Comparison of Moonlight and Kingsman

'Moonlight' is a coming of age drama that explores a lot of subjects throughout that normally would not be mentioned in this particular genre of film, it particularly focuses on sexuality within young black boys. Whereas, 'Kingsman' is an comedy, spy, action film that takes classic spy films like Bond films and adds a comedic value to it. Initially 'Moonlight' and 'Kingsman' seem like two completely unrelated movies in regards to the genre and overall narrative of them both. However, the films have a lot of similarities particularly when exploring masculinity.
In both the films there is a lack of biological father figures, but there is an unbiological father figure and dominant male to look up to. In 'Kingsman' this was 'Harry Hart', who mentored the main character 'Eggsy'. In 'Moonlight' the male role model was 'Mr. Pierce', who helped 'Little'. In both these films the male figures acted as mentors and role models for both of the main characters to look up to, particularly during times of crisis or when in need of support.
Another thing these films both have in common are the lack of support from the mother figure. In both films the mothers are dependent on drugs and men for sexual relations and pay more attention to that than their children. Due to the absence of the mother in these films the main characters find support through the use of the mentor instead.

The representation of masculinity is explored highly throughout both films, in 'Moonlight' masculinity is explored through the use of the main character, particularly during his teens, not dressing and acting like the rest of the boys did. This is shown in one scene where two of the boys from his class come up to him and start to make fun of him for his jeans being "too skinny". Contrasting this, the use of how male sexuality is explored in this film links in with his masculinity, his friend 'Kevin' boasts to him about a girl he is with and is later on shown to be gay. This denotes that he only boasted about being with girls to appear tough and masculine to other boys when in reality he was hiding from his sexuality. Towards the end of the film, the aforementioned character 'Little' is now grown up and is muscly and tough. His outside demeanour portrays the epitome of a masculine man but this is later on contrasted by him being with his mother and trying to keep up his tough exterior but eventually ends up crying, also when he sees his friend 'Kevin' again after a long time apart and how they instantly connect shows a relationship between them is more important than keeping up the masculine appearance.

In 'Kingsman', masculinity is explored evidently throughout from the use of body language and overall language as well as clothing and the type of job that he goes into. At the beginning of the film he is a tough male who gets into trouble with the police and doesn't have emotion but as the movie goes on he becomes more in touch with his emotion, this is shown through the use of the dog as at the beginning he disregards the puppy as it is small and useless but as the film goes on he grows attached to it and when he is told to shoot it, he goes against the instructions due to the emotional attachment that has grown. His masculinity is also shown massively towards the end as he has to take control of the situation and kill the 'villain', due to him succeeding he gets the princess and the job he wanted.

In conclusion both 'Moonlight' and 'Kingsman' explore the use of masculinity and the role of a supportive male throughout as well as the movie going on a journey to see the main character grow into a more successful person overall through the use of their struggles and how they overcome them.

Exam Question - 2C

Question 2C: With reference to your own detailed examples, explore representations of older people in the media today. 

Older people in the media today are normally seen as quite weak and inferior to the young people in the movie, But some movies show older actors and actress' as the complete opposite of this and make them seem like the 'hero' and the most important part in the movie. 

The first representation of older people in the media today that i have chosen is, 'The intern', starring Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway. In this movie Robert De Niro plays a retired widow who sees an advertisement for an intern, he takes on this role and at first all the younger people at the job don't understand why he is there and disregard him as he is dressed formally compared to everyone else just wearing casual clothes. The representation of older people in this is that, they can look quite helpless at first but are well put together and just as capable as younger people are. There is a classic representation of older people not being very modernised with things such as 'slang', social media and technology in the movie as well. 

Bruce Willis is the exact opposite of every stereotype there is of old people in the media. Throughout all of the movies he has starred in, he is seen as the action/hero type of character. He is represented as powerful and strong, he often plays a role that typically a much younger actor would take. Bruce Willis is also seen as a 'heartthrob' and is one of the most well know actors for his role in movies like 'Die Hard' and 'RED'. 

An Actress that goes against typical stereotypes of not only older people but women as well is Meryl Streep. In movies, such as, 'The Devil Wears Prada' she is represented as a successful, stern business woman. Whereas in the movie 'Into The Woods' she plays the role of an old witch, which could be quite stereotypical due to old women playing the roles of witches and hags in movies and plays. 

Someone who does fit the stereotype of older people quite well is, Michael Gambon for his role of Professor Albus Dumbledore in the Harry potter series. Even though he is very powerful in the movie, he is also very wise and humble which is what most people think of when they think of older people. Although in the movie he is powerful, compared to the younger actor Ralph Fiennes, who plays Voldemort, he is fairly weak and get defeated by him. 

Through my examples i have come to find that older people are often represented in a positive way through film and often go against the classic stereotypes but often have a few minor ones slipped in to show that they still have older peoples attributes as well. 

News event - Colombia plane crash

The Guardian 

Colombia Plane Crash 

The colombia plane crash happened during late November, killing 71 people, most of whom were in the Brazilian Chapecoense Soccer team. This crash supposedly happen due to the plane having lack of fuel and was a tragic day for many families. 

The guardian's Headline was: Colombia plane crash: Bolivia suspends airline that operated flight. 
The guardian covered a range of stories to do with the plane crash, in regards to social group, articles mainly focused on the football players that died as majority of the team died and were important figures in football and to many young people. The age of people involved was mainly over 20 years old but the article itself was aimed towards younger people who follow football but also an older audience as well as it involved more than just the Chapecoense football team being affected. Many of the people affected were Brazilian as many journalists and the football team were on the plane travelling to attend the Copa Sudamericana final. 
The group is represented in a positive way as majority of the story is paying tribute to the victims of the crash and their families. The only negativity in these stories are aimed towards the plane driver as it was his incompetence and misconduct that caused the crash. Normally when victims are involved in stories the journalist is very sensitive so that explains why negativity is minimal in this circumstance. 

The technical methods in this article, such as images and colour, are quite minimal. There is one main image of the crash plane and that is all. The headline is fairly bold and involves a heading then subheading so that people know its about the Colombia plane crash. The language and factual information is fairly detailed and there is a large amount of it which explains more than just the crash, but how it may have happened and the victims and their context of being on the plane in the beginning. 

Mail Online 

The Mail Online Headline was: Bolivia defense minister calls Colombia plane crash 'murder' 

The article itself for this specific news provider was extremely short and not very detailed at all compared to the guardian's one. There was only one image of the plane crash again which could be due to sensitivity on the topic. The headline is extremely bold and could be quite controversial as the word 'murder' is an extremely harsh bold word to use. The article seems to just focus on the main parts of the story and provides a succinct summary of the tragedy whereas the guardian provided a more in depth story of it.  

This story was not the main story for the day it happened and was barely even covered on the news, this could be due it is being a developing country, if this crash happened in North America or the UK this story would have been front page and hugely covered on the news. 

Assassin's Creed analysis

 

Assassins Creed is an action, adventure movie based off the well known video game franchise. The fact that the movie is an action, adventure movie is displayed extremely explicitly through both the trailer and film poster. 

Visual Codes;

In these particular posters you cannot see the main characters face, but as he is the main and only character on the poster you can tell he is an important part of the movie and the movie revolves around him and 'his journey.' 

The characters body language is exactly the same in both poster, the first image looks like its before the second image as the first one looks like he is about to jump and the second one is of him jumping, this particular act could show bravery in this case. 

His physical appearance isn't very clear in the poster but his clothing is very expressive, the hooded cape cover most of his body to create a disguise and mystery. The colour of the cape looks black and red, red often implies danger and death and black implies mystery which seems to fit perfectly with the whole plot of the movie. 

The location can clearly be seen in the first poster, it looks like a city somewhere is europe. There looks like there are lots of places of worship in the poster which is a binary opposite to the plot of the story as churches and places of worship are associated with purity whereas the movie is about an assassin which is far from pure. 

The title of the movie is fairly small in comparison to the main image and so is the name of the main character, but the name goes all the way across the top of the poster, also his name is the only name there so clearly the movie only revolves around him and his role. 

In the first poster, the sky looks extremely cloudy and dark, like there is going to be a storm, whereas in the second poster once he jumps the sky still looks dark but the sun is creeping through the clouds which could imply freedom. 

  

Narrative Theory

Claude Levi-Strauss 

His theory was that the narrative in films always have a binary opposition. For example, in Western films, The Cowboys are seen as domestic, Christian and inside society, whereas, The Native Americans are seen as strong, savage and outside of society. This theory is relevant for almost every film but especially works in; Superhero movies, Western movies and Fairytales. 

Vladimir Propp 

His theory was that there is always character roles in fairytales but this also applies to many films as well, the major roles are;

• The Hero (seeks something) 
• The Villain (opposes the hero) 
• The Donor (helps the hero by providing a magic object) 
• The Dispatcher (sends the hero on his way) 
• The False Hero (falsely assuming the role of hero) 
• The Helper (gives support to the hero) 
• The Princess (the reward for the hero, but also needs protection from the villain) 
• Her Father

Levi-Strauss' theory applies extremely well in The Amazing Spider-Man.
The protagonist in the movie is Peter Parker (Spider-Man) whilst the antagonist is Dr Curtis Connors (mutated lizard man). At the beginning they were both protagonists but as time went on Dr Curtis Connors got mutated and turned into the lizard man who tried to destroy the city.



Vladimir Propp's theory applies to various different movies. One that partially sticks out to me is Frozen.

• The Hero - Anna 
• The Villain - Elsa (could also be considered a protagonists towards the end) 
• The Dispatcher and The Helper - Kristoff 
• The False Hero - Hans 
• The Princess - Anna and Elsa 
• Her Father. 

Thriller Movie Plan

Title: 

Incognito 

Tagline: 

Join the Revolution. 

Format: 

DVD Cover and Poster.

Genre and Audience:

• The target audience will be aimed towards teens.
• Main genre will obviously be thriller but the sub-genre will be crime and revenge. 

Characters:

Protagonist:

• Lincoln Brown is a police officer who is tired with the law and the way the police treat people so starts a rebellion against them. 
• Harper Evans is the best friend of Lincoln Brown, also part of incognito group. 
• Sienna Payne is an original member of the incognito group.

Antagonist:

• The Police.

Also includes minor characters.

Plot: 

A disastrous occurrence caused by the police forced the citizens of London to slowly start rebelling as a way of revenge. The group known as 'Incognito' start committing small crimes in a way to catch the police's attention and fight back. The group are normal everyday people and disguise themselves with masks in order to not be caught, originally thought up by the main character who is a police officer but disagrees with the rules and principles. Will include twists and murder/assaults and the protagonists being captured. 

Theme and Setting:

• Theme - Crime and Revenge.
• My thriller film will be set in Peckham as gang crime rates are high there. 
• Set during the night in dark secluded areas, to intensify the theme. 

Emotional effects: 

• The emotional effects could include anger or disgust aimed towards certain characters or the actions they perform. 
• I think confusion could also come into it as many thriller movies contain plots and themes that can sometimes confuse the audience. 
• Another emotional effect could be judgement against a situation or again a character or action performed. 

How does it appeal to a teen audience? 

• It appeals to a teen audience as crime is normally associated with something teens would be interested in rather than an older audience. 
• Also the plot line is aimed more towards a younger audience as it will be more understandable. 
• The characters will also be relatively young so the audience will be able to relate to them and will have teenager mannerisms. 
• The whole idea of a disguise and mystery within the characters will also be more understandable to younger characters as they will have elements of real life situations that adults may not be aware of. 

Technical Codes to use:

• Camera Shots; would be mainly face on angles and shots from people to the setting and from people to the actions they are performing. 
• The sound would be quite loud and harsh to fit into the theme and plot. 
• Colour would be extremely dark to portray the mystery and crime in the movie.
• Lighting would also be fairly dark for the same reasons.

What is a Thriller film?

The themes and settings in a thriller include;

• Crime 
• Betrayal 
• Real life
• Urban 
• Greed
• Mystery (in mostly every triller movie) 
• Modern 
• Paranoia (featured a lot) 

The types of characters include; 

• Protagonist Vs Antagonists (largely featured in most movies but especially trillers)
• Hero Vs Villains 
• Sidekick 
• False hero/villain 
• Victims 
• Love/sex interest 
• Stereotypes 
• Minor characters 
• Comic relief 

Narrative; 

• Murder 
• Protagonists threatened/captured
• Endings? 
• Assault 
• Chase scenes 
• Gunfights 
• Mind games (massive feature in triller movies) 
• Twists 

The effect on the audience is;

• Tension 
• Suspense 
• Fear 
• Shock 
• Excitement 

The technical codes are; 

• Camera - shots, angles, movement 
• Editing - cuts/fades
• Sound
• Colour 
• Lighting 
• Mis-en-scene