Todorovs 5 Stages of Narrative (Hangover)

1. A state of equilibrium. At the start of the film it shows Phil, Stu, Alan and Doug all in their careers or with families, getting on peacefully. When they all meet up they all get along fine, even when they arrive in Vegas, they have a 'friendship shot' on the rooftop of their hotel.

2. A disruption of order. The next scene Phil, Alan and Stu awake in the hotel room not remembering anything at all, all dazed and hungover. Being unsure on the situation they struggle to remember why they are even in this circumstance. We only see the effects of what happened, we don't see what actually occurred until later on in the film when they begin to have flashbacks. This means that Todorov's 5 stages of narrative doesn't fit in perfectly in Hangover.

3. The recognition that the order has been disrupted. They all notice that there has been serious damage conflicted to the room, as well as finding a mysterious baby, various animals, and Phil losing a tooth, then later realising Doug is not there and nowhere to be found.

4. An attempt to repair the damage. They attempt to link up everything they remember, finding reciepts for strip clubs, going to the hospital and even trying to find information from the police. Getting closer and closer to finding Doug, but somehow further away. They scatter everything that can find together and attempt to piece it all up. They end up being attacked in the desert, to Alan being knocked out by Mike Tyson.

5. A state of new equilibrium. They eventually find Doug on the hotel roof, and somehow manage to get to the wedding in time. Carrying on with the ceremoney without the wife or anybody else knowing what went on. They proceed to look at all of the photos of the night they can't remember, and make a pact to never show or talk about it again.

 

Genre Representation

The film 'The Good, The Bad & The Ugly' is typical of its Western genre by iconographies, narrative, representations and ideologies.

Iconography
The Good, The Bad & The ugly contains key iconography which connotes the Western genre, the first thing I noticed was an inhabited desert, which is used as a conventional setting in Western genre films. Also, the use of Stetson hats during the show down, many Western films often contain the usage of Stetson hats (aka cowboy hats), they show a key concept of ideology within Western genre films, from the poncho's, boots and belts.

Narrative
The storyline in this film resembles other Western genre films in many ways, the hero is challenged by several villains who attempt to kill him in various shoot outs and ultimately wins the fight against the villains. This could apply to Propp's narrative theory, there is a stereotypical 'good guy' and a stereotypical 'bad guy', and the good guy always winning.

Ideology
Western ideology tends to vary depending on the source. It is not a 'thing' or a clearly-marked-out manifesto. It is a blurry set of beliefs that have pooled together from different cultures, states and countries that are constantly changing and being argued over.

MensHealth magazine cover

Hegemonic Ideology

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 characters Jinx demonstrates my previous statement by: numerous actions, one of them being the highly exaggerated body movement as 'Jinx' leaves the sea. It is clear that no woman walks like that and is clearly constructed, creating a hyper reality. This puts the audience, both male and female into the male gaze, firstly the men as Halle Berry is a very good looking woman and objectified. Secondly, women would look at Halle Berry and aspire to be like her due to her having a dashing figure.

Also, the slow motion when 'Jinx' gets out the sea makes you focus more on the body and objectifies the female form more, thus giving the audience more visual pleasure. Also throughout the slow motion there is a mid-shot, this allows the audience to focus on her face and exaggerated body movements.

When 'Jinx' first emerges through the water, she is seen through James Bonds binoculars, therefore we are seeing the footage through a males eyes, hence the vignette, and a mid shot. This enables us to see her face as well as her body and her movements, however it also restricts the audience completely in being able to sees anything other than 'Jinx', this therefore makes the audience focus on the actor and her body, objectifying her through the viewers eyes.

-Vignette camera
-Slow motion
-Make up, despite being in the sea-Camera shots (looks up at Bond, looks down at Jinx)
-Non-digetic sounds when Jinx gets out sea-Body movements when she leaves sea

HOW DO MALE-TARGETED MAGAZINES GQ AND MENSHEALTH REPRESENT MALE IN ORDER TO ATTRACT AUDIENCE

American Pie 2 film trailer - Stereotypes

American Pie trailer

American Pie is a 1999 comedy film concentrating on 5 boys who all attend high school all but one are intending to lose their virginity by prom night.

American Pie is personally one of the best films produced, it also portraits stereotypical thoughts like no other. For example, the young lads are only interested in one thing.. girls, and the girls are worrying about the boys. In the film the actors are aged 17/18, and the film is based around one thing, sex. It

It would be watched by working class as it fit's in with the informal humour more than it would with middle class families. The age would vary from 18-27, due to the actors being the same age and the viewers would be able to gain an insight into ones self, they'd also be able to identify already gained values.

I watch this for numerous entertainment gratifications, the obvious filling times and relaxing. Also, for social interaction, due to American Pie being a worldwide known film it is very easy to discuss the antics with near enough anyone, social websites such as Twitter and Facebook, and also to friends and maybe even family members. Some teenage boys may even watch this for problem solving issues, the problem discussed in this film is still a big thing today, and teenagers, especially boys may watch this for some help.

My Favourite TV Programme

Storage Hunters

Storage Hunters is a reality TV programme that focuses on a certain group of people, despite there being others there. It has been televised for over 2 years now creating 3 seasons with a growing 35 episodes. It started off on TruTV then later moved to the TV channel 'Dave' after a successful season. This programme would usually be watched by middle class, middle aged men. But after accidentally watching a episode I thoroughly enjoyed it.

It is a niche programme but due to easy accessibility on Sky+ I am able to record a programme and watch it when I am free, for example, I will record a programme that is on at 10pm, and watch it the next day when I am back from college. Due to the times it is shown it is not always accessible as it usually showed late evening times, the times I am usually getting ready for bed, and the channel 'Dave' hardly plays the programme due to shows such as 'Top Gear' and  'Mind the buzzocks', more mainstream programmes.

I watch this programme for the obvious entertainment reasons, filling times, relaxing and escaping problems. But mainly for satisfying curiosity and general interest. Despite the massive grow of audience over the past year, not much people of my age also watch it so it isn't watched for social interactivity, as nobody would understand what I'd be going on about.

I personally like it when something of a high value is discovered in the lockers, for example, in a previous episode, a locker was brought for $100. Around 10 minutes later into the programme they checked what they had in the locker, they had brought the James bond Lotus Elise submarine car that featured in the 1989 Bond film 'The Spy Who Loved Me'. This car was then later sold for an astonishing $865,000, making a $864,900 profit.

Storage Hunters also provides me with facts and information about stuff I've never focused on, the lockers can contain anything so 95 percent of the time something they have brought I know nothing about, which makes me want to know more. One example of this can be a previous programme I watched when Brandon and Lori (Storage hunters main cast) won a auction on a locker that contained historic coins, dating around the early 1800's, late 1700's. Being a 17 year old boy I knew nothing about how much they were worth, or anything about them at all but after it finished I not only satisfied my curiosity, I gained intellectual facts about the most random things.

Niche and Mainstream audiences

A NICHE audience is a targeted group of people specific to a media text, it usually consists of a small amount of people. Niche media texts may be shown on less popular television channels, and not during peak television times and is a non-popular specific interest to a small group of people. For example, the TV channel 'MUTV' only targets Manchester United fans. This programme contains everything Manchester United, from training sessions to former players interviews, it is for the hardcore fans. It is a channel that is on from early morning hours (8/9am) to late evening (8/9pm). It is also a subscription channel which requests monthly payments in order to be watched, this is around £4 a month which narrows down the audience amount as it is not available for everyone.

A MAINSTREAM audience is a wider range targeting a vary of people, it doesn't just aim to target a small single group like a Niche audience, it will aim to target various races, ages, classes and also genders who vary interests. It will be shown on popular TV channels such as BBC ONE, and ITV. It will also be shown at the peak time, usually from 6PM to 10PM. Also, on some mainstream media texts they will use a
ensemble cast, this is a range of ages, and ethnicities, a good example of this use is LOST. In this programme there are American, English, Australian and South Korean actors ranging from age 8 to pensioners. Also there are middle-class and working-class people in this programme which helps viewers to be able to fit in. It started of on Channel 4 in 2004 but Sky One brought it after numerous successful seasons. It is usually on at 8pm-10pm which is the peak time for TV channels, making it a mainstream programme.