PR7 Me and My Movies

My chosen genre is Romantic Comedies the first film I’ve chosen is 10 things I hate about you, the films directed by Gil Junger and its year of production is 1999, the film is about a new student at Padua High named Cameron James (Joseph Gorden-Levitt) he gets given a tour of the school by Michael (David Krumholtz) who becomes his best friend, during the tour Cameron sees a girl names Bianca Stratford (Larisa Oleynik) he then finds out she cant date anyone until her older sister Kat (Julia Stiles) does, Kat is completely different compared to her sister she keeps her head down, unlike her sister who loves the attention from everyone and is the most popular girl in her year, Cameron knowing this now makes it his mission to find someone for Kat so once she’s dating someone he can try and date Bianca, Cameron choices Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger) he asks him to get to know Kat, this then moves onto Patrick actually liking Kat and Cameron gets his chance with Bianca.The second film I’ve chosen is She’s The Man directed by Andy Fickman and its year of production is 2006, the film is about a girl named Viola Johnson (Amanda Bynes) who is on the girls football team which might not last long due to the coach at the school telling them they cant continue with the team, Viola is not happy about this and try’s to join the boys team which she is quickly shut down and told that girls cant play football, she then comes up with the idea to disguise herself as her twin brother Sebastian and goes to the rival school Illyria boys football team and makes it on the team, she ends up in a shared room with Duke (Channing Tatum) she gets to know him as Sebastian and ends up really liking him, but Duke had fallen for a girl named Olivia, whilst this is going on Olivia is falling for Sebastian who is actually Viola, now to make matters worse Violas brother is coming back from London early and arrives at the campus without knowing his sister has replaced him.My third chose is Sixteen Candles, this film is directed by John Hughes and its year of production is 1984, this film is about a girl named Samantha (Molly Ringwald) who wakes up on her 16th birthday but all her family has forgotten, her sister’s wedding is coming up so everyone’s mind is occupied by the planning, Samantha really likes the older senior boy named Jake (Michael Schoeffling) her day continues to get worse she finds out her grandparents are staying over for the wedding and take her room also bring an exchange student from china to stay over as well, the geeky freshman (Anthony Michael Hall) who continually tries to get with Samantha, she ends up catching the attention of Jake and every time they get a chance to talk something gets in their way.

I chose this genre because I enjoy the films that a under romantic comedy, films like bridesmaids and Love Rosie and 500 days of summer, Pitch perfect, Easy A, Clueless all films that I have enjoyed and would definitely watch again, I like the fact that it can get serious at some parts and have a sad side but also be funny and you can enjoy watching with jokes and humor, what I like most about this type of film is that its more realistic and deals with real events rather than fantasy and superheroes even though I do enjoy them movies you cant really relate to them unlike these like high school and getting a job or getting married even though most of the story lines can be a bit farfetched, its something people can relate to you become involved in the characters stories and you gain interest with what’s going to happen and how their story pans out, it keeps you gripped finding out how to story ends and what they learned during it. My chosen films all being based in high school and all American high school interests me because of their system its interesting seeing cliques and the different names for years in the school like freshman and senior, its how different they are to English high schools and is there any truth with the ‘cliques’ because to me it sounds stupid for people to put themselves above other people and all the rest of the school acts like they are beneath them it sounds unrealistic and hard to believe so that’s why its interesting to see all American based high school movies to portray these characters. My chosen films have a different take on the cliché story of the nerdy quiet girl falling for the popular boy, for example 10 things I hate about you has a twist on that story it’s the new quiet popular boy trying to get the rebel girl to date the ‘rebel’ boy so he can date her sister it gives a funny twist to it and approaches it differently, but also can have a sad side to it where you see that doing this can hurt other people. Also what attracts me to these films is the old high school movies which was first brought to my attention from the hype of the breakfast club directed by John Hughes when it was mentioned in the massively popular film Pitch perfect where one of the main characters in the film talks about how much he loves the soundtrack to the breakfast club and asks the main girl to watch it in which you see a short clip of the film in pitch perfect, but also John Hughes having directed some of my favorite films like Uncle buck, Planes Trains and Automobiles, and produced and written the Home Alone films, all films I use to watch with my family when I was younger which make me nostalgic and films I’ve watched more recently also directed by John Hughes like Ferris butlers day off and my all time favorite film Pretty in Pink knowing how good these films are and how much I have always enjoyed these films made me look into other films he has done for example why I have chosen Sixteen Candles. It also interests me to see how popular actors in these films are now, its interesting to see them in earlier roles, for example my chosen film 10 things I hate about you stars Heath Ledger who was hugely successful in the movie The Dark Knight when he played the famous Joker, also Joseph Gorden Levitt who also starred in another batman movie The Dark Knight Rises and one of my favorite films 500 days of summer and the movie Inception along side the huge actor Leonardo Dicaprio, and another actor from my chosen movies was Channing Tatum who starred in She’s the Man, he is now in massive films like 21 Jump street, Dear John and the new film Jupiter ascending he’s also going to be starring in the new x-men in 2016. A good example for actors who have became big is Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson who where both in the film The perfect score in 2004 about high school friends breaking into the school and now both star in the Avengers and Captain America movies together he plays Captain America and she plays the Black window this shows how far people can get when acting its interesting to see them play different roles when your so use to them as the one character, and to see two actors be in the same films like when they were really young up until now.

Intertextuality in 10 things I hate about you is that it’s based off of The Taming Of The Shrew by William Shakespeare the film title is actually supposed to also sound like The Taming Of The Shrew when you say it there is also a lot of references to Shakespeare like last name Verona is used in Romeo and Juliet as the setting, also the character Michael is a fan of his work and uses this to get to know a girl in the film who is Kats friend in the film they dress up in costume for a dance as characters from his work, also quotes are used with slight changes to make them more modern. My other chosen film She’s the man is an adaptation of The Twelfth Night a comedy by William Shakespeare, character names are used from the Twelfth Night like Duke (Channing Tatum) is taken from The Duke of Illyria from Twelfth Night, also Olivia is used in both and Sebastian in She’s the man who is Violas disguise Is called Cesario in Twelfth Night, there’s also small details in the film which connects to Twelfth Night like Feste is a clown in Twelfth Night it is used as a second name for someone in She’s the man, there is a Pizza Parlour named Cesario’s and the fact that Sebastian Violas Brother not her in disguise goes to London. The Plot has obvious similarities Duke in She’s The Man and The Duke of Illyria are both in love with Characters named Olivia also the big relation is Viola dressing up as her twin brother like the Viola in Twelfth Night does and in the end Olivia ends up with Violas Twin brother by mistake in both stories and Viola ends up with Duke/The Duke of Illyria. Intertextuality is used a lot in Romantic comedies you see a lot of similar things like the typical Airport scene where the boy realises he’s made a mistake and runs to stop the girl getting on the plane at the very last minute or a very similar airport scene this is used in films like Love actually, The proposal, Sweet home Alabama and Valentines day these are ones I can think of off the top of my head there is probably a lot more, then there’s things likes high school settings with the evil head teacher this has been used in films like The breakfast club, Ferris butlers day off and Back to the future, also Nerdy girl gets a make over scene this has been used in She’s all that and John tucker must die, Romantic comedies always have the same plot where boy gets the girl or the best friends realise they were meant to be etc. Another romantic comedy Clueless was based on Jane Austin’s novel Emma. You could say Not another teen movie used Intertextuality because it referenced so many cliques in Romantic comedies it has the airport scene where you actually see Molly Ringwald giving the girl her plane ticket and they also have the breakfast club scene with the same actor who played the head teacher in the original film plays the same character but in Not another teen movie.

The left picture is Paul Gleason from The Breakfast club (1985) and the picture on the right is Paul Gleason from the same scene re-enacted in Not another teen movie (2001)

Star Theory is when you see a certain actor/actress in a film and that is what attracts you to go see the film/ the reason you want to see it, Molly Ringwald was a big star in the 80’s for teen movies she was part of the ‘Brat pack’ a group of young actors always seen in the same films, she’s known for her roles in John Hughes films like The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink this is how I know her from her being in Pretty in Pink because Sixteen candles was made at a similar time to Pretty in pink I thought I’d watch it, also that it was directed by the same person this is an example of my own that Star Theory is what made me watch Sixteen Candles in the first place, 10 things I hate about you stars Heath Ledger and Joseph Gordon-Levitt two big stars both starring in the huge films like Batman, because I liked 500 days of summer which Joseph Gordon Levitt was in I saw that he was in 10 things I hate about you and this what made me curious to watch it because it was the type of film id want to watch anyway and them both being so recognisable, Then in She’s the man Channing Tatum who starred in Dear John and The Vow because I liked him in them films a big actor these days compared to 2006, also Amanda Bynes who was in the film Hairspray which was a big film itself.

Using Lacey’s Repertoire of Elements I’m going to analyse the trailers for the three of my chosen movies 10 things I hate about you, she’s the Man and Sixteen Candles.First trailer is 10 things I hate about you the first characters you get introduced to in Cameron and Michael who are talking about the two Stratford sisters the younger popular girl Bianca played by larisa Oleynik who gets shown first is the one who really wants to go to prom and have a date whilst her older sister Kat gets shown pulling a moody face instantly you know their personalities, the line ‘for every girl who has ever hoped’ is talking about Bianca and then the line ‘for every guy who has ever tried’ is introducing Patrick who is Kats love interest who is the mysterious ‘rebel’ character, its shows him asking her out and her turning him down, it also shows the popular boy in the film who is full of himself showing two pictures which are exactly the same but he’s just wearing two different tops to Bianca which one she likes best the trailer shows mostly all the main characters in the film in one trailer but doesn’t give the plot away at all it gives you a small taste of each of their personalities but doesn’t give to much away at the same time. Setting for the film is obviously in a high school the trailer starts in the front of the school as they walk along and the school corridors with all the lockers and the school field/football pitch, Also you see where the Stratford sisters live in a rich neighbourhood you see the fancy décor in the house and all the surrounding houses. There’s also a scene at a house party where Kat is dancing on the table surrounded by a large crowd of people, this establishes genre because of the age of the people and that you see two people together and the shot of the dad accidently letting go of the exercise band sending it flying over the balcony and the shot where Bianca is just about the fire the arrow and gets distracted and sends it flying in a different direction both show comedy and romance. Iconography in the trailer includes the school lockers, the school football pitch, the alcohol the party scene, and lastly the technical and audio codes through out the whole trailer there’s a song playing a typical upbeat love song about wanting

somebody then the trailer narrator with the lines describing character and then the audio from the film itself of the actors talking, all this together establishes genre it makes it clear its going to be a romantic comedy with what it shows In the trailer. The second trailer ill analyse is She’s the Man, the first character it introduces In Viola the first scene in the trailer is of a fancy room all sophisticated as they talk about being lady like Viola shoves the door open and everyone turns to her in shock throughout the trailer it shows that she’s sarcastic and always slips up making it obvious it’s a comedy, then another girl says make sure she’s in the back of the group photo this shows that she’s not like them it then shows her with a football and her hood up complete opposite to all from the other scene, you then meet her twin brother who announces that he’s going to London for a couple weeks and that’s when you see that she’s going to pretend to be him, you then see Viola dressed as her brother meeting Duke who she is roommates with he’s the typical good looking guy who’s having trouble speaking to Olivia who is the pretty girly girl, he asks Viola (Sebastian) to help, this shows to two main characters and then it goes on to tell you that Duke ends up liking Viola and it all gets confusing from there. The setting is obviously a school with the football team and the dorm rooms it also shows cheerleaders the stereotypical thing to see this could also be classed as iconography like the lockers and the head teacher and the prom event, technical and audio codes there is a song playing in the background throughout which is a upbeat song which you would normally hear in high school movies and a narrator who explains the whole story and every now and then audio from the actual movie itself.The third trailer I’m going to analyse is Sixteen candles the first character introduced is Samantha the main character sat next to the geeky character on the school bus as he try’s to flirt with her, then the narrator says ‘this is Samantha baker’ giving her a name then it also tells you that it her birthday, it also shows you a scene where she’s talking to her grandparents who are playing the embarrassing ones when they make a joke. It also introduces you to the good looking character her love interest Jake this shows that its going to me a love story and also there are loads of jokes made, iconography in the trailer are things like school bus, the typical geek looking characters the good looking guy and the quiet shy girl these are important they make the genre when they are all looked at together, the setting is in a high school where they have the high school dance and then there’s also a wedding scene. Then lastly there is technical and audio codes throughout the trailer there is a mans voice narrating the whole thing he introduces characters tells you a bit about the story and also some of the actual film audio is played.

Media literacy is when you see adverts about films and promotional things for example there is so many websites you can find information like Facebook, twitter, YouTube, Tumblr etc these give people information on new films, twitter has a feature that puts promotional tweets onto your timeline every now and then one that stood out was a promotional tweet for a new film called The Duff which is a romantic comedy same as my chosen genre its based in a high school the tweet appeared on my timeline with a link to the trailer on YouTube another example of how people get their product brought to peoples attention using both twitter and YouTube together, With today’s websites every new film being released with most definitely have a Facebook, twitter, YouTube, Tumblr and plenty of other accounts stretching out to everyone to create an audience, because of the amount of people using these platforms all different ages can see these promotions, I’m guilty of checking out a new film from seeing the trailer on the homepage of YouTube or a tweet about it I see more online than I do on TV after looking into Cinderella I saw all the websites about the film before I even watched the advert on TV which is a good example of how having platforms like this helps boosts audience. Personally I find out about films online especially YouTube if I see a film I might be interested in on the homepage I will watch the trailer, even being told about a new film coming out YouTube and all the other platforms are there so I can look into new films without having these social media websites it would be harder for people to find out about films coming out unless they went cinema a lot or watched a lot of TV, because of social media and how popular it is it lets companies who want to promote their products give them a could chance of getting an audience.

Active Spectatorship is the way audience reacts to different films, some people can watch a film and accept the story and not even think about it others think way to much into it and think about it differently, it is impossible to say that a film will have the same impact on every single person watching because of how different the audience is and also that a film will be read or understood by each person in the same way. Some people might see a message in the film and some watch it not even aware that it’s a possibility, for example in Titanic the scene where Jack dies it’s all set up and has the music and the lighting all to add to the sadness of the scene this is the director trying to get a reaction from the audience most people agree that this scene is sad, another film is Pulp fiction because it is shot in non-linear this makes the audience try and mix up the scenes in their head to try and get the correct timeline, a lot of people might not agree with having the timeline like another person, Films do not just have an effect on audiences but also audiences can have an effect on films, for example a fandom, Fans are people who love a particular film, genre, character or star and they share with other people this creates a fandom people might come together to discuss a film they like a an actor/actress they like, also people who would spend money on merchandise for a particular film it can also inspire people to start media careers. A lot of conventions are

held to celebrate films and bring fans together this is more in the action adventure genre or horror genre things like comic con which celebrates comic books and TV series casts go there to do panels and interact with fans it’s a chance to see you favorite actor/actress in person, social media is a big part of fandoms when it comes to films, a lot of people go onto Tumblr where fans can make GIFs and images and put their favorite quotes onto their blog and share with other fans, they might get a personal connection to their favorite characters stories it depends on how someone views the film, whereas other people will watch a film and just enjoy the story and not want to become fanatic about it. You can’t really become a fan over my chosen genre like create a massive fandom unless the films have more than one. A way people relate to this genre is how relatable is it’s based on real life events some films can be about getting married others can be going through high school and some just be about a relationship but people can watch these and relate but also can have a laugh watching them like the film bridesmaids which is a romantic comedy some people might watch this and see something that might of happened to them like when their friend got married other people may of never experienced it and still enjoy it just the same these are two different reactions to the film.

There is a page for people who like romantic comedies on facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Romantic-Comedies/76311866708 this page updates people on new films coming out in the future, they also post trailers and clips from their favorite movies, they also look back at old films and talk about actors/actresses and ask questions about who was the best leading lady in a film and let people comment and discuss, again they ask peoples what their favorite films are out of a selected list, they try and get people in discussions, you can like the page of facebook.

Reception Theory was created by Stuart Hall its how we react to film based on age, gender, social class and ethnicity, there is the contextual which is involving or depending on a context and then there is textual which is relating to or conforming to a text or texts. Reception theory argues that contextual factors more than ones influence the way the spectator views the film elements of the identity of the viewer, in which place you view the film like your home or in the cinema, also if the film sparks the interest from the viewer by the genre, franchise, star theory or the Lacey’s repertoire of elements and also social, historical and political issues or their beliefs. Stuart Hall has different types of ‘decoding’ text there is preferred, negotiated and oppositional. Preferred is how the producer wants the audience to view the media text they agree with the message is it conveying. Negotiated a compromise between the preferred and oppositional readings the audience understanding and agree with the text but disagree with other areas they have their own views on and oppositional the audience rejects the encoded meaning and creates their own meaning for the text they fully disagree with the message being submitted. My thoughts towards romantic comedies/ why I chose it as my genre, I personally think that that most of them a based on true events with some exaggeration for example Juno its about a teenage pregnancy or Clueless about a popular girl going through high school and Bridesmaids about someone getting married I like comedy films because watching them can put you in a good mood also romantic comedies are probably one of the most popular genres, I didn’t realize that most of the films I like were romantic comedies and I wouldn’t class it as my favorite genre, it probably started from Mean girls because when I was in high school it was one of my favorite films and most of my friends favorite film, I was always curious with the whole American high school and how different it was to English schools, I just enjoyed films like that because they are teen films and relatable even recently I went to see The Duff the new film I wrote about in the media literacy part again the film was funny and really relatable. I guess it just started from there I watched more films under that genre and enjoyed them. Looking back on what Stuart hall used especially age and gender films like these always have a girl as their main character this relates to gender it would be more relatable to me and also high school films like sixteen candles and she’s the man are all based around people who are my age so that’s another thing that can be looked at its an obvious reason as to why I would want to watch these films.

I’d say over all because the films I chose are quite old I wouldn’t of saw the marketing campaign so I couldn’t really say if it has met my expectations, if I was to look at how popular a film was and say it was the reason I chose to watch it I would definitely agree.