Question 2
Representation of gender
The aim with our characters was to challenge the stereotypes of many thriller archetypes, by making gender irrelevant to the plot. We therefore chose to use a contemporary portrayal of women.
In our society at present, women are stereotyped as the recessive gender; weaker than men in most respects — Maria is represented as the opposite. She is headstrong, balanced and not afraid to behave as she pleases, not under the rule of any other. She is the lead character, who is not ‘subdued by a marriage’, and isn’t punished for resisting societal restrictions.
The protagonist is not a hyper feminine, sexualised character, which many films, often even contemporary ones, still regularly perpetuate as the norm. She has a mission, and that, rather than her anatomy, is what defines the character.
An example of the misogyny which we are trying to avoid in our piece, would be Irene Adler, from BBC Sherlock. She originally was written — by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle — as the first person to outwit Sherlock Holmes — the fact that she is female making it all the more defiant of stereotypes of feminine weakness.
But Stephen Moffat did not stay true to the plot line with the way he wrote the character. Moffat makes the character a dominatrix - while this is obvious hyper-sexualisation, it would be misogynistic in itself to assume that her job defines her character - much like the writer has done.
The character falls in love with Sherlock, and has to flee to another country. As she is on the brink of being beheaded, Sherlock appears out of nowhere and saves her.
Overall, the character is defined by her work in the sex industry, and through a non-mutual love for a man. The former being very taboo in our culture, and the latter stripping her of any power she may have initially held.
Because of being dominated by Maria, TM (a male) is emasculated. This denies generic stereotypes, since generally, it is the other way round - the female character generally is the recessive, like in the flashbacks.
An interesting and well focused response. I like the point at the end where you explain that the male is emasculated. Instead of your last sentence say something like,....
ReplyDeleteIn our production the passive female stereotypes who are defined by their relationships with males (Eve in the opening sequence of "Once Upon a Time in America" is Noodle's mistress) and Marion Crane who is desperate to buy her lover and thus steals from her employer and pays the ultimate price for her deviance), Maria takes revenge on her abusive lover in much the same way as the bride in "Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2) and Lisbeth Salender in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" who is a rape survivor and takes revenge on her guardian by tattooing onto his chest I AM A SADISTIC PIG, A PERVERT, AND A RAPIST. A great cinematic moment!
This sort of comment would strengthen an otherwise interesting response. Also
endeavour to move away from word documents so that you can access higher grade bands. And include more examples from real films.
I've just posted the following on Ellie's blog. I though you may be interested in the following points to raise your grade.
ReplyDelete.....The victim in your film is emasculated by the female. This is unusual particularly in action thrillers such as the Bond films. The girl in your film is propelled by revenge and a growing sense of empowerment. Thus your film represents women as able to take control, much like Thelma and Louise in the film of the same title when Louise shoots the rapist Harlan who attacks Thelma in the deserted car park. In Kill Bill 1 & 2 the avenger is female, and also in "The Girl With the dragon Tattoo which is a rape revenge film.
http://www.btchflcks.com/2014/04/agency-and-gendered-violence-in-thelma-and-louise.html#.VSvUA410yM8
“ When male perpetrators are violated and/or killed by feminist avengers, what does their feminization mean? These characters challenge our gendered assumptions about sex, trauma, and vengeance, which can make audiences uncomfortable.”
This is an aspect of your film which will make audiences uncomfortable. The act of the girl putting on her head phones indicates a lack of empathy which audiences associate with male characters who seem to suffer little trauma over the victims they have killed, eg James Bond.
2) Representation of youth is that your two characters inhabit an isolated world which does not seem to connect with reality. There is no sense of community but instead this isolated reality is injected with violence, fear and revenge thus represented contemporary Britain as predatory....much like the Essex Marshes where Jason Locke dumps his hapless victim after throwing acid in his face.
4) Ethnicity: White British is an ethnic group which dominates our TV and film screens in British productions, for example. ........ In this sense our film lacks any representation of the diversity of contemporary Britain.
I hope this helps
One point, Maria has been punished, she has been abused ....the flash backs fill in her back story.
ReplyDeleteYou need to add Representation of Youth.....think about dysfunctional, isolated, Maria is detached, introverted...symbolic of the challenges young British people in contemporary Britain are confronted with. Thus Maria has her own way of taking control which indicates she has little control over other aspects of her life...
this leads to representation of Britishness...
Lack of community, empty of life and energy though this is the isolated world that is a convention of thrillers, for example the little boy who witnesses the murder in the railway station toilets in "Witness", The two girls in "Heavenly Creatures" both isolated and exist in a world of make believe.
The blue tinted lighting design represents an urban residential street that has an absence.....
When revised and hopefully with screen shots and/or links to film clips post under Label G321 Evaluation. At present a confident Level 3.