How typical are your chosen texts of their genre?

Each of my three texts, Sin City, Fish Tank and District 9 show typical conventions throughout which are clearly associated with their intended genres. However in Sin City and District 9 we see an essence of postmodernism with the use of a hybrid genre.

To start, Sin City is presented as a hybrid genre. Throughout we see themes of comic book and horror alongside Noir. Sin City presents the typical conventions expected of Noir such as the rainy streets, Jazz music, dark scenes and a story evolving around two main cynical protagonists. In this case they are Hartigan and Marv. Throughout Sin City we see essences of mistrust, depression and paranoia presented through the characters. This could be addressed as a result of the post WWII time it is set in and the typical personality expected of male protagonists in the Noir genre. An example of mistrust is during Hartigans part. As he is trying to save Nancy we see the idea of 'good cop, bad cop' being addressed as Hartigan is shot in the back by his colleague. In this instance we see a clear link to Propp with the Hero trying to save the princess but gets stopped by the false hero, thus proving Sin City's hybrid nature with the use of the 'comic book' style hero, princess and villain structure. Another way these themes are addressed to us are through voice overs, which are also another typical noir convention. The story is being told to us directly through voice overs whilst getting supported by the actions on screen. Hartigan and Marvs voices are very dark and depressed, like they somewhat know that their inevitable demise is coming, and a clear example of this depression is when Marv says "Hell is waking up every goddam day and not knowing why you are still here". The use of voice overs, in turn, gives us a direct insight as to what the characters are thinking and tell us about their personality.

In terms of how the male protagonists are presented to us, they typically appear strong with a strong sense of authority, however with a constant underlying weakness usually linked to a girl. It is typical of film noir to have the main protagonists lifes influenced by the actions of a femme fatale, which commonly leads to their demise. In Marv's case it is Goldie and in Hartigans case it is Nancy. There is a clear link to this during Marv's death scene. We see the camera zoom into Marv's eye where we see Goldie lying in her death bed, where Marv's disequilibrium began. This clearly links the death of Goldie to the death of Marv, proving her to be a femme fatale. Throughout Sin City the use of colors are also quite common, contradicting traditional Noir black and white. This postmodernist technique is used commonly to highlight certain features around ones nature, quite commonly with the women we see. The common use of red on women, in particular Goldie, suggests seductiveness, sexuality, blood, danger and death, supporting the femme fatale theme.

District 9 is also a hybrid genre. As well as being typically a science fiction film, we also see a documentary style coming through too. The typical Si Fi conventions are shown through the aliens, the space ships and the human to alien transformation. These conventions are all shown to us through a hand held camera, adding to the documentary style approach given and making it seem as if the events shown are real. In addition, the close relationship Wikkus has to the camera supports this. He is constantly looking, speaking and referring back to the camera during the scenes where there is a hand held camera filming him. This is contradicting to other similar science fiction films such as 'The Fly' where there is no hybrid approach and it is purely science fiction. However, the Si Fi aspect of both District 9 and The Fly are very comparable as both films include a transformation of some sort. Typically of Si Fi, District 9 follows a pattern of Equilibrium, disequilibrium, the recognition of this disequilibrium with an attempt to restore it. In this case the equilibrium is not restored for wikkus, but it is restored for Christopher, who is an alien wikkus worked with to try and get the spaceship working. The idea of a human and alien working together is a clear example of the hybrid nature of District 9 as that type of cooperation isn't a typical feature of Science fiction.

Fish Tank however is not a hybrid. It is strictly a social realist film. Throughout Fish Tank typical themes such as dystopia, underage sex and violence are addressed throughout. To show those themes Cinematography and mise en scene plays a big part throughout Fish Tank. The natural lighting, the ragged old clothes, the digetic sound of traffic in the distance and the rough council estate are all typical conventions of the social realist genre. The use of a hand held camera is also used commonly throughout to express the uneven, gritty nature of a social realist film and poverty in Britain. To support this we have Mia throughout, showing what is expected of the main character in a social realist film. Throughout Fish Tank we see Mia walking around quite fast, like she has somewhere to go, like she is of some importance, when really she is stuck in this continuous, dysfunctional cycle. To build on this idea, when looking at Mia's mum and little sister, we can see a chain. Mia is very much like her mother with a very violent nature and we can see this coming through in Mia's little sister too. Much like Mia and her mum, Mia's little sister, Tyler, also uses bad language to address people and is very aggressive. Thus the 'passing down of personalities' we see adds to the idea of a dysfunctional cycle with no way out. To support this, the fact that the characters in fish tank are unknown actors and actresses adds to the realism of the film, as they appear to be ordinary people. Further more the use of language in Fish Tank is very foul and informal. With the extensive use of the word c*nt among other swear words, it seems as if using bad language has became part of their natural dialect, giving another clear portrayal of the gritty nature of British poverty and social realism.

To conclude, each text holds various classic conventions that make it typical of their genre, some however do mix with other genres to create a more postmodern viewing, attracting a wider, more modern audience.

How global is the appeal of your three main texts?

The three main texts i am going to talk about is Nirvana's 'Nevermind', Radiohead's 'The king of limbs' and Lada Gaga's 'Born this way'. In doing so i will be discussing how each artist has promoted their album, if it has been successful and the global appeal as a result of this.

To start, Nirvana are a 1990's grunge band who's characteristics included a sludgy guitar sound with a high level of distortion, energetic live performances, angst-filled lyrics and a reckless nature. As a band they didn't set to be anything big, thus why they were signed to an independent record label called 'Sub-Pop'. As the internet wasn't a widely accessible thing there wasn't an easier way of promotion other than live performances, word of mouth, being signed to a major record label, interviews, tours, reviews, awards and live television appearances. However the ball started to roll for Nirvana when they signed to Geffen records in 1990, this was followed by the release of the album 'Nevermind' on he 24th of september 1991. American stores received a initial shipment of 46,251 copies and 30,500 copies were shipped to the UK where their previous album 'Bleach' had been successful. This was good for Nirvana's exposure because being signed to a major record label means promotion on a global scale. Even so it took 5 months for the album to reach number one. In modern day with the use of the internet and social media, 5 months is an extremely long time for an album to reach number one. However Nirvana didn't have this type of exposure so it took a long time of touring, promoting and interviews to get their name exposed. So when relating back to the question "How global is the appeal of your three main texts?", for Nirvana they did appeal globally but only after a long period of promoting through older, longer methods.

A comparison to this is Radiohead's 'The king of limbs" (2011). Radiohead are a English rock band from Oxford, formed in 1985.  In 1991 they signed to EMI on a 7 album contract. Six albums into their career, on the verge of their seventh album, Radiohead's contract had expired. As a result of this they self-released the album "In Rainbows" on the internet but letting fans decide how much they pay for the album, thus revolutionising the way artists would distribute their music. This itself shows a clear comparison. Radiohead can gain publicity and sell albums through the internet alone, without a label,  where as nirvana had to use a major record label to ship albums for people to buy. 

Discuss audience appeal of your three main texts.

Throughout the three main texts there are a variety of conventions and representations which are presented to us, appealing to a wide audience to create a wide range of responses, each with polysemic features.

To begin, set in Birmingham in 1919, Peaky Blinders is a crime drama which follows former world war one soldiers who have returned home and formed a criminal gang. Throughout examples we see of it being a highbrow text, showing cultural and intellectual richness with postmodern values, each contributing to attract its audience. To begin the fact that it is set after the first world war would attract a audience who are interested in the culture at that present time, mainly a much older audience. In addition, the fact that it is set in Birmingham will have more appeal to those in the midlands than those who aren't. This gives the audience a sense of national identity when watching Peaky blinders. Peaky Blinders has been complimented on its high production values and cinematography. The use of key lighting, slow motion scenes and camera movement helps portray what is going on with more detail. For example when Tommy is sleeping and has a flash back to the war, what we see is a fight scene but the camera movement is very disjointed and the only clear thing we see is someone getting stabbed. This as an audience makes us focus on key things in the scene and tells us about the character in more detail, in this case we learn that Tommy is still suffering from the war with the flashbacks and disturbed sleep. This is favoured by the viewers and is more pleasing to watch. In addition, at the beginning of episode two of season one we see a lens flare during the fight scene. Research suggests that a negotiated audience enjoyed the text. Even so Peaky Blinders requires quite an active audience to be viewed to its full potential. However throughout it lacked originality and often seemed to mirror some of the key narrative themes of board walk empire. This is similarly about American gangsters around the same era perfuming similar acts. 

Encoding and decoding is an active theory developed by Stuart Hall which examines the relationship between a text and its audience. This theory can be applied to Peaky Blinders. The characters we see have been encoded in a certain way to appeal to us as an audience. For example Tommy is portrayed as a strong confident male. His attributes are easily shown to us with leader like traits but along side this he has a mental problem from the war and he's an alcoholic. Aunt Polly is protruded as a strong willed, strong minded independent woman. The society Peaky Blinders is set in is quite a mysoginistic one so her persona is very good. She has mother traits to people she involves herself with, and especially in comparison to the other female characters as they are shown to us as quite vulnerable. Chief inspector Campbell is also another strong male. However he is a rival to Tommy. The fact that he's Irish also brings up issues of the Irish republican army which was a big deal at that time. As an active audience, decoding these characters allows us to engage with the texts and allows us to find out their personality and finding out why they're this way appeals to us and helps us plot what will happen to them.  

Mad Men is an American TV series drama. One of the main appeals of Mad Men is its attention to detail. To begin the use of retrophilla is always represented from the date it is set in. Being set in the 1960's, audiences who remember that time will recognize the attitudes and views of the time. An obvious one is the attitudes towards women. Women in Mad Men are represented as if they are lesser than men, and his is clearly shown in the workplace as the mens attitude towards them is always quite perverted and sexualised with no serious attitude. In episode 5 of season 11 there is a scene where Don Draper is making his Jaguar pitch for his company. This particular scene is constructed in a very clever way which active audiences would like. As he is describing the car in all its beauty we see Joan who is getting used for the company. As a result of this it appears as if Don is also describing Joan, or women in general. As an active audience this is a very interesting scene as it represents the attitudes towards possessions of that time Another one is what they all wear. They dress in a very classy way with men in suits and women in dresses which is a strong representation of the time. These conventions will bring nostalgia to the audience provide entertainment through that. To build on this, racism is also shown. Although this is very subtle it is still a underlying current throughout. Looking at the work place and the workers it is noticeable that there are no other ethnicity's show apart from white American males and females. The segregation, the fact that one of them says "Get a colored person in, they don't mind being told what to do" and the fact that that nobody challenges those comments saying that its racist gives us a clear portrayal of how people of that time regard a multi ethnic workplace and society. It is clear to see that Mad Men has been produced with the intent to touch peoples personal identity as a lot of its viewers would have experienced these attitudes in their lifetime. With these features its is easy to say that Mad Men is aimed at an active audience as these little features included will only be noticeable with an active viewing. 

Lost is an American television series created by JJ Abrams. In the little sequence we see in Lost there are examples of how the producers are trying to target their chosen audiences. To begin Lost is made by ABC which is a major film label, so we know it is aimed at a mainstream audience.  Furthermore some enigma codes are shown. We see a handful of characters walking through the forest together in a big group, like they are vulnerable on their own. As an audience this makes us question what is in this forest and what danger could possible happen. This is supported by the non-digetic sound. The the slow flowing music is full of  tension and suspense. The second enigma code we see is when Syed and Sawyer argue. These two characters clash and argue quite a lot in the starting stages, we even see them fighting earlier on. This makes us as an audience question what will happen between these two. Will they fight even more or become friends? The use of the hypodermic model through this allows the audience to passively be entertained by these devices. However the uses and gratifications theory can be applied after a audience watch Lost. After it is over they still think about what has happened in the text and actively engage with it in their mind others online. Before we even see the bear we hear the use of digetic sounds such as bushes rustling and aggressive growling. As this is happening the camera queues to close ups of the characters faces and their expressions. This allows the audience to gain a deeper insight as to what each of the characters seen is like, letting us learn about their personality and how they act when in trouble. The use of an ensemble cast with a range of age, race and personality allows the audience to pick their favorites and even gives them some form of national identity if they are the same ethnicity. 

How has your chosen media text attracted its audience?

                                                  Peaky Blinders.   


Set in Birmingham in 1919, Peaky Blinders is a crime drama which follows former world war one soldiers who have returned home and formed a criminal gang. Throughout examples we see of it being a highbrow text, showing cultural and intellectual richness with postmodern values, each contributing to attract its audience. To begin the fact that it is set after the first world war would attract a audience who are interested in the culture at that present time, mainly a much older audience.  In addition, the fact that it is set in Birmingham will have more appeal to those in the midlands than those who aren't. This gives the audience a sense of national identity when watching Peaky blinders.

Peaky Blinders has been complimented on its high production values and cinematography. The use of key lighting, slow motion scenes and camera movement helps portray what is going on with more detail. For example when Tommy is sleeping and has a flash back to the war, what we see is a fight scene but the camera movement is very disjointed and the only clear thing we see is someone getting stabbed. This as an audience makes us focus on key things in the scene and tells us about the character in more detail, in this case we learn that Tommy is still suffering from the war with the flashbacks and disturbed sleep. This is favoured by the viewers and is more pleasing to watch. Research suggests that a negotiated audience enjoyed the text, however throughout it lacked originality and often seemed to mirror some of the key narrative themes of board walk empire. This is similarly about American gangsters around the same era perfuming similar acts.

Encoding and decoding is an active theory developed by Stuart Hall which examines the relationship between a text and its audience. This theory can be applied to Peaky Blinders. The characters we see have been encoded in a certain way to appeal to us as an audience. For example Tommy is portrayed as a strong confident male. His attributes are easily shown to us with leader like traits but along side this he has a mental problem from the war and he's an alcoholic. Aunt Polly is protruded as a strong willed, strong minded independent woman. The society Peaky Blinders is set in is quite a mysoginistic one so her persona is very good. She has mother traits to people she involves herself with, and especially in comparison to the other female characters as they are shown to us as quite vulnerable. Chief inspector Campbell is also another strong male. However he is a rival to Tommy. The fact that he's Irish also brings up issues of the Irish republican army which was a big deal at that time. As an active audience, decoding these characters allows us to engage with the texts and allows us to find out their personality and finding out why they're this way appeals to us and helps us plot what will happen to them.

Discuss the audience appeal of you three main texts.

One of the main appeals of MadMen is its attention to detail. To begin the use of retrophilla is always represented from the date it is set in. Being set in the 1960's, audiences who remember that time will recognise the attitudes and views of the time. An obvious one is the attitudes towards women. Women in MadMen are represented as if they are lesser than men, and his is clearly shown in the workplace as the mens attitude towards them is always quite perverted and sexualised with no serious attitude. Another one is what they all wear. They dress in a very classy way with men in suits and women in dresses which is a strong representation of the time. These conventions will bring nostalgia to the audience provide entertainment through that. To build on this, racism is also shown. Although this is very subtle it is still a underlying current throughout. Looking at the work place and the workers it is noticeable that there are no other ethnicity's show apart from white American males and females. The segregation, the fact that one of them says "Get a coloured person in, they don't mind being told what to do" and the fact that that nobody challenges those comments saying that its racist gives us a clear portrayal of how people of that time regard a multi ethnic workplace and society. With these subtle features its is easy to say that MadMen is aimed at an active audience as these little features included will only be noticeable with an active viewing.

New york magazine Matt Zoller Seitz says: "The shows main draw is behaviour, observed with such detail that one can imagine the that the shows being transposed to the forties and eighties, with different clothes and slang but still delivering the same basic satisfactions." This quote describes further how people in the audience may feel nostalgic and feel a sense of personal identification through watching this.

Most media texts target a range of different audiences, how true is this of your chosen texts?

In the little sequence we see in Lost there are examples of how the producers are trying to target their chosen audiences. To begin Lost is made by ABC which is a major film label, so we know it is aimed at a mainstream audience.  Furthermore some enigma codes are shown. We see a handful of characters walking through the forest together in a big group, like they are vulnerable on their own. As an audience this makes us question what is in this forest and what danger could possible happen. This is supported by the non-digetic sound. The the slow flowing music is full of  tension and suspense. The second enigma code we see is when Syed and Sawyer argue. These two characters clash and argue quite a lot in the starting stages, we even see them fighting earlier on. This makes us as an audience question what will happen between these two. Will they fight even more or become friends? The use of the hypodermic model through this allows the audience to passively be entertained by these devices. However the uses and gratifications theory can be applied after a audience watch Lost. After it is over they still think about what has happened in the text and actively engage with it in their mind others online.

Before we even see the bear we hear the use of digetic sounds such as bushes rustling and aggressive growling. As this is happening the camera queues to close ups of the characters faces and their expressions. This allows the audience to gain a deeper insight as to what each of the characters seen is like, letting us learn about their personality and how they act when in trouble.

Targets

-Try to be more consistent.
-Refer to key scenes in technical detail to make analysis more relevant for question.
-Discuss other films in more depth for each genre to support my  point of view.
-Try to be consistent throughout all texts to raise my overall grade.
-Revise key scenes in preparation or further mock exam questions.