Media Representation Theory Pack Five: Gender as Performance/Butler

 Gender as Performance/Butler

But I'm a Cheerleader August 11, 2000

The 2000s film But I'm a Cheerleader is a film centered around homosexual people and what they have to go through. The purpose of this is to talk about how conversion therapy is not needed and people should be accepted as who they are and to show that youth should not have to hide away who they truly are and should be able to present themselves without being judged or being objectified, as they are not broken, they just want to love who they want to love. We see the main character, Megan Bloomfield, undergoing a gender crisis. Her whole life, the ideology of being heterosexual was pushed upon her; however, she began to develop sexual urges towards the female body. Those thoughts were suppressed by the inner homophobia that was instilled in her by the people around her. When she was first sent to a conversion camp, we could see abjection being used as the director of said camp pushed them into the "normal" heterosexual roles, man and woman, not men and men nor women and women, which demoralized their true feelings towards the gender they truly liked. Even after being sent to a conversion camp, where she finally understands who she truly is and comes to accept the part of her that is into women, after going through many internal battles. This film allows homosexual people to feel represented and shows them that no one should be able to dictate who they love, as that is a part of you. Allowing them to recognize the importance of self-acceptance and to help them gain the courage to embrace their true selves, regardless of what society labels as "normal" or "acceptable" 

Media Representation Theory Pack Four: Postcolonialism/Gilroy

 Postcolonialism/GiYou onlroy

You Only Live Twice, June 13, 1967

Live and Let Die, June 27, 1973

Die Another Day, November 22, 2002

Skyfall November 9, 2012

The scene from You Only Live Twice shows racial otherness. James Bond, the white man, stands out among the Japanese people at the wedding. Even if they are wearing the same traditional clothing and doing the same traditions for the marriage, it shows cultural incompatibility, as we can clearly see a contrast between him and the others, making him look out of place even if they are dressed the same. Switching between Bond and the Japanese people to depict how different they are, creating that otherness as they are showing another type of culture in the predominantly white world shown in movies. In the trailer from Live and Let Die, a binary worldview is being used as it only depicts the black people as the villains. They are depicted to be "savages" as we can see with the little ritual scene where we can clearly see them dancing around a white woman as she is tied up. We see the white hero James Bond swoop in and save her, also during all of the chases, only the black villains are causing harm to white people, as seen with the cops and the wedding. It also nurtures fears, making people afraid of the black community when movies depict them as violent and villains, making the ostracization of black culture and people become more normalized. These points in the film reinforce the binary worldview that white is right and black is bad. The trailer for Die Another Day is nurturing fears by showing him in conflict with foreigners. By doing that, it makes audiences fear those foreigners and puts the white hero into a good position with the viewers, as he is the white hero who will save the day, while the foreigners aren't and are the evil villains. The scene from Skyfall has racial subtext, as we can see a black woman who doesn't have a good enough shot and doesn't want to accidentally kill her ally, but is being forced by her white superiors to take the shot anyway. But when the bullet hits Bond, we see the boss get upset, even though it wasn't the black woman's fault, but hers. The fact that she had to take the shot against her will shows racial subtext as the white people clearly had superiority over her.

 

Media Representation Theory Pack Three: Identity/Gauntlett

 Identity/Gauntlett

A.) Active audience engagement: The Circle (first came out January 1, 2020)

In this reality TV show, we get to watch different people interact with each other. So, in this show, people either get to go as themselves or pick a profile that is a "catfish." They then interact with each other in online relationships, either playing into their catfish role or being honest about their true selves to avoid elimination. It's engaging with the audience in the way that we get to vote on who we want to win as viewers of the show. Also, it allows the viewer to engage in discussion and debate about the contestant's true character and uses the context of this being like social media to make the viewer more engaged.

B) Aspirational narrative: Billy Elliot (May 19, 2000)

In this film, we follow a character named Billy Elliot. One day, as he was attending boxing classes, he stumbled upon a ballet class. He became captivated with dance, secretly beginning to take dance lessons, no matter the disapproval from his family (mainly his dad and older brother, who was heavily involved with a miners' strike). As his talent for ballet began to shine through, he faced ridicule from his community, but even after facing all of these negative reactions towards his love for ballet, he continued to pursue it. Billy eventually faces an internal issue between his love for ballet and his family's expectations for him. But after his dad recognized how much Billy truly loved and had a talent for ballet, he began to accept and support his dream. Near the end of the movie, we see Billy try out for the Royal Ballet School, and after an outstanding performance, it ends with him gets the acceptance letter. This is an example of an aspirational narrative because the viewers are seeing him as a character who doesn't abide by social norms and defies them, making them get the idea that not all professions are for only one gender, and you can do what you want as long as it makes you happy. Encouraging the viewers to do what they truly want, no matter what others say to them, that gender does not have to be a barrier between them and what they want to achieve.

C) Fluid Identity: Black Swan (December 3, 2010)

This film displays fluid identity by having a main character named Nina Sayers who embodies two opposing identities, the "White Swan" and the "Black Swan". It is showing her internal conflict between the innocent and pure white swan with the dark and tempting black swan. It is showing her struggle to come to terms with her inner dark impulses. This would be considered fluid identity because constantly switching between these two personas, it is defying the normal good girl vs bad, but, in this case, Nina is both as she embodies her performance.

D)Single ideal identity or multiple leads with diverse identities: Captain America: The First Avenger (July 19, 2011)

In this film, we see how not all heroes are built upon their superpowers. The main character, Captain America, used to be a normal person determined to get into the military. But due to his weak physique, he was rejected multiple times, but then Dr. Erskine saw his determination and decided to select him to become a subject for transformation into a super soldier. After the drastic transformation, he became much faster, stronger, and more resilient. But even after all of this, he didn't let his new transformation break his virtue; his goodness, his identity as a hero, is built on his morals, not on his superpowers, like many of the other popular superheroes.

E) Encouraging identity play: Captain Marvel (March 8, 2019)

In this film, we are first introduced to a character named Carol Danvers, who fuses with an alien during an accident, which gives her superhuman powers; however, this also gives her amnesia. After the Kree implant false memories into her to keep her loyal, she becomes a shell of herself as they are trying to separate her from her human past. But when she returns to Earth, she begins to regain some of her memories as she meets with people she knew from the past. At the climax of this movie, she is no longer suppressing her powers when she finally finds out that the Kree suppression of her emotions was limiting her true self. After breaking free from their control, she becomes her true self.  This encourages audiences to reject manipulation and to embrace their true selves and to never be forced to bottle up who they truly are. Inspiring them to defy expectations and to define their own worth and not what others label them to be.

Media Representation Theory Pack Two: Feminist Theory: Van Zoonen

 Media representation theory, Feminist/Van Zoonen

The Silence of the Lambs, February 14, 1991

a) This extract does not engage with Van Zoonen's theories; it combats her ideas. This extract shows the woman doing a male-dominated activity, which empowers her and does not objectify her. It is not showing her in any sexual way; she is not being pictured as weak, removing the possibility of "male gaze". She is being shown doing the same activities that the men were not being shown as beneath them, but there is still a clear patriarchal system present.

b.) This extract does not reinforce the idea of the female body as a spectacle, as the woman shown is not shown in any provocative way, nor is she flaunting her body around. But it does acknowledge a potential female objectification by showing the woman as shorter than her male peers.

c.) There is an aspect of Van Zoonen's concept about the male body being celebrated by sports imagery, by showing the men doing rope climbs and jogging. Also, in the elevator, the men are tall and brooding, towering over the woman.

d.) The active representation is the woman who we can see working out. The men play a passive role as they are speaking in the background/ shown with a minor role.

e.) This extract is considered a subversive female representation as it shows a woman who is actively working and is shown sweating, which combats the idea that women are weak. She is being shown as an equal with both her male and female peers, where she is not made to have a "submissive" role in her workplace. Socially, it is not normal to see a female with unkept hair and with sweat still clearly on them, but in this extract, it is clearly showing both things breaking out of the norms for women.

Media Representation Theory Pack One: Representation/Hall

 Representation (Stuart Hall)

Spider-Man: Into the Spider verse December 14, 2018

How filmmakers used appropriate representation to support the central idea of the clip

In this clip they are representing a black child named Miles, he feels like he doesn't fit into his new school calling it "elitest" and wanting to be at a "normal school" where the people are (the community he feels connected to). It is using appropriate representation when showing Miles sticking stickers on public signs and public stuff in general (which is supporting the ideology in media that black people commit crimes). Another appropriate representation is that black and Hispanic people come together well and create a close community as seen with Miles as he is communicating with the community and being close to them in general. It counters typical representations by showing Miles father who is black as a cop (which is different because it is stereotyped that black people hate cops so why would a black person become a cop), he is trying to stop Miles from his petty crimes of sticking stickers on public items which Miles apologies and they make up. Another counter for typical representations is Mile's relationship with his father, in normal media black people are represented to have no fathers or fathers who do not want the best for them, but Mile's father genuinely wants to see his son succeed he loves Miles even if his way of showing it isn't the best. It deconstructs that concept of the toxic black masculinity which leads to crimes in black men by showing how Miles got into a great school because he is brilliant, basically showing that the reason that he even does petty crimes like that is to feel like he belongs.

Media Language Theory Pack Five: Postmodernism/Barthes

  Postmodernism - Jean Baudrillard

Scream 6 March 10, 2023

Paragraph detailing the effect of Postmodernism and the supporting aspect 

In this clip from Scream 6, it profited from using the effect of repetition/duplication in this series. The producers have profited from releasing a movie with the same plot, a slasher called Ghostface, who terrorizes teenagers (and sometimes adults) by trying to kill them. They use the "final girl" trope, who outlives Ghostface and lives on to be the protagonist of the next movie (and in this case, the main character is Tara Carpenter). By repeating the same plot, the audience already has a general idea of what will happen in the movie before they even watch it. It uses Inertia as the plot rarely diversifies and stays on the same track of the final girl trope, leaving no diversity in the main characters. The plot has been that way for a long time, in the franchise, so there will most likely be no change, as that is what their audience is used to/comfortable with.

Structuralism – Claude Levi-Strauss (Blog Post 9)

 Levi-Strauss' theory of Structuralism

 Shaolin Soccer July 12, 2001

Paragraph applying the Levi-Strauss theory of Structuralism to the clip

The purpose of this scene is to show you should never underestimate anyone, regardless of how they look, as they can be very skilled/ better than you expected. Looks do not determine how well a person is at what they do, and in this case, their looks and attitude do not reflect how well they can play soccer. In this clip, they are using Chaos vs Order, making the team in order at first seem like they were easily going to beat the disorderly team (even making the characters arrogant) but that was quickly stopped when the team in chaos quickly showed off their skills, not even letting the "pros" (the team that seemed orderly) get one goal. The order team is shown in crisp white uniforms with everyone looking tidy, while the Chaos team is shown in yellow, have baggy uniforms, some of them even smoking before the match started, creating a huge contrast between the two teams. This clip is trying to create identifiable character types at first the clip is making the team in white seem like they will be the winners of the match by giving them cleaner uniforms and an arrogant attitude, then it shows the other team the shaolin soccer team which are wearing loose fitting uniforms and all of them look "unkept" this heavy contrast is giving us a sense that the team in white must obviously be the better team making them seem to be the main focus. However, this is quickly broken when the Shaolin Soccer team shows off their immense skills, making the viewer shift their view of that team; instead of them being the "obviously worse team," they are now seen as a chaotic but very talented team, while the other team is just arrogant and lacking.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse December 14, 2018

Paragraph applying the Levi-Strauss theory of Structuralism to the clip

The purpose of this clip is to show that sometimes all you need is a little push to get where you want to be. When showing Miles struggling to use his web shooters, the fact that he was getting chased by the villain Doc. Ock made him want to be better at using it so that he could escape faster, making him gain a better understanding of how to use the device (along with some mentoring from Peter). This clip is using Experience vs. Youth, in the scenes it is showing Peter, who is clearly used to not only battling, but the web shooters help Miles get in the zone, giving him advice while trying to escape from the villain (Doc. Ock) becoming a sort of mentor for Miles, helping him become more comfortable with the web shooters while trying to keep him from danger. This clip is trying to clearly explain ideas, so when we see Peter and Miles all tangled up, another Spider-Man shows up, well, Spider-Woman in this case, who defeats the villain and then explains how she even got into their world and why she even sought them out, which is helping out the audience know how this Spider-Woman showed up and how she found the main character.

Genre Theory – Steve Neale (Blog Post 8)

 Media Language Theory Three: Genre/Neale

Trailers

Everything Everywhere All At Once April 8, 2022

Phantom of the Paradise, November 1, 1974

Electric Dreams, July 20, 1984

Breakdown of the trailers

Everything Everywhere All at Once

• Genre: Action, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
• Using Iconography would be best to identify the genre, while most of the scenes are action-based based with visual keys of the like when Evelyn is facing off the group of men. By showing multiple fight scenes and the blood on her face after the villain killed the man, it shows the action side of the film. The fantasy part occurs when she separates her reality from the storage closet and from being in front of the lady reading her bills. When showing the cuts in and out of Evelyn's dimensions using the headset, it is displaying sci-fi as she keeps touching it, then it shifts us into another Evelyn's life for a brief moment.
• Cultural effects apply to this film because when showing the family aspect in the trailer, it is showing a disagreement/ wanting to clarify that disagreement with the daughter showing into the family life of immigrant families.
• This trailer shows the hybridity of Action and Fantasy with the multiple fight scenes shown and what is happening in those fight scenes, like when the villain turned the man into confetti

Phantom of the Paradise

• Genre: Horror, Comedy
• Convention: Narrative Considerations would be best to identify the genre in horror movies; most times, it would have a character being killed by being caught off guard, which is what this trailer depicts. This trailer is showing multiple examples of characters dying in an "unexpected way," and the main villain, whom we can tell is them because of their scary looks.
• Social context: The main character, who looks very villain-like like is seen killing people, but when he does kill the dude in the shower, he says "never sing my music again, anyone else who tries dies" this is showing that maybe the music is a bad memory on the character and they want no one else to remember/remind them.
• Genre Hybridity: By implementing not only horror by comedy, it makes the extract more appealing to a wider audience as it opens up not only to horror fans but also people who enjoy comedy.

Electric Dreams

• Genre: Sci-Fi, Romance
• Convention: Iconography would be the best way to identify the genre. The extract shows a man and his newly bought computer. The computer is helping him with his love life, which ties the Sci-Fi into the romance. The icon (the computer) is helping the main character with his love life, as we can see that the man is a shy person; the computer is "alive/sentient". The computer has "faces" on it when speaking to the man, which further proves the sci-fi part, and later in the clip, we see the man happily pick up the girl and tightly embrace her, which signifies their romantic involvement with each other.
• Social context applies to this extract as the man is not well versed with computers but is willing to come to accept it (even if the computer is a little chaotic), especially to get the girl he likes, as he is a shy person.
• One aspect of the film is to expand its general audience by combining sci-fi and romance. The combination of these two very popular genres would bring in more fans of those genres, as it appeals to them.

Narrative Equilibrium – Tzvetan Todorov (Blog Post 7)

 Media Language Theory: Equilibrium/Todorov

Scene from Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, July 31, 2015

Proppian characters- Hero: Ethan Hunt, Villain: The plane crew, Dispatcher: William Brandt, Helper: Benji, Luther

Equilibrium- The plane is yet to take off, so they have time to get the package

Disruption- The plane begins to take off, and Benji's tablet cannot do anything to stop it

New equilibrium- Ethan jumps onto the plane, sneaking in, and gets the package back

In media res- Starts in mid-action as they are trying to hack into the plane to stop it from taking off with the package.

Multiperspective narratives- Keep switching between Luther, Benji, Brandt, and Ethan's perspectives

Three Sentence Paragraph

The purpose of this clip is to create suspense and anticipation: They use the Equilibrium theory in many ways, by starting in a mid-action way, which gives us a sense of how much pressure is going on. Establishing an equilibrium by showing that they still had a chance to secure the package while the plane was on the ground, which was quickly disrupted by the plane beginning to take off, but then our hero Ethan jumps onto the plane, assisted by his helpers Benji and Luther. He secures the package, which is the new equilibrium; it switches from different characters (Multiperspective narratives) to show how tense the situation truly is, giving us a sense of whether he is or isn't going to get the package on time.

Semiotics – Roland Barthes (Blog Post 6)

 Media Language Theory One: Semiotics/Barthes

Film Scene from Punch-Drunk Love, November 1, 2002

Identifying Parts of Semiotics: sign, signifier, signified, denotative meaning, connotative meaning, code

Sign- The desk in the corner of a large empty room

Signifier- Large empty space

Signified- isolation, loneliness

Denotative meaning- Only having one desk in the corner with a large empty space.

Connotative meaning- The man feels alone in his workplace, feeling isolated because there is no one around.

Code- Hermeneutic code- Why is the man the only one in such a large space?

Three Sentence Paragraph

The purpose of this media clip is to show how isolated the man is from the world, and in this media clip, it shows the man is shown in a large room in a corner with one desk alone, signifying that he is alone. The connotative meaning evokes a sense that he feels alone in his workplace, being so isolated: The choice of setting the desk in the corner makes the man seem small, serving as a Hermeneutic code, as it makes us question why he is the only one in such a large space. Through the arrangement of signs, we can see that the point of this clip is to show how alone the man truly is.