Iconography
1974- the main iconography from this version of the film is that of the famous mask which is used by the character leatherface.
2003- the same mask is used however with the use of make up more detail was put into the mask and also the same chain saw is used, but it is used more often in the newer film compared to the older film
Setting
1974 - the setting of the film is in America, Texas the film is based in the desert with other scenes featuring the house of leatherface and different shots of the outdoors in that area.
2003 - the film features in the same area of texas, the film shows all other bits of the old film but inside the house it is quite different, in the older film they didnt go into leatherfaces headquaters as much but in the new film characters are acctually shown moving about.
Narrative
1974 - narrative of this movie follows the narrative of a classic slasher movie/ kids get stuck in the middle of nowhere looking for shelter and get killed one by one
2003 -The narrative in this movie is the same/ kids in a van get trapped in the middle of nowhere where they look for shelter and go into the wrong place and get killed
Characters
1974 - final girl
main male character
other members of their group
leatherface
leatherface family
2003 - final girl
main male character
other members of their group
leatherface
leatherface family
Girl who kills herself and her brother
People who lived in the caravan
Themes
villain vs. hero ( both)
final girl/ good vs. Evil (both)
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Comparing Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Texas chainsaw massacre is a popular slasher film which was released in 1974, the film is a icon for the genre, the birth of the genre started with Hithcocks Psycho but was really devloped during this film, the film was based on true events which happened in america, since the oringial many sequals have been made to recapture the spirit of the film, the film which is being compared in this essay is the 2003 version of the film. The original and the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre have many similarities and differences which are shown through the iconography and the setting of the both films The similarities we see in both films is the same psycho killer which is “Leatherface” and the final girl, however other differences are shown like the the difference in some characters, and the difference in representation of the main female.
As said before the main similiarty between the texts is the setting, the setting for both films is in the same location, in a desert in texas. the film also starts in the same way with a group of teenagers who are traveling to certain places, in the older film they are traveling to see a grave but in the new version they have gone to collect marijuana, this shows the change in represention assisiated with teenagers, in the older film the link between teenagers and drugs may not have been as common as it is now, another point for this change could be to do with the fact that the drug culture has grown and horror movies have always beena genre that wants to show societys views, for example they may show them doing drugs so people are aware that bad things happen to people who do drugs, in this instance the characters end up dead, and the only character which does not die is the one which did not take the drugs.
Another rule that is shown in the film is to do with sex, the rule of most horror films is that if
the two teenagers to get intimate and have sex or mess around with each other are either to die first or will eventually get killed in the films, this rule is also shown in the texas chainsaw becuase the teenagers that do have sex are the ones that end up dead first, this is not just in the new version of the film, both of the films feature the same rule which shows it was a problem before iswell.
Although, there is one other similarity between both texts, which is the ending where we see Leather face appear and wields his chainsaw in the air, which conveys him wielding his phallic symbol in the air. We also see a member of the family helping out the final girl to escape the horrors she may experience. Although as well as similarities in both texts, there are some differences in the generics of both texts
Another difference was that at the end of the newer texas chainsaw the final girl kills a member of leatherfaces family and also the female character manages to injure leatherface, this shows the stronger roles in females as in the new film the female character is able to cuase damage to leather face in the old version the character was passive and was not able to hurt leatherface. this shows the uprising of womens positions in society becuase in the first film women were seen as weak and this was represented in the film in the newer film the character is shown to be stronger which reflects womens rise in power in society.
The ending of the films is also different in some aspects, at the end of the first film the character relies on someone else to give her a lift back to safety, in the new film the final girl makes her own way back home by steeling the police car and then driving away, even though it may seem like only a minar thing the way the film ends is important in terms of females rights. Because the female character made her own way home it shows the movements of females and that they have the ability to be independent by helping herself it reflects the way women are in today’s society, that they are able to help themselves and do not need anyone to help, in the first film the person who helped was also a male character which enforces the idea that women depended on men but with the new film showing the character on her it definitely states the new independence within females.
As said before the main similiarty between the texts is the setting, the setting for both films is in the same location, in a desert in texas. the film also starts in the same way with a group of teenagers who are traveling to certain places, in the older film they are traveling to see a grave but in the new version they have gone to collect marijuana, this shows the change in represention assisiated with teenagers, in the older film the link between teenagers and drugs may not have been as common as it is now, another point for this change could be to do with the fact that the drug culture has grown and horror movies have always beena genre that wants to show societys views, for example they may show them doing drugs so people are aware that bad things happen to people who do drugs, in this instance the characters end up dead, and the only character which does not die is the one which did not take the drugs.
Another rule that is shown in the film is to do with sex, the rule of most horror films is that if
the two teenagers to get intimate and have sex or mess around with each other are either to die first or will eventually get killed in the films, this rule is also shown in the texas chainsaw becuase the teenagers that do have sex are the ones that end up dead first, this is not just in the new version of the film, both of the films feature the same rule which shows it was a problem before iswell.
Although, there is one other similarity between both texts, which is the ending where we see Leather face appear and wields his chainsaw in the air, which conveys him wielding his phallic symbol in the air. We also see a member of the family helping out the final girl to escape the horrors she may experience. Although as well as similarities in both texts, there are some differences in the generics of both texts
Another difference was that at the end of the newer texas chainsaw the final girl kills a member of leatherfaces family and also the female character manages to injure leatherface, this shows the stronger roles in females as in the new film the female character is able to cuase damage to leather face in the old version the character was passive and was not able to hurt leatherface. this shows the uprising of womens positions in society becuase in the first film women were seen as weak and this was represented in the film in the newer film the character is shown to be stronger which reflects womens rise in power in society.
The ending of the films is also different in some aspects, at the end of the first film the character relies on someone else to give her a lift back to safety, in the new film the final girl makes her own way back home by steeling the police car and then driving away, even though it may seem like only a minar thing the way the film ends is important in terms of females rights. Because the female character made her own way home it shows the movements of females and that they have the ability to be independent by helping herself it reflects the way women are in today’s society, that they are able to help themselves and do not need anyone to help, in the first film the person who helped was also a male character which enforces the idea that women depended on men but with the new film showing the character on her it definitely states the new independence within females.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Objectives
Feedback
WWW:
- Good genre theory
- Good research
- Presented Clearly
- Good Audience Theory
EBI:
- Make more reference to The Hills Have Eyes
- Cut down long sentances
- Don't keep saying "also"
- Talk more about Ideology and Narrative
Next Step:
-Introduce your film in more detail & keep linking theory back to your text
- Add page numbers on the footnotes
- Do more research - internet research especially
WWW:
- Good genre theory
- Good research
- Presented Clearly
- Good Audience Theory
EBI:
- Make more reference to The Hills Have Eyes
- Cut down long sentances
- Don't keep saying "also"
- Talk more about Ideology and Narrative
Next Step:
-Introduce your film in more detail & keep linking theory back to your text
- Add page numbers on the footnotes
- Do more research - internet research especially
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Scary Movie
Films that feature in "Scary Movie" :
- Scream
- I know what you did last summer
- The Matrix
- The blair witch project
- The usual Suspects
Scary movie 1
8 September 2000 (UK)
A group of teenagers including Cindy Campbell and Bobby Prinze, accidentally hit a man when driving, and dispose of the body, but now they are being stalked by a very recognisable masked killer. The victim count increases, whilst Cindy must survive the carnage that has she has seen in so many films before. Six friends - Cindy Campbell, Bobby Prinze, Buffy Gilmore, Greg Phillipe, Ray Wilkins, and Brenda Meeks - are being stalked by a serial killer. A serial killer that is after them because of an accident that they caused last Halloween. A serial killer that seems to have come out of every other scary movie. The body count has already started with Drew Decker, the local town slut, and it's starting to build up. The friends are going to have to escape from both the killer's clutches and annoying news reporter Gail Hailstorm if they plan on living.
Scary movie 2
7 September 2001 (UK)
A group of teens including Cindy Campbell and Brenda Meeks are invited to spend a night in Hell House. Professor Oldman has convinced them it for a school project, but the night won't go past quietly. Master Kane is long dead, but still plans on enjoying himself, especially with Alex Monday. When things really start getting bad, the gang must work together to find a way to capture this ghostly menace.Megan Voorhees is possessed and two priests, Father McFeely and Father Harris, must drive the demon out, but the exorcism doesn't go as planned. A year later, survivors Cindy Campbell, Ray Wilkins, and Shorty and Brenda Meeks, are at college, trying to forget the incidents that occurred last Halloween. Cindy is falling for Buddy, who loves to give wedgies, and Ray is still confused about his sexuality. Professor Oldman and his paralyzed assistant, Dwight, have decided to do a research study at Hell House, the house where the bad exorcism took place, and disguise it as a sleep disorder study. Chaos starts as soon as Cindy arrives and meets the creepy caretaker with the funny hand. But the house has some deep dark secrets that the group has to solve, even if they are scary or disgusting.
Scary movie 3
23 January 2004 (UK)
A mysterious killer video tape is circulating around. One look at this tape and you have seven days left to live. News Reporter Cindy Campbell (Faris) witnesses this video tape and tries to work out a way to prevent her death. But this is not the only mystery to appear. Crop circles have been appearing in the local farm of Tom (Sheen) and George (Rex). With help from Aunt Shaneequa (Latifah), Cindy suspects that the aliens may be linked with the killer tape and must now work out both mysteries before it's the end of the world.
Scary movie 4
13 April 2006 (UK)
Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back as the lovable, dim-witted Cindy Campbell and her self-serving, sex-crazed pal Brenda respectively. They are joined this time around by Craig Bierko as the cute, but utterly clueless, Tom Ryan. Together, they battle to save the world from a ruthless alien invasion. Cindy Campbell moves in next to Tom Ryan because she's taking care of an old lady. She finds out the house is haunted by a little boy and goes on a quest in the village to find out who killed him and why. Also, Alien "Tr-iPods" are invading the world and Cindy has to uncover the secret in order to stop them.
The film was released on July 7, 2000 and grossed $42,346,669 (USD) in the opening weekend in the box-office. It went on to gross a total of $157,019,771 at the domestic box-office and a world-wide total of $278,019,771. Critics gave the film mixed reviews. The film currently has a "Rotten" rating of 52% on Rotten Tomatoes, and a rating of 48 out of 100 from Metacritic, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Scary movie being post modernised
Pastiche -A media text made up from other media text pieces or of imitations of other styles
Irony- Irony is when humour is based on using words to suggest the opposite of their literal meaning.
Intertextuality- The practice of purposely including a reference of one text in the narrative of another, it can generate levels of meaning for the viewer.
Parody- A parody is in contemporary usage, is a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, or author, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation.
Spoof - a composition that imitates or misrepresents some body's style, usually in a humorous way.
Each of the of the words listed above are all linked with the film scary movie, scary movie is pastiche becuase the film is based on other films that have been before, the film also features alot of scenes which show irony as some humerous scenes show things which are not ment to be humerous. intertextuality means having other texts inside a certain text, this links with scary movie becuase it has links to many other texts. it is a parody becuase it mocks the orignal films that it was based on, for example how it makes the killer of the film a alcaholic, the killer was from the original scream movie. the genre of the film is spoof, a spoof is a genre of film which makes fun out of other films which is what is done all through the scary movie series.
- Scream
- I know what you did last summer
- The Matrix
- The blair witch project
- The usual Suspects
Scary movie 1
8 September 2000 (UK)
A group of teenagers including Cindy Campbell and Bobby Prinze, accidentally hit a man when driving, and dispose of the body, but now they are being stalked by a very recognisable masked killer. The victim count increases, whilst Cindy must survive the carnage that has she has seen in so many films before. Six friends - Cindy Campbell, Bobby Prinze, Buffy Gilmore, Greg Phillipe, Ray Wilkins, and Brenda Meeks - are being stalked by a serial killer. A serial killer that is after them because of an accident that they caused last Halloween. A serial killer that seems to have come out of every other scary movie. The body count has already started with Drew Decker, the local town slut, and it's starting to build up. The friends are going to have to escape from both the killer's clutches and annoying news reporter Gail Hailstorm if they plan on living.
Scary movie 2
7 September 2001 (UK)
A group of teens including Cindy Campbell and Brenda Meeks are invited to spend a night in Hell House. Professor Oldman has convinced them it for a school project, but the night won't go past quietly. Master Kane is long dead, but still plans on enjoying himself, especially with Alex Monday. When things really start getting bad, the gang must work together to find a way to capture this ghostly menace.Megan Voorhees is possessed and two priests, Father McFeely and Father Harris, must drive the demon out, but the exorcism doesn't go as planned. A year later, survivors Cindy Campbell, Ray Wilkins, and Shorty and Brenda Meeks, are at college, trying to forget the incidents that occurred last Halloween. Cindy is falling for Buddy, who loves to give wedgies, and Ray is still confused about his sexuality. Professor Oldman and his paralyzed assistant, Dwight, have decided to do a research study at Hell House, the house where the bad exorcism took place, and disguise it as a sleep disorder study. Chaos starts as soon as Cindy arrives and meets the creepy caretaker with the funny hand. But the house has some deep dark secrets that the group has to solve, even if they are scary or disgusting.
Scary movie 3
23 January 2004 (UK)
A mysterious killer video tape is circulating around. One look at this tape and you have seven days left to live. News Reporter Cindy Campbell (Faris) witnesses this video tape and tries to work out a way to prevent her death. But this is not the only mystery to appear. Crop circles have been appearing in the local farm of Tom (Sheen) and George (Rex). With help from Aunt Shaneequa (Latifah), Cindy suspects that the aliens may be linked with the killer tape and must now work out both mysteries before it's the end of the world.
Scary movie 4
13 April 2006 (UK)
Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back as the lovable, dim-witted Cindy Campbell and her self-serving, sex-crazed pal Brenda respectively. They are joined this time around by Craig Bierko as the cute, but utterly clueless, Tom Ryan. Together, they battle to save the world from a ruthless alien invasion. Cindy Campbell moves in next to Tom Ryan because she's taking care of an old lady. She finds out the house is haunted by a little boy and goes on a quest in the village to find out who killed him and why. Also, Alien "Tr-iPods" are invading the world and Cindy has to uncover the secret in order to stop them.
The film was released on July 7, 2000 and grossed $42,346,669 (USD) in the opening weekend in the box-office. It went on to gross a total of $157,019,771 at the domestic box-office and a world-wide total of $278,019,771. Critics gave the film mixed reviews. The film currently has a "Rotten" rating of 52% on Rotten Tomatoes, and a rating of 48 out of 100 from Metacritic, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Scary movie being post modernised
Pastiche -A media text made up from other media text pieces or of imitations of other styles
Irony- Irony is when humour is based on using words to suggest the opposite of their literal meaning.
Intertextuality- The practice of purposely including a reference of one text in the narrative of another, it can generate levels of meaning for the viewer.
Parody- A parody is in contemporary usage, is a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, or author, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation.
Spoof - a composition that imitates or misrepresents some body's style, usually in a humorous way.
Each of the of the words listed above are all linked with the film scary movie, scary movie is pastiche becuase the film is based on other films that have been before, the film also features alot of scenes which show irony as some humerous scenes show things which are not ment to be humerous. intertextuality means having other texts inside a certain text, this links with scary movie becuase it has links to many other texts. it is a parody becuase it mocks the orignal films that it was based on, for example how it makes the killer of the film a alcaholic, the killer was from the original scream movie. the genre of the film is spoof, a spoof is a genre of film which makes fun out of other films which is what is done all through the scary movie series.
Scream
Scream is one of the most famous of the slasher films, the film is based on around a serial killer and a group of teenagers.
Scream became a major commercial success upon its release, and was one of the highest grossing films of 1996. It was also highly acclaimed by many critics worldwide, who appreciated the film's tongue-in-cheek approach. It received an 84% "fresh" rating on rottentomatoes.com. As a result it spawned two sequels, Scream 2 and Scream 3. A fourth film was announced by The Weinstein Company in July 2008
out of the scream series there was three films made, also a a parody film called scary movie was also inspired by the original.
Scream became a major commercial success upon its release, and was one of the highest grossing films of 1996. It was also highly acclaimed by many critics worldwide, who appreciated the film's tongue-in-cheek approach. It received an 84% "fresh" rating on rottentomatoes.com. As a result it spawned two sequels, Scream 2 and Scream 3. A fourth film was announced by The Weinstein Company in July 2008
out of the scream series there was three films made, also a a parody film called scary movie was also inspired by the original.
Nightmare On Elm Street
The Nightmare on Elm Street films have been said to be perhaps the most successful within the genre of slasher and yet they introduced a new sub genre, being the supernatural sub genre.
Wes Craven set out to make a deliberately more cerebral film than the previous entries to the franchise - which he regarded as cartoonish and not faithful to his original themes. This was the main reason for changing some of the themes involved in the film and modifying the mask slightly to make it look more scary. More of the props of the original movie have been changed or modified to fit in with the more sinister theme of the movie, for instance the glove which was made to be more sinister.Wes Cravens New Nightmare was preceeded by Freddy's dead and it was followed by Freddy Vs Jason which was the merge of the two most popular characters within the slasher genre and both have made a name of themselves through killing people and contrasting in their killings.This film was a forerunner to Wes Cravens Scream which was made just two years later.
Wes Craven set out to make a deliberately more cerebral film than the previous entries to the franchise - which he regarded as cartoonish and not faithful to his original themes. This was the main reason for changing some of the themes involved in the film and modifying the mask slightly to make it look more scary. More of the props of the original movie have been changed or modified to fit in with the more sinister theme of the movie, for instance the glove which was made to be more sinister.Wes Cravens New Nightmare was preceeded by Freddy's dead and it was followed by Freddy Vs Jason which was the merge of the two most popular characters within the slasher genre and both have made a name of themselves through killing people and contrasting in their killings.This film was a forerunner to Wes Cravens Scream which was made just two years later.
Friday The 13th
the original 'Friday the 13th' film was released 29 years ago, in 1980. A number of sequels were made afterwards, most recently the remake of the original was made this year in 2009 in order to keep the younger generation up to date with famous slasher films.
since the original there has been 13 parts of the film which have all been rated lower then the original, this could be due the fact that the directors have over used certain elements, and make the films to repetitive, one of the films is about jason in a big city, this film was rated the lowest out of the series.
since then, a film called feddy vs jason was made but this film also was rated low, another film was released called Jason X, in this film jason was taken into space. the latest film was relased in 2008 the film was also rinsed out with the elemtents and the film is getting boring becuase the audience have realeased that jason never dies.
since the original there has been 13 parts of the film which have all been rated lower then the original, this could be due the fact that the directors have over used certain elements, and make the films to repetitive, one of the films is about jason in a big city, this film was rated the lowest out of the series.
since then, a film called feddy vs jason was made but this film also was rated low, another film was released called Jason X, in this film jason was taken into space. the latest film was relased in 2008 the film was also rinsed out with the elemtents and the film is getting boring becuase the audience have realeased that jason never dies.
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