks worried and is running she looks like a victim, the audience would use the history of thrillers and perhaps find it difficult to challenge and believe that “Rebecca” is the victim in this. The Proairetic code: when Rebecca falls down this implies further narrative action because when she falls down she on the floor for a few seconds cause she hurts her leg, it implies further narrative action because the audience begin to believe that she is running away from something and whatever she’s running away from is about to catch up to her.

Laura Mulvey’s Theory  

Laura Mulvey theory ‘The Male Gaze’ suggest that women are represented as ‘objects’  in films, She also believed that in film audiences have to ‘view’ characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male.  According to Mulvey the male  audience look at women in certain erotic way,  the  ‘look’ could be ‘voyeuristic’ where women are viewed as virtuous and beautiful or ‘fetishistic’ women are viewed as excessively sexual beings.  Her theory on the male gaze was later developed in to different gazes. The female gaze, suggesting that women can also gain voyeuristic pleasure from looking at a subject, and that film techniques can sometimes be used to position the female audience to do so. The Spector gaze, this is the gaze of the viewer looking at the text. The inter-diegetic gaze, this is when one character in the text looks at another the character. The extra-diegetic gaze this is when a character in the text looks directly at the audience breaking the ‘Fourth Wall’. 

Laura Mulvey theory can be applied to my music video; the music video is a performance based video, with both male and female dancers. She suggested that the look could be voyeuristic or Fetishistic, our music video objectify the female dancers and gains the Fetishistic looks, they are seen as sexual beings. Throughout our music video we have exposed the female body, and used certain camera movement to exaggerate the female body, zooming in to thighs, stomach and all the booty shaking, causing the male audience to look at the women in the video in an erotic way supporting Laura Mulvey theory on the male gaze.  We also see the extra diegetic gaze this evident when the lyrics “Ladies get in line let me see your bestes wine”  are recited, the artist “Major Lazar” looks directly in to the camera as if he his reciting the lyrics to the audience breaking this imaginary “Fourth wall”.

Importance of Genre

Genre is a way of categorizing different media forms, which are made up of different conventions that they may fall under. The media form such as film may come under multiple types of categorizes as the convention of some genres over lap.

Genre is important in media because it allows us to put what we are watching in a category, which helps us have more of understanding of the film and creates a short cut for us to describe the film. It also makes it easier to set our self a target audience for whatever we are producing, for example we may be targeting people who enjoy suspense, a bit of action, scary, blood etc so we could put all that in to the horror category and aim at everyone who enjoys things in that categories rather than setting different target audiences. It also gives the audience a chance to identify what they want and what they are looking for.

There are different types of genres, horror, comedy; Thriller etc each of these genres have different rules so it gives directors and producers a template to follow when making a film, having this template to follow is very important as it has a big influence on what the final thing looks like. For example the template for horror, the location would have to be somewhere that can create a scary atmosphere, the costume, props and lighting, make up all have to create some kind suspense and actually look scary, the edit has to be fast when it’s expected and music used is very important; it is guidance for creating the final product.

District 9

District 9 is a science fiction thriller directed by neill blomkamp and produced by peter jackson, starring sharlto copley, david james and jason cope. District 9 was inspired by events that took place in District Six, Cape Town during the apartheid era. The film is about these aliens nicknamed the prawns who come to johannesburg south africa in 1982. The aliens stay in this camp in johannesburg called district 9.