Critical Film Analysis

In this essay I shall be looking at the movie Blue Velvet (David Lynch – 1986) to which I shall be applying an analysis of voyeurism and feminism and how it features throughout the theme of this filmic text. I will also be looking at the movie Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper – 1969) and identifying why this film is classified as an alternative film.

In the opening sequence of Blue Velvet the vision of the audience is blocked by a curtain. Soon after the audience are looking at a white picket fence and in front some roses. The curtain and the fence represent a barrier which makes the viewer intrigued to what is behind, therefore setting up the audience to become voyeurs themselves.

What makes the audience, also known as the spectator, more intrigued is after the shots of the waving fireman passing on the fire truck and the lollipop lady helping the children across the road, a housewife watching TV and lots more shots of white picket fences we see a man collapse in the garden while watering the plants the camera passes over him and goes under the surface of the grass and we are faced with grotesque bugs battling one another. This is a representation that we have gone underneath the surface of the picturesque and beautiful town and that we are now in the dark underbelly of the peaceful idyllic suburbia or as Paul Martinovic writes; “beneath the gleaming enamel of an American smile is rotting gums and bad breath”. This creates a binary opposition as the spectator is given a representation of a friendly tranquil town which shields its dark and twisted sinister truth.

The story is about Jeffrey Beaumont who returns back to his home town from college and finds a severed ear in a field near to his home. The result of this is Jeffrey finds himself trying to investigate the criminal world while at the same time being torn between the affections of two women.  In Jeffrey’s endeavours he sees events play out and at times directly involved with this dangerous but exciting environment during his tribulations to reveal the truth. Jeffrey becomes the voyeur and he wants to see what is going on so he can investigate

The boundaries and barriers used to hide the vision of the spectatorship sets up the desire for the audience to look. The boundaries and barriers are used to hide the vision of the spectatorship so the audience can’t see. This sets up a forbidden pleasure and therefore creating the morbid urge and desire to look. This becomes evident in the scene where Jeffery hides in the cupboard after breaking in to Dorothy’s apartment and witnesses the bizarre sexual relationship between Dorothy and Frank.

During this scene it intercuts between the camera, representing the spectatorships eyes, watching Frank abuse, belittle and rape Dorothy to Jeffrey looking through the slats of the cupboard door. Jeffrey has become voyeuristic as he watches this attack and so too does the spectatorship as this makes the audience wanting to know what is going on between Frank and Dorothy but at the same time wanting to know how Jeffrey is reacting to what he is witnessing.

According to feminist psychoanalytic film theorist Laura Mulvey, the relationships between Jeffrey, Frank and Dorothy represent a metaphorical Oedipal family. The Oedipus Complex refers to a 5^th-Century mythical character called Oedipus who unwittingly kills his father and then marries his mother. Psychoanalytic theory suggests the term Oedipus Complex denotes that emotions and ideas, kept in the unconscious mind, a child’s desire to sexually possess the parent of the opposite sex, i.e. males attracted to their mothers.

Laura Mulvey claims Franks violence is symbolic of different types of domestic abuse within families and the control he has over Dorothy is representative of the hold an abusive husband has over his wife.

Gaye Tuchman, another feminist theorist claims that women are sexually annihilated and that the roles that they represent within media are submissive, repressive and that the media distort the audience’s conceptualization of women. In Dorothy’s case this seems to be true as she is under the brutal control of Frank, and when she discovers Jeffrey in her cupboard she initiates the sexual relationship requesting him to hit her.

It is apparent that women are often featured regressively in filmic texts to appear to make the men more dominant, when actually we are being exposed to the weaknesses of men. This makes the appeal of the audience to become more voyeuristic and therefore able to enjoy films such as Blue Velvet.

Alternative movies are described as such as they often do not follow the convention of classic Hollywood movies, from raising finances for the project to its screening in the cinema. Taking the film Easy Rider for example, it’s alternative from the very beginning in such that the funds raised for the project would not have come from a studio but instead independently sourced from private investors by the producer of the film. 

Easy Rider is a film about finding your freedom from a conformist and corrupt America. In the year this film was made there were two assassinations, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the Viet-Nam war and the build up to Nixon’s election as well as the Woodstock Festival, and is a reflection of the collapse of the idealistic 1960s. Young audiences of during this era watched this film to reflect their hopes of a more liberal lifestyle while at the same time fearing the American establishment. American film critic, Vincent Canby, wrote: “Easy Rider was not a great film, but an accurate if overstated dramatization of the fears of many people, especially young people, who were shocked to realize that perhaps there were flaws in the system.”

The story, which uses conventional cinematography, is told in a traditional linear, goal-centred narrative. There is closure too, but neither what the characters, nor certainly what the spectatorship expect! What is unusual, therefore making this narrative alternative, are several mini-narratives by the use of popular music as Wyatt and Bill ride through and across the American landscape. In conventional cinema they story would rely on the actors to deliver a believable portrayal of their characters to reflect their feelings and emotions but the producers of Easy Rider have used popular music to do just that for several scenes.

The story is a counter-culture, anti-establishment tale. In an early scene, Wyatt takes off his watch and throws it to the ground. This is a symbolic and literal statement that he has found his freedom and is also a rejection of the constraints living in a conventional society. This is alternative in the sense that many Hollywood films try to subliminally enforce social conventions throughout its narrative as to not upset the status-quo.

The mise-en-scene of Easy Rider is often of landscapes and roads as the rider go on their journey which connotes they are experiencing their freedom and their lives are in front of them. There are times when they are either in places to sleep, such as in the woods or in the Pueblo Indian graveyard, when they are in prison or at the commune or at the Mexican families home when they repair a flat tyre when they soon have to leave as they get restless in some way or another and have to leave. This connotes that they do not wish to follow the “conventions” of these lifestyles and move on to try and find they ideal lifestyle.  

The editing in the most part follows convention, but there is an alternative use of editing as we see a flash forward of Wyatt’s motorcycle burning next to the roadside. This is the final shot of the movie. The two riders, with two prostitutes they have accompanying them, take some LSD and start hallucinating. The quick paced editing and the disjointed, distorted and bizarre sequence of shots mirrors their trip of painful memories and sounds. This gives the spectatorship the feeling that they too are tripping and get the sense of the emotive experience that the quartet are having.

The use of sound in Easy Rider is alternative as music features heavily in the movie. For most conventional movies the music accompanies the scene but in Easy Rider the shots accompany the music as if they are a series of music videos.  Using music this way creates the emotive behavior and experiences of the two riders. Because music is such a powerful medium to express feeling and emotion the audience are able to connect with the two characters because the thought provoking music puts the audience in place of the two riders. The audience is able to get a sense of escapism and feel as if they are on this road-trip to an alternative lifestyle away from the time constraining conventional way of life.

To conclude with a theory it is thought that Easy Rider has connotations to the State of Nature theory that describes that there must have been a time without government and that we must question the how legitimate government must be from its starting position. It is thought that there are no rights in the state of nature, only freedoms. It is Rousseau’s adaptation of the theory that Easy Rider is associated with. His adaptation of the theory believes that socialised people were taken out of society from where they were raised. He argues that people were not good or bad and that they do have good morals but modern society is blamed for “blemishing their purity”.

Film Noir

“How important is it to understand the context in which Film and Neo Noir films are produced in order to fully appreciate their style and themes?”

In order to understand the context in which Film and Neo Noir Films are produced, I shall be analysing and evaluating the styles and themes of three movies. The films I will be looking at will be Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder – 1944), Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich – 1955) and Fatal Attraction (Adrian Lyne – 1987).

Film Noir has often been discussed whether it is a genre or a style. For a film to be categorised into a genre it must differentiate in its codes and conventions from other films. For example, Sci-Fi films will be set on planets in other parts of the universe and Western movies will often be set in the desert and mountainous terrain of the Wild West and will have numerous iconography such as cowboys and Indians (native Americans), horses and the generic Wild West town consisting of a salon bar, funeral parlour, grocery store and a jail. Film Noir will often be set in cities and this setting is very similar to crime movies. Other iconography that feature in Film Noir movies are cigarettes and smoking amongst the characters particularly between the protagonist and the femme fatale, silhouettes and chiaroscuro lighting, a black car with a shiny body with white tyres. The headlights of the car often beam into the mist during the night time. Guns, black hats worn by the protagonist and the bars of light created by venetian blinds are used to identity Film Noir movies. For this reason I feel that Film Noir is a sub-genre of the crime genre and therefore making Film Noir a style. By using lighting effectively, which Film Noir does so well, the movie is played out in the highlights and shadows of the lighting. This is a very stylistic approach to film making and therefore reinforces my opinion that it is a style rather than a genre.

That being said, the reason that whether Film Noir is a genre or style, which is still being disputed by Film Noir analysts to which they are still yet to come to a mutual agreement, is because of the numerous codes, conventions and iconographies that feature in vast amounts of Film Noir movies. As previously mentioned, Film Noir movies are set in cities and more often than not the cities streets are made wet with heavy downpours of rain. City streets and rainy days are all too familiar with audiences and this would make them seem more real for the viewer to relate to. This is a representation of the mood and tone of the movie and the characters that feature in it. The city streets are dirty and dark places fraught with danger giving the sense that there is no safe place to turn. The city streets that cross-over one another and entwine in a labyrinthine manner symbolise the perplexity and uncertainty of the story and characters respectively. In places like this it is best if you have someone at your side and in Film Noir there are always two people side-by-side as they go through the story. This is another convention in which we see the male protagonist and the femme fatale.

The male protagonists in Film Noir are often single men that have a cynical out-look on the world around them. The male protagonist in Film Noir is often socially alienated and this causes them to be disillusioned with their surroundings. The male protagonist will live in the dark and miserable cities and work in office blocks. These concrete jungles make people feel miserable and downbeat and adding unhappiness to the world. This is the sort of effect that the producers of Film Noir want to have in the production of their movies as it adds to the narrative of the story whilst setting the tone. This represents his lonely and depressing world in which he lives. He will also have great wit within his dialogue with tough-talking hard-boiled language mixed with poetic romanticised metaphors. By speaking in this manner he gives us the stereotypical male expressionism while at the same time showing a slightly softer and feminine side that at the time of when Film Noir was produced, American culture would have been disapproving of. Male characters in Film Noir represent the stereotypical male role, to work, provide and protect again this is reflective of American social culture of the time. The protagonist in Film Noir will always seek the woman that he comes into contact with which is usually through chance or through the job. In Double Indemnity, Walter is an insurance salesman and when he knocks on the door to the Spanish villa, unbeknown to him at that time he is going to meet Phyllis, the femme fatale. In Kiss Me Deadly the private investigator come first meets his femme fatale when he almost runs her over as she is running down the road and then tells her to get into the car. The male protagonists, who lust after these women, get entangled into their web of lies and deceit to carry out their immoral and illegal acts.

Many women in Film Noir are represented as the wife providing stability and normality with the patriarchal system and a family home life. This conventional and boring representation of the world is a stark contrast of what the femme fatale can offer the male protagonist. The self-assured confidence and the independent ambitions of the femme fatale make the protagonist attracted to her and she will lure him in further with her promiscuous, exciting and intelligent demur. The femme fatale will use her sexual power to achieve what she sets out to do and this again makes the male protagonist seemingly fall under her spell. An example of this is in the film Double Indemnity where the femme fatale, Phyllis Dietrichson, appears on the balcony of her home as Walter Neff looks up at her. This represents her as dominant woman and when she later appears, the camera is drawn to her as if it is his eyes and we, along with Walter, get drawn to her curvy figure in tight fitting attire and a bracelet around her ankle, which at the time this film was set would have been very seductive. By doing this Phyllis sexually objectifies herself knowing that men, and in this case Walter, will find her sexually irresistible and therefore easy to control as men are deemed to only have one thing on their mind and are only too happy to help, who may appear at the time, a damsel in distress.

But, in Film Noir, the strong sexual female who is ambitious is a threat to the male dominated world and therefore she must be killed, or destroyed, to restore balance in the patriarchal system. What this represents is that the male protagonist is actually week and vulnerable and is in danger of losing his place in society and unable to fit in with convention and fulfil the stereotypical male role within society. This example can be seen in Kiss Me Deadly towards the end of the movie where the femme fatale, Christina Baily, opens the mysterious box and is overcome by flames from the evil contained inside the box.

The mise-en-scene in Film Noir is extremely distinctive by the use of its iconography. Film Noir is set in cities and therefore apartments and offices feature regularly. In Double Indemnity and Kiss Me Deadly the apartment is used as one of the many settings of the film. For Double Indemnity, Walter is visited by Phyllis Dietrichson, the husband of Mr. Dietrichson who they plan to kill, in his apartment. Mike Hammer, the protagonist in Kiss Me Deadly, also uses his apartment as an office for his private investigative duties. The apartments are minimalistic and this is in reflection of the times. During the war and the proceeding years, people would have been unable to afford items to furnish their properties and would have to make-do or repair. This may also be true of the cost of film making is, and at the time of these movies being made, are expensive and by using locations and setting that need minimalistic dressing save on the cost of production. The office, such as the one in Double Indemnity, had the usual office paraphernalia, if one could see through the darkness – which is another factor of Film Noir.

The stylised lighting plays a significant role in Film Noir. Unlike most Hollywood movies where everything in the scene is lit, the producers of Film Noir use the highlights and dark shadows to help create the atmosphere to tell the story. What is not lit is as important as what is lit. Low-key lighting features heavily in Film Noir with the use of high contrast in deep blacks and pure whites. This style of lighting is known as chiaroscuro lighting. The whites represent the innocent world that the bad things are taking place in whereas the characters will be silhouetted and appearing in black telling the audience of the dark and sinister actions. This also keeps the audience distant from the characters through their lack of understanding of them. The venetian blinds are also a feature as this makes the characters appear trapped in their settings and surroundings as if they are imprisoned through their thoughts and actions.

Film Noir uses distorted and skewed low and high camera angles to give an uncomfortable appearance often using close-ups and deep focus shots. This tells the audience that there is something not-quite-right which mirrors the tone of Film Noir. This is evident in the scene in Double Indemnity where Phyllis and Walter are in the supermarket after they have killed and dumped Phyllis’ husband’s body and Walter is discussing with Phyllis that they should keep a low profile and stop seeing each other for a while.

The settings within in Film Noir are everyday inner-city urban locations. Offices and office blocks feature as shown in the Double Indemnity where the insurance company is located, which is the primary location of the movie as the protagonist, Walter, records his confession of the murder of Mr. Dietrichson. The offices are situated in the city where at that time many people would have travelled into the city to find work after World War 2. These streets are often featured in Film Noir as dark and dangerous locations. The uncertainty and lack of safety of city streets mirror the narrative of the story. The streets would always bet wet by the heavy rain that pours throughout Film Noir movies giving the audience a sense of gloominess and depression.

The sounds in Film Noir add to the pessimistic and nullifying tone of the movie. The sounds of downbeat jazz music are often pessimistic and foreboding giving the audience a depressive and melancholy feel. Heavy breathing as featured in the opening of Kiss Me Deadly give the sense of urgency and fear to the story. Often the sounds will move to quiet and silence to create a suspenseful atmosphere with sudden noises to create shock. However, the most prominent sounds in Film Noir are the voice over of the protagonist who starts the story as we get an insight of what happens and from there we follow the journey. Also the ambient sounds of the city street settings are heard during Film Noir adding to the disorientation, claustrophobia and confusion of the journey of the protagonist. All these sounds compliment the narrative and tone of Film Noir. 

Double Indemnity was made during the war and it reflects social changes that were happening around that time. The femme fatale is a representation of the new independent woman that many men had come back home to find after fighting in combat around the world. Women had become independent and strong being capable of carrying out takes and duties those men had previously held for many, many years. Women had successfully broken down social stereotypical opinion that they couldn’t be as strong or as good as men but this was proved wrong by the breakout of war.

In the book An Introduction to Studying Popular Culture by Dominic Strinati he writes that Film Noir was ‘the disillusionment many soldiers, small business men and housewife/factory employees felt in returning to a peacetime economy was directly mirrored in the sordidness of the urban crime film’. These words were not his, Strinati was referencing to the words of Schrader. Film Noir was a reflection of the post war gloom and disillusionment and reflects the unhappiness of people in society of that time. The popularity of Film Noir declined in the 1950’s due to the American public taking a more positive and self-important view of themselves. Film Noir was not only about the gloom and despair reflecting American social culture it can be argued that noir films were a bricolage of other popular arts from hard-boiled novels and other genres that made profits at the box office.

Film Noir is often a criticism of the American dream and of the capitalist society. Many of the films see the protagonist and the femme fatale chasing money and the materialistic lifestyles that come with it. The movies portray the pursuit of financial benefit as evil and sinister and to obtain money immoral and illegal acts must be carried out for the producers to justify their ideology. Many of the film makers of Film Noir had come to Hollywood after escaping political and racial persecution in Germany and in Central and Eastern Europe and therefore their films would contain either socialist or communist views.

Neo Noir films such as Fatal Attraction borrow conventions to that used in Film Noir. There is the city settings and the homes of the protagonist and femme fatale. The femme fatale plays a huge role in this movie as she uses her status as a successful independent woman. In the era that this movie was produced women were once again finding independence in the world.

Women were now able to compete with men in the work place and succeed surpassing their male counterparts. In Fatal Attraction the femme fatale, Alex Forrest, represents successful women. In the scene of the book launch she wears a black suit giving connotations of a dark personality and evil. The big shoulder pads of the suit make her look dominant and powerful and also in control.

However, despite this Alex’s world at home is more depressing and has a clinical look similar to how a mental asylum would appear. Alex’s flat is also set in the back streets of the dark and gloomy inner city giving connotation of the tone of the narrative that the viewer is going to have agency with. Along with this outside the flat there is an abattoir where large animal carcasses and meat is being carried by the abattoir employees. This whole setting gives connotations of Alex’s lifestyle and personality. She is represented as a dark person with psychological problems and also as a piece of meat. Once again, staying true to Classic Noir films, the femme fatale has been represented regressively.

Beth Gallagher, the wife of the promiscuous protagonist Dan Gallagher, initially is represented regressively in the sense that she is wearing black at the start of the movie. The producers of this movie have also used low-key lighting to represent the dull married lifestyle. In the scene when Dan is in the bedroom with his wife he attempts to get intimate with his wife but his subtle advances are spurned when he is made to take the dog out for a walk and when he gets back his daughter is in the marital bed too diminishing any chance of intimacy. Later in the film after Dan has confessed to his wife about his affair with Alex the colour of the two women’s clothing change as the tone of the story changes to make the audience engage and sympathise with Beth and to make Alex appear sinister and evil. It is now Beth that is wearing white representing purity and innocence and Alex wearing black giving connotations to dark, evil and wrong-doing. This is evident in the bathroom scene at the end of the movie where the femme fatale is shot dead by Beth, again staying true to Classic Noir, where the femme fatale needs to be killed to restore the patriarchal system.

Fatal Attraction uses numerous metaphoric images. When Dan Gallagher meets with Alex Forrest in the restaurant before they begin their illicit affair Dan lights a cigarette for Alex. As he puts the match out he flicks his wrist to extinguish the flame that could have connotations of subconscious masturbation. One could wonder if the cigarette was being lit by Alex for Dan would she have blown out the match? Before he starts his affair his attire is a professional look although his shirts are of pale, light and pastel colours. At this time in the movie he wears a light blue shirt that symbolises calm and femininity. However, after his affair Dan is often seen in dark shirts, predominantly black and at one point a very tight top that has connotations to his wrong-doing and personal and emotional entrapment. At the end of the movie after the femme fatale is killed and harmony is resorted in the social acceptant nuclear family lifestyle he again is seen in a light blue top representing tranquillity. Another example of metaphoric imagery is the scene where the bunny is boiled in the pot. In the previous scenes the white bunny connotes purity and innocence denoting a happy family life due to the relationship between the animal and the child and the child’s positive relationship with her parents. With Alex boiling the bunny it signifies a critique of the social acceptant home life and marriage.

However, unlike Film Noir, Neo Noir uses a different narrative. Whereas Double Indemnity was cynical about money and Kiss Me Deadly about the end of the world, Fatal Attraction was more about morality in terms maintaining traditional family values. Dan Gallagher, the protagonist of Fatal Attraction commits adultery and is then pursued by the ‘bunny boiler’ femme fatale.

In the time Fatal Attraction was produced during, the 1980’s, there was a socially promiscuous attitude which was having a detrimental effect on the social patriarchal system. At that time there was an AIDS epidemic, in which gay men were deemed to be responsible of due to the new emerging social acceptance of homosexual relationships and liberal social attitudes, many of these were casual and was seen by the media as an opportunity to make the gay community a scapegoat. However, at that time producers of films were still reluctant to portray gay relationships and have used adultery in Fatal Attraction as their representation of promiscuity in married men. By using the femme fatale who becomes the crazy, obsessed maniac; or, and this movie gave birth to the common phrase, “bunny boiler”. This tells the audience that being promiscuous whilst married will get you into trouble and disrupt the socially expected married life.

It is important to understand the context in which these films are produced because at the time they were made they were social propaganda and looking back on them now they can be viewed as a social commentary. During the Second World War in which the time Double Indemnity was made people would go to the cinema for news and information on the progress of the war. During the show reel the audience would also be watching propaganda films before watching a film for entertainment and escapism from the atrocities that were happening in the world at that time. Audiences also sought adult stories with mystery and romance and Film Noir gave the audiences just that. However, and in the case of Double Indemnity, there was an underlining message not to pursue the American dream of materialism and money but also about the battle between good and evil where the good wins.

Fatal Attraction was about having it all and living the American dream and by being promiscuous you risk losing it all. This portrayal of married life and the traditional nuclear family is important to the American ideology of its citizens and this film readdresses this. For these reasons, not understanding the contexts of Film Noir and Neo Noir, these movies cannot be fully appreciated.

Film Genre

How has the Gangster genre changed over time?

In this essay I will be analysing films of the American Gangster genre. The three films I will be deconstructing will the Roaring Twenties (1939), The Godfather (1972) and Goodfellas (1990). I will also be identifying what the term ‘genre’ means and why and how it is used by film studios and why it is important to the audience. I shall be identifying the iconographies of the gangster genre and the codes and conventions that these films contain. Finally, I’ll be describing the historical development of the American Gangster genre and it’s reflection of the American social and political issues at the time of the production and release of the three aforementioned movies.

The word ‘genre’ is a French term that simple means ‘type’ therefore a film genre is a ‘type of film’. Films are then grouped into genres and then can be and are grouped into sub-genres and hybrid-genres. Film genres are used by film studios so that they are able to target specific audiences which may appeal the type of film being marketed. Marketing a film to the right audience is essential to its commercial success and Hollywood will spend vast amounts of money to market movies. Often the amount of money spent to market a movie will be far greater than the cost to make the film. To give a contrast, what is considered to be a low budget movie, its costs would be ninety-percent below-the-line. A big budget movie, for example a summer blockbuster would be ninety-percent above-the-line. Dov S-S Simens, founder of the Hollywood Film Institute and a producer and distributor, who has spent much of his career in the film business, does agree that to an extent Hollywood is a film making industry. Although in his Film School, he teaches: “Hollywood is not a film making industry! It is a film marketing industry!” Genre is also used so that the audience can identify the movie to whether it will appeal to them through that specific genres codes, conventions and iconographies.  

Many films are often a cross between two genres. For example, the most common is arguably the Romantic-Comedy, or in its shortest term the Rom-Com. Films that cross over into other  genres, and marketed as such, are known as a ‘hybrid genre’. As well as genre and hybrid-genre another term is used for films that fall into a sub-category of the genre it has been identified as. An example of a sub-genre from horror movies would be a slasher-horror or vampire films are also a sub-genre.

Films have numerous iconographies that are specific to their genre. This helps the audience identify the genre and this makes the audience familiar and comfortable with what they are going to see and, in a sense, it acts as a sort of comfort blanket. In the American Gangster genre the iconographies consist of numerous elements including the attire of the cast. They all wear suits that are expensive and possibly tailor made. This gives a representation of their status and position within their social surroundings and within the environment in which they conduct their business. The cars that are used by the gangsters are another iconography. The cars that were expensive, elegant and fashionable in the time of the respective era are another representation of the status and importance of the gangster. At the time the Roaring Twenties portrayed many people at that time weren’t able to afford vehicles and it was only the rich, the powerful and high status individuals, which gangsters fall into, and taxi companies that owned cars.

It is with no surprise that with the use of cars that another iconography of the gangster genre is the street and inner city settings. In the Roaring Twenties the gangsters are bootlegging ‘bath-tub gin’, which is a term from the prohibition era of the1920s in the United States. The gangsters then used the cars, of a taxi company, which the gangsters owned to try to hide their misdemeanours, to distribute their contraband.

The Godfather also featured the use of the car in many of its scenes to carry, fetch and shepherd people to and from gangster murders, attacks and acts of retribution. Quite often, due to the nature of this film quick getaways are paramount and therefore tyre squeals are another iconography for the gangster genre.

Most of the assassinations in the gangster genre are carried out by the use of the gun. Usually the iconography of this would be the Tommy-gun, and as would be expected using a sub-machine gun would create a lot of noise, especially when more than one man often carried out the killings. The gunfire, as well as death and murder, are yet more examples of iconographies that are used in the gangster genre. This is more prominent in the movie Godfather, but this maybe due to the time the movie was made.

In all three movies as the gangster goes about his life and business numerous people are given financial reward to either help the gangsters or to turn a blind eye to their illegal activities. This again in itself is another representation of the gangster’s status and importance as they aspire to live gain an extravagant lifestyle. Again, the characters smoking are prominent features in the gangster genre.

Each of the three gangster movies also follow codes and conventions which help identify the genre. We see that there is a rise and fall of the main characters. For instance in the Roaring Twenties Eddie is a war hero but by the time he comes back from war there is no place for him in society in his attempts to get a job, this has therefore created the first rise and fall for Eddie. In his efforts to earn money he is hired to by a siren who owns a club as a bootlegger and then he becomes a respected gangster where he makes his money, which sees him rise in society as his power and status increases. After this significant rise in his status the stock market crash causes another fall as he loses his money and with that he loses his status and power in society as he turns to booze that he once bootlegged.

In addition to this he has lost the woman he loves to a two-timing friends and crusading District Attorney and when he finds out that his ex-crime partner in tends to kill him, he steps in and kills the George. In essence his rise on this occasion is a moral one as he saves the institution of marriage by killing the bad guys and ensuring the life of the good guy. However, there is time for another fall as at the end of the movie he is shot down on the steps of the church being overlooked by a statue of Madonna and Child giving the audience the sense  that, although he is on one hand a bad person because he was a gangster on the other hand he had a sense of morality and therefore this represents him a good person. The death of Eddie is another code and convention in itself as the gangster, whether they are good or bad, must die at the end of the movie.

The Roaring Twenties was a film about prohibition that was in affect in the United States from 1920 to 1933. This was the legal act to ban the manufacturing, distribution and the sale of alcohol. During this period organised crime controlled the manufacturing and distribution of alcohol was rife due to the demand amongst American civilians. The gangster would set up secret venues for the people to go and drink the contraband in places known as “speakeasies”. In the movie the Roaring Twenties we see Eddie, who was unable to get a job, turn to crime and in doing so made money by manufacturing, distributing and selling alcohol.

This was until the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed, people needed jobs and the government needed to raise money, along with people’s attitudes changing, alcohol was once again legalised to create jobs and raise taxes. This spelt the end for bootlegging and in the case of Eddie in the Roaring Twenties caused his downfall where he loses his money, power and status – and ironically relies on the now legal product that he once illegally peddled.

The Roaring Twenties, a Warner Brothers film, is a gritty down-to-earth movie. As it is set in an inner city with immigrant communities there is an element of sympathy towards the main character. Because of this the movie can be looked upon as a retrospective film about America’s social and political behaviour at that time. It also gives a retrospective representation of a person who, at no fault of his own, was outside of society and the only way he could make a living was through crime and therefore is outside the law.

Whereas the Roaring Twenties was a more retrospective movie of gangsters, The Godfather represented the gangster lifestyle as a more glamorous way of life. The pompous wedding ceremony and the big houses are a couple of representations of its glorification. In the film we get to know the family, which are a Sicilian family – again connoting the immigrant background – and their business is crime, murder, corruption and drugs. With the glorification we are being told that crime does in fact pay.

As the gangsters in this movie are all family, most are born into the gangs they represent; have unity and protect themselves and each other. This represents to us that although they are gangsters they still have honour and integrity.

The Godfather use allegories to use the past to comment on the present. The violent nature of The Godfather can be referring to the violent and trouble times within American society through it numerous Civil Rights movements. Also, the protests against the Viet Nam war and the overall pessimism of American people during the 1960s and 70s.

The contrast of the rise and fall The Godfather in comparison to the Roaring Twenties is that of The Godfather himself in the sense he doesn’t not get killed but dies with dignity and honour of natural causes in the lemon groves in his garden whilst playing with his grandson. The rise and fall of Michael happens when he comes back from the Second World War and although he is part of the family they desire better things for him than being a gangster. After Don Vito Corleone survives an assassination attempt on his life, Michael wants to avenge this and this starts the fall of Michael. During a meeting with another head from a family and a corrupt police officer, he assassinates them both in a restaurant, he is absconds back to Scilly. Upon his return during the christening of his niece, when he becomes the godfather of the child, he becomes “The Godfather” as he directs the assassination of the heads of the other families. When asked by the Priest if he denounces Satan we see the montage of assassinations.  

Gangster films use the good gangster/bad gangster relationship as another code and convention. As mentioned before Eddie in the Roaring Twenties has an understanding of morality. George is bad throughout the film. When both men are in a fox-hole fighting in World War One, George fires and kills on teenage German soldiers just prior to the Armistice being declared. This set the tone and the relationship of both characters throughout the film. This is evident when George shoots his former-sergeant from the war as revenge for the ill treatment that he felt he received from him.

In the Godfather, Don Vito Corleone has a huge sense of honour and because of this could be seen as a good gangster. However, his son, Sonny was of a petulant nature and was, up to the point of his killing, ready to act without thought and any repercussions this may have brought to him or the Corelone family.

 

Whereas the Roaring Twenties was a film about living outside the law, The Godfather is a movie about running the law. During this film we know that The Godfather has many people on his payroll that are in a position of authority which include police officers, judges, politicians and journalists. This represents corrupt side of America which during the time that this movie was made in 1972 could be a reference to the corruption at the head of United States politics involving President Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal of 1970.

By the time we get to the 1990s and the film Goodfellas, many codes and conventions of the gangster genre have been broken. From the very first instance we start with a constant voice over delivered in a fast pace, which is basically telling us how great being a gangster is, again glorifying gangsters.

Goodfellas brings in female aspects that play significant roles within the movie. Karen becomes part of the world, in comparison to Micheal’s wife in the Godfather, who at the end of the film is lied to and shut out of a meeting. Although she does not agree with what happens she is attracted to the glamour and the money of what being a “gangsters WAG” brings. She becomes a knowing participant to the point that when the police raid their houses she often let them do what they needed to do. Her importance as a character, and the change of code and convention, is evident in the fact that she too has a voice over.

There is again another demonstration of a break in code and convention when Karen is sitting in the beauty parlour listening to all the other wives and girlfriends of the gangsters slagging off their own children. This represents that there is no family spirit and a lack of trust and support.

Another code and convention being severed in this movie is the lack of family togetherness and support in comparison to The Godfather. Even from a young age, Harry Hill lies to his parents about his school attendance so that he can work with the gangsters that live across the street. Again, this sets the tone of the movie and the lack of a bond between the characters. As the movie progresses Harry Hill, Tommy and Henry stop communicating with Paulie, their once trusted boss, and go behind his back to carry out America’s biggest raid. This is another break in code and convention.

 

At the start of the 1990s American culture was good for the people as the quality of life increased. People were spending more, new technology was being developed and with this new affluence the popularity of recreational drugs increased. The Goodfellas encompasses these social changes and developments and the use of popular music from that time on the movie’s soundtrack acts as a running social commentary.

Over the period in which these three movies were made the relaxation of censorship enabled the films to be told in a more explicit way. In the Roaring Twenties although we see a couple of people shot its vastly insignificant to what we witness in The Godfather. Also the fact change from black and white to colour makes the killings also more graphic and the famous scene from The Godfather of the horses head would not have been allowed under 1930s censorship laws. Again the relaxing of censorship allowed the Goodfellas to be a bit more explicit when it comes to displaying killings and beatings and also with the depiction of drug use and paraphernalia. 

 

In all the of the movies I viewed the characters of the gangster genre follow the code and convention that they all are immigrants, or descendants of immigrants , trying to pursue the ‘American dream’ believing they can have a good lifestyle. However they only way they can achieve the lavish lifestyle, the money, the cars and the houses are through criminal activity. This is achieved by gaining power and by taking it through the assassinations of their rival gangs and, in some instances of their own people, as well as those in positions of authority. However, once they have gained power they become paranoid with those around them and in the end all they can trust is their own immigrant background. 

 

During this analysis of the three movies I have identified the codes and conventions of a gangster movie and the iconographies that are used to identify its genre. All these films are a social and political commentary of the time that it was made and released. Gangster movies give the impression that you can achieve the “American dream” and to be a rich, successful and powerful as you can get. But as we see in the end they all end up with nothing, some lose their lives and it makes you answer the question: Does crime pay? It may certainly have some short term benefits but in the long run I think I’ll chance my luck on the lottery!

Narrative Codes in Visual Texts and Plot & Story

Citizen Kane - Narrative Codes in Visual Texts

Opening Sequence
The opening sequence of Citizen Kane leaves us in a mystery in terms of where we are, what is going on, why it is going on and who is involved. We are faced with a “NO TRESSPASS” sign meaning that we shouldn’t go any further but we want to know what is behind the fence. The camera cranes up and the editing uses dissolves to that gives us the sense that we have climbed the fence and successfully climbed the boundary. The foreboding horn music gives grimness and an eerie feeling as we prowl around the grounds that are presented to us with the camera moving forward and the edits dissolving from shot to shot. The decaying buildings and a lake with two boats and a life ring floating as mist rolls across the grounds implies desertion, loneliness and emptiness. The monkeys in the cage represent entrapment and confinement that the owner of this building has found himself in. We see the gothic style building in silhouette on top of a mountain and a light draws us to it giving a church-like religious connotation. A fading light at lets us know that there is an end to life, warmth and any importance to what was once in existence there.

Projection Room
Throughout this scene there are a group of men chatting fast, snappy and rushed as they are is a state of urgency. The constant mention of “Rosebud” lets us know that this is important. The conversations between the characters overlap giving us a sense of realism. The only light from the scene is coming from the projector as the characters are in the dark not just in terms of the lighting in the scene but also when it comes to the desire of them finding out what “Rosebud” is. During the scene we are always situated behind Thompson and we follow him on the quest of finding out what or what “Rosebud” refers to.

Nightclub
The camera starts at a high angle and cranes down as we dissolve through the ceiling. We are getting down to the female characters level. The sound of the thunderstorm rumbling in the background gives us an insight into the characters mind as troubled and confused. The woman looks glamorous in her white evening dress and the setting is of a once vibrant club. The cheap jazz-style music is telling us that the club is now run-down and pass its former glory days. The butler acts as the woman’s protector and a go-between but he is willing to continue to get her drinks. When “Thompson” attempts to talk to the woman he is dismissed in a way that she has been approached dozens of times since Kane’s death and wants nothing more to do with any one visiting her about the subject. As Thompson is in the phone booth he is in silhouette in the foreground of the shot. The butler standing outside of the phone booth is in the middle of the shot and the woman is in the well-lit background. The characters are framed in their “own worlds” but our eyes are attracted to focus on the woman. The distance of the character in the background makes her look small and diminished and is an indication that she has no connection or significance to “Rosebud”.

 Library

A low angle shot of the statue of Thatcher tells us the power and significance of the man. The music is in a style of a mocking fanfare giving the audience the impression that this once domineering character is no longer the force that he once was, in particular to Kane’s life.  The echo and the emphasis of sound of the footsteps give an uncomfortable feeling but also tells us that the building is of importance and somewhat palatial. The woman is dressed in a conservative style, and in a custodial role but Thompson is of nuisance to her and she is dismissive of him. – this is expressed in her tone of her voice. Vault-like room the light is shining on the table as if Thatcher is looking down on the proceedings in a pseudo- religious manner. The book of Thatcher’s dossier on Kane is removed from a safe and placed on the table by the security guard who is the protector of the document. The lady of the library is very direct to the point of letting Thompson know what pages will be of relevance to him. As we look over Thompson shoulder we get to see what he is reading and we find out what Thompson is finding out. As Thompson and the audience read the document we get informed of Thatcher’s early involvement of Kane’s life. The picture fades into the next scene of snow which represents purity and innocence and the music played gives a happy vibe.

Kane’s Home

Inside the boarding house Thatcher and Kane’s parents are presiding over Kane’s future. The mother is dressed in a librarian style but his father is wearing worn out clothing suggesting a lack of self-respect and because of this both Kane’s mother and Thatcher have no regard of Daddy Kane. During the scene Thatcher and Kane’s mother remain close as they have a common interest in the future of Kane and the inheritance of a vast fortune. The camera moves in and out with the mother, giving us a relationship with her. The camera never moves with the father making us unconnected to him and therefore reaffirming his lack of importance. The costumes that the characters wear gives the audience an indication of the power they have. Thatcher is dressed formally and the expensive appearance of his clothing is that of someone who is rich and in control and could also be deemed domineering. Kane’s mother is dressed conservatively and respectfully that implies that she takes pride in her appearance and the people around her. This is in contrast to Kane’s father’s moth eaten clothes which has comparisons to people how lack self respect and have low esteem.  Because of this he is often cut short when he speaks by Thatcher and Kane’s mother, making his points of view unimportant. Kane’s father, initially, dispels the idea of Kane being taken but as son as money is mentioned it persuades him and from this point he his blocked out of shot, again affirming his lack of importance.

Outside the boarding house, Thatcher’s appearance is familiar to Scrooge in his attire and also is an indication of how important money is to him. The clothing of Kane’s mother has a religious connotation whereas the father, still dressed in his poor man clothing slouches as he walks. In the attempts he has trying to talk to Kane he never gets to touch his son. Kane is framed in the centre of the shot making him important with Thatcher and his mother at either side making them powerful. Kane’s father is framed in the background, again, citing his lack of importance.

 

Pulp Fiction - Plot and Story

 

It can be quite hard to determine what the difference is between the plot and story of a movie. However, films such as Pulp Fiction enable the viewer to identify what the differences are. The plot of a movie is what we are able to see and can deduce information fairly simply. The story is what happens in between what the audience is viewing. In simple terms the story of Pulp Fiction is about Butch from being told the history of the watch that belonged to his father, that becomes symbolic and important to him, to when he throws the fight and escapes, then leaving the motel.

 

 

The plot of this film, however are the little events that occur during the story. In the case of Pulp Fiction they are told in a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards. There are also references throughout Pulp Fiction of events that happen before the film. These references also make up the story.

 As the plot of Pulp Fiction is not told in chronological order the audience have to rearrange and piece together all the various scenes to be able to understand the story. The flashbacks and flash-forwards tell the audience several key points in the film. They tell the viewer why Jules and Vincent go to the diner and what happens to Vincent after he and Jules deliver the briefcase to Marcellus.

 The scenes in which Butch feature also give us an explanation of what happens to Vincent.  After the shooting in which Jules and Vincent survive, Jules lets it be known to Vincent that he wishes to retire. But in the scene before this plot Vincent has been killed by Butch in Butch’s apartment.

In essence the stories of Jules and Vincent, Honey Bunny and Pumpkin, Marcellus and Mia are all part of the plot that tells the story of Pulp Fiction.

 

The plot of Pulp Fiction has ten main events:

1. Pumpkin and Honey Bunny rob the diner
2. Jules and Vincent go to the apartment to get the briefcase
3. Butch is with Marcellus in Marcellus’ club
4. Vincent and Mia go to the diner and end up at the drug dealers house
5. The flashbacks of Butch as a young boy
6. Butch throws the fight and escapes from the venue and goes to a motel via taxi
7. In his apartment Butch kills Vincent then Butch and Marcellus end up in the shop basement
8. Butch leaves the motel on a motorbike
9. Jimmy’s house
10. Jules and Vincent challenge Pumpkin and Honey Bunny in the diner

If the events appeared in the order of the story they would be as follows:

 The flashbacks of Butch as a young boy

1. Jules and Vincent go to the apartment to get the briefcase
2. Jimmy’s house
3. Pumpkin and Honey Bunny rob the diner
4. Jules and Vincent challenge Pumpkin and Honey Bunny in the diner
5. Butch is with Marcellus in Marcellus’ club
6. Vincent and Mia go to the diner and end up at the drug dealers house
7. Butch throws the fight and escapes from the venue and goes to a motel via taxi
8. In his apartment Butch kills Vincent then Butch and Marcellus end up in the shop basement
9. Butch leaves the motel on a motorbike.