AS Film Studies 2012-2013: MACRO Representation

Showing posts with label MACRO Representation. Show all posts

Tuesday, 8 October 2013

Lesson Plan 1.5 Representation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4h7NGMz2RI

http://leighmediaasfilm.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/macro-representation-genre-stock.html

http://leighmediaasfilm.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/macro-representation.html

http://leighmediaasfilm.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/MACRO%20Representation

MACRO Representation Genre Stock Characters

'	Character Name	Description	Examples
A
	Absent-minded professor	An absent-minded scientific genius^[2]	Professor Calculus, Julius Kelp, Emmett Brown
	Action hero	A film hero protagonist with unrealistic physical resistance and fighting capabilities	John McClane; John Rambo
	Alien invaders	Extraterrestrials who mount an invasion against Earth^[2]	War of the Worlds, Body Snatchers, Independence Day
	Anti-hero	A cowardly, antisocial or honorless protagonist	Tony Montana, Faust, Falstaff

B
	Bad boy (archetype)	A roguish macho	Charlie Harper (Two and a Half Men), Johnny Strabler
	Battle-axe (woman)	A domineering, brash and brazen woman	Carrie Nation, Xena
	Bimbo	A dumb, pretty girl	Karen Smith (Mean Girls)


	Black knight	Evil fighter antagonist	Modred, Nazgûl, Darth Vader
	Blonde stereotype	A pretty, but stupid blonde	Blonde and Blonder
	Boy next door	Average and nice guy
	Breeches role	A role in which an actress appears in male clothing	Shakespeare in Love

	Byronic hero	A proud, moody and cynical man, yet capable of deep and strong affection	Childe Harold, Eugene Onegin
C


	Contender (stock character)	A competitive underdog	Rocky Balboa, Terry Maloy

D
	Damsel in distress	A noble Lady in need of rescue, traditionally from dragons	Princess Peach, Princess Buttercup, Princess and dragon
	Dark Lady (character)	A dark, malicious or doomed woman	Lady Macbeth
	Holmesian detective	A private or police detective who solves crimes by using logical deduction	Sherlock Holmes, Columbo, Hercule Poirot
	Hardboiled detective	A gruff, tough and streetwise, but generally honest detective	Sam Spade, John Hartigan, Philip Marlowe
E
	Elderly martial arts master	A wise, powerful man teaching his powerful craft to a young student. Often needs to be avenged	Keisuke Miyagi, Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, Pai Mei


	Everyman	An ordinary individual	Everyman (play)

F
	Fall guy	A scapegoat

	Femme fatale	A beautiful, but mischievous and traitorous woman	Ruth Wonderly, Xenia Onatopp, Poison Ivy
	Final girl	A "last girl standing" in a horror film	Laurie Strode, Sally Hardesty, Lila Crane

G



	Girl next door	An average girl with a wholesome conduct	Winnie Cooper

H
	Hag	A wizened old woman, often a malicious witch	Hansel and Gretel, Baba Yaga


	Hero	A powerful and morally integer protagonist, often on a quest^[2]	Luke Skywalker, John Carter of Mars, Neo (The Matrix)


	Hotshot	A reckless character known for taking risks. Also referred to as a "Badass".	Martin Riggs, Pete Mitchell (Top Gun)
I
	Ingenue (stock character)	a young woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome	Ophelia, Cosette
J


	Jock (athlete)	A male athlete, often muscular, but not very smart	Tommy Ross, Luke Ward


K
	Killbot	Usually large, menacing machines created to perpetrate murder	Terminator
	Knight-errant	A noble Knight on a Quest	Galahad, Sir Gawain
L
	Legacy Hero	A hero who inherits or adopts the name and attributes of an already or previously existing hero	The Phantom, Green Lantern, Robin (comics)
	Lipstick lesbian	Lesbian and bisexual women who exhibit extremely feminine gender attributes


	Lone Vigilante	Loner who becomes a vigilante for Justice	Charles Bronson's Death Wish Movies; Dirty Harry; The Outlaw Josey Wales
	Lovers (stock characters)	Main characters who deeply and truly fall romantically in love, despite the blocking effect of other characters. Often moonstruck, star-crossed lovers that are strongly fraternizing with the enemy.	Romeo & Juliet Tony and Maria (West Side Story) Buttercup & Westley in The Princess Bride
M
	Mad scientist	An insane or highly eccentric scientist, often villainous or amoral.^[2]^[12]	Dr. Frankenstein Dr. Moreau Emmett Brown Girl Genius








	Mother's boy	A man who is excessively attached to his mother	Private Frank Pike
N



O
	Outlaw (stock character)	A romanticized, often charismatic or social bandit.	Robin Hood, Billy the Kid
P




	Professor (stock character)	A common generic name for fictional characters who fill the role of doctors, scientists, or mad scientists.	The Professor (Gilligan's Island)
R
	Rake (character)	A man habituated to immoral conduct.	Francis Charteris (rake), Lord Byron, Gully Foyle (The Stars My Destination).
	Redshirt (character)	An expendable character who dies soon after being introduced; this refers to characters from the original Star Trek television series, often from the security of engineering departments of the starship, who wore the red variation of the Starfleet uniform and whose purpose in the narrative was to serve as cannon fodder	Star Trek.
	Reluctant hero	A person who doesn't seek adventure or the opportunity to do good, and often doubts his or her abilities to rise to heroism. However, circumstances inevitably result in the character's becoming a true hero.	Bilbo Baggins, Han Solo from the Star Wars series, Neo from The Matrix.
S

	Secret identity	An alias a character may take so that he or she may act in secrecy.	Superman's alias Clark Kent, Spider-Man's alias Peter Parker, and Batman's alias Bruce Wayne.



	Sidekick	A plucky but generally subordinate close companion of the protagonist	Robin, Dr. Watson, Sancho Panza



	Space Nazis	Nazi-like antagonists in science fiction works	Patterns of Force, Iron Sky


	Spinster	An older, childless woman who has never been married	Miss Havisham


	Superhero	An unrealistically powerful hero dedicated to protecting the public^[2]	Superman, Spider-Man, Batman

	Supersoldier	A soldier who operates beyond human limits or abilities	Captain America; Soldier (1998 American film), Master Chief (Halo)
	Supervillain	Antithesis to the Superhero	Lex Luthor, The Joker, Dr. Doom

	Swashbuckler	A joyful, noisy and boastful renaissance era swordsman or pirate	Captain Jack Sparrow, The Crimson Pirate, Swashbuckler (list).
T

	Tomboy	A girl with boyish and/or manly behavior.	Juno Macguff

	Town bully	A bully oppressing meeker residents of a town.	Biff Tannen, Nelson Muntz.

	Tragic hero	A hero with a major flaw that leads to his or her eventual death and downfall.	Sigurd, Boromir, Orpheus


	Tycoon	A person who wields considerable economic power, often acting at the expense of the less fortunate	Montgomery Burns, Scrooge McDuck, Ebeneezer Scrooge
V



	Villain^[2]	An evil character in a story	Snidely Whiplash, Fu Manchu Master (Doctor Who)
W
	Whisky priest	A priest or ordained minister who shows clear signs of moral weakness, while at the same time teaching a higher standard	Father Callahan


	Wise old man	An elderly character who provides wisdom to the protagonist.	Albus Dumbledore, Yoda, Gandalf Mickey Goldmill

Tuesday, 1 October 2013

V for Vendetta Representation & Themes

Friday, 25 January 2013

Homework: Mock Exam Representation in V & CoM

Session 1 Recap Outcomes
Analyse stereotypes for meaning in CoM & V - comparing
Apply (psychoanalysis) Yonic & Phallic symbols & explain how it constructs meaning

Representation = Messages

"To what extent does V & CoM conform to film stereotypes and what messages are behind these representations?"

How is it using these stereotypes of gender?
Points for your essay

"Men act, Women appear"?
(Slasher films) Final Girl relevant?
(Action Hero) Hypermasculine?
(Sex Object) Objectification of women?
Psychosexual analysis - Phallic/Yonic imagery - tunnel, train, penetration, male castration
Mother/nurturer? (metaphorical birth/rebirth)
Father/Procreation - 'the fatherland?)
Dystopian representation of British National Identity - (Empire, Nationalism, Facism, Repressed emotions, Non-confrontational?)

Outcome
To select your key scene for analysis - comparative 4 or 5 points to discuss
To formalate an argument - answer the question, what YOU think this means & back up
To analyse meaning using Psycho-sexual meaning? Mother - symbolic role
To justify reasons for the representations and the messages/themes of the film

MACRO Representation V & CoM clips for analysis directors commentary

Q. How does the film use representation to create meaning (messages)

Critical perspective Psychoanalysis: How does this affect our 'reading' of this clip – Yonic & Phallic symbols (MICRO MES)

V&CoM comparison of representations (essay points)

Key scenes to examine -

Evey hair shaved/torture, Opening rape, Evey Ending, Bishops school girl

Kei reveals she is pregnant, Kei walks through guns, Kei gives birth, Kei Ending

V opening intro, Vtv message, V kills Creedy/V dies, V looses Evey

Theo opening meets Juliette, Theo buries Juliette, The long take, Theo ending

National identity

England prevails, Girl getting shot/revolution, Parliament blown up,

Fugee town/bagged on bus, Britain still stands, The uprising

Argue does this challenge or reenforce traditional stereotypes (gender roles in films) – Do Does it demonstrate that in films 'Men act, women appear”?
Is there voyeurism & use of the Male Gaze?
What meaning/reading of messages about Masculine & Feminine in this Dystopian world? Any Yonic or phalic symbols (power)?
What messages from this negative representation of the future of Britain?
Comparative - how Realistic are the characters/vision of London?

Apply to demonstrate
Make a film parody to explore & draw attention to these aspects - re-enact the scene yourselves to reveal the meaning behind the scene

Thursday, 24 January 2013

Psychoanalysis & Phallic Imagery

Women sporting cigarettes as a symbol of female empowerment was an advertising campaigns inspired by Freudian ideas. The link between theory and practice was Edward L. Bernays, the acknowledged father of public relations and nephew of Sigmund Freud.

Bernays application of psychoanalytic principles to public relations and advertising came only after reading Freud's "General Introductory Lectures," a gift from Freud to his nephew in thanks for a box of Havana cigars.

In this case, a cigar did prove to be much more than a cigar. The marriage of psychoanalysis and public relations, facilitated by the box of Havanas, made Bernays a very wealthy man.

Sigmund Freud

Manipulating behaviors
Intrigued by Freud's notion that irrational forces drive human behavior, Bernays sought to harness those forces to sell products for his clients. In his 1928 book, "Propaganda," Bernays hypothesized that by understanding the group mind, it would be possible to manipulate people's behavior without their even realizing it. To test this hypothesis, Bernays launched one of his most famous public relations campaigns: convincing women to smoke.

In 1929, it was taboo for women to smoke in public and those who flouted convention were thought to be sexually permissive. Bernays' client was George Washington Hill, president of the American Tobacco Company, who envisioned breaking this taboo to broaden the market for his Lucky Strike brand. Bernays asked Hill for permission to consult with New York's leading psychoanalyst and Freud disciple, Dr. A.A. Brill, and was granted this unusual request.

This was the first but not the last time Bernays would consult with psychoanalysts to help shape his public relations campaigns. When asked what cigarettes symbolized to women, Brill's response was that cigarettes were symbolic of male power.

Wednesday, 23 January 2013

MACRO Representation apply to CoM & V

CONCEPT OF REPRESENTATION = MESSAGES/VALUES

Session 1: Recap stereotypes of gender task - using notes carousel and catch up the missing students;

"Men act, Women appear"

Action Film & Horror films offer interesting representations of Gender as well as opportunities for Psycho-sexual analysis

Sigmund Freud 'Father of Psychoanalysis' - Relationship with Mother & Father on your gender/sexual template & psycho-sexual interpretations (ie Phallic imagery)

Create Meaning & Recap

Discussion Points for Art trips students to be caught up on (they will rotate & visit the 'Teachers')

The Final Girl - virginal, pure, female independence, male power (Friday 13th)
Voyeurism & the Male Gaze - women as sex object, men as holder of the gaze (Psycho Abbies clip)
Hypermasculinity - the 'Action Hero' & the 'Action Chick' (Kick Ass)
Phallic imagery & male impotence (Thor)
Phallic imagery in Slashers - female penetration (S
Yonic imagery (Teeth) women as 'other' threat to power (Male Castration theory)
Women as mothers or 'naturally' nurturing (We need to talk about Kevin)

Apple to demonstrate:

Make this into an Extranormal to demonstrate

Action Heroes - http://www.xtranormal.com/superzeroz

Horror - http://www.xtranormal.com/voodooz

British National Identity - http://www.xtranormal.com/historic_figurez

Create Meaning

Rotate & Share your videos

Feedback & check Learning

Session 2 : Apply Concept of Representation to V & CoM

Parody Film Task: Analyse> Discuss> Compare> Create

Make a film that draws attention to, exaggerates & parodies how the films uses stereotypes & creates meaning in the key scenes (ie a performance issue with V's Phallic Knives...)

Group 1.

Brainstorm 5 points

What is significant in how Women are represented or 'used' in the 2 films

Evey, Kee, Julia, Hippy woman

Think & Discuss how your film parody will demonstrate:

What meaning or message can you read into this?

Do they reenforce or challenge stereotypes of Women in film (Men act, Women appear)?

Why & how do the films use of these female characters compare?

Any Yonic or Phallic imagery/Psychoanalysis (Father/Mother symbolism)?

Group 2.

Brainstorm 5 points

What is significant in how Men are represented or 'used' in the 2 films?