Narrative

"All texts follow similar narrative structures, how true is this of the film Taken?"

     The majority of films produced follow very similar narrative structures, Todorov has a theory that films all follow the same structure throughout the film, starting with an equilibrium, a disruption, the recognition of the disruption, an attempt to repair the disruption & then everything is fixed and repaired and we return back to an equilibrium.

The film Taken is a very good example of this theory, it starts off with Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) buying a gift for his daughters birthday, Kim (Maggie Grace) and attending her party, everything is well and everyone is happy, this is the equilibrium. 






Kim then decides to go on a band tour across the whole of Europe following U2, she asks her Dad, but tells him she's only going to Paris, as he is a very paranoid man as he is an ex CIA agent and has seen the world and knows what it's like. The disruption begins when Kim is taken in her hotel by men who intend on putting her on drugs and turning her into a prostitute. 

According to Todorov, the next step in this narrative structure would be the recognition of the disruption, in this film that does happen, however, the recognition is pretty much instant, as Bryan is on the phone to Kim as she is taken. One of the men who have taken her pick up the phone and Bryan threatens him, with a very well known line which is "I don't know who you are, but if you don't let my daughter go, I will find you, and I will kill you" this is the recognition moving onto the next step which is the attempt to repair the damage.
  

The attempt to repair the damage is more or less shown throughout the entire film, as Bryan does his research, and attempts to find his daughter Kim, not letting anyone stop him in his way, killing many men in the process.

Bryan then kills the man who is keeping his daughter hostage and using her as a prostitute, after he is killed, they hug, and everything is restored and he takes her home. Bryan then takes Kim to a famous pop stars house, a pop star Bryan helped protect at her concert because he was part of security and Kim is a huge fan of hers. Because Kim wants to be a singer, she said she could come visit and she would listen to Kim and see what she sounds like and help her follow her dreams, which is, as Todorov said, the return to the equilibrium.

    

Western Films

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly are typical of it's western genre through it's conventions such as it's visual symbols. Straight away you are aware of the genre of the film because of the characters and what they are wearing. The characters all wear typical 'cowboy' outfits, with Hats, boots, etc, this connotes that they are in fact cowboys. Characters in a western are also well known to have facial hair, mustaches in particular, which all characters in this scene had. Guns are also shown in this scene, each character has one, which connotes a stand off which is a typical western convention. The location also tells us the film is a western, as the scene is set in the desert, which is a typical location for westerns to be placed.
In terms of the narrative there is always a hero, the one who wins the stand off and kills the enemy and triumphs and rides off on his horse, in this film, that character is Clint Eastwood. Clint Eastwood is a very iconic character of America and is often associated with the Western film genre.
Age is represented on this scene, all the men in this stand off Western scene are all middle aged, and they are all shown as very dominant and powerful, as during the stand off technical codes are used like close ups of there faces, and their faces show determination and power.

The Male Gaze

The James Bond franchise is a clear example of film objectifying females and forcing the audience to view females via the male gaze.  The scene within, "Die Another Day" when James Bond meets the character Jinx demonstrates my previous statement by creating a visual pleasure with usage of Technical elements. For example when Jinx comes out of the water a slow motion effect is added to give a Socophillic effect. This then forcefully puts you in the Male Gaze as you are forced to linguir on her body for a longer period of time, who at this point is objectified. This creates a hyper reality, as you don't view women in slow motion, however much you want to. This is creating a constructed representation of women, with no identity, just for visual pleasure. This is then extended even further when Jinx leaves the water as she sways her body from left to right as she walks to pick up her towel, this is once again done to create that Socophillia effect, as in reality no woman does that. This film is creating a re-constructed representation of women. Later in the scene a close up of Jinx's face is shown, she is wearing make up to emphasize she is attractive, if a women wore make up to go swimming, when she got out the make up would be running all down her face, this yet again creates a hyper reality, it's almost as if we are in a Patriarchal Society, where men dictate the rules. The usage of Non Diegetic music gives the scene a kind of dream feeling, like Bond is in paradise and is in control, creating a hegemonic idea. Jinx is quite obviously a passive character, she is a character used purely for visual pleasure, just to be looked at.

My Uses & Gratifications

My favourite TV show is 'Two and a Half Men'. I watch this show for entertainment, social intergration & also I can personally identify with some characters. I get entertainment from this show from it's comedy elements & slight adult humour, for example when one of the characters is upset he has his face down on the table, and his brother walks in and says 'if you knew what I'd done on the table recently you wouldn't put your face down on it' and instantly he jumps up, creating adult humor which I enjoy in shows, but at times there is a lot of drama, which I also enjoy. Me and my friends tend to discuss the episodes and have a laugh about certain parts, which links into social integration. But also on the show is a son, who is around my age and him and his friends get into lots stupid situations, which at times, I can relate to, so I enjoy seeing what kinds of things he does, which relates to personally identifying with the characters.

Representations in Film Trailers

Taken

This film trailer shows representations of genders, it shows the male as very dominant, masculine and skillful, with lots of power, for example when Liam Neesons character is trying to get information from a man he is forcing him to talk by punching him repetitively in the ribs, however, the women are shown as easily dominated and weak, as the daughter gets taken by men, once again showing the men have the power. This trailer also shows a negative representation of Paris, as that is where this is set, and is also where the girls get taken and turned into prostitutes.

Audience

A niche audience:
A niche audience is a certain specific audience, a small audience that would be interested in a certain text.

A mainstream audience:
A mainstream audience is a much wider range audience, certain programmes that a lot people of can either gain information from or get a certain gratification out of.

Examples of niche media texts:

MUTV is a niche media text because even though Football is very very mainstream, this particular channel concentrates on a specific team, meaning only people who support Manchester United will tune in to this channel. It's also niche because it's a channel that costs extra to buy, and not everyone will be willing to spend extra, so only true Manchester United fans will tune into this channel.

Classic Fm is also a niche media text because Classical Music isn't a very popular music genre, mainly the elderly like this type of music, so they're really the only kind of people that will be tuning into this radio station and listening to the music.

Kerrang Magazine is quite a tricky one because it could fall under both a niche media text & a mainstream media text. The reason for this being mainstream is because Rock music is a still a very popular music genre spread across both genders and all ages, however, there are certain people who dislike rock music, so they wont buy this magazine, also, the majority of the elder fans of rock wont buy these magazines because they can't really personally identify with the people in the magazine as they are mostly quite young, this is what makes Kerrang Magazine a niche media text.

Examples of a mainstream media text:

The X Factor is a very mainstream media text as it is shown on ITV 1 at 8pm on a Saturday Night. ITV is a very popular channel so many people will watch, and on a Saturday Night no-one will be at work so the majority of people will be watching TV. On the show are a wide range of contestants, so everyone is able to personally identify with the people on the show. This also gives off a huge amount of entertainment with things like Comedy & Drama. There is also an element of social integration, where people the next day will talk about what happened on the show, and if you didn't see it, you will feel left out. Also, ITV is a free channel to view, so this will attract even more people.

Friends is a mainstream media text because it has numerous amounts of genres involved, like Comedy, Drama, Romance, etc. It is played on E4, quite a popular channel. The characters are both male and female so the audience will be able to personally identify with the characters. There is also once again an element of social integration. E4 is also, once again, a free channel, attracting more people.

Big Brother is a mainstream media text because it is reality TV, so straight away people will be able to personally identify with the people in the show, also, the people picked for the show are very different, black people, gay people, etc, so straight away it will attract a much wider range of audience. Big Brother is shown on Channel 4, which is free, attracting more people. It is shown at around 9pm, 'prime time' as it is known as because it's the time the majority of people will be at home watching TV.