'Donnie Darko'
Richard Kelly, 2001
“Donnie Darko” is a hybridised teen/science fiction/horror film.
The opening of this film depicts a teenager lying on the ground in early morning, with his bike a few feet away. This already begins to fulfill the audience’s expectations of the film being a teen film, but still challenging the audience by using a blue filter giving a dark and sinister feeling. This is then exaggerated later as the boy laughs, as the laugh suggests evil, or that something is mentally wrong with this person. This then hybridises the two genres teen and horror. Music playing at the time is in a very ominous tone giving suspense to the film and shows the film may be a thriller or horror. The fact that this remains unexplained in the opening leaves the enigma of the audience trying to interpret what has just happened. Once the camera moves in to give a closer, brighter look at the teenager, we can see that he is wearing pyjamas, perhaps connoting that he had been sleepwalking, and, the style of pyjamas he’s wearing connoting that he is American through iconography. This also suggests to the audience that this is a teen film as the style of pyjamas are iconic of an American teen thus confirming suspicions of the film being a teen film. Later on the boy cycles past a sign talking about Halloween, This treats the stereotypical small American town ironically as Halloween connotes death, destruction and fear or evil. Whereas the style of the houses within the small town, with trees around, and the bright filter being used suggests the opposites of theses things, it connotes happiness, life and good nature. The horror genre is also confirmed with the styling of the title of the film, which are in large very gothic lettering styles, this connotes evil and darkness, which is then highlighted against the dark horizon of the mountainside, this connotes solitude, fear and mystery helping to challenge the teen element of the opening further.
While the camera moves in towards the figure, you can notice the use of the mise-en-scene to be quite foreboding, as the lighting is very dark, making it difficult to make out the shape of the figure which connotes mystery and some fear and evil. Another part of this is due to the scenery shown behind the figure. A wide expanse of mountain scenery is shown in a red-purple hue with a blue filter and in a wide panning shot. This may connote evil or mystery again and sets the audience up for some horror and mystery aspects. This is also shown when the sign for the village, talking about Halloween. This gives a sense of foreboding, and clues the audience in for this to be a significant date. This is a good use of mise-en-scene as it stimulates the audience, further enticing them into the film. When the teenager gets on his bike and cycles through the town he sees a mixture of people, this is how the director introduces some of the main characters of the film. He then later shows close ups of 4 characters, showing that these are the more important of the main characters, Kelly exaggerates this by going into slow motion when focusing on these characters. The town is shown with a bright filter, connoting happiness. The houses are shown with bright green grass outside, trees, large houses, grey pathways outside the houses and joggers seen jogging past. This connotes a small American village. This helps to show the contrast between the lyrics of the song playing, what was shown before this, and alienates the teenager from these people and location. The costumes of the people convey that it is early morning, e.g. the woman wearing a dressing gown, the jogger’s outfits and the teenager’s pyjamas. The bike also signifies that he is a teenager, as it is a kind of motif for teenage transport. Just as the tracksuits are a stereotypical outfit for joggers. The lighting also conveys meaning, as the blue filter and early morning darkness convey darkness and mystery, whereas later there is bright lighting to show happiness and gives the feeling of friendliness to the town, which is contrasted by how the teenager acts.
At the very beginning there is an LS of a figure lying on the floor. The camera then tracks in as a steadicam giving the audience the feeling of being there and so enhancing the mystery. The steadicam slowly tracking in also gives a feeling of suspense as the audience tries to figure out what the figure is and understand why it is there. After this the audience is shown the teenager standing up, looking at the landscape, the camera then does a wide panning shot, this shows the audience the setting of the film, as a suburb, but still introduces this character as secluded. Kelly also shows the teenager standing in front of the landscape in a MCU with a low shot, this establishes the character as the protagonist. When the teenager is cycling, the audience sees a fast tracking and crabbing shot, but when he cycles past a sign, it cuts to a still shot, and lets the teenager cycle past the shot. This makes the audience, instead of focusing on the character, focus on the sign, and understand that the sign is significant.
There is not much to say about the language of the film as the opening has nearly no diegetic sound. The only sound the audience can really hear, is the song “Killing Moon” by “Echo and the Bunnymen” which has a dark meaning to it, giving more of an ominous feeling to the film. One example of the lyrics are ‘killing time’ which has a definite sinister meaning to it and suggests that the film is going to be a horror film. Especially as the lyrics are betraying what the director is showing the audience. This gives a great contrast and adds mystery, stimulating the audience.
From the teenager’s body language when he is cycling the audience see that he is alienated from the rest of the characters. This is shown by the camera cutting to each set of characters, none of the characters the camera cuts to is alone, except for the teenager. This introduces the character as alone. This is shown again when he gets off his bike, he simply discards the bike signifying maybe a teen rebel, and casually walks into the house despite the four other people outside of the house, he chooses not to socialise with them, ignnoring the girl on the trampoline.
The teenager then gets up, looks around then smiles, again, unexplained more adding to a feeling of mystery, and the way of which he smiles and laughs, giving a slightly creepy feel to it, and shows that perhaps the film is going to take the route of a psycological thriller. When the teenager gets up he is then established as the protagonist in the film by showing a close-up of his face. He then walks out of camera shot and text fades in, reading Donnie Darko. The size and style of the text connotes that this is in fact the name of the film, and perhaps the name of this character. In the opening a steadicam is used to slowly approach the figure in the dark, giving an ominous feeling, fortifying the kind of film it is likely to be. The camera later follows the teenager on his bike with flowing shots, which again was using a steadicam. The camera later shows the way he is seeing the world in a POV shot. This shows the audience the protagonist of the film further and introduces all stock characters to the audience, the audience see two joggers, a woman, with a young girl jumping on a trampoline, as the woman reads next to her. This signifies that they are mother and daughter. We also see an older man and an older girl, maybe adult talking to each other, and the man playfully blowing her with the leaf blower, in slow motion. The playful nature connotes that they are father and daughter.
We see the daughter jumping on the trampoline, and the camera showing a birds eye view of her, in slow motion without any form of diegetic sound, (the creaking of the springs) almost forcing the audience to focus on the song being played over throughout the opening which is “Killing Moon” by “Echo and the Bunnymen”. The song then gives the audience a glimpse at the teenager’s psyche. The song again may show that its is a psychological thriller, and the lyrics provide some evidence that the film may be apocalyptic.
The camera then goes out of the teenagers viewpoint again in a POV shot which allows the audience to identify with the teenager and further shows that he is the protagonist, and follows him off his bike, walking into the house of which the audience connotes, belongs to the mother/daughter and father/daughter as that is where they were outside of. We then see the teenager opening a fridge, the fridge door having a whiteboard on it which reads “Where is Donnie ?” this connotes that the teenager is Donnie, that this is also his house, and that the people outside are his parents and sisters.
The narrative is organised chronologically as all events happen after one another, however the audience are not shown why Donnie was on the floor in the dark at the start of the opening and can leave the audience to think that the rest of the film is a-synchronous in order to explain this, however this is not the prefered reading. The audience mainly stays with Donnie for the opening sequence as the audience are shown an establishing shot of him near the beginning of the opening. The camera then follows him on his bike and cuts to POV shots of what he is seeing from his bike to suggest to the audience that the narrative is going to be from his side. Some shots cut to other characters to show that these are also main characters and that we are shown some narrative from those characters sides. The audience identify Donnie as a teenage rebel as the way he discards his bike and ignores his family choosing not to socialise, wearing pyjamas connoting teenage rebellion, show the character as a teenage rebel. This alienates him from the rest of the people in the town. The audience are also shown a small girl jumping on the trampoline, this connotes a carefree stereotypical American girl, also from the clothes she is wearing. The audience are also shown the relationship between the mother and daughter, and father and daughter from the body language, the mother is sitting by reading, almost like she is supervising the girl. The dad and daughter have a more playful body language and so the audience are shown both sides of a stereotypical family and can identify with the characters easily. The major theme in the narrative are mystery as the audience are not shown why the figure in the road is there, or why he laughs when he wakes up, or why the audience is being shown these slow motion shots and the sign. These all cause an enigma and stimulate the audience into trying to figure out why they are being shown these images. Another theme is the horror aspect, this is shown as a sinister laugh, and the darkness, with the ominous lyrics from the backing soundtrack and lack of diegetic sound. Tension is created by the darkness at the start and sustained by the slow tracking into a darkened figure, with the suspenseful music as the audience try to interpret what the figure is and why it is there. Another time this happens is when the teenager is on his bike, there is a sense of tension as the audience try to determine where his destination is. The darkness from this connotes evil and mystery, when combined with tension inducing music this forces the audience to anticipate something important happening or about to happen and entices the audience causing tension.
Teenagers and parents are represented in this sequence as the audience is shown Donnie. He is depicted as a rebel, and an independent person, as he is shown alone at the start of the morning, and also alone, cycling home which signifies independence, he is also shown as someone who doesn’t care much for others, as the sign signifies he did not tell his parents where he was going, and the way he ignored the people outside his house connotes he does not care to speak to them. The parents are depicted as caring people, as they are depicted as looking after the younger daughter, and playing with the older daughter in a friendly way. And so are not shown as most parents are in teen films, as they seem to the audience to get on well with their children, apart from Donnie. The semiotics of this are Donnie in pyjamas cycling around the town, clearly not caring about his appearance to others. The parents are represented this way as the mother is reading next to the trampoline, connoting that she cares for her daughter’s safety, but not overly controlling. Also, the dad is shown with a leaf blower, which is extremely stereotypical for an American father, and blows his daughter with it in a playful manner, with both people smiling, signifying that both father and daughter are enjoying themselves and are friendly with each other. Whereas Donnie disregards these people and chooses instead to go inside.
The “Where is Donnie ?” text is written in large letters, in black. The style of the text connotes a slight dark side to it, associating Donnie, again with a dark side.
The lighting of the rest of the opening is very bright which contrasts well to the beginning, this may connote that the town just has a darker side to it. The bright lighting and the joggers, and people interacting with one another connotes happiness, and a friendly town. Whereas Donnie’s non-verbal language as he dismounts his bike into the house connotes a kind of anger, arrogance and an uncaring attitude.
While Donnie is cycling he also passes a sign for a halloween within his town, Middlesex, giving the audience a hint at the film containing some elements of horror. The sign also with the style of houses introduces the stock location as an American town through iconography. The style of the writing in which ‘halloween’ is written connotes blood as it is written in red, with a dripping effect, this connotes evil, murder, death and fear again.
The target audience for this opening is a young adult male audience. This is because the majority of people wont identify as well wit the protagonist as much as this audience and so may miss some of the meaning in the narrative and may not be as likely to enjoy the film. Also male audiences are more likely to enjoy a horror film than a female audience and so the dark, ominous music and lighting may not be so good for female audiences. The film would also be more for American culture as this is where the film is set and so other culture may not understand certain references within the film. The probable readings of the text is that Donnie has been sleepwalking the night before and wakes up then cycles home. Another probable reading is that he ‘snuck’ out last night, as signified by the sign on the fridge. Possible readings is that he doesn’t live in the town at all and went in the house to the fridge to steal food, however, this is not the prefered reading. As a British male teenager I read the text as Donnie, having sleepwalked woken up on the mountainside, and laughs at the situation. He then cycles home and avoids his parents as they may be angry at him for not being home in the morning, which is then confirmed by the sign on the fridge. However my age may make me more sympathetic towards Donnie as I have been in similar sitiations to him and are at a closer age to him than the parents. My gender may also make me more sympathetic to him and may have made me identify with him more than I would have if I were female. E.g. A female may have found his laugh more creepy than another male would have and read more into the sinister aspects of the beginning of the opening. My background as British may have also effected this as I may understand more of the connotations of the clothes and the style of lettering, e.g. an Indian person may not understand the connotation of the gothic lettering in the title screens, or some cultures may find it more acceptable to be out all night than I would form my background and culture.
“Donnie Darko” is a hybridised teen/science fiction/horror film.
The opening of this film depicts a teenager lying on the ground in early morning, with his bike a few feet away. This already begins to fulfill the audience’s expectations of the film being a teen film, but still challenging the audience by using a blue filter giving a dark and sinister feeling. This is then exaggerated later as the boy laughs, as the laugh suggests evil, or that something is mentally wrong with this person. This then hybridises the two genres teen and horror. Music playing at the time is in a very ominous tone giving suspense to the film and shows the film may be a thriller or horror. The fact that this remains unexplained in the opening leaves the enigma of the audience trying to interpret what has just happened. Once the camera moves in to give a closer, brighter look at the teenager, we can see that he is wearing pyjamas, perhaps connoting that he had been sleepwalking, and, the style of pyjamas he’s wearing connoting that he is American through iconography. This also suggests to the audience that this is a teen film as the style of pyjamas are iconic of an American teen thus confirming suspicions of the film being a teen film. Later on the boy cycles past a sign talking about Halloween, This treats the stereotypical small American town ironically as Halloween connotes death, destruction and fear or evil. Whereas the style of the houses within the small town, with trees around, and the bright filter being used suggests the opposites of theses things, it connotes happiness, life and good nature. The horror genre is also confirmed with the styling of the title of the film, which are in large very gothic lettering styles, this connotes evil and darkness, which is then highlighted against the dark horizon of the mountainside, this connotes solitude, fear and mystery helping to challenge the teen element of the opening further.
While the camera moves in towards the figure, you can notice the use of the mise-en-scene to be quite foreboding, as the lighting is very dark, making it difficult to make out the shape of the figure which connotes mystery and some fear and evil. Another part of this is due to the scenery shown behind the figure. A wide expanse of mountain scenery is shown in a red-purple hue with a blue filter and in a wide panning shot. This may connote evil or mystery again and sets the audience up for some horror and mystery aspects. This is also shown when the sign for the village, talking about Halloween. This gives a sense of foreboding, and clues the audience in for this to be a significant date. This is a good use of mise-en-scene as it stimulates the audience, further enticing them into the film. When the teenager gets on his bike and cycles through the town he sees a mixture of people, this is how the director introduces some of the main characters of the film. He then later shows close ups of 4 characters, showing that these are the more important of the main characters, Kelly exaggerates this by going into slow motion when focusing on these characters. The town is shown with a bright filter, connoting happiness. The houses are shown with bright green grass outside, trees, large houses, grey pathways outside the houses and joggers seen jogging past. This connotes a small American village. This helps to show the contrast between the lyrics of the song playing, what was shown before this, and alienates the teenager from these people and location. The costumes of the people convey that it is early morning, e.g. the woman wearing a dressing gown, the jogger’s outfits and the teenager’s pyjamas. The bike also signifies that he is a teenager, as it is a kind of motif for teenage transport. Just as the tracksuits are a stereotypical outfit for joggers. The lighting also conveys meaning, as the blue filter and early morning darkness convey darkness and mystery, whereas later there is bright lighting to show happiness and gives the feeling of friendliness to the town, which is contrasted by how the teenager acts.
At the very beginning there is an LS of a figure lying on the floor. The camera then tracks in as a steadicam giving the audience the feeling of being there and so enhancing the mystery. The steadicam slowly tracking in also gives a feeling of suspense as the audience tries to figure out what the figure is and understand why it is there. After this the audience is shown the teenager standing up, looking at the landscape, the camera then does a wide panning shot, this shows the audience the setting of the film, as a suburb, but still introduces this character as secluded. Kelly also shows the teenager standing in front of the landscape in a MCU with a low shot, this establishes the character as the protagonist. When the teenager is cycling, the audience sees a fast tracking and crabbing shot, but when he cycles past a sign, it cuts to a still shot, and lets the teenager cycle past the shot. This makes the audience, instead of focusing on the character, focus on the sign, and understand that the sign is significant.
There is not much to say about the language of the film as the opening has nearly no diegetic sound. The only sound the audience can really hear, is the song “Killing Moon” by “Echo and the Bunnymen” which has a dark meaning to it, giving more of an ominous feeling to the film. One example of the lyrics are ‘killing time’ which has a definite sinister meaning to it and suggests that the film is going to be a horror film. Especially as the lyrics are betraying what the director is showing the audience. This gives a great contrast and adds mystery, stimulating the audience.
From the teenager’s body language when he is cycling the audience see that he is alienated from the rest of the characters. This is shown by the camera cutting to each set of characters, none of the characters the camera cuts to is alone, except for the teenager. This introduces the character as alone. This is shown again when he gets off his bike, he simply discards the bike signifying maybe a teen rebel, and casually walks into the house despite the four other people outside of the house, he chooses not to socialise with them, ignnoring the girl on the trampoline.
The teenager then gets up, looks around then smiles, again, unexplained more adding to a feeling of mystery, and the way of which he smiles and laughs, giving a slightly creepy feel to it, and shows that perhaps the film is going to take the route of a psycological thriller. When the teenager gets up he is then established as the protagonist in the film by showing a close-up of his face. He then walks out of camera shot and text fades in, reading Donnie Darko. The size and style of the text connotes that this is in fact the name of the film, and perhaps the name of this character. In the opening a steadicam is used to slowly approach the figure in the dark, giving an ominous feeling, fortifying the kind of film it is likely to be. The camera later follows the teenager on his bike with flowing shots, which again was using a steadicam. The camera later shows the way he is seeing the world in a POV shot. This shows the audience the protagonist of the film further and introduces all stock characters to the audience, the audience see two joggers, a woman, with a young girl jumping on a trampoline, as the woman reads next to her. This signifies that they are mother and daughter. We also see an older man and an older girl, maybe adult talking to each other, and the man playfully blowing her with the leaf blower, in slow motion. The playful nature connotes that they are father and daughter.
We see the daughter jumping on the trampoline, and the camera showing a birds eye view of her, in slow motion without any form of diegetic sound, (the creaking of the springs) almost forcing the audience to focus on the song being played over throughout the opening which is “Killing Moon” by “Echo and the Bunnymen”. The song then gives the audience a glimpse at the teenager’s psyche. The song again may show that its is a psychological thriller, and the lyrics provide some evidence that the film may be apocalyptic.
The camera then goes out of the teenagers viewpoint again in a POV shot which allows the audience to identify with the teenager and further shows that he is the protagonist, and follows him off his bike, walking into the house of which the audience connotes, belongs to the mother/daughter and father/daughter as that is where they were outside of. We then see the teenager opening a fridge, the fridge door having a whiteboard on it which reads “Where is Donnie ?” this connotes that the teenager is Donnie, that this is also his house, and that the people outside are his parents and sisters.
The narrative is organised chronologically as all events happen after one another, however the audience are not shown why Donnie was on the floor in the dark at the start of the opening and can leave the audience to think that the rest of the film is a-synchronous in order to explain this, however this is not the prefered reading. The audience mainly stays with Donnie for the opening sequence as the audience are shown an establishing shot of him near the beginning of the opening. The camera then follows him on his bike and cuts to POV shots of what he is seeing from his bike to suggest to the audience that the narrative is going to be from his side. Some shots cut to other characters to show that these are also main characters and that we are shown some narrative from those characters sides. The audience identify Donnie as a teenage rebel as the way he discards his bike and ignores his family choosing not to socialise, wearing pyjamas connoting teenage rebellion, show the character as a teenage rebel. This alienates him from the rest of the people in the town. The audience are also shown a small girl jumping on the trampoline, this connotes a carefree stereotypical American girl, also from the clothes she is wearing. The audience are also shown the relationship between the mother and daughter, and father and daughter from the body language, the mother is sitting by reading, almost like she is supervising the girl. The dad and daughter have a more playful body language and so the audience are shown both sides of a stereotypical family and can identify with the characters easily. The major theme in the narrative are mystery as the audience are not shown why the figure in the road is there, or why he laughs when he wakes up, or why the audience is being shown these slow motion shots and the sign. These all cause an enigma and stimulate the audience into trying to figure out why they are being shown these images. Another theme is the horror aspect, this is shown as a sinister laugh, and the darkness, with the ominous lyrics from the backing soundtrack and lack of diegetic sound. Tension is created by the darkness at the start and sustained by the slow tracking into a darkened figure, with the suspenseful music as the audience try to interpret what the figure is and why it is there. Another time this happens is when the teenager is on his bike, there is a sense of tension as the audience try to determine where his destination is. The darkness from this connotes evil and mystery, when combined with tension inducing music this forces the audience to anticipate something important happening or about to happen and entices the audience causing tension.
Teenagers and parents are represented in this sequence as the audience is shown Donnie. He is depicted as a rebel, and an independent person, as he is shown alone at the start of the morning, and also alone, cycling home which signifies independence, he is also shown as someone who doesn’t care much for others, as the sign signifies he did not tell his parents where he was going, and the way he ignored the people outside his house connotes he does not care to speak to them. The parents are depicted as caring people, as they are depicted as looking after the younger daughter, and playing with the older daughter in a friendly way. And so are not shown as most parents are in teen films, as they seem to the audience to get on well with their children, apart from Donnie. The semiotics of this are Donnie in pyjamas cycling around the town, clearly not caring about his appearance to others. The parents are represented this way as the mother is reading next to the trampoline, connoting that she cares for her daughter’s safety, but not overly controlling. Also, the dad is shown with a leaf blower, which is extremely stereotypical for an American father, and blows his daughter with it in a playful manner, with both people smiling, signifying that both father and daughter are enjoying themselves and are friendly with each other. Whereas Donnie disregards these people and chooses instead to go inside.
The “Where is Donnie ?” text is written in large letters, in black. The style of the text connotes a slight dark side to it, associating Donnie, again with a dark side.
The lighting of the rest of the opening is very bright which contrasts well to the beginning, this may connote that the town just has a darker side to it. The bright lighting and the joggers, and people interacting with one another connotes happiness, and a friendly town. Whereas Donnie’s non-verbal language as he dismounts his bike into the house connotes a kind of anger, arrogance and an uncaring attitude.
While Donnie is cycling he also passes a sign for a halloween within his town, Middlesex, giving the audience a hint at the film containing some elements of horror. The sign also with the style of houses introduces the stock location as an American town through iconography. The style of the writing in which ‘halloween’ is written connotes blood as it is written in red, with a dripping effect, this connotes evil, murder, death and fear again.
The target audience for this opening is a young adult male audience. This is because the majority of people wont identify as well wit the protagonist as much as this audience and so may miss some of the meaning in the narrative and may not be as likely to enjoy the film. Also male audiences are more likely to enjoy a horror film than a female audience and so the dark, ominous music and lighting may not be so good for female audiences. The film would also be more for American culture as this is where the film is set and so other culture may not understand certain references within the film. The probable readings of the text is that Donnie has been sleepwalking the night before and wakes up then cycles home. Another probable reading is that he ‘snuck’ out last night, as signified by the sign on the fridge. Possible readings is that he doesn’t live in the town at all and went in the house to the fridge to steal food, however, this is not the prefered reading. As a British male teenager I read the text as Donnie, having sleepwalked woken up on the mountainside, and laughs at the situation. He then cycles home and avoids his parents as they may be angry at him for not being home in the morning, which is then confirmed by the sign on the fridge. However my age may make me more sympathetic towards Donnie as I have been in similar sitiations to him and are at a closer age to him than the parents. My gender may also make me more sympathetic to him and may have made me identify with him more than I would have if I were female. E.g. A female may have found his laugh more creepy than another male would have and read more into the sinister aspects of the beginning of the opening. My background as British may have also effected this as I may understand more of the connotations of the clothes and the style of lettering, e.g. an Indian person may not understand the connotation of the gothic lettering in the title screens, or some cultures may find it more acceptable to be out all night than I would form my background and culture.
The ideological discourse created in this opening sequence is challenging capitalism, this is conveyed by the director showing Donnie cycling past each house and showing how similar each house looked. It then shows two joggers going past, not speaking, and acting in a way that connotes a robotic feel, while showing Donnie in front of them and enjoying himself in socially inappropriate clothes on an inexpensive bike. This connotes to the audience that money and conforming to society's ideals, apathetic, and so identify with Donnie further. More ideological discourse is created when the opening challenges family ideals. Kelly does this by suggesting that Donnie's family is a classic American family and are happy and united, but are not actually doing any activities together, for example when the little girl is on the trampoline, the mother is beside her, but reading and ignoring what the girl is doing, giving an impression of apathy towards family life, also the older girl walks up to her father asking a question, but he blows her with the leaf blower and she leaves. The father using a leaf blower is a classic motif of capitalism. This challenges the common ideal of conforming to society. Connoting that the family is only acting on how society has taught them to behave. It then shows that Donnie is further disconnected when the audience is shown the 'Where is Donnie ?' sign on the fridge as it shows that the family has put little effort into finding out where he is and that this is in fact normal. This scene challenges the ideal that a family must be together and and the ideal that a family must perpetuate society.
“Donnie Darko” begins with a very effective, subtle enigma and introduces the theme to the film very well with the selected song to play through the majority of the opening. It is a complex and mysterious opening sequence, which challenges the audience and provides a great introduction to the film.
“Donnie Darko” begins with a very effective, subtle enigma and introduces the theme to the film very well with the selected song to play through the majority of the opening. It is a complex and mysterious opening sequence, which challenges the audience and provides a great introduction to the film.
3 comments:
Excellent analysis of generic conventions - a tricky sequence. Your micro analysis is detailed, observant and accurate, using key terminology.
You discuss issues of representation - ideological discourse is much harder in this sequence. However, think about the values and beliefs that are reinforced/challenged - the family as central to our society, how teenagers are expected to rebel then conform to society.. this film challenges dominant ideological discourse on school and family, science and nature throughout, but this isn't really evident in the opening sequence, which is at that stage much more about construcing enigma and character exposition. Nevertheless, give it a go.
Excellent analysis of generic conventions - a tricky sequence. Your micro analysis is detailed, observant and accurate, using key terminology.
You discuss issues of representation - ideological discourse is much harder in this sequence. However, think about the values and beliefs that are reinforced/challenged - the family as central to our society, how teenagers are expected to rebel then conform to society.. this film challenges dominant ideological discourse on school and family, science and nature throughout, but this isn't really evident in the opening sequence, which is at that stage much more about construcing enigma and character exposition. Nevertheless, give it a go.
This is a level 4 / A grade analysis once you add ideological discourse.
Cameron, I am still not a contributor to this blog. Can you invite me again?
Thanks
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