1B Essays

Narrative essay 1b

Narrative is a term used in media of which means to communicate the storyline through the uses devices. The sub-genre I have chosen for my trailer is psychological. The trailer most influential and alike mine is The Vatican tapes. The Vatican tapes is conventional to the general genre of horror as it follows the codes and conventions of illustrating a narrative. The Vatican tapes is inclusive of the stereotypical attributes of 'the other' (being the possessive being, the antagonist), the use of teenagers and the protagonists. 

The trailer uses Todorov's theory of structure to illustrate the narrative. His theory states every horror film is inclusive of 3 stages: equilibrium, disequilibrium and resolution. The Vatican tapes is a trailer of which shows all three of these stages, however only to an extent. The idea of any trailer is to entice the audience into watching the film, it should only show the beginning and middle and tease the end rather than give it completely away. The resolution part of Todorov's theory is usually at the end of a film, but it is shown in The Vatican tapes to a certain extent. The stages also are not portrayed in the typically conventional way that would be expected. The trailer starts out with a short equilibrium of a synagogue/place of worship with a priest praying inside however is followed with a transitional slide giving history of the film, allowing insight of the past and what the film will be about. This scene is the disequilibrium as it is a disruption on the next shots shown, of which is a teenager's birthday party. The party shows the equilibrium of the film, the happy, content place in suburbia this mirroring safety and security. However the disruption is introduced again as the teenager becomes possessed, each scene speeds up and shows codes and conventions of the psychological sub-genre it is following, e.g. levitation, scarring, bruising etc. The resolution is then hinted through the use of conventional character for psychological horrors. The use of priests hint at the resolution of film as they perform exorcisms on the possessed. 

Carroll's theory of stages in a horror also helps contrast the narrative of a horror. The trailer shows the three stages: onset phase, discovery phase and disruption. The onset phase is the disorder of the 'monster' this is shown in the trailer as the possession begins to become evident for the turning-antagonist and the discovery phase is when those around her notice also. The disruption, alike Todorov's theory, is at the stage when the disorder is destroyed. The disruption in this trailer is shown through the use of priests and their dialogue.

Levi-Strauss' theory of binary opposites also allows the audience to understand the narrative in the trailer. The use of binary opposites shown is bad v good and man v female. The bad is represented as the female as she is the possessed and the good is illustrated as the priests trying to exorcise the possessed. This also links to the feminist theory's on horror as it shows that the patriarchy is dominating females as they are shown to be vulnerable and easily turned evil. The good v evil opposites shown allow the audience to understand who are the protagonists and the antagonist and who they should be afraid of.

In conclusion the trailer: The Vatican Tapes, uses a mixture of typical media conventions such as dialogue, language, scenery, lighting and camera shots/editing to illustrate a narrative and also pairs all of this with theories applied to the genre and sub-genre. 

Representation essay 1B

Gender is the main topic area to be discussed in The Vatican Tapes. The men in the film are the protagonists and thus are seen to be hero's. The men, although not as powerful as the possessed, are still portrayed as dominant. The men are represented as brave and moral men as they are ordinary mortals yet try and rid the girl of the demon possessing her, the supernatural.The social construction of 'masculinity' is represented in the film as the it mimicks the fantasy fairytale idea of a man saving he vulnerable female.

Robin Wood said: “One might say that the true subject of the horror genre is the struggle for recognition of all that our civilization represses and oppresses". He states that horror films have subtext's behind the shocking of the audience. Stating that the main subtext is the oppression in society. This can be applied to The Vatican Tapes in relation to Mulvey's theory of the male gaze as the main female role, although the antagonist, is dressed in 'pure' colours such as white and she has minimal makeup, loose, untouched hair thus creating an 'innocent' virginal or child like appearance.

“To gaze implies more than to look at – it signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze”, this was stated by Jonathan Schroeder. This quote portrays a feminist view as it emphasises that horror submits to the patriarchy and male dominance in society. The feminist view-point is represented in The Vatican Tapes as the possessed is female and thus shows her weakness as her body become took over and thus led to her losing control of herself. Furthermore, the patriarchal representation is put under emphasis as there is only one prominent female in the trailer. The rest of the actors are male and thus this represents the dominance of males in society.

Mulvey's male gaze theory is represented in The Vatican Tapes as there is only one female who is prominent in the trailer and she is wearing a white shirt night gown throughout the majority of the trailer. This draws on the male gaze as the audience judge the character on her appearance and her body is on show thus enticing the men's attention.

Genre essay 1B

"Genre is a recurring type of category of text as defined by structural and thematic change" - David Buckingham

Genre within the film industry divides the productions into those that have similar attributing factors such as narratives/contexts, characters, mise-en-scene and iconography.

Horror is a genre and can be further categorised into hybrids and sub-genres. Hybrid genre is two or more genres merged together for example mixing sci-fi and horror in Alien films. Sub-genre's of horror are mainly categorised into one of the nine following: slasher, splatter, psychological, thriller, monster, vampire, werewolf, j-horror or zombie. Each genre and sub-genre has a collection of codes and conventions they follow strictly to ensure they are fitting within the genre successfully and the audience can tell the sub-genre automatically through the familiarity. 

Burdon's theory states that there is a constant in genre as it is inclusive of stock characters and situations, iconography, setting and history and consistent themes. This is all makes up the 'genre formula'. I intend on applying Burdon's theory to my trailer as I will be including intertextual references in my trailer to ensure it follows the codes and conventions of the genre I intend on using.

Metz is a theorist whom states there are 4 stages in genre: experimental, classical, revision stage,  parodic stage and deconstructive. These stages have developed over the years of cinematography as they all tested the boundaries of genre. 

Neale states that repetition in genre is key. The intertextual references used from previous films in the genre make the film predictable and thus the audience can easily identify and place the film in a genre. I will be using this theory in my trailer as I have taken a multitude of references from previous films made to ensure familiarity is evident for he audience.