Intertextuality

Intertextuality is the relationship between texts it is where a text references another text

          here are some of interxtuality in films :
In Shrek they reference snow white and the seven dwarfs.This provides humour in the film and makes it relatable as most people have been read snow white and the seven dwarfs to when they were young,Therefore the old and the new generation would understand the reference.

 In  one of the episodes of Simpson they references the silence of the lambs made in 1991.This is aimed at a slightly older audience who would be familiar with 90's films.

 Shrek opens with a fairy tail book that references a classic tail of sleeping beauty.The version of sleeping beauty fairy tale in Shrek has a twist, this adds humour.

Those examples show that many references are used in films for the effect of humour or for the satisfaction of recognition of the audience.The way in which those references are interpreted  depens on the audiences kowledge of other texts.Therefore it is the audience is the one that creates meaning .

Representation of gender in rock magazines

I’m going to be researching on how men and women are represented in music magazines particularly the rock genre. This will help me to understand how to represent the anchor model of my magazine based previous magazine covers of rock genre and apply its conventions to my works

Representaion of females in rock magazines
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Based on those two magazine covers I think women are sexualised in rock magazines .The first left picture shows Lizzy hale with hands on her hip and her face is still looking up ,making her look strong and rebellious. However she is still being sexualised as she’s wearing really exposed cloths and tights clothes. Her open shirt and v neck accessorised with long necklace draws attention into her chest and breasts. The magazine cover on the right shows Lily Allen half naked with one hand on her hand hip and the other gently placed on her lip which is cunning and sexual but it also looks quite innocent as the facts that she’s half-naked means she’s vulnerable. .However the bottom of her is dark and daring with her leather pants and two panthers as her side this combined creates connotations of aggression and beast’s .Maybe it’s truing to say she’s not as innocent as she seems to be. Both of them are shown as daring and are sexualised the reason for this is because sex sells and we associate rock music with black daring cloths and people that break the rules i.e. rebels as well women are stereotyped as very sexually active and promiscuous.

Representation of males in rock magazines

On the other hand men in the rock genre are often shown as rebellious and cool. The left hand side magazine shows a man with leather jacket with animal patterns, his wearing a bandana with aviators, a silk shirt with a black jacket and black trousers. His outfit is very typical rock as he looks rebellious .His head is put to the side with hands in his pocket which shows us that he confident and careless emphasized by his stern face. The magazine on the right shows us a man looking up standing up straight hand son his hips. He is wearing really dark cloths and has a lot of tattoos showing  . Both of them are shown as rebellious and careless.

 

Applying narrative and audience theories to films

Maze Runner

Thomas wakes up in a strange elevator, with memories lost and no idea what is going to happen. He is accepted into a group full of other teenage boys who call themselves "Gladers" who also don’t remember any past memories. After learning about the Maze that surrounds them all, Thomas becomes obsessed with finding a way out but this is not going to be easy as anyone who enters the maze gets hunted by mysterious cyborg monsters called Grievers. The Maze Runner is an action and suspense film ,it would apply to two of the narrative codes from Roland Barthes' Narrative theory, the enigma code as the audience is left with a mystery to be solves which is the mystery of why no one has memories of the past and answer why are they here and how will they escape?. Furthermore it also links to the action code as there is a lot of action within the maze as they have to fight the monsters as well as suspense is used a lot as there is an atmosphere of uncertainty of whether they will find a way out and survive. The audience would watch this for entertainment and as a way of diversion from their daily life's as this a fantasy based film.

Narrative and Audience Theories

Hypodermic needle audience theory

This theory suggests that media is like a needle imputing certain ideas, attitudes and beliefs into our brains. However media affects people in different sort of ways by advertisement, newspapers, television and films. On the other side this theory still has some use for example watching violent crime can resulting you being violent. Jamie Bulgar killers, copycat crimes, the “power rangers” fighting in play grounds are some example of evidence to this theory.

A hypodermic theory would be used in news broadcasts because they aim to put certain ideas of something into audiences mind. For example if the news wanted to create a good image of something they would use this theory.

Uses and gratifications theory

Based on this theory people have different reasons for using media and we choose what we want to watch. There is an expectation to get something from using media.

1. Surveillance-using media to get information about the current social world
2. personal identity-using media to look for role models and explore our identity
3. Personal relation-using media to compensate for the lack of community spirit in our lives
4. diversion-using media to escape our own daily routines and realities

Tudorovs narrative theory

Theory which tells us that all stories have five stages they go through
Stage 1 equilibrium –everything is balanced
Stage 2 Disequilibrium-something disrupts the balance
Stage 3 Recognition of disruption-the imbalance is recognized
Stage 4 Attempt to repair disruption-trying to figure how to get back to equilibrium
Stage 5 A return of restoration of new equilibrium,everything is back to normal

This would be used in an action/adventure film genre.

Propp’s character theory 

According to this theory, characters have a narrative function;they provide a structure for the text
The typical characters he found were
The Hero – a character that seeks something.
 The Villain – who opposes or actively blocks the hero’s quest.
 The Donor – who provides an object with magical properties.
 The Dispatcher – who sends the hero on his/her quest via a message.
 The False Hero – who disrupts the hero’s success by making false claims.
 The Helper – who aids the hero.
 The Princess – acts as the reward for the hero and the object of the villain’s plots.
 Her Father – who acts to reward the hero for his effort

This theory would apply to folk tales and fairy tales such as Cinderella which loads are adapted into films.

Levi-Strauss Narrative theory 

Levi-Strauss argued that all narratives could be reduced down to binary opposites.

EXAMPLES
supernatural vs humans
life vs death
Weak vs. strong
East vs. west
Good vs. evil
This would apply to war films where you have two oppositions and historic films.This is shown in twilight and harry potter.

Roland Barthes' Narrative theory

Barthes argues that every narrative is interlaced with multiple codes.

Narrative Codes

Part of Barthes' theory was a series of 5 narrative codes, key to interpreting media narratives. He claimed that all media texts displayed at least one of these 5 narrative codes. He described each code as follows:

Hermeneutic/Enigma Code

- a mystery or hook to be solved for or by the audience.It is the way tension is built up and the audience is left questioning what happens next


                                                      Proairetic/Action Code

- action and suspense used traditionally for escapism to entertain the audience and immerse them in the text.

Semantic Code
This code points to any element in a text that suggests a particular often additional meaning by way of connotation which the story suggests

Symbolic Code
- this code is about the eponymous symbols which can be found in media texts. Symbolic codes are called

Referential Code
- this code deals with references within a media text to an external body of knowledge, such as historic, scientific or cultural references. This would be used in comedy films to reference something else as the audience would relate andfine it funny.

Features of a magazine

• "stars without makeup" this is a hook.A hook aims to affect the readers in someway particularly their emotions.This example makes the viewer feel curious.

• The pink circle at the top with writing is an example of a button

Trailer analysis

Analysing a trailer:

Finding Dory

The trailer of Finding Dory starts with two fishes, presumably a couple, one of them hears something and they both try to figure out where the sound is coming from. This builds suspense as the dark scene sets itself to make the audience feel worried about this lost child as this is no place for a child to be. Then the context of family is brought up, this would put the audience in awe as most of us have a family and can empathise with the main character as she lost her family. The iconic finding Nemo music is played in the background immediately immersing the audience in nostalgia. It shows a progression of Dory growing up and asking for help: This suggests she’s on her own and that she must have been separated from her parents at a very young age.


The trailer shows Todorov’s narrative theory: After that we see a top down view of Marlin, Equilibrium is shown when we see Nemo and Dory swimming through the reef. There is a Disruption of the equilibrium as Dory gets taken away and Marlin and Nemo start looking for her, this is an attempt to fix the situation and come back to the balance shown in the beginning. The trailers scenery changes, as does the music. It’s more upbeat and shows the whole adventure of Dory looking for her parents.


Now we can tell this movie is an action/adventure as it has conventions of those two genres. Firstly it has a mission waiting to be completed which is to find Dory’s parents and upbeat nerve wracking music helps to elevate that. We know it’s an adventure as there are changes of scenery shown: Dory is moving from tank to tank starting with her being taken from the sea. In the trailer we see glass bottles and plastic floating in the water, perhaps Pixar is trying to send a message about pollution. Finally it ends with the title of the film, this is shown to let the audience know what to look out for.