Emotional Scene

I feel that this scene is emotional because it shows the death of one of the most iconic characters in the Star Wars franchise of films. It also makes it sad as it shows Kylo Ren killing his own father which shows that he has been influenced by his master to resist emotion. Furthermore, this causes Chewbacca to get angry and kill many stormtroopers and in turn Finn and Rey do so as well as they also saw Han Solo get killed by his own son.

Narrative Theories - Force Awakens

When I focused on these four narrative theories, I chose to relate them to Star Wars: The Force Awakens:

• Propp's Character Roles 
• Levi-Strauss' Binary Oppositions 
• Todorov's Equilibrium Theory
• Uses and gratification theory

When I analysed Propp's character roles in Force Awakens (2015), I found that the heroes were Finn, Rey, Han Solo and Chewbacca because they all chose to help the Resistance battle against the First Order for the map to find Luke Skywalker. I found that the villains were Kylo Ren and Supreme Leader Snoke because they caused bloodshed to innocent villagers in their attempt to get their hands on the map to Skywalker. Furthermore, Kylo Ren tried to persuade Rey to turn to the dark side when he captured her. In addition to that, the First Order used a superweapon to destroy planets that were part of the Republic. The donor in this film would be Maz Kanata because she gave Luke Skywalker's lightsaber to Finn. I also found that the dispatcher was BB-8 because he had part of the map to Luke Skywalker which sent both the Resistance and the First Order to find the rest of it. The false hero was Finn because he used to be a Stormtrooper in the First Order but he chose to help the Resistance fight the First Order. Rey would also be the Princess because she ends up being captured by the First Order meaning Finn, Han Solo and Chewbacca had to try to save her. Maz Kanata was also the helper because she aided Finn by giving him Luke Skywalker's lightsaber which allowed him to protect himself from the First Order. Finally, Han Solo was portrayed as the father figure in the film because he allowed Finn and Rey to stay on his Millennium Falcon; he also tried to turn his son Kylo Ren back to the light side as he knew that Kylo Ren was mislead by Snoke and wanted the best for his own son.

Levi Strauss' Binary Oppositions states that there need to be 2 clear and complete opposites in a film. This normally means that there is a good character and a evil character in a film that lead to being the protagonist and antagonist in the film. In Force Awakens, binary opposites are prevalent in the form of good and evil (good being the resistance and evil being the First Order). One of the many clashes between the opposites in Force Awakens is when TIE fighters from the First Order chase and attack the Millenium Falcon containing Rey and Finn after they take the ship back from a scrapyard on a desert planet while being attacked by First Order troops. The final and most significant clash is when Resistance pilots manage to attack and destroy Starkiller Base, killing any First Order militia that are still on the planet and in the base.

Todorov's Equilibrium Theory is evident throughout the entirety of Force Awakens. It is represented through the constant battle between the light side and the dark side. The equilibrium is first broken when Kylo Ren's stormtroopers attack the village on Jakku in search of the map to Luke Skywalker. It is further broken when Kylo Ren kills Lor San Tekka after he refuses to reveal the location of the map to Luke Skywalker. After that, Kylo Ren kills his father Han Solo which further emphasises the disequilibrium created by the Dark Side in their search to find Luke Skywalker. The equilibrium is restored once the Resistance destroy Starkiller base, R2-D2 connects the rest of the map to the piece of it found by the Resistance and Rey travels to the oceanic planet Ahch-To where Luke Skywalker resides in order to give him his lightsaber back.

The uses and gratification theory can be applied to Force Awakens in multiple and different ways. First of all, Force Awakens fulfils the UGT aspect of identification through the representation of Rey throughout the film. This is because Rey is represented as a physically and mentally capable and independent female. These are qualities that females watching the film could relate to as they probably feel that they share the same qualities that Rey possesses within the film. Another way UTG is applied to Force Awakens is through the aspect of interaction. This is because Force Awakens is a massive blockbuster, which means a high budget will be spent on the production and marketing of the film.

Wolf of Wall Street 500 Word Evaluation

A positive aspect of my presentation is that I talked about the significance of the camera angles in the ‘Wolf of Wall Street-I’m not leaving’ scene, such as when Jordan Belfort gathers all of the office workers into the main room, the wide angle shot shows all of the people that work for him and respect him. In addition, I also talked about the use and significance of an over-the-shoulder shot (or a dirty shot) when Belfort was making his speech because it made the viewer feel that they are also in the room listening to his speech and the camera was also mainly focusing on him because he was the centre of attention when he was making his speech. To improve this aspect of my presentation I could have talked about a wider range of camera angles and shots used in the scene and how they are effective and significant. I could have also analysed the scene in more detail and in context towards the rest of the film.  

Another way I could have improved my presentation would have been to talk about the significance of Jordan Belfort not leaving and what it meant towards the end of the film. I could have also talked about the plot of the film in a bit more detail such as how Belfort lived a crazy lifestyle that included taking drugs while having sex with women at the same time. He also sniffed cocaine while he was working in a stock exchange and still did while he was boss of his own stock exchange.

A further way I could have improved my presentation would have been to talk about why Leonardo Di Caprio was picked for the role of Jordan Belfort and I could have also talked about why Jonah Hill was cast as Belfort’s assistant in the film. I could have also talked about the relationship he has with the people that worked for him and inferred that from the scene that I chose to analyse. His relationship is clearly positive and shows togetherness with his workers when he starts humming and banging his chest with his fist. This is significant because when he talked to the guy that gave him his job at the stock exchange he started humming and banging his chest and then Belfort joined in when the guy told him to. Moreover, this was foreshadowing to the scene I analysed for my presentation when he also starts humming and banging his chest with his fist.

An alternative way I could have improved my presentation would have been to talk for a bit longer than I did because I only analysed 3 parts of the scene in minimal detail. I could have also talked about the significance of Belfort’s relationship with the people that work for him and what it meant throughout the movie, even though I did not analyse it in my quite short presentation. I could have also talked about how passionate Belfort went when he said that only a SWAT team could have brought him down and it also showed that he was confident and adamant that his company would stay in business.

Overall, I think that analysed most of the key parts of the scene and how the camera angles affected those parts but I still didn’t talk about the context of the scene in relation to the rest of the film, before and after the “I’m not leaving speech” scene. I could have also talked about the relationship he has with his workers and the guy that got him into the stock exchange business.

Wolf of Wall Street-I'm not leaving speech Presentation

Summer Task 4 - Media Institutions

1) The Big Six are a group of large corporations that control media companies in the United States of America.

2) The Big Six are: Comcast, The Walt Disney Company, 21st Century Fox, Time Warner, Viacom and CBS corporation. Comcast own companies such as Universal Pictures, NBC and MSNBC. Disney own companies such as Marvel, Lucasfilm and Pixar. 21st Century Fox own companies such as National Geographic, Fox News and The Wall Street Journal. Time Warner own companies such as CNN, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Viacom own companies such as MTV, Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures. CBS own companies such as the CBS TV network and sports network.

3) Comcast-The Purge Election Year

•  Budget: $10 million
• Cast: Frank Grillo, Elizabeth Mitchell, Christy Coco, Mykelti Williamson, Joseph Julian Soria, Betty Gabriel, Terry Serpico, Edwin Hodge, Kyle Secor and Liza Colón-Zayas
• Release date: 1st July 2016
• Directed by James DeMonaco
• Box Office: $96.1 million

Walt Disney Company- Jungle Book 

• Budget: $175 million
• Cast: Neel Sethi, Ritesh Rajan, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito, Christopher Walken, Garry Shandling, Brighton Rose, Jon Favreau, Sam Raimi, Russell Peters, Madeleine Favreau and Sara Arrington
• Release dates: 4th April 2016 (El Capitan Theatre) and 15th April 2016 (United States)
• Directed by Jon Favreau
• Box Office: $940.7 million

21st Century Fox- Deadpool

• Budget: $58 million
• Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T. J. Miller, Gina Carano, Leslie Uggams, Brianna Hildebrand, Stefan Kapičić and Karan Soni
• Release dates: 8th February 2016 (Le Grand Rex) and 12th February 2016 (United States)
• Directed by Tim Miller
• Box Office: $782.6 million

Time Warner-Conjuring 2

• Budget: $40 million
• Cast: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Frances O'Connor, Madison Wolfe, Simon McBurney, Franka Potente, Lauren Esposito, Patrick McAuley, Benjamin Haigh, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Simon Delaney, Shannon Kook, Sterling Jerins, Bob Adrian, Abhi Sinha, Robin Atkin Downes, Bonnie Aarons and Javier Botet
• Release dates: 7th June 2016 (TCL Chinese Theatre) and 10th June 2016 (United States)
• Directed by James Wan
• Box Office: $315.7 million

Viacom-Mission Impossible: Rouge Nation

• Budget: $150 million
• Cast: Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris, Alec Baldwin, Jens Hultén, Simon McBurney, Zhang Jingchu, Tom Hollander and Hermione Corfield
• Release dates: 23rd July 2015 (Vienna State Opera) and 31st July 2015 (United States
• Directed by Christopher McQuarrie
• Box Office: $682.3 million

CBS- Get a Job

• Cast: Miles Teller, Anna Kendrick, Brandon T. Jackson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Nicholas Braun, Cameron Richardson, Marcia Gay Harden, Alison Brie, Bryan Cranston, Jorge Garcia, John C. McGinley, John Cho, Greg Germann, Bruce Davison, Ethan Dizon and Jay Pharoah
• Directed by Dylan Kidd
• Release date: 25th March 2016 (United States)

Summer Task 3 - Different social groups in films essay

In this essay I will be discussing the role that the media plays in shaping our views or opinions on any one group in society and if the representation of these groups is positive or negative.

An example of negative representation of a group in society is the way female companions are presented in the Bond films, especially the ones that were made in the 60s and 70s. This can be inferred from the lines that the Bond character says in many of the films; for example, in the 1974 film, ‘The Man with The Golden Gun’, Bond says: “Miss Anders! I didn’t recognise you with your clothes on.” This suggests that female characters in the early Bond films were portrayed as sexual objects. Moreover, the way females were viewed in a 1960s/1970s society massively influenced the way that they were portrayed in the Bond films. However, this is still the case in more recent Bond films such as Skyfall (2012) regardless of the fact that society has changed more dramatically in the past few decades. For example, in the aforementioned film, a female called Evie says “Room service” but Bond replies quite bluntly and rudely by saying “I didn’t order anything, not even you”. This suggests that there is still an influence of sexism from today’s society regardless of that fact of how much it has moved on in so many decades. On the contrary, it may also depict that the average male wants to aspire to be like James Bond.

An example of positive representation of a group in society is the way alpha males are portrayed in films such as the 300 (2006) and Fight Club (1999). First of all, 300 appeals to the generic male audience as it has gratuitous violence and gore, fight scenes and harsh language. However, it also depicts King Leonidas as a loving and caring husband and father regardless of the war that he and his men are in. This shows that any man regardless of what they do can still be a caring family man at heart.

However, there is negative representation of black people in the 300 scene, in which a messenger of black colour, is kicked down a well by Leonidas to his unfortunate death. It is suggesting that all Persians in that time period were black which was probably untrue, although we do not know that for sure.

Another example of positive representation of the alpha male is in the film Fight Club.  It may depict a fighting culture in a club environment, however, it teaches the people in fight club rules and values to live their lives by. It also encourages recreational fighting between the males but also teaches us about the problems that people have with insomnia, which is the mental illness that the main character has. It also convinces us that you can still love someone without a mental illness affecting the relationship.

Summer Task 1 - Audience

This poster clearly shows that there are two different sides in this movie: good and evil. The two sides are seperated by Rey's spear and the colours also determine which people are enemies and the protagonists. The colour red connotes anger, blood and desire because Kylo Ren is angry as he wishes to be like his idol Darth Vader and he displays his anger by destroying a computer with his lightsaber when a general tells him that his stormtroopers couldn't find the droid that they were looking for, Ren's desire is to find the BB-8 droid that contains the map to find Luke Skywalker. His stormtroopers create bloodshed when they attack a village on a desert planet in search of the BB-8 droid. The colour blue suggests that the Jedi and Resistance are more calm and collected than Kylo Ren when it comes to finding the BB-8 droid. The older characters on the light side are also much wiser than Kylo Ren as he was mislead by Supreme Leader Snoke to join the dark side. The word 'force awakens' suggests that Star Wars is officially back for its many fans to enjoy. It also connotes that the battle between the Sith and the Jedi will return.