British Film and Genre - Horror

EXAM TOPIC

British Film and Genre - Horror


Section B: British Film Topics (40 marks)

™You will have to answer one question from a choice of two.

You will be required to refer in detail to THREE key films.

™The first of the two questions will have a focus on narrative and thematic issues.
™The second will include a more broadly-based consideration of areas of representation, such as gender, ethnicity or age.
Key Texts

The Descent (Neil Marshall 2005)
Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright 2004)
The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy 1973)

Key Areas to Cover

British Culture and Iconography
Characteristics of British Film
Conventions of the Horror genre
Narrative Aspects in Film
Representation in Film
Close Analysis of Key Films
Exam Practice and Past Questions.

British Culture and Iconography

What is British culture?  What is 'British-ness'?

Is it waiting in line?  Cups of tea?  Scones? Village fetes? Council housing and urban decay? Bad teeth? The NHS? Pubs? Football?  

The list could go on and on but obviously being British has a slightly different meaning to each and every person.  There are some things however which are very frequently used to summarise Britain or are associated with it.

This is particularly true of IMAGES.  When an image is repeatedly used in conjunction with a place, issue, group of people or 'thing' it is called iconography.

What iconography is associated with Britain?

Perhaps the following could be considered...Double decker buses, red telephone boxes, beefeaters, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, the Queen, the Union Jack, Big Ben, bad teeth, bowler hats, briefcase and umbrella, London Underground...  How many more can you think of?

Characteristics of British Film

This section is under construction

Conventions of the Horror genre

Conventions are a set of specific characteristics which are associated with a particular genre.

What conventions are most commonly associated with the horror genre?

Characters:  Evil or monstrous characters, killers, zombies, vampires, werewolves, murderers, psychopaths, mutants, young people, attractive people, young women, victims.

Iconography:  Screaming faces, blood, wounds, weapons, kill scenes, beaten and bloody survivor characters.

Props:  Knives, scythes, guns, axes, hammers, weapons in general.

Costume:  Elaborate costume for villain, masks, special effects make-up.

Settings/ Locations:  Isolated settings, deserted farmhouses, gothic castles, abandoned mental hospitals.

Storyline/ Narratives:  Good vs evil, survival, unprovoked attacks by killers, purity and corruption.

Narrative Aspects in Film

Todorov's theory of the classic Hollywood Narrative:

Equilibrium
Disequilibirum
New Equilibrium

Syd Field's 3 Act paradigm:

Act 1: Set-up

Act 2: Conflict

Act 3:  Resolution

Representation in Film

What is representation?

A term used to describe how certain people/places/events/issues are presented to us by the media.
It is a constructed 're-presentation' of reality.
It is a way in which the media reflects and presents attitudes attitudes, behaviour and beliefs.
Representations vary over time.

What is dominant ideology?

Dominant ideology, when applied to an analysis of representation in the media, is a set of common values and beliefs shared by most people in a given society, framing how the majority think about that group of people. This is quite often in line with a stereotype or an often repeated idea or characterisation of a certain group of people.

EXAMPLE

The dominant ideology of gender in the media is that women are more sensitive, less physically able, less aggressive, more caring, better with children than men.  In contrast to this men are stronger, more aggressive, more prone to violence and usually the decision-maker.

These views are not an accurate presentation of reality but they are frequently seen and perpetuated in films and other media products nonetheless.

How to analyse representation:

You will need to ask yourself a series of questions:

What is the overall representation of the person/group of people in general terms?
Is it strong or weak? Positive or negative?  Does it conform to or challenge the dominant ideology attached to that group of people?

What makes you think this?


What other adjectives might you attribute to this person or group of people?

How is the character portrayed?


What do they look like?
Facial expression?  Clothes?  Jewellery? Stance and body language?


What do they sound like?
Tone of voice? Sound of voice? Soundtrack and music associated with them?


How do other characters see them?
What are the reactions of other characters to this person or people?  Accepting? Positive? Angry?  Lustful? Fearful? 

Overview of Key Films

The Descent

Strongest area of representation:  Gender - Women depicted as strong, capable, aggressive, courageous, almost masculine.  Men practically completely absent.

British film characteristics:  Pessimistic resolution, character drama, contained location, small scale, low budget, British creative team, British actors, British iconography - absent.

Horror conventions:  Presence of monsters, violence, jump scares, build up and release of tension, gore, blood and violent deaths.  Horror iconography - blood streaked faces, close-ups on monsters.

Narrative structure:  Follows the classic Hollywood narrative with the additional twist on the end where the escape is merely a hallucination.  3 Act structure followed with series of building climaxes.

Key sequence:  The Crawlers attack.


Shaun of the Dead

Strongest area of representation:  Age - Late twenty's adults - directionless, immature, not fulfilling potential, late middle aged adults - boring, naive, clueless, teenagers - disrespectful, intimidating, threatening.

British film characteristics:  Pessimistic resolution, British iconography - buses, corner shops, suburban London streets, pubs, pints, cricket bat, British humour and bad language, British creative team, British actors.

Horror conventions:  Presence of zombies, horror iconography, blood, gore, violent deaths, group of people whittled down.

Narrative structure:  Follows the classic Hollywood narrative and Syd Field's 3 act structure.

Key sequence:  Opening sequence.

The Wicker Man

Strongest area of representation:  Religion - Christianity and Paganism.

British film characteristics:  Pessimistic resolution, British creative team, British actors, British iconography used - police uniform, British landscape, low-budget, small sense of scale - takes place in a contained location.

Horror conventions:  atypical of conventional horror movies but conventions present are: deliberate sense of unease and fear created, horrific events (the climactic sacrifice), sense of paranoia.

Narrative structure:  Does not entirely follow the classic Hollywood narrative.  Unusually long set-up and exposition.  The film builds towards a final climactic scene rather than a series of smaller climaxes as in Field's 3 act structure.

Key sequence:  The final scene - Howie's sacrifice.

Exam Practice and Past Questions


Click here for  a sample essay plan for question on gender representation.

1.  Explore how the films you have studied for this topic use genre conventions.

2.  In what ways can the films you have studied for this topic be said to be 'British'?

3.  How are narrative devices used to increase the impact of horror or comedy in the films you have studied for this topic?

4.  How is gender represented in the horror films you have studied for this topic?

5.  How is age represented in the films you have studied for this topic?