Vladimir Propps theories of narrative functions are seen widely in almost all movies. I will be using the example of star wars. Luke Skywalker lives with his aunt and uncle. Here his mainly his uncle gives him many chores to do around the house. This makes him feel distressed as he feels this is stopping him achieving his dream of doing bigger things. The first point of Propps’ narrative functions ‘a member of the family leaves home i.e. the hero is introduced, here we see one of Propps’ narrative functions happen right before us. This happens in many movies, harry potter leaves to become a wizard, Frodo Baggins leaves to destroy the ring and money other movies. Another one of Propps’ narrative function works in this film, which is the appearance of the helper. The helper is conventionally older and much more wise, however unable to carry problem themselves usually due to age, this can be seen in many movies, in harry potter Harry has Dumbledore, in Lord of The Rings Frodo has Gandalf, in the Matrix Neil has Morpheus. This narrative function also appears in star wars; Luke Skywalker goes to find the old Obi Wan Kenobi to help him on his quest. One very common narrative function Propps states is, ‘ the hero is given some kind of weapon of power’, in harry potter he is given the wand, in the matrix he is given the pill, in the Lord of The Rings he is given the ring and in Star Wars Luke Skywalker is given the light sabre. One of Propps’ narrative functions also states that a member(s) of the heroes’ family will be injured or killed. This happens in star wars when Luke Skywalker goes home to find his house burning, his aunty and uncle both dead.
Vladimir Propp developed a flow diagram to represent narrative functions:
Equilibrium Disruption Resolution Restored Order New Equilibrium
For example in star wars we see Luke Skywalker leading a normal average life this is the base equilibrium. He goes on to becoming a fighter pilot, in defense against the death star, disruption is always in the form of a monster in this case Darth Vader, who we know is a monster, he is masked. The next step is resolution; resolution is usually achieved by the death or capture of the monster, in the case of star wars the retreat of the ‘disruptor of peace’, Darth Vader. Due to the retreat of the monster order is restored. A new a equilibrium is attained which is similar to the base equilibrium but different in many ways, considering nothing can be the same anymore, as loved ones have perished along the way and/or been affected badly in the process of getting to the new equilibrium. However in sequel movies like star wars we are given a false sense of equilibrium, as peace is achieved in that particular sequel but the main source of the problem has not been dealt with, so the monster is going to come back.
Levi-Strauss, a French Anthropologist, considered how story telling is used as a means on coping with the fundamental contradictions and irresolvable difficulties of a society. Each culture therefore produces, its myths; a story which is not true, but something which is repeated so many times it becomes part of a cultures reality or ‘common sense’. This theory can be seen suggested in almost all movies. The hero almost always leaves home. This proves Levi-Strauss’ point of a story repeated becomes part of a cultures reality or common sense. The hero is shown to leave home, but after leaving home he encounter many difficult obstacles, this reinforces the ideology of few in the western culture. Teenagers go off to university or employment; they are fully adults at 18 and make a big step in life. The function of showing that in film reinforces this ideology of independence.
Levi-Strauss said that story elements which give meaning will usually appear in pairs. For example a story will typically be organised into binary opposites. For instance in star wars we see hero vs. villain, Luke vs. Darth Vader, yet another binary opposite would be good vs. evil.
Roland Barthes another theorist developed five generic codes which he proposed are linked together in production of all kinds of stories. Therefore he suggested that all stories use the same five codes and that all genre signifiers can be grouped under them to create narrative. After looking at Barthes’ theory questions would arise such as ‘if all films are the same, why do we separate them in terms of genre?’. The answer is films use these five codes but how the use them is altered. Genre can be specified using for example Barthes’ 4th code the referential code. Here mis-en-scene is a referential code. There for the way of using mis-en-scene helps us specify to what genre a movie fits in with.
Friday 23 April 2010
Synopsis
Hanford College once again sees off successful and deserving graduates while welcoming a group of hopeful freshman’s. Amongst the freshmen, stands Holly Brookes. Holly Brookes is a college student, who is just about to start her freshman year. She is a trouble girl who, has tried her luck in 4 different cities. She’s not been able to settle anywhere, due to the bullying and the unacceptance she receives, by reason of her mother being dead and her dad becoming an alcoholic as a result.
She tries Hanford College at last where she now lives in a nice little house that is away from everything else, somewhere where she feels at home. Everything seems to be going well for the first time in here life she makes friends, and she is accepted by them for who she is. She feels complete, she even doesn’t mind coming home to see her father drunk anymore either. Instead she talks to him about her improved life and her new friends, this seems to cure him in some way and he relies less and less on alcohol. But the question is, is it just all too good to be true? Is this all for better or for worse?
Holly is invited to a house party, the first party she would have gone to in her life. Her friends Sarah, Michelle and Lucy are also invited. So they meet up as both Lucy and Michelle’s boyfriends pick them up, Holly and Sarah hitch a ride too. The party is wild there bongs all over the place, alcohol everywhere people smoking cigarettes. Holly had been dressed up by her friend who made her were make up and a really short dress, she started to get a lot of male attention. Her friends then convince her to drink some alcohol as she tries to resist, she gives into the pressure to ‘fit in’. The alcohol is the start of a wild night! Everyone is having a ball dancing, singing, shouting doing what drunken teenagers normally do. Lucy her boyfriend Jack along side Michelle and her boyfriend John decide to go for a midnight stroll, they pull Holly and Sarah along with then.
They’re just walking endlessly singing and laughing, when Holly realises they’re just getting closer to her lonely house, she decides to tell them to just find a space to ‘hang out’. They find a nice spot under a deserted tree next to a lake where they sit. Lucy and Jack wonder off as it cuts to scene where they have sex. Lucy decides to run away from jack for him to give chase. After shouting her name for ages Jack goes back to ‘camp’ thinking he’d been fooled. He soon finds out no one else had seen her either. They all here footsteps and turn around when suddenly Lucy falls from a tree with a noose hung around her neck as she swings hanging by the neck. This turns out to be a real ‘hang out’.
A Masked figure then jumps out behind the tree with a butcher’s knife and starts to slaughter Michelle in front of everyone. Everyone takes off; they all follow Holly who runs for her house. However they now decide to make stops to see if they can see the killer. Sweat pouring down their faces, heavy panting and aching limbs they sought to give up but that is not good enough. One by one Holly’s friends are killed off like pigs in an abattoir.
Holly Decides to make one last run to her house without looking back over her shoulder in fear to what she mite see chasing her. She gave one glance over her shoulder and saw nothing there she ran even faster. She reached her door she opened the door and jumped into her dads arm. She felt safe again. Holly tilts her face upwards to see the mask…
She tries Hanford College at last where she now lives in a nice little house that is away from everything else, somewhere where she feels at home. Everything seems to be going well for the first time in here life she makes friends, and she is accepted by them for who she is. She feels complete, she even doesn’t mind coming home to see her father drunk anymore either. Instead she talks to him about her improved life and her new friends, this seems to cure him in some way and he relies less and less on alcohol. But the question is, is it just all too good to be true? Is this all for better or for worse?
Holly is invited to a house party, the first party she would have gone to in her life. Her friends Sarah, Michelle and Lucy are also invited. So they meet up as both Lucy and Michelle’s boyfriends pick them up, Holly and Sarah hitch a ride too. The party is wild there bongs all over the place, alcohol everywhere people smoking cigarettes. Holly had been dressed up by her friend who made her were make up and a really short dress, she started to get a lot of male attention. Her friends then convince her to drink some alcohol as she tries to resist, she gives into the pressure to ‘fit in’. The alcohol is the start of a wild night! Everyone is having a ball dancing, singing, shouting doing what drunken teenagers normally do. Lucy her boyfriend Jack along side Michelle and her boyfriend John decide to go for a midnight stroll, they pull Holly and Sarah along with then.
They’re just walking endlessly singing and laughing, when Holly realises they’re just getting closer to her lonely house, she decides to tell them to just find a space to ‘hang out’. They find a nice spot under a deserted tree next to a lake where they sit. Lucy and Jack wonder off as it cuts to scene where they have sex. Lucy decides to run away from jack for him to give chase. After shouting her name for ages Jack goes back to ‘camp’ thinking he’d been fooled. He soon finds out no one else had seen her either. They all here footsteps and turn around when suddenly Lucy falls from a tree with a noose hung around her neck as she swings hanging by the neck. This turns out to be a real ‘hang out’.
A Masked figure then jumps out behind the tree with a butcher’s knife and starts to slaughter Michelle in front of everyone. Everyone takes off; they all follow Holly who runs for her house. However they now decide to make stops to see if they can see the killer. Sweat pouring down their faces, heavy panting and aching limbs they sought to give up but that is not good enough. One by one Holly’s friends are killed off like pigs in an abattoir.
Holly Decides to make one last run to her house without looking back over her shoulder in fear to what she mite see chasing her. She gave one glance over her shoulder and saw nothing there she ran even faster. She reached her door she opened the door and jumped into her dads arm. She felt safe again. Holly tilts her face upwards to see the mask…
Movie Poster Analysis
If you look closely at Friday the 13th part poster on the left, you can see that it is a painting. Around the time this movie came out, all movie posters were painted. Then there is the poster of the Friday the 13th remake, on the right. Immediately you can see a difference in design, detail and quality. Due to the technological advancements today, this poster looks completely different from the original. It has been edited on the computer using hi tech image editing software.
Looking at the two posters, you can see straight away the use of the colour red. Red is a sophisticated colour with many connotations such as love, charm, anger, pain, death and blood. However it is certain connotations such as anger, pain, death and blood that make the colour suitable for the specific genre of the film, slasher. The use of moonlight is similar, if not, identical in both posters. You can make out a full moon in the background. Full moon has a few connotations such as, romance, danger, death. If you look at the remake poster you can see how he covers the moon, usually on a full moon, in some movies people turn into a werewolf. So this poster is trading audience understanding of other films to understand this one, as it indicates how dangerous Jason is. The knife that Jason is holding gets significantly bigger from the original. This indicates that generic expectations are getting bigger and brasher, so the need to meet demands is very high.
In the most recent poster of the film you can see at the very top “Welcome to Crystal Lake”. If this was to be written on the original movie, it would spark confusion as no one would know what Crystal Lake is. Therefore this is an example of intertextuality, as it is trading on the audience knowledge and understanding of the two films.
One thing you notice completely different about the two posters is the text, and the amount of it. On the original poster you can see “They were warned…They are doomed…And on Friday the 13th no one will save them” and “A 24 hour nightmare of terror”. This is used to market the film; it offers a minute insight of the film by making it sound so exclusive, which in turn gives potential viewers an incentive to watch the film. Whereas, if you take a look at the remake you will straight away notice the difference in the amount of text compared to the original. The reason behind this is simply the popularity of the films. If you consider the success of the original Friday the 13th then its not hard to imagine what large fan base it would have, having all that information on the remake would be unnecessary, so techniques of intertextuality are being used instead. The text on the remake such as welcome to Crystal Lake refers to the original; people will know immediately what it is because of the original.
On the original poster you can see the logo of Paramount Pictures Corporation, which is a Worldwide American film production and distribution company. This means the movie is supported by a very big film company, which gives an incentive to watch the film as it indicated little can go wrong with the film. On both posters there is age rating logo of “R” which stands for restricted, this means special restrictions apply to this film. On the remake poster you can see the release date “February 13”, the colour of the text is in red and it stands out. The distribution company would have decided to have the release date on February 13 2009 as this is a Friday, this helps reference the date to the film, which makes the experience a whole lot scarier.
Subordinate Character Image Board
This actress named Janet Leigh is from the movie psycho. She is the first woman to be killed in the movie. At that time 1960 when the movie came out she was a very big star, a desirable actress to have in your movie. Alfred Hitchcock produced some amazing cinematography here by killing her off first. The movie would of been promoted using the face of Janet Leigh. However for film watchers to watch the movie and see their start actress whom they thought to be the lead killed off first is very, very unsettling. By doing this it made viewers feel confused and left with no sense of security or direction.
Note how influential the movie Psycho actually was to the horror genre and how its codes and convention were used in this movie. This is Drew Barrymore from the movie scream. At that time she was what you could say at the prime of her acting career. So she would’ve been the face of this movie. However the movie starts off with her receiving a call from a freaky person. She is then brutally murdered slashed and stabbed. Watching your favourite actress, idol to some, being brutally murdered in the opening scenes of a movie would unsettle you. Make you feel like you have nothing to lean back to no support. It is to make you feel mentally deteriorated.
Here in the blockbuster hit movie Jaws no specifically special actor or actress is being killed off. However, notice how the convention created and mastered by Alfred Hitchcock of unsettling viewers through specific killing is used in this scene. A boy comes out of the water asking his mother if he can be in the water for longer, his mum is being very over protective and saying no your fingers will prune but then gives in and lets him go. There we feel like yes everything is so nice and safe. We are shown that the child is protected by the mother and she will keep him away from any harm. However minutes after the boy is playing about on his lido he get bitten in half by the shark. This unsettles us completely, it makes us think how can the boy get killed even after being so protected, and we then think how safe are we? Making us lose a sense of security.
Monster Image Board
The technique of using a mask is very clever. It’s very disturbing. When we watch these slasher movies for e.g. Halloween we wonder why it is he is masked. What’s wrong with his face? This makes us feel disturbed and makes us feel we have lost all sense of security. The mask disconnects us and the killer in everyway; we cannot see emotions or expressions, just a cold hearted killer.
It is safe to say Halloween, the most influential movie of the slasher genre, started this clever technique of using a mask.
This character is ‘leatherhead’ from the movie the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He is masked and in the movie he makes disturbing noises that of an animal however does not speak like a normal human. Again making us lose that sense of safety.
Research has shown that when we see a masked person many assumptions are made in our imagination to what we see behind the mask. Research shows that people who are looking at a masked character and wondering whose face is behind the mask, are actually imagining the face of someone they very much dislike or are scared of. Therefore this is a very useful convention used in slasher movies to unsettle the mind.
This is the killer from the scream movies. The mask being worn here is now a globally available item. In the slasher genre movie’s, the use of a mask is almost inevitable. If not a mask the killer is always shown to be abnormal, different from the norm.
This killer has an altered voice. He has voice that is made to sound disturbing. This is one other convention of slasher movies, because this voice is not normal. Another very commonly used convention is the killer not having a voice at all. Meaning all their cold hearted murderous actions do the speaking for them. A great example would Halloween where Mike Myers as an adult does not utter a word. This in turn makes us feel even more scared and abnormal, as we cannot make any assumptions of the killer, letting our imagination go wild.
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