Intermediate Two
Media Analysis
• Media Analysis will involve the study of media
texts in terms of Fiction (name text and/or
medium) and Non-fiction (name text and/or
medium ). Working through the Units will help
you to develop skills of deconstructing (breaking
down into key aspects) a range of media texts
and explaining their relationship to social,
institutional and audience contexts. The makers
(the institution) often want you (the audience) to
think or react to their product in a certain way.
Aim
• By completing the study of “Fallen”, you
should develop the ability to think for
yourself and question the content and
purpose of the media messages.
Key Aspects
•
•
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•
•
•
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The analysis of all media texts will develop the
knowledge and understanding of the key
aspects of Media Studies:
categories
language
narrative
representation
audience
institution
technology
Key Aspects of Media Studies
TEXT
CATEGORIES
• purpose, medium, form, genre, tone, style, etc.
LANGUAGE
• denotation/connotation & motivations of technical & cultural
codes; anchorage; conventions; mode of address; signs,
discourse, ideology, myth
encodes
decodes
NARRATIVE
• narrative structure, conventions, codes
REPRESENTATIONS
INSTITUTION
• company type (commercial, public
service; global, independent)
• finance (budget, income from sales,
subscription, advertising)
• stereotypes & non-stereotypes; rep’ns of people, places &
events
AUDIENCE
• mode of address (direct/indirect; specific/general); preferred
reading
• internal constraints (e.g. editorial
policy, house style, hard/software)
TECHNOLOGY
• external constraints (legal,
regulatory, market, target audience)
• technologies of
production,
distribution &
consumption
• production processes (planning,
implementation, review & evaluation)
CAPITAL
SOCIETY
selects
MEANING
• social, cultural, economic,
politics
• ideologies & myths
AUDIENCE
• target audience &
audience factors
(individual, taste,
textual knowledge,
gender, age, class,
ethnicity, interests,
nationality)
influences
6
Categories - Medium
What is the Medium of the text?
• Print
• Television
• Radio
• Film
• Internet
Categories - Form
What is the Form of the text?
• drama,
• light entertainment
• newspaper
• magazine
• series
• feature film
• Should always give examples from the text
describing why you think it is this form.
Categories - Purpose
What is the Purpose of the text?
• to inform
• to entertain
• to persuade
• to educate
• to gain profit
There may be more than one purpose.
Categories - Genre
What is the Genre of the text?
• Science Fiction, Action, Romance etc
• Soap Opera
• Documentary
• Game Show
• Broadsheet
How do you know it is this genre?
Categories - Tone
• What is the tone of the text? Give
examples from the text.
• serious,
•happy
• comic,
•objective
• formal,
•personal
• informal,
• sad,
Other Categories to consider
OTHER CATEGORIES
• nationality
• target audience
• director
• star
• public sector
Categories – Questions to consider
• What is the medium of the text?
• What is the purpose of the text? How do
you know? Give examples from the text.
• What is the form of the text? Give a
reason for your choice?
• What is the genre of the text? Give
examples from the text explaining why you
think it is this genre. You might compare
the text to another in the same genre.
Categories – Questions to consider
• What is the tone of the text? Give examples from
the text.
• Explain why (name of another category eg
one of the stars) makes a difference to the text.
• What is the target audience of the text? Explain
which of the categories attract this audience to
the text?
• Who made the text and why?
You should explain one of the categories in detail.
Institutions
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The institutions are all the people involved in
making and financing the text.
Who made the text?
Who paid to make the text? There could have been
more than one group paying for the text, eg
advertisers.
Do the people involved in making the text want to
make money?
How do they want to make it? Eg people buying the
text, spin offs.
Was the text expensive to make? How do you
know?
Institution – External Constraints
Legal Constraints
• Eg Statutory (Acts of Parliament), e.g.:
Sex Discrimination Act Racial
Discrimination Act
• Copyright laws
• Libel laws
Institution – External Constraints
• Self-Regulatory/Codes of Practice
• Eg
Press Complaints Commission
Broadcasting Complaints ASA
(Advertising Standards Authority)
Guidelines
Institution – External Constraints
• Market Controls
• Eg
Audiences buy media products
Advertisers buy access to these
audiences
Market structures can also restrict
media messages
Type and size of market
Competition
Institution – External Constraints
Societal Controls
Eg Public opinion
Gate-keeping and changing
perceptions of media texts
Censorship
Institution – External Constraints
Technology/Materials
• Eg The ability with new DTP packages to
copycat publications or produce new
magazines cheaply
Pirating
Institution – Internal Constraints
• The role of ownership
• Type of ownership, eg entrepreneurial,
conservative
• Finance
• Internal operation, eg editorial policy, budgets,
the control of senior appointees. Whether it is
pro-active, reactive, innovative etc.
• Quality of staff
• Reputation/Image
• Company – remit, mission statement, logo,
slogan
Institution – questions to consider
• Who produced the text? Are they linked to
other companies?
• Who financed the production? Does this
have an effect on the text and why? E.g.
market controls/sponsors invest to access
the audience.
• What effect do ownership, finance and
market structures have on the text?
Institution – questions to consider
• How was the text distributed?
(Consider technology.) Did this have
an effect on the audience?
• Did certification, scheduling,
distribution restrict the audience?
• Consider any other effects on the text
such as legal constraints, the
watershed, taste etc.
Audience
• There is no point in a media text without
an audience. The maker of the text
chooses or targets an audience and
makes a text that they think audiences will
want.
Audience – Target Audience
• Who do you think the target audience is?
Why do you think this is the target audience?
Think about age, gender, personal interest.
The target audience could be a mix of
people.
• Do you think different people in the audience
would like different things? Give examples.
• What do you think the people who made the
text want you to think/do.
Identifying Target Audience
The audience or audiences may be identified
by the following features in a text:
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•
Categories
Access (e.g. Channel/ Scheduling/ Certification)
Intertextual references
Narrative codes
Discourses
Commercialisation of product
Relate to Institution (external controls) e.g. type of
market (niche market – narrows, targets and specialises
audiences)
Audience – Mode of Address
How a text speaks to its audience:
• Direct/indirect
• Individual/collective
Audience – Preferred Reading
The meaning of the text that the
maker/producer hopes the audience will
accept, the idea that texts contain
messages which support mainstream
thinking, e.g. a news story which presents
protesters as disrupting social order.
Different newspapers – because of
political allegiance – will present the same
information with a different bias, ie they
will have different preferred readings.
Audience - Differential Decoding
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How audiences actually read texts. This may be
completely different to the preferred reading of
the maker, e.g. an anti-smoking ad will not stop
all its audience from smoking.
Different individuals or groups react differently to
a text.
Consider:
Age
Gender
Ethnic background
Education/knowledge
Experience
Affiliation/Identification to different groups
Basically
Text
Preferred
Reading
Differential
Decoding
A maker
The maker
Different people
produces a
wants the
in the
text in order
audience to
audience will
to send a
interpret the
interpret the
message
text by use of
text in
and,
preferred
different ways
generally,
reading.
make a profit.
Audience – Questions to consider
• What type of audience might
read/watch/listen to this text?
• What similar texts would attract this
audience and why?
• Who would be interested in the front page,
who would be interested in page three?
Why?
• Would the audience identify with the main
character? Why?
Audience – Questions to consider
• Explain why some people in the audience might
disapprove of the language?
• What does the maker want you to do/think once
you have read/seen/listened to the text?
• Describe the mode of address and why it has
been used or Why is the presenter talking
straight to the camera?
• Would the audience (you) react differently
seeing the film on video at home or in the
cinema?
• Would an older audience enjoy the text?
Narrative
• The narrative of a text is the story that it
tells and how it tells it. Every media text
has a narrative.
• How fictional and factual stories are
organised into a sequence. Every media
text has a narrative.
Narrative
Story:
The actual Plot:How the
order of events as
maker/producer
they took place in
arranges these
the text, ie how the
events, eg the plot
audience would
could tell the story
explain what the
as a flashback
story is about
Narrative - Narrative Structures/Codes/
Conventions
• Classic Structure – Equilibrium (normality)/
disruption/ return to equilibrium (normality)
• Order – Chronological/flashback/forward.
Hard news/soft news/sport
• Single or multiple story-lines
• Serial and series
• Investigation (interview, observation,
presentation of data)
Narrative - Narrative Structures/Codes/
Conventions
• Conflict
• Development
• The resolution of the narrative in relation
to what the audience want and expect,
e.g. ‘goodies’ beating ‘baddies’
• The meaning of the narrative, e.g. the
moral of the story or the result of the
investigation
Narrative - Narrative Structures/Codes/
Conventions
• Conventions or devices used to tell the
story, e.g. voice-overs, point-of-view,
format, colour, mise-en-scene
• News stories portrayed as battles with
winners and losers – happy endings in
films – cliff hangers in soaps – adverts
solving a problem
• Technical/cultural codes used that affect
the narrative, e.g. cropping, soft focus,
type of font
Narrative - Narrative Structures/Codes/
Conventions
• Audience engagement, e.g. cliff hangers,
teasers, enigmas, genre, stars.
• Strategies used to ‘hook’ the audience and
develop the story, i.e. move the story on
• The effect of the institution on the narrative
and its need to make profit, e.g. genre,
finance.
• And the effect of external constraints, e.g.
market position/share, type of market and
competition
Narrative – Questions to consider
• What is the structure of the narrative? Your
answer could cover – classic narrative, conflict,
development, resolution, order. (Examples from
the text could be given in the question.)
• How is the structure similar or different to other
texts of this genre?
• Whose point of view is the story told from. How
do you know?
• Is the audience treated as an observer or a
participant? Give an example.
Narrative – Questions to consider
• Are there single or multiple storylines? Give
examples/Explain.
• Why would the audience want to watch the next
episode /buy the next edition?
• What effect does the institution have on the
quality/bias/genre of the text?
• Specific technology questions when appropriate,
e.g. How do the special effects influence the
narrative?
• Specific questions could be asked integrating to
other key aspects, e.g. What effect does ‘name of
star’ have on the film?
Representation
• The way in which places, people and
events are represented in media texts.
• Stereotypes are instantly recognisable
representations, eg Scotsmen in kilts.
Concepts of Representation
• The process of translating cultural
assumptions into words, sounds and
images.
• The continual re-presenting of
stereotypes.
• The presenting of images in new ways
(going against stereotype).
• A question of who represents whom and
for what purpose.
Representation - Mediation
• Ways in which the media select, interpret and
represent social, economic, political and cultural
events.
• Consider the effect of target audience,
regulatory controls, sources of funding,
ownership and news values on the maker’s
(institution) selection of what reaches the
audience.
• Consider the role of the media in creating and
perpetuating representations.
• Consider the reason and method of selection or
de-selection, e.g. to create bias by selective
editing.
Representation - Discourses and
Cultural Assumptions
Examine:
• How some groups of people interpret a text in
the same way, e.g. most young people enjoy
pop music.
• How some people will interpret a text in different
ways, e.g. Christians would think a film about
Christ is true, other religions would see it as
fiction.
• The relationship between the real world and the
representations in the text.
• Do other texts reinforce these representations?
(Intertextualise)
Representation – Questions to
consider
• Describe in detail several representations
in the text (people, places, events, ideas).
• Give examples of how they are conveyed
by use of cultural/technical codes.
• Discuss any stereotypes and nonstereotypes.
• Examine cultural assumptions, e.g. young
and beautiful equals slim. Are
Cultural/technical codes used to reinforce,
e.g. costume, cropping.
Representation – Questions to
consider
• Mediation. Why did the institution select
the representations? Did the audience
influence the selection? (or Why do you
think the main character is 16 years old?
Why was an unknown actress used? Why
was the teacher played by Jack
Nicholson?)
• Compare the representations to another
similar text.
Language
DESCRIBE
BREAKDOWN
EXPLAIN MEANING (DECODE)
REASON FOR INCLUSION
DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS
NARROWING DOWN INTERPRETATION
THE USE OF SIGNS AND CODES
Language - Describe
Sign:
• a sign is the smallest unit of
communication. A sign can be a word,
object, image and sound which
communicate meaning.
Language – Breakdown
Cultural/Technical Codes
Code
• a combination of signs. To understand the
meaning you must break the code, in other
words analyse their construction
Language – Breakdown
Cultural/Technical Codes
Cultural code
• a system of signs whose meaning is
shared by members of a culture, e.g.
dress/costume, gesture, mise-en-scene,
intertextual reference. (Often associated
with cultural assumptions.)
Language – Breakdown
Cultural/Technical Codes
Technical code
• specific to media e.g. A fade-in is an
editing code and may suggest (connote)
the beginning; in print ‘sans serif’ is a
typographic code and may connote
modernity.
Language – Explain Meaning (Decode)
Denotation/Connotation
• We can describe signs but we also
associate signs with different meanings eg
a red rose can be described as a ‘certain
type of flower’ but it could mean or
represent ‘love’, ‘the Labour Party’ or ‘the
House of Lancaster during the War of the
Roses’
Language – Explain Meaning (Decode)
Denotation/Connotation
Denotation
• the description/definition of a sign, eg red
rose, jeans, fade-in.
Language – Explain Meaning (Decode)
Denotation/Connotation
Connotation
• the meaning associated with the sign, eg a
red rose may be given to show love, jeans
connote informality, fade-in may connote a
beginning.
Language – Reason for inclusion
Motivation
• There can be several reasons for including
codes:
• To aid understanding, to tell the story, for
realism, to conform to style, to engage
audience, to move the story on, for link to
other texts, to make the audience react or
think in a certain way.
Language – Different Interpretation
Polysemy
• The idea that a sign can have several
different meanings at one time, e.g. by the
reader decoding the same sign using
different codes. A building on fire could be
decoded as arson, accident or natural
disaster.
Language – Narrowing down
Interpretation
Anchorage
• A way of ‘tying down’ meaning. Without
anchorage, meaning could be open to
various interpretations, e.g. a picture of a
building on fire with the caption ‘Gas Leak
Destroys Home’ immediately lets you
know what caused the fire. Music can
anchor mood in a film, a voice-over can
anchor meaning to moving image.
Language – The use of signs and
codes
• Conventions – Standard way in which
signs and codes are used in different
genre, e.g. interviews, voice-overs, talking
heads, vox pops are conventions of
documentary. In a newspaper, conventions
would adhere to house style, e.g. layout,
character formatting, text, page size.
Language – Questions to Consider
• Name as many cultural/technical codes as
possible and explain why they have been used
(denotation/connotation).
• Are any of these codes being used by the maker
to make the audience think or react in a certain
way (i.e. create preferred reading). Do you
agree with their interpretation?
• What is anchorage? Give as many examples of
anchorage as possible.
Language – Questions to Consider
• Why are the conventions/ mode of
address used? (The question could name
conventions and mode of address.)
• Integrate with other key aspects, eg Name
a convention used and explain how it
conforms to the genre.
• What technology has been used to create
the text?
Fallen
Synopsis
• American homicide Detective John Hobbes
(Denzel Washington) captures serial killer Edgar
Reese. Reese is executed but soon a similar
style of killing restarts. The killer turns out to be
a mythical, supernatural spirit, a fallen angel
called Azazel who having to no form has to take
over another human being in order to survive
and continue to commit his atrocities. Hobbes is
forced to kill a man possessed by Azazel and
must clear his name while protecting his family
and others from the evil, vengeful Azazel
Categories - Medium
Primary medium cinema
• Allows for total
concentration on the
film.
• This enhances
enjoyment as the
film’s attraction is in
its story not its
technology or high
budget.
• Secondary Medium
– DVD or
terrestrial/cable/
satellite
• Fairly old film so likely
to be viewed at home
• This allows for
socialising while
watching the film
Categories - Form
Film – mainstream commercial feature film
•
•
•
•
Actors were not major stars
Director was known and respected
within genre but not a big name
Film relies on other means (no big
budget or big names to attract and
audience)
This plays with the expectations of the
audience
Categories - Purposes
To Entertain
• By scaring, thrilling,
and exciting the
audience.
• It provides escape
from everyday reality.
• The film depends on
audience’s preconceived ideas of
classic narrative,
where the good guy
always wins, to
entertain and surprise
its audience.
Categories - Purposes
To Entertain
• By scaring,
thrilling, and
exciting the
audience.
• It provides
escape from
everyday reality.
• The purpose of “Fallen”
is to tell a good story not
provide a spectacle or
feature major stars as
high budget or
blockbuster films do,
although Denzel
Washington went on to
be a major star he was
not when this film was
made.
Categories - Purposes
To Make a Profit
• It grossed nearly
$10.5 million in its
opening weekend
• It took in $25 million
within the first two
months for later for
Turner Pictures.
• Having no special
attractions the film
relied on word of
mouth to attract a
wider audience.
• Enabled the stars,
director, distributors to
go on to bigger things
Genre – horror, mystery, thriller
• “Fallen” is a generic hybrid, it is a mixture of
American Police Detective Thriller/ Mystery/
Horror/ supernatural.
• In an attempt to widen the audience appeal the
film includes many genre, there is even an
attempt at a love interest.
• Within the first few minutes we are introduced to
a man fleeing for his life, a prison execution, a
buddy cop scene, a murder and there is an
implication of the supernatural through the
language (sound and shots) used.
Genre
HORROR
Genre
MYSTERY
Genre
THRILLER
Some Comic
Relieve
Serious
Fear for characters
The character Jonesy
(Hobbes best friend)
Expectation that the
good guy wins
Played by John
Goodman
TONE
Suspense
Who is committing the murders?
It is well through the film before the audience realises
there is an evil spirit transferring to different bodies to
commit murders
Actor – Denzel Washington
John Hobbes
Mostly type cast as a good
guy
Denzel Washington - Career
• 2010 Unstoppable
2010 The Book of Eli
2009 The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
• 2007 The Great Debaters
2007 American Gangster
2006 déjà vu
2006 Inside Man
2004 The Manchurian Candidate
• 2004 Man on Fire
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000243/
Actor – John Goodman
Jonesy
Generally known as a
funny guy
Actor – Donald Sutherland
Lt Stanton
Donald Sutherland has made
a lasting legacy on
Hollywood, whether
portraying a chilling and
horrifying villain, or playing
the older respectable
character in his films. A true
character actor, Sutherland is
one of Canada's most wellknown names and will
hopefully continue on being
so long after his time.
Donald Sutherland
• Sutherland's first roles were bit parts
• He was also appearing in episodes of TV shows
such as "The Saint" and "Court Martial".
• He had been a last-minute replacement for an
actor that had dropped out of the film. The role
he played was that of the dopey but loyal Vernon
Pinkley in the war film The Dirty Dozen (1967).
The picture was an instant success as an
action/war film
Donald Sutherland
• 1970 and 1971 offered Sutherland a
number of other films, the best of them
would have to be Klute (1971). The film,
which made Jane Fonda a star, is about a
prostitute whose friend is mysteriously
murdered. Sutherland received no critical
acclaim but his career did not fade.
• Sutherland took a supporting role that
would become one of his most infamous
and most critically acclaimed. He played
the role of the murderous fascist leader in
the Bernardo Bertolucci Italian epic
Novecento
Donald Sutherland - Career
• 2010 The Con Artist
• 2010 Moby Dick (TV series)
2009 Astro Boy
2007-2009 Dirty Sexy Money (TV series)
2009 The Eastmans (TV movie)
2008/I Fool’s Gold
• 2007 Puffball
• 2007 Reign Over Me
• 2005-2006 Commander in Chief (TV series)
2006 Ask the Dust
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000661/
Director – Gregory Hoblit
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
2009 Solving Charlie (TV movie)
2008 Untraceable
2007/I Fracture
2004 NYPD 2069 (TV movie)
2002 Hart’s War
2000 Frequency
1998 Fallen
1996 Primal Fear
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0387706/#Director
Key Scene 1 – Hobbes near death in the
woods
Signs/codes/
conventions
Music
Titles – black
on white,
gothic type
font. Ts look
crosses
Dissolve into
smoke
deconstruction
Motivation/
Anchorage
Eerie, scary
Horror,
supernatural genre
Binary
oppositions
(good/evil)
Information,
reinforce genre
Cigarette
Clue to ending
Key Scene 1 – Hobbes near death in the
woods
Signs/codes/
conventions
Cut to black
fade in and
voice over
deconstruction
Motivation/
Anchorage
Suspense,
Create suspense,
recognition of
make the
the voice of
audience think
Denzel
they are about to
Washington, the see a story about
hero. The
the character
beginning
speaking
Key Scene 1 – Hobbes near death in the
woods
Signs/codes/
deconstruction
conventions
Music changed Exciting, chase
to fast
Man trying to
escape, fast
cutting rate,
canted angles
Motivation/
Anchorage
Thriller genre
The hero nearly Expectation of
died, now we’re classic narrative
going to hear
why in a
flashback
Key Scene 1 – Hobbes near death in the
woods
Signs/codes/
conventions
deconstruction Motivation/
Anchorage
Mise-en-scene –
Film Noir
snow, dark, woods,
derelict cottage
Mystery
We’ve gone back
Dissolve to a busy in time.
scene, police cars, Something
flashing lights,
exciting is going
siren, American
to happen,
accents
someone has
broken the law
Transition in time
and place. Establish
genre – American
Detective Thriller.
Key Scene 1 – Hobbes near death in the
woods
Signs/codes/
conventions
Close up of
hand turning a
coin. (repeated
later in the
film) Pan up to
reveal man’s
face
deconstruction
Someone
watching and
waiting Denzel
Washington –
star - hero
Motivation/
Anchorage
Coin implicates
Hobbes later in
one of the
murders.
Key Scene 2 - Prison
Signs/codes/ deconstruction Motivation/
conventions
Anchorage
The first use of bars
Reese in
Bad man
through which to film
prison cell
brought to
Hobbes, a recurring theme
justice
throughout film to suggest
his eventual entrapment.
Other shots later in the film
are of Hobbes behind
cobwebs and branches at
the cabin, behind park
railings, with the shadow of
Venetian blinds on his face.
Key Scene 2 - Prison
Signs/codes/ deconstruction Motivation/
conventions
Anchorage
Reese and
Hobbes shake
hands
Hobbes is a good
guy
Hobbes is too good to allow
Azazel to possess him
Reese speaks
in strange
language
Evil
To identify Azazel later.
Cultural assumption that
things foreign are no good
Reese being led
to gas chamber Justice
Develop smoke theme
Key Scene 2 - Prison
Signs/codes/ deconstruction Motivation/
conventions
Anchorage
Music
Rolling Stones Reinforce binary opposition
– “Bad Boys”
Point of
View Shot
Looking from
Reese’s eyes
Establish Azazel not Reese
as the killer
Key Scene 3 - Bar
Signs/codes/ deconstruction Motivation/
conventions
Anchorage
Close up of TV Hobbes is an
Hobbes being intelligent good
interviewed
detective
Three
detectives
having a drink
together
chatting
Gives authority
Hobbes has
Establish Hobbes
stopped
character
smoking, doesn’t
take bribes and
is a good friend
Key Scene 3 - Bar
Signs/codes/ deconstruction Motivation/
conventions
Anchorage
Mise-en-scene Smoky bar
Reference to ending
Drinking
Budwiesser
Establish character
Hobbes is a
good buddy
Key Scene – Final Scene (same as
beginning)
Signs/codes/ deconstruction Motivation/
conventions
Anchorage
Mise-en-scene Back to the
– snow,
beginning
derelict cabin
Resolution
Narrative
The Story
The story tells of a fallen angel,
Azazel, and his struggle to survive.
He has no form of his own, he is only
a spirit and has to enter other
people’s bodies to live. He is an evil
spirit and a serial killer. The story
tells of him meeting a homicide
detective who is too good to
succumb and resists him, this only
excites Azazel and makes him
determined to overcome the good
detective which he does in the end.
Narrative
The plot
The film starts at the end with the
audience being told in a voice-over
by Detective John Hobbes “I want to
tell you about the time I almost died”.
Then there is a flashback to the
struggle between Hobbes and
Azazel, the audience believing till the
end that Hobbes wins
Narrative
Narrative
Structure
From the voice over at the beginning
the expectation is for a classic
narrative. The good detective has
done his job and caught the killer
(equilibrium), the killer continues to
kill (disruption), the good detective
wins the day (return to equilibrium)
Our expectation is that the narrative
will fulfil our need for a myth, that the
hero wins and good overcomes evil.
Narrative
Resolution
The resolution that the bad guy wins
would not satisfy all in the audience
who are used to the classic good
triumphing over evil.
Narrative
Cultural/ Throughout the film clues are given in the form of
technical cultural/ technical codes as to the outcome but
because we are expecting a classic narrative we
codes
do not read them correctly.
The mise-en-scene in several scenes develops the
theme of Hobbes entrapment. At the beginning
shots are taken through the bars of the prison cell,
during his first visit to the cabin, the eventual scene
of his death, the shots are close frame of him
through cobwebs, broken beams, branches etc.
Only when we finally return to the cabin in the last
scene with its snow covered mise-en-scene do we
realise that we have come full circle and are back
to the beginning.
Narrative
Cultural/
technical
codes
As the action progresses the audience
identifies the semic codes indicating the
presence of Azazel e.g. when shots are
taken from his point of view red back
colour has been keyed in at a low level
to give red haze and the person being
possessed changes their body
language and facial expression to look
evil. The sound underpinning the
transition from one person to another
becomes an index sign that Azazel is
on the move.
Narrative
Cultural/
technical
codes
Just before he is executed Reese sings the Rolling
Stones song “Time is on my side” signifying that
Azazel knows he will win, each character repeats
the song when possessed by Azazel.
Smoke is used throughout the film as a symbol of
Azazel’s power – the opening titles dissolve into
smoke, there is a smoky haze in the gas chamber,
the bar is full of smoke when we hear Hobbes has
given up smoking and ironically eventually Hobbes
kills himself by smoking a poisoned cigarette in an
attempt to kill Azazel who has in the end succeeded
in possessing him.
Narrative
Devices
From the voice over at the beginning
we think we are seeing events unfold
from the point of view of John
Hobbes as a restricted narrative but
of course it is from Azazel’s which we
should have guessed from the point
of view shots.
Narrative
Audience
Throughout the film we think the
engagement main enigma is how will John
Hobbes overcome Azazel? This film
is not just a straight forward story it
tries to make you think, to work out
for yourself the resolution by the
repetition of signifies e.g. smoke,
bars, sounds whilst at the same time
relying on our expectation of the
classic narrative to surprise us.
Representation – John Hobbes
Denzel Washington
In his early films Washington was type cast as
the hero. Hobbes is a stereotypical good guy
detective. Incorruptible, intelligent, clean living,
good looking, good uncle, caring brother, great
pal. The perfect hero on a quest. In casting a
black actor in the role the director seems to be
making a statement about race being a nonissue, the hero is black but Azazel does not
discriminate in his choice of host.
Representation - Jonesy
John Goodman
• Clever casting has John Goodman,
normally the funny good character
eventually trying to kill Hobbes when
possessed by Azazel in the final scene,
the audience expect the killer to be in the
character of Donald Sutherland who is
normally cast as the hard man.
Representation - women
• The representation of the female/love
interest as Gretta is very weak. This could
dissatisfy members of the audience
(differential decoding).
Representation - Places
• Big City – Bustling, easy to hid, easy to be
anonymous, plenty of hosts for Azazel.
• Milano’s Cabin – isolated, bleak, scary. The
perfect place to trap Azazel – ironically Hobbes
doesn’t know Azazel can enter the form of any
living creature although the audience should
because he was in the form of a cat at one point
in the film.
• Gretta’s house – full of pictures and statues of
angels.
Stereotypes
The film relies heavily on binary
oppositions. Representations are all very
stereotypical.
• Good – Hobbes, angels, Christianity.
• Bad – Azazel, fallen angel, POV shots in
red (danger)
• The only two songs are by the Rolling
Stones who have a ‘bad boy’ image.
Cultural Assumptions
• Typical American good guy buddy movie. The ending
could alienated some of the audience.
• The lack of violence, blood, high speed car chases etc.
could alienate some of the audience.
• Everything American and English speaking is good,
Azazel (Reese) speaks in strange language (Syrian
Aramaeic).
• When Azazel transfers into a character they begin to
speak in a course manner and slightly contort their
features, semic codes for our assumption of evil.
• Christianity is good – Gretta runs for refuge and
sanctuary to the church when she is being chased by
Azazel.
• Good should overcome evil.
Mediation
• The film relies on conventional
representations to dupe the audience.
Because Turner Pictures did not have a
big budget they had to find other ways of
attracting an audience.
Audience - Target
• The film seems to be aimed at older film-goers
who might enjoy a more thought provoking
narrative rather than all action, blood and gore
but as it has a 15 certificate it was also aimed at
a younger audience. The film seems to have
little to attract a female audience except perhaps
Denzel Washington’s good looks. Since the film
was made Denzel Washington has become a
very famous Academy Award winning actor and
as it will most often be viewed on television now
his name would attract a wide audience.
Audience – Mode of Address
• The mode of address is indirect when the
audience watches events unfold and direct
when the voice over is used and the
audience sees the world through Azazel’s
eyes in the POV shots.
Audience – Preferred Reading
• The film wants you to expect a classic
narrative, good overcomes evil, but ends
by telling you life isn’t perfect the human
spirit does not always triumph.
• Hobbes quote “Something is always
happening but when it happens people
don’t always see it or understand it or
accept it”
Audience – Differential Readings
Irritation – Why do Gretta and Hobbes not fall in
love? Why does she give in so easily when
overcoming Azazel had been her life’s work?
Why no car chases, blood, gore, violence?
Anger – The good guy loses.
Pleasures – Clever plot, uncovering all the clues
after discovering the resolution, cinematography,
refreshing that good guy doesn’t always win.
Audience - Intertextuality
• Audience knowledge of the main three
actors. Expectation of quality from Turner
Pictures.
Institution - Ownership/Finance/Distribution
• Turner Pictures produced the film and
Warner Brothers distributed it, they are
part of Time Warner Inc the largest media
and entertainment company in the world
leading to an expectation of quality in the
audience.
Institution - Statutory Controls
• In the UK, the British Board of Film
Classification. This film is a 15 so must not
depict graphic violence of horror.
Institution - Self-regulatory codes of
practice
• The budget was a major constraint, the
money available was spent on the stars
leaving nothing for special effects and
spectacle, the film relied on the narrative
to attract an audience.
Institution - Marketing Controls
• Now the film would be viewed on video
and television.
Institution - Intertextualisation
• Previous films with the main actors or by
the director or the production company.