Thursday 18 November 2010

Theories

Claude Levi-Strauss (1908-2009)
Binary Oppersites
Good vs evil
Black vs white
Tall vs short
Old vs young ect.
Vladimir Propp (1895-1970)
James Bond Gold Finger
James Bond    1The hero- the character who seeks.
Gold finger      2 The Villain-
Q                     3 The donor- who provides an object with some magic property
Felix Lieter      4 The helper- aids the hero
Pussy Galore   5 The princess- reward for hero-often the object of villains schemes
                        6 Her father- Rewards hero
M                     7 The dispatcher-who sends hero on his way
                        8 The false hero- seems to be heroic initially, turns out to be evil or red herring
Not every character will be counted for in every type of text.
RED HERRING- A character or object that is introduced as seemingly important. It is left behind/never mentioned again. Turns out to have been of no importance.
In Films and T.V 'hero' can be male or female, someone who moves the story forward, e.g Bridget Jones, Homer Simpson ect.
Tzvetan Todorov (1939-  )
All stories begin with an equilibrium, this is disrupted, then restored. A classic beginning , middle, end Narrative structure
3 part narrative structure
1-Equalibruim
2-Disruption of equilibrium
3-Restoration of equilibrium or new equilibrium.

Tuesday 16 November 2010

Male Gaze

The 'male gaze' is a feminist’s response to the voyeuristic way in which men look upon women. In 1998 Jonathan Schroeder said, "The gaze implies more than to look at - it signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze." He is saying that there are always meanings behind a gaze whether it's at another person or aimlessly into the distance; there is always something behind it.
Forms of the gaze -
Spectator: the viewer
Intra-diegetic: longingly
Direct address: from within
Camera: usually in place of the other character
Bystander: glance of a passer by
Audience within a text: advert (audience gaze)
The camera gaze : there is use of the fourth wall (the audience), the actor looks or talks to the camera engaging a personal audience response.
Direction of gaze -
Towards... others
oneself
object(s)
reader/camera
middle distance (not direct/beyond the audience)
Laura Mulvey
‘Male gaze’ and the ‘visual pleasure and the narrative cinema’ (the active male or the passive female) ‘women as an image’ and ‘man as bearer of the look’
She brings in the idea of a voyeuristic, meaning to enjoy looking at the gaze and the fetishist idea ‘sex sells’ if a picture is revelling or suggestive then it will receive a higher public status.
However she has failed to account for females. Within Mulveys research she only looked at the spectator as a heterosexual male, so this ignores all ideas of diversity.
Since 1980 there have been more adverts in the media displaying the male body, this is due to the modern generation learning to accept ‘sex sells’.
After discussing the male gaze as a class we looked at Freddie Ljungberg and Eva Mendes in adverts by Calvin Klein, both typical sex selling underwear adverts.
Firstly the menswears advert, Freddie Ljungberg a well-known Arsenal player from Sweden.

We had to comment on everything within the photo eyes, hair, tattoo etc. Firstly his hair, short practical and masculine this may be because of his profession or the photographer may have been creating a rugged look. His torso is toned, suggesting he works out, he looks shiny which could also relate to working out even though a makeup artist may have just oiled him up. His lips are also shiny, due to lip balm giving him a feminine look, as well as his pout which is also seductive. His face shows determination, Ljungberg’s strong eye gaze looks very inviting, although at the same time he appears to be very intense, the general gaze engages the audience into the image; his jawline is chiselled giving him a ‘pretty boy’ appearance, although he then has stubble on his face giving a ‘manly’ look. The tattoo on his body (a wild black cat) came across to me as daring, for one he can take the pain but it has been put in a very suggestive place which could be appealing to women. Although he is also wearing a necklace which could be religious or personal taste, whatever the reason this shows as well as being ‘manly’ he has a sensitive side. As the background is a dark red the image as an overall comes across as dangerous, romantic, and sexual. The colour also matched Ljungberg’s football team colour Arsenal, whether this was considered we do not know. On the photo he is holding onto a bar above his head, the bar again highlights the fact he could have been working out; he has a firm grip and his arm is tensed making him again look ‘manly’. He has been given the basic Calvin Klein underwear to model. This suggested to me the advert isn’t for the underwear itself but to mainly appeal to customers using the basic rule ‘sex sells’, the fact his underwear is tight also suggests this. His left hand is in a fist position holding down the edge of his underwear, again this is seductive but at the same time ‘manly’ with the strong fist. Where his hand pulls down you can see his pubic area this appears to be clean and shaven with a straight tan line showing he likes to look after his appearance.
We then looked at the women’s advert, Eva Mendes, a famous actress.
Both photos have the same seductive gaze from Mendes; this gaze also gives me the opinion that she knows she looks good, the way she has an indirect gaze also suggests she is distracted.


Monday 8 November 2010

Technology spider diagram

Friday 5 November 2010

Representation - Disability

As a class we listened to 'Spasticus Autisticus' by Ian Dury and the Blockheads, this was playing as the lesson started. Ian Dury had polio and therefore this illness stopped the growth in one of his legs, making him physically disabled, this song is aimed at disabilities but as he wrote it, it's accepted by the public.
We discussed our views on disabled people as a class and how we feel around them; there were mixed reactions depending on whether a student had experienced being around disabled people before or not. The ideas we came up with were that it depends on the disability, whether it's mental or physical, we all came to the conclusion that we feel comfortable around them but more uncomfortable around mental disabilities than physical. We all agreed that we feel awkward around disabled people but we don't want to patronise them so we don't stare, this is harder for younger people as they can't help it if they see someone 'different'. It's easier for people to take the mickey out of disabilities than to empathise with the person, we try to avoid them in public places as we feel intimidating to them.


We then listed famous people with disabilities;
Stephen Hawking - wheelchair
Heather Mills - one leg
Gordon Brown - one eye
Stevie Wonder - blind
Verne Troyer - Achondroplasia
Muhammad Ali - Parkisons' disease
Gary Coleman - Achondroplasia
Albert Einstein - Autism
Leonardo Da Vinci - Autism
Michael J. Fox - Parkinsons' disease
Ian Dury - Polio
Terry Pratchett - Alzheimer's
Ray Charles - blind
Mozart - deaf


We went on to looking at characters in films that have disabilities;
Rainman - Dustin Hoffman
Forrest Gump - Tom Hanks
My Left Foot - Daniel Day Lewis
I Am Sam - Sean Penn
Born on the 4th of July - Tom Cruise
Waterboy - Adam Sandler
The Ringer - Johnny Knoxville
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Brad Pitt
Unbreakable - Samuel L. Jackson
iRobot - Will Smith
Million Dollar Baby - Hilary Swank
Avatar - Sam Worthington


Four of these films feature the disabled person as being a hero in the end, proving to the audience that even with disabilities people can win over others and be successful. Seven of the films listed above were nominated and/or won Oscars for Best Film and Best Actor, this shows that the public like to see actors playing characters who are 'different' and unusual, the films usually sell well and are very successful with awards and responses are often positive.

Shameless Representations.

Shameless