PR4 Me & My Movies

Ben Holmes

Genre: ComedyThe genre I have decided to choose 3 movies for has to be comedy. I enjoy the comedy genre over any other genre due to the fact that most comedy films include a lot of intertextuality from other media. Another major factor that influences me towards comedy films is that they usually have a strong casting crew containing more than one A-listed celebrity. Many film fanatics are most attracted to a movie depending on who is starting in it. This is due to people watching other successful comedy movies that their favourite actor is featured in and seeing a newly released film containing the same actor, this is known at Star Theory. Another important factor that steers me away from watching action movies or horror movies is that the story line always seems too ‘cheesy’ or extremely rushed with a strange ending that does not fit the plot of the film. This is why I enjoy comedy as there is no real story line necessary to create a good movie.

The Hangover Director: Todd Philips Year: 2009

Angelenos Doug Billings and Tracy Garner are about to get married. A few days before the wedding the four men decide to take a trip to Las Vegas for a pre-wedding party. Doug, Phil, Stu and Alan all jump into Tracey’s father’s pride and joy Mercedes convertible for a 24 hour stag party in Vegas. Phil, a married high school teacher has the same maturity levels as his students when he is united with his friends. Stu, a dentist, is worried about everything; especially what his controlling girlfriend Melissa is going to say. As she completely disagrees with the traditional male bonding rituals, Stu has to lie to her about the party, leading her to believe that they are going on a wine tasting tour in the Napa Valley. Regardless he intends on eventually marrying her, against the wishes of his close friends. The morning after their arrival in Las Vegas, they awaken in their hotel suite each with the worst hangover. No body remembers what happened last night, the hotel room is destroyed and things have gone missing. One of the most important missing items being husband to be Doug. Stu, Alan and Phil try and piece the night together using items discovered in the hotel suite to find Doug. However they are in a race against the clock as if they can’t find Doug I the next few hours, they are going to have to explain to Tracy why they are not yet back in Los Angeles and furthermore they may not find Doug in time for the wedding.

Superbad

Seth, Evan and Fogell are three curious teenage guys who love to drink and are in desperate need to get laid. When a female colleague that Seth really likes invites him to one of her parties and asks him to bring the alcohol for the party. Seth sees this as a perfect opportunity to make his move on her. The trio plan out how to get the alcohol as they are not old enough to legally purchase it. Fogell’s fake ID is there only hope and fails miserably. Seth and Evan become separated from Fogell (now known as McLovin on his fake ID) and they still haven't recovered the alcohol for the party.

Director: Greg MottolaYear Of Production: 2007

Pulp Fiction This film follows two hit men; Jules Winfield and Vincent Vega whilst on a job to retrieve a suitcase for mob boss Marcellus Wallace. There are many obstacles along their way but nothing is too big for these two professional hit men. In my opinion the proffered demographic audience for this movie would be males aged between 18-30 due to the year the movie came out combined with the language included throughout the film. There is also a lot of violence shown in some of the scenes. Pulp fiction uses its story line to entice viewers instead of special effects and expensive products.

Media Literacy:There are a number of different ways of promoting new / up-coming movies. The advertisement industry is one of the largest methods of getting new movies seen and spoken about. Advertisements can consist of TV ads where a brief overview of the movie is shown in between programmes at prime time on television. Other less expensive methods of advertising consist of adverts broadcasted via radio. The use of Billboards, posters and magazines have also been successful in advertising movies. Another way of getting a recent movie recognised is through interviews. Interviews are also a type of promotion that actors often use to talk about a movie they have recently featured in giving their fans a better insight to the film they are promoting. More old fashioned techniques of media literacy consist of word of mouth between friends and family recommending movies to each other. Also one of the most common ways to view what is currently being shown in your local cinema and at what times is to visit their official website for example Red Cinema or Odeon and check the film listings. There has recently been a huge increase in the use of social media to advertise new movies for example famous actors will make an account on Facebook or Twitter then post interviews and trailers for their hundreds of vans to view.

Intertextuality

Some movies refer directly to each other – such as in ‘remake’ movies. The interpretation of these references is influenced by the audiences’ prior knowledge of other movies.Take the movie The Hangover for example, we can see that the narrative is following the journeys of 3 men who’s task is to look after a baby. In my opinion this is very similar to the narrative of the movie Three Men & A Baby. The film is pretty much about the same thing, three men taking care of a baby, this can be referred to as intertextuality

Star TheoryAll three movies I have talked about have included major stars in their cast. This would help attract a much wider target audience simply because they are already famous and have cult followings where a fan base is created just based around one actor. For example Superbad includes Jonah Hill as the main character, People will already know his face from previous movies he has featured in and remember his comedian attitude. The reputation and popularity of an actor can be a great advantage when it comes to including major stars in a movie.

Star theory is also another major factor in the Pulp Fiction movie. John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson are huge stars. At the time this film was created John Travolta would have a huge fan base aged around 20-25 due to starring in Grease Lighting (1978). Another big star is Uma Thurman who plays Mia Wallace in the film; Uma later went on to star in Kill Bill, another successful Tarnation movie.

Stuart Hall came up with the reception theory, this suggest that we react to films based on our age, gender, ethnicity, social class and cultural background. Producer encoding is what the director chooses to include in their movies. What they decide to include in their film could be based on their age, gender and cultural background. Audience decoding is how we interpret the meaning of a film. Our opinion is either Preferred, Negotiated Oppositional. Preferred is when we enjoy a film, negotiated is where we see the good points and bad points to a film and oppositional is where we dislike a film.

Reception Theory

Active Spectatorship

Active spectatorship relates to how some people will react to a movie differently to others, such as the way they embrace the meaning or the message the film includes. Active spectatorship is very similar to reception theory because it says that each individual will react differently to what they are being shown. This also leads to cult following of a film; this is a fan base that is very interested in the film and its meaning be it due to a certain scene, plot or quoted from the movie that the individual has actively picked out. The cult followers may pay attention to much smaller details than the average box-office viewer due to their passion for the movie. Films that are in sagas such as Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter often gain the largest cult following along with auteur movies such as Fight Club and Pulp Fiction.