Assignment 6: simple film

narrative structure analysis

Orphan

Kate and John Coleman are rebuilding their troubled marriage. Kate has a drinking problem, but is in therapy and is doing well.

She has been sober for one year. The couple decides to adopt a child

They decide to adopt a nine-year-old Russian girl, Esther. They immediately fall in love with her.

Kate begins to feel that Esther is manipulative and possibly even psychologically disturbed

Kate delves further into Esther's past and discovers she is not at all who she pretends to be

Esther is in fact an old women with a syndrome that makes her appear look like a child

She tries to seduce the father, and fails. The mother

then drowns her in a lake.

Summary of film

A)Has the institution created a text with a conventional narrative structure?

Most films consist of this type of structure and therefore this film has a conventional narrative structure

This Film narrative is explicit as it is clear and easy to follow. Most people are used to and fond of this type of narrative.

BeginningYes this film has a linear structure as the film begins quite cheerful. A married couple want to adopt a child.

MiddleDuring the middle of the film there is a problem, as they find out the young girl they adopted is not who she said she was.

EndThe end this is then resolved as the mother kills the adopted child and therefore leaves the audience feeling satisfied

Beginning

Kate and john are on their way to the orphanage, where they wish to adopt.

Esther catches the couples attention. She seems veryfriendly and is amazing at art.

Kate and John adopt Esther and show her around her new home.

Esther is placed into a new school, and is introduced to her class mates.

The Film begins cheerful…

act1

Middle

Esther Starts acting bizarre, and stares intensely at her adopted sister while she is sleeping

Esther encourages her adopted sister, Maxine to help her kill a the lady who works in the orphanage.

Esther sets a tree house on fire purposely, when her adopted brother, Daniel was inside.

Esther aggressively pushes a little girl from the top of the slide.

Then problems start to occur….

Act2

End

Esther attempts to seductively seduce her adopted father

Adopted mother kicks Esther intothe lake and breaks her neck.

Esther drowns in the freezing lake.

Esther reveals who she really is, a mature woman inside the body of a young girl.

Finally the problem is resolved.

Act 3

Why have the film makers done this?

1) To ensure the film reaches target audience

2) The film will definitely make money as the audience will want to see it

3) Certain that it will entertain and satisfy the audience

What impact does this have on the audience?

Positive Negative

The audience are familiar with the conventional structure

Becomes to predictable

The will enjoy the conventions as this is what they are used to

Can get quite boring, as the film fails to surprise

It is certain that the audience will be entertained

Discourages social interaction

Audience are satisfied with the outcome of film

Hinders creative opinions

What audience expectations have they established or challenged by using this structure ?

They have established the conventional idea of a the story line having a:

• pleasant beginning

• A Dilemma in the middle

• A resolution at the end

This is the audiences general expectation of how the structure of a film should be like.

This structure is very typical of the horror genre and conforms to audiences expectationsbecause:

Similarities to orphan:

Everything is fine in the beginning I.e. couple are just married.

Everything is fine, couple are looking to adopt.

In the middle, everything starts to fall apart i.e. Evil man has obsession with woman, and tries to harm them both

Esther has obsession with her adopted father, when this fails she tries to harm thefamily.

At the end there is a battle between good and evil and good usually wins.

There is fight between Esther and her adopted mother. The mother wins and good beats evil.

Therefore the film ‘Orphan’ has established the audiences expectations of the horror genre