For my AS production me and my group created a film opening with a urban genre. The synopsis of the film opening is about a teenager coming out of his estate and walking down, he approaches an alley way, where he sees two youths robbing/beating up another teenager, however, the main character walks off at first and then turns back into the alley. Our main character is a stereotypical hero as he didn't know whether to help or not. The mise-en-scene is a stereotypical representation of a lower class area in London with the council estates, the dark alley ways, congested roads etc...The appearance of our main character is based on an urban stereotype with the hoody,tracksuits etc... We used films like Kidulthood, 4.3.2.1, Fish tank as an example set for our film opening. Our main character conforms to the genre of the film. The target audience for our film was to be teenagers, as the type of genre would appeal to them more as it can reflect more to their lifestyles and stereotypes that they have. The representation of youth in our film would be part positive and part negative as we would have scenes where teenagers conform to their stereotypes by being 'thugs' and stealing etc... however, we would also have parts of the film where teenagers subvert from their stereotypes as they would be well educated and law abiding and helping other people.
'A text is like a tangled ball of threads which needs to be unraveled'. Roland Barthes enigma code links at the end of the film opening as we see our main character go back into the alley where someones getting beaten up. This would be a positive representation of teenagers and also would subvert to stereotypes as our main character is going to help the youth getting beaten up.
Propp's theory somewhat intertwines with our opening as we have our victim getting beaten up and our hero going back to help the victim. Throughout the film, Propp's functions would definitely come up as we based our film and genre on many examples such as 'Kidulthood', 'Adulthood', 'Fish Tank'. Within our examples Propp's functions where used.
Todorov's theory links in with our opening scene as the equilibrium was when out main character was walking and then the disequilibrium occurred towards the end when the main character went back to help the victim in the alley way. The resolution would of occurred when the victim is saved. In every film there is always an equilibrium, disequilibrium and resolution, as that is how the plot would go and also that makes the film interesting and would keep the audience engaged.
At the equilibrium the film would subvert and conform to the stereotypes of youths and then once it gets towards the disequilibrium the film would start to conform mainly to the stereotypes of youths, however, at the end towards the resolution the film would subvert to stereotypes of youths.
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Friday, 6 January 2012
Internalised Stereotypes
1. Kidulthood is an Anti-Youth film, for example, they show youths as violent, aggressive, sexual, druggies, carefree, delinquents. It portrays the negative stereotypes of youths, therefore constructing a negative representation towards youths. "Messed-up youth" mantra as a badge of honour" and "If ever a film wanted an ASBO more than an Oscar", these quotes from the review of Film 4 describes what they thought of the film, this clearly states that the film is very anti youth.
2. I believe that the Kidulthood is not accurate to the actual experiences of teenagers as it cannot be generalised to the whole population of teenagers. For example, not every teenager is violent, abuses drugs or is in gangs. There are many youths that are educated, calm and law abiding. "Teenage pregnancy, gun crime and suicide are three issues one is likely to come across in almost any newspaper on any given day. In fact if the UK papers are to be believed, Britain's streets are currently breeding the most vicious, morally comatose generation our nation has ever seen" this is a quote from musicOMH suggests that the activities that occurred in Kidulthood happens in everyday life.
3. In Fish Tank, there is some adult fascination over youths, as the music and the ways the adults were dancing was youth orientated. The constant drinking, swearing, sexual activities are linked back to youth activity, which suggests that adults fascinated about being a youth again, therefore, they seek out youth activities to make them feel young again.
2. I believe that the Kidulthood is not accurate to the actual experiences of teenagers as it cannot be generalised to the whole population of teenagers. For example, not every teenager is violent, abuses drugs or is in gangs. There are many youths that are educated, calm and law abiding. "Teenage pregnancy, gun crime and suicide are three issues one is likely to come across in almost any newspaper on any given day. In fact if the UK papers are to be believed, Britain's streets are currently breeding the most vicious, morally comatose generation our nation has ever seen" this is a quote from musicOMH suggests that the activities that occurred in Kidulthood happens in everyday life.
3. In Fish Tank, there is some adult fascination over youths, as the music and the ways the adults were dancing was youth orientated. The constant drinking, swearing, sexual activities are linked back to youth activity, which suggests that adults fascinated about being a youth again, therefore, they seek out youth activities to make them feel young again.
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
Do Kidulthood and Fish Tank provide a realistic representation of youth?
“Media appear to reflect reality whilst in fact they construct it” (Stuart Hall), media messages/information are produced, circulated and consumed, therefore, they are decoded in a certain way and encoded in a certain way. It could be suggested that through Stuart Halls encoding/decoding, Kidulthood and Fish Tank are constructed and stereotyped.
For example, in Kidulthood, youths are represented negatively which can be both realistic and constructed. The representation of youths is highly stereotyped in Kidulthood as it shows that youths are bullies, they blackmail, are aggressive, are carefree, very explicit, drug takers, drinkers etc…These stereotypes do occur within youths but they are highly exaggerated in the film as many of these youths act this way. Kidulthood shows many mixes of race and lower classed families with mainly one parent living with the youth.
In Kidulthood there is one type of subculture, but within that subculture involves different social groups. These social groups have certain things in common, for example, drugs, alcohol, partying, acts of violence, arguments, shopping, wooing girls etc... In Kidulthood teenagers are showed in a negative stereotypical representation due to the events that occur in the film. Through binary oppositions of age/gender the social groups create their collective identity.
For example, in Kidulthood, youths are represented negatively which can be both realistic and constructed. The representation of youths is highly stereotyped in Kidulthood as it shows that youths are bullies, they blackmail, are aggressive, are carefree, very explicit, drug takers, drinkers etc…These stereotypes do occur within youths but they are highly exaggerated in the film as many of these youths act this way. Kidulthood shows many mixes of race and lower classed families with mainly one parent living with the youth.
In Kidulthood there is one type of subculture, but within that subculture involves different social groups. These social groups have certain things in common, for example, drugs, alcohol, partying, acts of violence, arguments, shopping, wooing girls etc... In Kidulthood teenagers are showed in a negative stereotypical representation due to the events that occur in the film. Through binary oppositions of age/gender the social groups create their collective identity.
“Media representations are complex, not simple and straightforward”, we need to interact with the others or the media in order to form our identity (Richard Jenkins).
For example, in Fish Tank, the main character struggles to form her identity and is seen to be very lonely and disturbed. Fish Tank was filmed around a rundown estate, it shows that the main character is a big bipolar, a rebel and wants attention. It shows the girl struggles to find her identity and where she belongs, therefore, suggests that at a stage in life, teenagers, struggle to form their identity.
“Identity is complicated” (David Guantlett), for example, in both Kidulthood and Fishtank, the main characters struggle to find their identity, so instead they just act rebellious to seek attention which leads to a negative representation.
For example, in the London Riots the media tabloids and broadsheets created and further constructed an ideology for youths for society. This led to a negative and stereotypical view of youths as loud, reckless thugs that downgrade society. Lives were lost. “Parents had to carry children out of burning homes, leaving a lifetime of possessions behind to be destroyed" this quote on The Independent gives a moral panic to society as they are threatened by what occurred. As the News showed varies clips of teenagers destroying properties and starting fires, this caused the media and society to construct a stereotype of teenager’s collective identities. However, media representations are complex as there have been many articles about teenagers that have done good for society, thus, it juxtaposes with the negative representations.
In both Kidulthood and Fish Tank an urban, low classed environment is used, therefore, it shows that the youths that are lower classed and live in poor environments are negatively represented as drug abusers and violent individuals. This I believe is a wrong representation of youths in poor environments as youths and adults around the world in middle classed and even high classed environments act the same way. Therefore, I believe that Kidulthood and Fish Tank do not provide a realistic representation of youths around the world, however, it does provide realism on how youths act within certain subcultures or social groups, however, this cannot be generalised with other youths.
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