Task 4 - Textual analysis of chosen film sequence

The film ‘Hook’ is my chosen focus film, it comes under the fantasy-adventure genre, this genre is a mixture of being in an unknown place with excitement and struggles as well as being filled with mythical creatures, magic and the supernatural. ‘Hook’ is all of these things, we are transported, with Peter, to Neverland, an unknown, magical land full of magic and mythical people, there is excitement and battles as well as personal struggles and so it fits in with this genre perfectly. This film fits in with the codes and conventions of a fantasy-adventure film, firstly it is an emotive, linear storyline, with struggles that make the audience sympathise with the characters who are portrayed innocently and almost childlike. The storyline is in a linear order, discovery, then an obstacle comes along and then a happy ending, it has a positive narrative outcome and an escapist character, looking for his past and undertaking a quest to save his children from the evil character with other struggles along the way. Another code and convention is that it is targeted at a younger audience but has older appeal and it is widely distributed internationally, not just domestically as well as the production cost being high, which it was compared to other films at the time. Other films in this genre are successful franchises such as Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia.

‘Hook’ is a twist on the original Peter Pan story, instead, we see Peter Pan as a grown man who is married with children, they go to London to visit Moira (Peters Wife) grandmother, Wendy Darling. Peter and the two children go to Neverland where Peter has to then convince the lost boys it really is him after tinkerbell reminds him about his past in Neverland and he relearns everything he had lost when he left Neverland to grow up such as fighting and flying. Peter has to rescue his kids from Captain Hook who has tried to convince them that he is their father and Peter is evil and through the lost boys and tinkerbells help, there is a battle between Peter and Hook resulting in Peter winning, Hook dying and them returning happily back to London.

There are many different narrative theories and I’m going to explain the main three below:

Propp’s theory was developed after his study of Russian folklore and fairy tales, he studied how there is always certain types of characters and a linear sequence of events, starting from an initial situation, a character from the family leaves on a quest although there is an interdiction given to the character, then the villain makes an appearance and takes something, after this the hero character decides to counter-act and make a plan on how to make things right again before being helped by a side-kick and others to achieve this goal and eventually have a battle with the villain, rescuing what they lost and being called a hero. That is a very brief description of the 31 steps Vladimir Propp set out as the narrative structure and I think it is a perfect description of Hook, the storyline pretty much is identical to Propp’s theory of narrative structure, as there is an initial situation, an obstacle that they have to train to overcome and resolve and then resolving it and a happy ending. Propp’s character theory is also correct and relevant to Hook, as there is a Hero (Peter Pan), a villain (Captain Hook), a magical helper (tinkerbell), the prize (the children who have been kidnapped) and the donor (the lost boys and eventually Rufio, who at first is the false hero). Hook complies perfectly with Propp’s theory as it is a linear sequence matching his fairy tale narrative structure and has all the characters that Propp concluded are in these films.

 

Todorov was a Bulgarian who’s started publishing his theories from the 1960’s, his theory is that at the beginning of the film there is a state of equilibrium which is then disrupted and there is an issue and struggle for the hero, which is followed by a resolution and back to the state of equilibrium. I think Hook also complies with this theory as well as Propp’s, they are both very similar but Todorov’s is more of an overview in less detail than Propp’s. There is a state of equilibrium at the start of the film when they visit London and first arrive in Neverland, then the disruption is Hook taking the kids and the battle and then equilibrium is returned when Hook is dead and Peter is a hero and they return to London. This theory is common amongst most films, most have a happy start, a problem and then a happy ending.

Lastly there is Levi-Strauss’ theory, he believed in binary opposites which are the sets of opposite values in a text, for example Good and Evil, Weak and Strong etc. He was not interested in syntagmatic relations so how the narrative structure of events in the plot goes but he was interested in the paradigmatic relation which focuses more on the themes. I also think this theory comes into place in the film Hook, there is a clear good and evil character although this can be turned around, the audience sees hook as the bad character (from previous knowledge of the role of Captain Hook), however throughout the film he comes across as the good character towards the children and pirates but evil to everyone else whereas Rufio, comes off as a bad character at first but he, over time, turns into a character you sympathise with and love, however Levi-Strauss’ theory of binary opposites exists throughout the themes of the film.

I’m analysing an emotional and memorable part of ‘Hook’, when one of the youngest lost boys goes up to Peter, starts moving is face and seeing if it is the real Peter Pan, after one minute of this with no speech, he pulls his face back and says “oh there you are Peter!” and some of the other lost boys run over to look closer, Rufio who is the current leader of The Lost Boys, stands his authority and they go running back, the little boy stands up for Peter and the lost boys run back and forth between Peter and Rufio, not sure of who to follow, Peter then stands up and says how his kids are in danger and he needs their help to save them. In this scene there is emotional, classical music playing to match the tone of the scene, the music is called ‘You are the Pan’ by John Williams, who composed the soundtrack for Hook; orchestral music is common in fantasy-adventure films, it can quickly change the tone from happy to angry to sad to happy again in a second which a song with lyrics is unable to do. This non-diegetic music plays over the top of this important, emotional scene to create a tone and a mood, for the first minute of the two minute scene, it is completely silent and so the music is the most important component of the scene and that tells the audience how to feel. My denotation of this scene is how we watch the young boy walks over to Peter and sits him down, the camera movements and editing is slow to match the tone, we see a close up of the boy, then a panning long shot of him walking round Peter, capturing the lost boys, stood watching, we then get over the shoulder shots of both Peter and the lost boy as he feels his face, trying to identify who this man is. We get reaction shots and a realistic and moving performance from this little boy, semiotics show the audience that we should feel suspense for whether this boy will recognise Peter and we can see how concentrated he is into trying to discover if it is Peter.  The music then gets louder and more dramatic when the other lost boys run to see Peter from a low shot camera angle, then we get a close up of Rufio, realising that he may not be leader anymore and his power is going away, then onto a panning close-up of Tinkerbell who is smiling because the lost boys recognise him. We then get Rufio asserting his authority with low angle side shots of him, the connotation of this is that it tells the audience that he has the power and he is bigger than us. There are a range of different camera shots like high shots, low shots, long shots, mid-shots etc., all combined it gives the viewer a chance to see the scene from different angles, seeing close ups of all their reactions to what is happening. I love the cinematography in this scene, like I mentioned earlier, we have a low angle shot of Rufio to show the audience that he has power, but on the other hand, when the camera is on Peter, it’s either high angle or eye-level, it makes the audience feel like they are amongst the huddle and actually there, shows the audience he is the character we want to sympathise with and like. The editing and cuts are slow unlike the battle scenes where there is a lot of action and it needs to be fast-paced because it fits the tempo of the acting however in this scene it is very emotional and there is no need for fast cuts, it would not suit the nature of the scene, children also will be able to understand and identify what they should feel by the editing e.g. excitement, suspense and nerves when fast editing and sad and empathetic in a slow cut scene. Mise-en-scene is a big component of this film, if it didn’t have the realistic props and scenery then it wouldn’t be the film that it is, the majority of the reviews say that this was the best element of the film. We get a restricted view as the audience to this scene, we don’t know what will happen or how Rufio will react any more than the main character, it is restricted viewing throughout. Overall, this scene fits in with its genre of a fantasy film as it is slow-paced, orchestral music with gentle camera movements which make the audience feel the emotion they are trying to portray, the lighting, the costumes, the acting, the soundtrack and visual elements all add up to make this a key, momentous event in the film where the lost boys follow Peter instead of Rufio, believing him to be the real Peter Pan and so I think this is the most important moment with the film but also the most underrated for its beautiful cinematography, capturing both the emotion, anger and happiness of the event from all angles. The director manages to perfectly identify and portray how the main character is having an identity crisis as well as many other problems which adult viewers can relate with. Many other films in the fantasy-adventure genre have similar editing styles, it is slow editing the majority of the way through the film, however in the action scenes fast cuts are made to emphasise the action, suspense and excitement. They all have similar narrative structure to this film and so I think Hook fits in with its genre through the codes and conventions shown.

The denotation of the costumes is that Tinkerbell is dressed in pretty dresses, emphasises her femininity amongst all the males in Neverland and women are meant to empathise with her because she is in love with peter and everyone knows what unrequited love feels like but women tend to prefer it in movies and so this is how Tinkerbell is liked and relatable to women. How Peter and all the lost boys are in scruffy clothes, hats, smart shirts or t-shirts and shorts or trouser, a range but all look scruffy but innocent, this gives the impression to the audience that they are the weaker and more vulnerable characters that are in need of help, we sympathise with them because they are seen to be the ones with all the problems. On the other hand Rufio is dressed in black and red, these colours generally represent danger and darkness. He is wearing black jeans with cuts down them, bracelets, has black hair with 3 red Mohawks, a very distinctive look for the leader of the Lost boys, he is also a teenager whereas all the other lost boys are 12 and under, the connotation is that he is the one they look up to because he is older, like all children do, the way he dresses shows his individuality, leadership and power above the group and is a stereotypical ‘bad boy rebel’ who is dangerous and up to no good. Despite this look, as the film continues we see his true personality and how he is in fact a good character and so the message I think this teaches children is that you shouldn’t judge a person by what they look like because there is more to them than that, a person who you could think is bad is actually good.  Again we can see within the pirates the same separation in authority through clothing, Captain Hook is regally dressed, again in red to show us that he is dangerous however he looks very royal, however the pirates who all obey him are scruffily dressed too, this tells us that Captain Hook is the leader and the person of most importance who they all look up to and the pirates are below him and of a lower class. The fact that The Lost Boys are young boys, especially the main ones are under the age of 8, we immediately feel empathy for them, want the best for them, want them to be safe and find them cute, it’s an appeal to women, maybe even men, as they look so innocent even though they fight and kill pirates. Adults can also sympathise with Peter Pan, long days at work and a hard family life because you have to provide, not having imagination like your child and constantly thinking of safeness and money; the character brings real life every day struggles, into the main character.

Some dominant ideology that I can see in this film is the family life through the narrative theory set up by Todorov, Peter has his family life and it is fine, the kids are kidnapped by Captain Hook and he has to save them, he battles with Hook and rescues the children and goes home and the family life is better, family values are an important ideal for most adults and for children to look up to and this demonstrates that. Another ideology present is that Tinkerbell is the only woman around, she is highly respected amongst The Lost Boys and she is a mother figure to them all, it shows that women also can have an important role and power however they all look up and follow Rufio, the older male and that’s also an ideology amongst others present throughout the film.

Task 3 - Key Media Theories

1.       Description and analysis of three audience theories

There are three main types of audience theories, the first one is the hypodermic syringe theory, this theory dates from the 1920’s and is to believe that mass audiences submissively receive information from the media that is given to them with no questions; the information is being ‘injected’ into them, and so this creates an audience who are passive, meaning that the opinion and intelligence of the individual receiving information from the media isn’t relative to the reception of the text. In the 1920’s and onwards, this was a way of propaganda, especially in the world wars (e.g. Hitler and getting the German people to support him) as they thought this was a way to change the populations way of thinking, as mass media was new to them. In present times this theory still exists, some people believe that the trends at the time will influence how people will be and determine their lives as well as the thought that subconsciously we perceive our opinions on what we have heard from the media, for example, you don’t really pay much attention to the television during adverts, but the name of a film or product that is played on adverts throughout the day and for weeks, subconsciously you receive and remember that name and so that is what you first think of if you decide to go see a film/buy a product.  A successful example of the hypodermic syringe theory is when ‘War of the worlds’ was broadcast on October 30^th 1938, millions were listening and although it was introduced, the script (set in the present day) and sudden news bulletin saying how martians were invading the planet, many people believed this and so went into panic, this caused traffic, hysteria, began to ration food and people left home to seek safety – this is how one small broadcast can influence a mass audience into believing something is real and correct, without them questioning it.

The next theory is uses and gratifications, this is the complete opposite to the hypodermic syringe theory, this theory suggests that audiences aren’t passive, they in fact are individuals and consume and interpret the media texts in different ways and for different reasons (you choose what to watch for your own gain); this first developed in the 1960’s as this was the generation that was growing up with media surrounding them. In 1974 a theory published by Blulmer and Katz stated that individuals might choose a text down to these reasons: Diversion (an escape from reality), Personal Relationships (emotional/interactions), Personal Identity (your personality reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values from them) and Surveillance (useful information for life). Of course these have modernised over the years, nowadays it is more about social networking, on social network sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, we can use it as surveillance e.g. we can keep up with news and what is happening all over the world in an instant, for personal relationships e.g. finding someone the other side of the world or even from your own country who you have similar interests with and connect. Television is another way to the reception theory comes into place, e.g. watching the film Twilight or Harry Potter, you are transported to a magical world that is to exist within everyday life, and you can escape the reality of life and live in this magical world. This theory suggests that the media have no input on your decisions and that decisions and your opinions are completely up to the individual, also that it is more social, such as going to the cinema with your friends, even if you do not want to see that film, you go for the social side of it, so it is less about what the film is like but the reasons for going and the effect the film can have instead.

The last theory is the reception theory, this is a 1980’s/90’s development of the uses and gratification theory, meaning that a text is read and interpreted differently depending on the individuals lives (their gender, age, ethnicity, location, social class). Stuart Hall’s model of encoding and decoding, meaning that the text can be interpreted in totally different ways, from the producers encoding of the text to the audiences decoding of it. A way for the producers to get around this and get the audience to agree to a certain extent what its intended message and purpose was so they can agree on certain aspects, this can be done through expectations of the codes and conventions in genres and what celebrities are appearing. There are three different interpretations and readings of a text, firstly there is preferred reading which is where the audience agree with the messages and values that the producer is putting across through the text, an example of this is Miley Cyrus’ music video for ‘Wrecking Ball’, the preferred reading for this is for us to see she is hurt, is fragile after her heart being broken, very emotional and also introducing her new identity as she has grown up and changed her look. A negotiated reading is when the producers and audience agree on some but not all of the ideas of the text, for example we agree that Miley is hurt and has gone through emotional pain and has grown up, she’s no longer a teenager however we disagree that there should be nudity in her video as she is a role model for children and was the main character in kids programme Hannah Montana, so it is not appropriate. Lastly oppositional reading, when the values and preferred reading of the media text is completely rejected by the audience, the example of this is that Wrecking Ball’s video idea is stupid, that it is unethical and a terrible role model for a child because she was Hannah Montana, completely gone wild and away from what she was. There are many different ways a person can interpret and read a text, depending on the individual as they have the choice of how they want to read it and why, the same text can be read in many different ways which can be both a negative and positive thing (positively it means we are all individuals with our own opinions and choices but on the other hand it is negative as we all will not understand what is meant by it and so it can be misunderstood and taken the wrong way so possible offence). However mass text can reach a mass audience in a certain way still and so in the future the ways we receive and interpret texts will develop and differ.

2.       Why was your own product produced?

My chosen film ‘Hook’ would come under a fantasy adventure genre, it comes under this genre as it involves not only magic, but mythical creatures such as fairies and mermaid as well as it being in a magical, made-up location and having supernatural abilities like flying. It is an adventure film also as it is in an exotic, magical location, there is mystery, pirates, challenges and training for a battle as well as the big battle scene at the end – we see the main character Peter travel to Neverland with his children and it is unknown what will happen once there or what it would be like or who’d he come across. The genre expectations for a fantasy adventure film are that it takes you to a fantasy and not known location, which is fulfilled in the film Hook when they go to Neverland (a place that everyone knows through the children’s story Peter Pan). When you think of a fantasy film, you think of mythical creatures, a different dimension, a world that doesn’t exist that you wish did, they fulfil all your childhood wishes to have superpowers or beliefs in these magical creatures, these films bring that to life and take you to a different world where you can escape from reality. In an adventure film you expect the unknown, battles, a villain and an exotic location, you want action but at a slower pace and not that being the focused aspect. I think personally that Hook fulfils the codes and conventions of a fantasy adventure film and lives up to the genre expectations, that it is specific and a successful fantasy adventure film for its target audience.

The target audience for this film would be children between the ages of 8 – 15, although this is a fantasy film that includes magic and mythical creatures that younger kids would enjoy, the story is a lot darker and more complex, this is a twist on the typical Peter Pan, although Captain Hook and the pirates are bad in all other Peter Pan versions, in this version they are scarier and their characters are more developed in this film. Younger children might not understand or relate to this film as much as the older children as all the characters (apart from the children and the lost boys, who are older than originally) all the characters are adults, like Peter Pan and Tinkerbell and this isn’t the perceived image of them when you think of Peter Pan. Older children like the target audience will understand the problems and emotions in the complex storyline more (Peter has to battle with Rufio to become the leader of the lost boys, while tinkerbell is in love with peter, while the kids are being enticed by Hook, it is no longer the simple story that young children understand), they tend to pick up codes and conventions and emotions of the characters rather than just sit and watch the film for entertainment. Not only this but the look of Neverland is very different to the other adaptations, for example, in the 1953 and 2003 versions, it is an tropical island full of jungle and lagoons where the only inhabitants are Peter Pan, The Lost Boys, Fairies, Mermaids and The Pirates, whereas in Hook, there is a town with shops and civilisation as well as a baseball arena and town clock, there is a community. Another reason why it would not appeal to a younger audience is that it is not an animation, but has real actors, this is not appealing to younger children whereas to older children, they know who the actors are and so if one of them is their favourite actor, they will enjoy seeing them act; it is more real and connects more with the audience this way. Fantasy adventure films have been proven to be popular and a success through all Disney films (e.g. Frozen, The Wizard of Oz, Aladdin), franchises such as ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘The Chronicles Of Narnia’ as well as films such as ‘Night at the Museum’ and ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’. All of these films have had tremendous success with not only children, but with adults too, they are all so well known that they are known as classics, the majority of the population have seen them. The popularity of these films show that although they are fantasy, not only children enjoy these films but adults too, and I think this is why they were such a big success. Films in the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series are aimed more at the 8+ year olds, this is because they are a more complex storyline and scarier whereas Night at the Museum is a comedy as well as having that fantasy and adventure element. The success of these films show that fantasy-adventure is an up and coming genre where films are increasingly being made thanks to the special effects and technology that we have in the modern world.

3.       How was it received?

Hook was an international success and made a worldwide gross profit of $300,854,823, in fact, it had more foreign success than domestic, with foreign countries making up 60% of the overall profit. We can see on box office mojo that it was the number one film for a month before dropping chart position, although still being highly ranked; we can also see that the opening week was less successful than the second and third week of release, this shows us that people thought the film was good so spread the word to their friends about it, telling them to watch it to. The film was also in cinemas from the beginning of December until the end of May, this tells us that this film was very popular in order to stay in some cinemas that long as it is quite rare that this happens. On IMDb, the film got 6.6 out of 10, although reading through user reviews, the majority rate this film very highly, saying ‘reminds me of childhood’ ‘a classic’ ‘I love this film!’ ‘Dustin Hoffman gets you hooked’, so this shows that the audience who watch this film, no matter the age, enjoy it however the film critics are a bit more harsh and marked it down, as they know more information about films and therefore don’t watch them just out of enjoyment, but to analyse them. One critic from BBCi said that the sets and props were beautiful however it was “a messy and incoherent effort”. Another from the New York Times says that “the film is too much” as for the target audience, it is hard for them to connect and identify with them however he does praise Dustin Hoffman’s performance. On Rotten Tomatoes the critics gave it 31% out of 100%, saying that it was a “40 million dollar set and a 5 cent script” and “No matter how much cash Hook earns, it will take more than pixie dust to fly this overstuffed package into our dreams.”, most calling it appalling and Spielberg’s worst – these are critics looking at the finer details of the film rather than seeing it in a social, entertainment way, we can see a difference in this (the way you watch it determines how you perceive it as) the audience/public gave it 76% out of 100% so a lot more positive.

4.       Audience Theory

I think the message of this film is that everyone grows up, but that doesn’t mean you lose your imagination, shows children that it is important to be true and remember who you are and as you grow up, don’t lose yourself in work, focus on yourself and put your family first; I don’t think this came across as an obvious message so audiences wouldn’t particularly accept them, however it is the main message and theme of the film. I don’t think the hypodermic syringe theory applies to this film as a mass audience haven’t been impacted and passive to the messages in it, as there aren’t any that are very prominent.

I think the Uses and Gratifications theory applied most to this film, it was a very social film, as we saw by the length of time it was in the cinema and the box office success of it, I’m guessing by mainly word of mouth. Because it is a fantasy film and set in a mythical land and has magical creatures, it is a diversion, an escape from reality, because the time that it is on, you are transported to another world, one that isn’t like reality and I think that is a big draw to not only this film, but all fantasy films – it takes you out of reality and a world where we wished we lived. I think audiences enjoyed this factor of the film and so that’s the reason why it was successful. In terms of personal development, you can, as an adult, relate to the emotions, issues and life of the adults in this film, it is a twist on the original Peter Pan story and this version has a lot more real life problems that a lot of people can relate to so it becomes more real for them, they can see themselves in them characters. I think it is also a social film, where you would go to the cinema to watch it with your friends even if you weren’t particularly interested in watching it, and also a nice film to sit and watch at home with your family; it is a social, entertainment film that you’re meant to sit back and relax watching, escaping from the real world.

In terms of the reception theory, I think the preferred reading of what the director wanted you to view it as is that it is a complete and clever twist on the original Peter Pan, and as the name suggests, focus more on the character Captain Hook. We’re meant to see that the design was beautiful and the plot was well thought out with the basic plot line of Peter Pan but make it different enough that it stands out from the other adaptations. On the other hand, the oppositional reading that the audience could have is that it is too different, that having the main character that said he would ‘never grow up’ as an adult is a big mistake and that it is too different from the original and so they have ruined the original and magical story of Peter Pan for children, and that they would not be able to relate to it and so be less interested. The negotiated reading of Hook would be that it was a clever idea to have a grown up Peter Pan going back to Neverland and relearning everything he once knew as his life, and that it is a twist and stands out, however it ruins the original magic of the film and children will not be interested as it is too complex and is not what they see as Peter Pan as it is so different. You can read this film in many ways and it all depends on who the audience is and how they receive the film.