Deconstruction.

MOULIN ROUGE

TRAILER https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtEgAx80NC4

When I first watched Moulin Rouge I loved it, although at the beginning I noticed that it is very fast paced which may put some people off as its hard to keep up with.

INITIAL RESPONSE.

I also assumed that it was a romance, which became very obvious when Satine came into the movie, and also by the language used by Christian, the main character. The words he used were “Truth, beauty, freedom and love.”

DECONSTRUCTION OF FILM COVER.

This section is showing romance. She is wearing a red dress which typically means romance and they are kissing.

The whole colour scheme of Moulin Rouge is red which symbolizes love but it can also symbolize blood, which can link into tragedy.

This section of the front cover looks out of place with the green colour and the facial expression used. This put across that the film might not be all happy and romantic.

The things separating the sections look like curtains and this links into the musical theme as the movie is about a theatre production.

SCREENSHOTS

They have used a male and a female character on the front cover and I think this is to make it seem appealing to both genders.

The final section makes you think the film is going to be fast moving and it makes it seem like an energetic movie.

With this image on the front cover it shows you that it could be a musical.

Moulin Rouge is a romance/ tragedy/ musical. It also has comedy, but a smaller amount then the other genres.

THE GENRE

ROMANCE TRAGEDY MUSICAL COMEDY

Codes and Conventions of a romance:

Normally aimed at a female audience Often a voiceover is used to introduce the love theme

‘boy meets girl’ is typical in a romance and most viewers want to see a happy ending

Normally have characters which go their separate ways but then reunite

Story normally involves flashbacks, pain, emotions and strong feelings

Love triangles Moving and emotional soundtrack

Romantic settings (Moulin Rouge- Paris)

ROMANCE CODES AND CONVENTIONS.

CHARACTERS

SATINEMain female

character- in love with Christian- has to marry The Duke

for the money.

CHRISTIANMain male

character- in love with Satine- but, just a poor sitar

player pretending to be a writer.

THE DUKE2nd main

character-rich- wants to marry satine- not for

love.Typical love triangle in the romance genre.

Codes and conventions of a tragedy:

Where a main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow

Includes a disastrous event Has someone with a life threatening illness

Someone dies Has a shocking or sad event

Sad sound track Equilibrium- normally start off normal and calm

TRAGEDY CODES AND CONVENTIONS.

FILM CLIP

Come what may

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFtssl7u7lE

Elephant love medley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XK4Iq8hhrg

In this clip you can see the romance beginning. All the props used in this clip support the romance genre as

there is a lot of red. Love hearts are everywhere- everything connotes love/ romance.

El Tango De Roxanne

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn0xXo1gwGY

This clip is different because it shows that its not all happy- you can see the love triangle- could connote

tragedy.

Is the genre straight forward, or is it a hybrid?

The genre is a hybrid as it is a mix of musical, romance and tragedy and not just a single genre by its self. The film

subverts the romance genre as they normally have happy endings but this film has a very sad ending and that is

where the tragedy comes in. You see the tragedy come in at an earlier stage where you can see her cough up blood so

you automatically assume that she is going to die. The romance is obvious when the boy meets the girl at the

beginning. It also shown through the songs they sing, which is the musical part of the movie. However, the movie

conforms to each separate genre.

DOES MOULIN ROUGE CONFORM OR SUBVERT THE

GENRES?

Christian Metz

Christian is a french theorist who believes genres go through changes during their lifetime.

There is the • Experimental stage

• Classic stage• Parody stage

• Deconstruction stage

Moulin rouge is in the deconstruction stage because it has merged romance, comedy, tragedy and musical, so it has evolved

and become less clear cut and started to break the rules.

CAN YOU LINK ANYTHING FROM THE THEORISTS WE HAVE LOOKED AT SO

FAR?