Batman Genre Analysis

Posted on by Standard Respond

How is The Dark Knight similar to generic superhero films?

  •  Batman has a secret alter ego and so he lives two lives which is similar to spider man and Superman.
  •  There is a clear protagonist (Batman) and a clear antagonist (Joker).
  •  The innocent are caught up in conflicts during the film.

How is The Dark Knight different to generic superhero films? 

  • Rachel the girl in the film dies in the end.
  • In the end the hero does not overcome the villain and win, Batman looses overall.
  • In most superhero films the hero has some sort of ability that makes them almighty and powerful. However Batman has no super human powers, physically he is just as human as anybody else in Gotham the only difference being is that he is very wealthy.

Narrative Analysis of a Pixar Movie

Posted on by Standard Respond

Narrative Analysis of: Up (Pixar 2009)

Structural moments in Up:

Act 1: We meet an old man called Carl and we get to see his life spent with Ellie, his wife. It is very sad towards the end of the montage because he becomes a widow and we understand his grumpiness and sympathize with him.

Act 2: We see that Carl’s house is in the middle of a construction sight and they want to demolish it. we then meet a scout called Russel who wants to assist Carl for a badge. Carl finally follows his life long dream and floats away with his house to Paradise Falls.

Act 3: Carl finds out that Russel is on board and wants to drop him off but they hit a storm and Carl is knocked out. When he wakes up they find themselves on a cliff opposite Paradise Falls and a trek is ahead of them.

Act 4: As the head towards Paradise Falls Carl and Russel’s bond gets stronger. They stumble across an extremely rare bird and they call it Kevin. they also meet dug the talking dog and a pack of other talking dogs. They lead Carl and Russel to Charles Muntz Carl’s child hood hero but he turns out to be a villain and wants to capture Kevin. They try to escape and Carl looses his house in the process.

Act 5: Lastly Kevin is returned to her chicks and Carl and Russel with Dug go home where Russel finally gets his last badge which turns out to be the Ellie badge that Carl had worn since he was a young boy. Carl lives on happy and without loneliness he is a changed man compared to the start of the film.

Character types:

  • Carl – Carl is the main character in the film who changes throughout the film like Scrooge in A Christmas Choral.
  • Russell – Russell gives Carl a wake up call and helps to change him for the better. he is the hero of the film.
  • Dug – Dug is a helper in the film that helps and guides when problems are encountered.
  • Charles Muntz – Charles is the antagonist who turns on them after acting as a hero. He creates problems for Carl and Russel throughout the film.

Conflicts and themes:

  • There is a theme of loneliness in Carl’s life after Ellie dies.
  • The conflict of letting the past go and moving on with Carl when he has to let go of his house.
  • The conflict between Russel and Charles Muntz about Kevin.
  • The conflict for Carl between the Charles Muntz he taught he knew and the Charles Muntz he now sees.

 

 

Genre Analysis Of Pan’s Labyrinth

Posted on by Standard Respond

Similarities between Pan’s Labyrinth and the fantasy genre:

  • Many locations seen in Pan’s Labyrinth are similar to the generic locations you might find in fantasy films such as mysterious forests, ancient buildings/structures and long unnerving corridors. Also the first and last shots in Pan’s Labyrinth (the underground kingdom and the throne room) perfectly capture typical locations you would see in fantasy films.
  • The film has a clear villain, Captain Vidal who is the most powerful character in the film which is typical of the fantasy genre.
  • The main character, Ophelia is sent on quests throughout the film.
  • In the film the majority of characters were either on the side of good or on the side of evil and there were struggles between them.
  • Mercedes, one of the characters we root for in the film is faced by overwhelming odds of survival but by some miracle she is saved and comes out unharmed. This happens in The Lord of The Rings and is very typical of fantasy films, to me it suggests ‘plot armour’ so at the end of the film I was very shocked.

Differences between Pan’s Labyrinth and the fantasy genre:

  • Typically in the fantasy genre at the end of the film the main character continues living their lives happily ever after, having dealt with the evil villain. However in Pan’s Labyrinth the end leaves us speechless as the main character dies at the hands of the villain which is not at all expected.
  • Throughout the whole of Pan’s Labyrinth there are no huge battles typical of the fantasy genre. The only real battle sequence fits more into the war genre partly because of the iconography and also because of how believable it seems to be in the film, it shows the depressing reality of war and not an epic battle that we all love to watch.
  • The Faun is an interesting character in this movie who doesn’t quite seem to fit the donor archetype. The donor in a film would help the protagonist (Ophelia) by giving advice and objects to aid in the quest. They are often wise, kind and trusted but the Faun looses its temper and cant handle Ophelia’s disobedience. From the start we can’t trust him like we all do when we first meet Gandalf The Grey or Dumbledore.

Genre Poster

Posted on by Standard Respond

Reflection on how far the poster identifies generic conventions.

  • Iconography of the plane is typical of the war genre
  • Large scale battles often features in war genre films
  • Historical settings like Omaha Beach
  • Themes of innocent lives lost

My Favorite Film

Posted on by Standard Respond

Misery is one of my favourite films for many reasons. Firstly the acting in this film is phenomenal especially from Kathy Bates, whose character is Annie Wilkes. She is able to transform the character’s mood drastically in the space of only a few moments in a scene, from a kind and gentle ‘number one fan’ to a dangerously obsessive monstrous psychopath that we are all scared of.

Secondly the film is a thriller and is one of the only thrillers I have seen that has so much suspense throughout and doesn’t rely on special effects and gore when it comes to the most shocking and tense parts of the film. Some thrillers that have pulled this off include: Silence Of The Lambs, The Guilty and The Babadook all of which I would strongly recommend. I particularly enjoyed how we see Paul Sheldon’s (played by James Caan) injuries slowly getting better along with his increasing desperation to escape Annie Wilkes’ clutches contrast with Annie’s growing love and obsession with him and her desperation to keep Paul under her roof.  All the while she plans her disturbing romantic fantasies with him.

All these things combined including macro features such as the genre which I love and the star of the film Kathy Bates makes Misery one of the best films I could possibly recommend to a film buff who can bear a night of nail biting suspense.