Narrative Assessment

Give three examples of the use action codes are used in the film Skyfall and explain how these help to tell the story.

At the start of the film a gunshot is fired to take out the villain however James Bond is hit instead, we can tell the character that took the shot and M both have regret, we know this because of the facial expressions shown by both characters, M sighs and stands up turns around and looks out the window, we see the pained look on her face this shows the regret of the character.

We see that Silva has a lack of consideration for his own safety, we see this when he is carelessly throwing grenades into the house without a care in the world. We also this when he is stood near house after watching a helicopter crashing straight into the building and he isn't even flinching.

Silva is portrayed as gay, although we don't hear him say he is or anyone else saying it we can tell by the way he speaks, he speaks in a camp manner and when he captures James Bond he strokes his leg and chin and feels his chest, this shows he is possibly gay.

Give three examples of the use of enigma codes 

An example of when an enigma code is used is when James Bond has been shot and in a later scene we see him come back, this raises questions as to how he survived, who found him? Why hasn't he contacted Mi6?

When James Bond is being questioned by the psychologist the psychologist asks him about Skyfall, we see James Bond get up and leave without answering questions, this again raises questions such as what is Skyfall? Why didn't he answer the question?

Another example of an enigma code is the hard drive, it raises questions such as why are they trying to retrieve it and whats on the hard drive? it keeps the audience engaged because it makes them want to carry on watching to see whats on the hard drive.


Analyse the film's narrative structure using a narrative theory, and argue which event in the film corresponds with each stage of the film

The films narrative structure corresponds to Robert McKees classic five part narrative theory. Part one is the inciting incident where James Bond is chasing Patrice which has stolen an important hard drive, this sets the story going as questions are already being raised at this point. The second part is progressive complications where the story deepens as James Bond is shot and presumed dead. The third step is crisis where things are getting worse, this is when the anonymous attacks on MI6 happen such as the MI6 building blowing up, M's laptop being hacked and the names on the hard drive of undercover agents are leaked. Crisis is when James Bond meets Silva on the island and captures him and takes him back to base, Silva then escapes going after M in the court room and James Bond saves her and takes her back to his old family home Skyfall where Silva follows and tries to kill them both. The resolution is when Silva is finally killed, the main issue has been resolved however the normality is different as M dies and a new M is appointed at the end of the film


Besides the narrative how else is the audience engaged by the film?

The audience are engaged by the film with the use of references to the older James Bond films, we see this when Q is showing James Bond some gadgets and James Bond asks about an explosive pen we see this gadget in an older film. another reference of older films is the classic Aston Martin with the ejector seats again referencing an older James Bond film

Plan of Action

1. Establish typical stereotypes for white British males
- Posh and stuck up
- Football hooligans
- Very different between upper class and lower class, lower class more filthy drunken messes, upper class stuck up think they're better than everyone posh accent, love the royal family
All British people have posh accents

Evidence-
Football-- https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/11/euro-2016-french-police-tactics-raise-fears-of-more-clashes-with-england-fans

https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/news/452934/the-end-of-a-reign-of-terror/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3640948/Britain-s-infamous-football-hooligan-slams-Russian-Ultras-breaking-moral-code-football-violence-ambushing-innocent-women-children.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tBps0GUITM- documentary on England world cup

Described as savages, animals, hooligans very violent and drunken messes. Shows English supporters as very bad fans that take football over the top. Riots and fights in the streets, people being banned from following England team to Germany. 'reign of terror'

Posh Stuck up- Kingsman 'snobs like you judging people like me from your Ivory towers with no thought about why we do what we do' 'You all talk so funny'

Love for the royal family- 24.5 million people watching the royal wedding


http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a37762/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-man/


Media uses stereotypes to portray the British so it is easy to understand for the audience, there is no middle ground, its either posh or not.
These stereotypes are untrue as is any other stereotype


2. Stereotypes and their effect in real life, stereotypes help the audience understand the message behind the characters

Makes people caution of English football fans
British males may feel as though they have to be a football fan


PAGE 113 Timo'sulivan Brian Dutton Philip Rayner

76 philip rayner aand peterwall 2008

Essay intro redraft

The purpose of this essay is explore the representations of British males in film, specifically in the films Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), Grimsby (2016) and Legend (2015 . Representations are how people, places and things are shown in the media. More often than not representations are based upon stereotypes, stereotypes are a commonly held belief of a particular type of person, place or thing with at least a grain of truth to them. 

Essay intro

1.    The purpose of this essay is to explore how white British males in film are represented. Representation in media is how people, places and things are shown in the media, in this case we are examining how British Males are being represented. The three films I have chosen to explore are Kingsman: The Secret Service, The Brothers Grimsby and Legend.  All three films feature heavy stereotypes of white British males which is why I feel these films are a good selection of the films to analyse. Stereotypes are a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing however it most often than not has at least a grain of truth an example of a typical stereotype is “the woman is the carer of the child”. Although this may be true in some cases, it isn’t always true this is what we class a stereotype. The issue that is brought up with stereotyping is that people that may not necessarily be from that ethnic group or gender will see the other ethnicity group as what the media portrays them an example of this is that all black people are portrayed as criminals, this gives a bad image to black people therefore people from other ethnicity groups may be more cautions around black people, when realistically only a very small population are actually criminals.

 I will be analysing all three films, this is my primary research for the essay and will be looking at what other people have said about the representations of white British males for my secondary research.

Genre Research Task

The genre I have chosen to research is the action genre. In a typical action film there is a lot of physical storytelling, this is achieved with stunts, chase scenes and fighting. The story often has a main hero which is trying to achieve his ultimate goal by overcoming any issues in his path.


Typical features in the action genre include: Props such as guns, knives, drugs, weapons, money, cars- usually exotic cars. Usually in action films the editing is very fast paced especially in scenes where there are car chases or fighting going this is achieved by using lots of cuts and not keeping one camera angle on too long. The setting in an action film is usually in a big modern city such as L.A, London or New York however some action films are shot in big open deserts an example of where this has happened is in Mad Max and Mission Impossible. Action can happen in any time of day in an action film typically at night there is a stealthy aspect where as in the day time its guns blazing, all-out action. Typical characters in action film include a main protagonist almost always the hero in the film, a villain that will not stop until the hero is dead, a detective type/full police squad, a mob boss and a hitman type character these are just a few examples of the types of characters found in action films.


Examples of action films include: die hard, James Bond Casino Royale, Fast 5, Jason Bourne and mission impossible. These are your main types of action films with high speed chases, gun fights, explosions and fast paced editing however within the action genre you also have your sub genres such as action-comedy which includes films such as rush hour and hot fuzz. By adding a sub-genre to the action genre this gets rid of the repetitiveness that is found in action films a rush hour film is very different to a Jason Bourne film despite them both being action films. The era the film set also adds a level of difference to the action genre we see this in the Lord of The Rings Trilogy and Hobbit Trilogy, these types of films are very different to a mission impossible film but still have that element of action to despite it not having any guns or gadgets in them. Even though some films achieve difference there are many films which often have a lot of elements from other films integrated into them making them very repetitive we see this is in superhero films where not a lot can be done to change the structure causing almost every single superhero action film to be the same with the same results (the hero beating the villain). This is also present in the James Bond franchise where in every film there is James Bond, a villain, exotic cars, cool gadgets and chase scenes/violent scenes. So why do people still pay to see a James Bond film even though they know what will happen? It’s because people love these types of films, it provides comfortable reassurance where the audience is expecting high speed chases and gun scenes , James Bond despite repeating the same structure it changes the villain, it changes the cars, it changes the cool gadgets this keeps it fresh and exciting but also keeping the main elements that make an action film.




Action films have not always been as popular as they are now as the years have gone by the popularity of actions has increased since the first few were made in the 1930s according to the charts even to today’s date the popularity of action films are still increasing and this is backed up by the amount of action films being made. In 2010 action films became the second most popular type of genre and still increasing in popularity where as in 19 30 it was probably one of the most unsuccessful genres.














Looking at IMBD top films, films such as the dark knight, The Lord of The Rings Trilogy, inception and Star Wars are all in the top 20 rated films of all time, this shows how popular and successful the action genre really is.

Initial Ideas

Representation of British males in two films

Film ideas
-Kingsman secret service
- Green street
-Kidulthood
-Brotherhood
-Skyfall
-Snatch
-Legend

Pulp Fiction Opening Scene

Using generic signifiers, how is the genre of the film made clear in the opening two scenes?
The crime drama is made clear with the use of props such as guns and cigarettes. The characters present are also characters usually found in a crime/ gangster film there are two robbers that are a couple and two gangsters working for a king pin boss. The language used is very informal and there is a lot of bad language highlighting the grittiness of the characters to give it a further signifier that it is a crime/gangster film.

What enigmas are present in these two scenes?
The opening scenes raise some questions as to who these people are? and other questions such as what is risky? As the male characters first line is 'its too risky'. Another enigma raised is the scene where the two gangsters are in the car and they are casually talking about BigMacs before going to kill people, is this there first time? Why are they so calm? Where are they going?

In terms of narratives, how is the opening of this film different from the usual way of starting a film?
The story told is out of chronological order this adds a sense of difference to the film rather than your everyday gangster film told in order, it provides you with the correct content for the genre however it keeps it different with the narrative structure. The opening film of this starts off with a scene that is towards the end, this is highly unusual as the audience thinks its a random scene however when the film comes together the decisions as to why the director has made the structure like this unravel. The scene then jumps from towards the end all the way back to the very beginning where the film should of started if it followed a normal narrative structure and progresses, this is something you don't see every day.

What stereotypes are challenged/reinforced in the opening of this movie? 

The opening scene consists of planning a holdup in a restaurant and two gangsters arriving at an apartment to collect a briefcase yet it takes over 20 minutes for these scenes to take place. How has the director made these scenes interesting and appealing for the audiences despite the fact not that much actually happens?