Fish Tank Characters

Fish Tank Characters:

Mia  - Protagonist    ( genre and representation ) 

Connor   ( genre of being corrupt )

Coursework Essay Draft

Q1: How is the female representation constructed to sell products? Focusing on advertisements such as Gucci Guilty and Paco Rabanne's Lady Million.

Bibliography:
1: Gucci Guilty advertisement- google images
2: Paco Rabanne Lady Million advetisement - google images
3: Male Gaze theory: Laura Mulvey's essay ' Visual pleasure and narrative cinema'
4: Image of Gucci Guilty- Google images
5: Image of Paco Rabanne 'lady million'- Google images 

6: Gucci Guilty review- http://www.examiner.com/review/gucci-guilty-eau-de-toilette-review Quote 1
7: Hegemony by Antonio Gramsci = http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/marxism/marxism10.html Quote 2)
8: Objectification of women of the lower class in the media ( feminist theory ) Quote 3= http://disabledfeminists.com/2010/02/28/feminism-objectifies-women/ 

In my coursework I intend to focus on the representation of women in the media, specifically focusing on perfume advertisment posters and magazines. Women are objectified and sexualised in the media by their body and appearance and the audience is frequently given the role of the male gaze, focusing on intimate and sexual parts of a womans body. Firstly i will focus on how the Male Gaze theory by Laura Mulvey (3) is used to explain how women are viewed and sexualised in the media; by the title of advertisements and images. Secondly the connotations related to perfume and colour schemes and also how marketing and design can connect other reasons why consumers want to purchase the product. Finally i will investigate into theories such as Hegemony (7) and Feminist theories and how they relate to the representation of women in perfume advertisements. 

The Male Gaze is a theory made by Laura Mulvey (3) , where she discusses how audiences are given a masculine role and see and interpret text in a males point of view.

I am specifically focusing on adverts such as Gucci (1) and Paco Rabanne (2) and how they show different representations of women. In the Gucci " Guilty" advertisement (1) , the woman is shown to be naked with a man about to kiss her neck. She gives full eye contact to the camera, making the audience feel victimised and specifically targeted. Also the image could show power that a woman may have over a man in a sexual and desirable way.

Whereas in the Paco Rabanne advertisment for " Lady Million" (2), the woman is wearing a low cut black dress, exploiting her chest to the camera. Her gesture of the hand shows a sign for money, which could suggest how women are seen as glamorous and on the hunt for wealth and fortune. This also relates to the stereotypical " Bond Girl ", wanting love, wealth and diamonds. She also looks very seductive, making her sexuality objectified to the audience.

In the Gucci advertisement (1) both a Man and a Woman are featured however the woman has full eye contact towards the camera showing that she is the main focus. Elements of the male gaze are shown within this image, portrayed by both the camera and the featured Male. The males focus is on the woman and only the woman. The male gaze theory(3) is that the media objectifies women by the way the male sees them. By his sexual facial expressions, he shows to want the woman for his lust and for her beauty. His full attention is on her body, which could show males interests in women and what their ambitions are. This portrays women as a sex object towards the audience and that Men want a woman who is beautiful to ful-fill their pleasures.

However the woman is also portrayed as to being superior to the Male. Her body is of a higher level than him and has her hands round his head. This shows that women can be dominant over a man and are able to seduce males into their sexual desires. Feminists would support this idea and that a woman can be independent and not necessarily need a male in her life.This contradicts the elements of the male gaze and that women are also able to take on the stereotypical roles of a male. However the perfume is called ' Gucci Guilty' which could suggest dishonesty and secrecy. The woman's eye contact is shown to be directly at the camera, not focusing on the male. Showing that she is looking out for something else to catch her attention. This could represent women to being sly and betraying a males love and trust; this is a negative representation.

In the Paco Rabanne advert for Lady Million (2), only a woman is featured within the image. Her body positioning is facing directly at the camera with a full length central shot. The colours of black and gold are used, which are associated with wealth, pleasure and luxuries. This is also relevant to her hand gestures as she is doing sign language for money. In both perfume advertisements, it is shown that purchasing perfume is a very feminine and sexy thing to do and that wearing perfume will attract males and wealth. Similarly to the Paco Rabanne Lady Million, colours of black and gold are also used to signify glamour and wealth, which is representing that all women who would associate with evening activities and expensive nights out are more likely to wear expensive perfume. They could suggest also ' dressed up' fashion which is relevant to evening wear. This could also signify the perfumes expense and that it should only be worn for special occasions. This is supported by a review made about the perfume on the internet:

"Gucci Guilty is the new eau de toilette from iconic fashion house Gucci. Gucci designs highly luxurious and trend setting fashions which are often sensual and appropriate for evening or special occasions." (6)

This relates to the theory of Hegemony by Antonio Gramsci. The term ' Hegemony' means that: "a specific class and social group have dominance over others." (7)

This is portrayed in the media by the way things are evolved around those of the upper class. These perfume advertisements have connotations of wealth, glamour, beauty and fortune; which all relate to those of the upper class. It represents that women of the upper class are the only ones focused on in the media and in real life. This objectifies women of the lower class, as they are deprived of such luxuries in their lives.

"It always comes from the perspective of a white, cisgendered, currently nondisabled, middle-to-upper-class, heteronormative, and otherwise socially privileged person." (8) 
This comes from the perspective of a feminist, that the media creates a biased representation of just the 'ideal woman'. However this still encourages people to purchase these products as they feel that they want to be seen like the ideal woman by others.  

How does Sin City use genre conventions?

Sin City has a mix of two genres that link and fit together perfectly. It is a noir film, which is a film made in black and white that includes dark subjects and events. Also Sin City was originally a story within a comic book, and elements throughout show connotations of this such as use of colour, and
animation. Its dark and strange story line captures the idea of a Noir film genre with conventions such as the use of the weather. Throughout the film, dark and cold use of weather is frequent such as heavy rain and snow. This creates an eery and dark atmosphere relating to conventions relative to those of a horror genre. The film is based Noir films during the Cold War; which supports the common themes throughout of panic, paranoia and who you think you can trust. This time for Americans was a very dark and sickening time, which could lead to insanity; another element shown within the film.

The variety of genres used within the film all link together successfully to create a comic book coming alive. This is specifically shown when the hero of part 1 of the film Marve, uses the black leather long coat when undergoing his missions. The coat signifies his 'heroic' acts and relates to the comic book stereotype of a superhero like Superman. Every time he chooses a new victim to get information out of before he murders them he will take off their coat and wear it himself. This is like his trademark act for all his criminal acts. However his acts also relate to the Noir genre of film as he has a mental illness and that he isn't quite certain whether what he is doing is real of is infact in his head. This relating to how paranoia can turn oneself to insanity when surrounded by the thought of death.

The use of flashing neon lights is a convention of the Noir film genre, contrasting from the black and white colour throughout. Flashing lights are specifically used for police cars chasing characters, this immediately makes the audience associate the colours blue and red to a police warning lights. Also it relates to a comic book 'pop art' style of drawing using mainly primary colours such as blue, red, yellow, black and white.

Furthermore, shadow is used to represent a characters innocence or insanity. The low key lighting throughout creates shadows over characters faces and body. Nancy is constantly exposed without a shadow covering her face, her blonde hair and white skin glows and shimmers in the light. She is shown to be innocent and the 'princess' within the film. However, Kevin who is the villain, is constantly in shadow, this shows his character is evil and that his true identity can not be fully exposed to the audience.

Fish Tank

Fish tank has a social realist genre, tackling the issues and life problems of those living within the working class in our society. It is targeted at a niche audience, analysing realistic events in every day life and how they take effect on certain individuals. In this specific social realism film, the director chose Katie Jarvis to play the protagonist ' Mia ', as he saw her arguing with her boyfriend at a train station. She had no acting experience and was casted as the lead role as she was noticed in a real life situation. Typical connotations of this specific genre is that it is very tense, violent, filmed and focused in an Urban area and mainly focuses on those of the Working Class. This film is specifically focused on the working class and the under class. Mia is not seen to be in education and neither is her younger sister. Her mother drinks a lot of alcohol and is shown to be unemployed. They live on an Urban estate of flats, where crime and poverty is surrounding them.
Throughout there are many hand held camera movements to create a sense of realism and that there is always something following them; that there problems are with them constantly. This is shown when Mia approaches a group of teenage girls a similar age to her, who are rehearsing a dance routine. She then starts a fight and head buts another girl, and while this is happening its like someone who is there records her every move. The camera transitions are very wild and panicked to support the idea of violence and a sense of fear. This behaviour supports how this genre targets the working class and under class issues in life. Her behaviour and violent mannerism is typical of the under class way of living and to be defensive. She has been associated with this kind of behaviour throughout her life and that she learns these things from her mother. This is yet another issue social realist genres target, and how parenting and caring is a lot different to those of a higher class.

In the last scene of the film, it shows Mia's kitchen and living room and how the wall paper is an image of ' Paradise'. It shows palm trees, a sunset setting, the ocean, the beach; showing a dream place to be in. This suggests how they want to escape from the world they are part of, and dream about something more pleasant and peaceful. A social realist film often shows how victims want to escape the world they live in and find something better however they often give up on this fantasy and just settle for what  is realistic to them. Mia's mother is seen to be unemployed and drinks large amounts of alcohol. This could show that she has given up on trying to achieve a better life and drinks to hide away the pain of what her life has thrown at her. Looking at a sense of paradise could make her feel better and that her life isnt so bad, when in reality it is. They don't have a lot of money, the TV is a standard box television, which for the present day is not common. There are no computer and technical devises in the house that cost a lot of money, this showing that they are deprived of material goods. The paradise on the wall, distracts the fact of their financial issues and family issues.

Fish Tank

Scene 2: Genre

The genre of the film Fish Tank, is a social realism film, which focuses on societies main issues and problems the working class world face in every day life. The main topics focused on throughout are underage drinking, under age sex, violence, and poverty. A social realism film shows 'real life' situations, compared to a mainstream genre which is not always realistic in real life. These connotations are shown through camera movements and angles, music, the pace of the film, cuts between scenes etc. There are a lot of hand held camera shots when following Mia around and for what she gets up to. Mia approaches a group of young girls and gets into a fight, the use of the hand held camera makes it seem more realistic as if someone who is there is filming the fight on their phone. This relates to the genre as things like this happen daily in working class areas, as someone always video records a fight. The film has a slow pace, which shows how days can drag out for someone with nothing to do. Mia has no job and doesn't seem to be at school during the film so she finds things to entertain herself throughout.

Fish Tank

Scene 1: Narrative

The first scene of the film, shows the main character Mia, in a room of a flat on a large Working Class estate. The low key lighting, creates a shadow and outline of her as she looks out of the large window into the distance. This shows the use of a narrative theory of Propp, who identifies the roles of characters within a film; however these may change. As she is looking out of a high window into the distance, it could signify the 'Young Princess' who is looking out of her tall tower waiting to be rescued. It makes the audience question what she may be wanting to get away from and what she may be waiting for in life. It also gives an insight into this characters life and where she lives could feel like a prison and that she is unable to escape from the harsh realities her life faces.

James Bond and The Male Gaze

The James Bond franchise is a clear example of film objectifying females and forcing the audience to view females and to see it through the male gaze. The scene within ' Die another day' when James Bond meets Jinx demonstrates my previous statement by the Vignette effect used to portray Bond looking through binoculars; this makes the audience look at the woman directly through Bonds eyes. This demonstrates Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze theory, as the audience are automatically made to look at and gain scopophillia and hegemonic ideologies from looking at the attractive female. This relates to how we live in a patriarchal society, where everything is ruled by males and that people are made to see the male opinion. 

In the post production editing, the woman emerging from the water is in slow motion, which makes the audience enter a fantasy world in Bonds mind. By the clip being in slow motion, the audience is able to study the woman's body, just how Bond would be taking it all in and studying her slowly and closely. The camera keeps going back to Bonds reaction to seeing the woman and then when he goes back to looking through the binoculars we take on the male gaze again. When she walks towards Bond, she shakes her hips from side to side, showing she's being sexually provocative to gain Bond's attention even more. She also has a full face of perfect natural makeup, this is a constructed representation as she would not look like this in reality. The filming has been constructed to make her look flawless even when she's come out of sea water. This also gives a false reality, as this would not happen in a real life situation and that we all gain the hegemonic ideology that women should look attractive in any life situation. 

When Bond says he is a Ornithologist, she looks down at his crotch and replies " wow thats a mouthful". This shows how provocative she is being towards Bond, to make him feel attracted to her and that she is available. Her forward behaviour, shows the audience what Bond likes in a woman, and that a passive audience of a woman may think this the way women get men to be attracted to them which gives them a hyper-reality. Whereas an active audience would see that men only want one thing from women who act in that way.