Representation Analysis

Analysis of Two Commercials

    

    Representation is how certain groups are shown in media. Representation can either shown groups in a poor and good light. Doing this will effect how the general public perceives these groups as well. The audiences will begin to take in the ideas presented and project them onto to others outside of the media they took it from.

        The tide commercial is short and comical at times but when looking at what it is representing it can be problematic. This is most notably seen through its dialogue. The commercial focuses on a mother and her daughter, while this isn't necessarily a bad thing on its own, it does suffer from exclusion. The commercial only shows a middle to upper class family and how the tide product is beneficial to them. It doesn't show any other perspectives, since the family is white, this includes both race/ethnicity and social class. The audience may not connect with the people in the commercial or simply believe that they shouldn't be using the product or don't deserve to use the product in the first place. When it comes to age the commercial is more forgiving, while the focus is on a middle aged mother the dialogue and commercial do point out the daughter and her clothes, both for better and for worse. The commercial tells the audience through dialogue that the tide product has had a positive effect on the daughter's living condition. The dialogue starts to point badly when it shows how uncomfortable the mother is with the fact the tide product worked so well, "it's kinda too bad," her face often shows that she is uncomfortable with her daughter's behavior and that bit of dialogue shows she wants to change it. The daughter is shown to be less feminine than the mother, which is a huge problem. This excludes those types of people and instead promotes being against people who don't act like their gender should be acting. The mother shows discomfort when she says "hoodies and cargo shorts." This is emphasized by the area surrounding the mother and her clothing, containing a large amount of pink.

     The H&M ad is much more inclusive and does good by everyone. The commercial does so well in representation because its main goal is to show diversity, and not only in race or ethnicity. The commercial shows diversity and acceptance through two different means. The narration and visuals. The visuals provide a great amount of representation in of itself but the dialogue comes in and emphasizes the choices shown visually with short and powerful statements such as, "stand out, blend in, " and "be trashy, be boring, be new." The statements show the commercial truly does care for everyone and wants them to be what they want to be. The commercial visually shows many different races and ethnicities. The first two races/ethnicities shown aren't even white, they are Asian and African American respectively. On top of that more are shown and some races/ethnicities reappear more than once. The commercial also disregards social class, it shows people in penthouses but also people in normal houses and possibly poorer areas, although it can be hard to tell. The ages of the people in the commercial also differ drastically, cutting from an old woman to a young man at times. Although, it is notable the commercial doesn't focus on teens and children. Children are seen in one shot, but its a group shot where they don't stand out at all. This could send the message to the audiences that in order to decide what you want to do in any situation, you must be older to do it or to know its a good decision. The commercial also reaches out to LGBTQ groups or groups that simply don't follow the normal through the people seen in the commercial cross dressing from their sex. The commercial encourages many different to groups to go out to the public and take pride in what they are and their appearance, nationality, and anything else they choose to be. Audiences can go away from the commercial believing that they don't have to be ashamed of what they want and choose to be because to doesn't matter and it should be accepted.

The Thriller Genre

 Why Are Thrillers Hard to Spot?

    The thriller is one of the most common or frequently seen genres in film, this includes acting as a subgenre and coexisting with multiple other genres. There are many directors out today that are gravitating towards this genre, while it is extremely common for the genre to exist within other genre settings it has now come to the point where the thriller is almost completely standing on its own. This is seen with directors like the Safdie Brothers, Denis Villeneuve, and Quentin Tarantino.

Content:

    Content wise the genre is extremely difficult to describe because of how often it is combined with other genres.

    One of the most common genres that thrillers are put with is that of horror. This is because the many similarities the two genres have. This is seen with suspense and how its handled. The subject matter and tone in general. Thriller often have darker tones and horror movies often deal with beings and antagonists doing horrific things. These beings can be cosmic, originate from hell, or simply be of the character's own negative feelings and thoughts. This is why horror and thrillers are commonly associated with each other. 

The Birds is a great example of one of these types of films.

The Birds (1963)

    Thrillers are also associated with action, which in of itself is associated with many genres like sci-fi. These thriller action movies often take on, again, darker subject matter than normal action films. A normal action movie usually has a lot of comedy but if it is combined with the thriller genre than it often times becomes a lot more suspenseful. Extraction is one of the films that falls into these two genres. Instead of more closely resembling the Marvel movies it more closely resembles a drama in terms of its characters.

Extraction (2020)

    The Thriller is a genre that deals with hard subject matter and has a suspenseful tone. They often focus on the feelings of the characters through the current events on screen. The characters often experience events that challenge their mind and perception of certain things. The story often revolves around crimes and life-threatening situations.

Production Techniques:

    Thrillers heavily relies on suspense, whether that be constant throughout the film like Uncut Gems or in spikes like The Hateful Eight. Suspense is built in a film in many ways, but one of the most important parts used is that of sounds, whether it be the score or the sounds from the world of the film.

     Uncut Gems uses lots of diegetic sounds with things like background dialogue which is heightened to an extreme extent. These sounds are both are both on and off screen which gives off a feel for the surrounding area and what threats there could possibly be. On top of that the film uses a very stressful score at times which relies on played out notes. 

    Uncut Gems (2019)

    The Hateful Eight brings in another way suspense or dread is created, on top of its unsettling and frantic score. The Hateful Eight revels in its visuals, not only what is shown from the world but how the camera is used. Scenes like the poisoned coffee scene show an extreme amount of blood in unusual places which is only amplified by how the camera captures all of it and how close the camera is to the horrific events.

The Hateful Eight (2015)

Marketing:

    The success of thrillers in confusing to say the least. The success of thriller largely is reliant on what genre the film is sharing itself with. Blade Runner 2049 was considered a flop even though it gained $260.5 million worldwide. Arrival is another film which shares the sci-fi genre along with its thriller genre and it earned $203.4 million. Then there are films like Drive, which has the genres of action and romance in it. It only earned $81.4 million at the box office. This isn't even looking at Good Time which has crime within it, earning only $4.1 million. 

    The genres shared with thrillers clearly largely effect its revenue, when put together with horror they are able to aim at younger audiences which generally attracts more people, which is in between the ages of 15 to 30. These films can lean more on the suspenseful part of the film through its posters because of the antagonist in the film, often times showing a simple object or person from the movie to show where the horror would come from. On top of that they use color to their advantage in order to emphasize these ideas.

    Action thrillers obviously lean on the action side of the film in trailers and posters and the same can be said for other genres and directly relates to their popularity.

Samples:

    

Good Time is a thriller which revels in how much anxiety it can hold on to for the duration of the film. It follows and man named Connie as he goes around New York over one night as he tries to find a way to get money to bail his brother out of a failed robbery. The film is directed by the Safdie Brothers who use their particular style to their full advantage here. The film uses a very unique style of cinematography that elevates scenes to whole new levels. They shoot many scenes with close ups or simply having the camera zoomed in when other directors would choose basic shots. This gives the film a feeling of claustrophobia, making the viewers feel cramped and as if they are unable to escape the situation at hand. The music also helps here, the film uses electronic instruments that can be both very chaotic or extremely stressed due to how long they leave some notes to play. The tone of the film becomes very dark because of this and that isn't even talking about the events that take place. Due to the tone the events that many people have already seen in other films feel much more horrific and terrifying.

Parasite is another thriller which succeeds in its execution of what thrillers are but in very different ways. The film uses extremely different approaches yet very similar techniques. The film has many wide shots and show the layout of the settings and where the characters are in relation to each other. The music is also widely different. The thriller aspect of the film mainly comes from the events and mindsets of the characters. The film follows a family as they all get hired for certain jobs by a rich family in an attempt to live off of them. The mindset of all the main characters is that of extreme panic and extreme joy as the film moves along. They are challenged in many ways not only through their class but mentally through the rich family's opinion of them. The events here are also shocking but not to the same extent as Good Time because it also wants to focus on social themes and other genres. This isn't a bad thing, in fact, the fact it is still labeled a thriller just shows how great the move is in its tone and how the events effect the characters. The music can range from classical to a soundtrack which more closely resembles what soundtracks today are.

Some Thrillers to Consider:

The Invisible Man (2020)

Zodiac (2007)

The Departed (2006)

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

John Wick (2014)

First Post

 

 First Post

    Hi, my name is Andres and this is my first post. I am creating this blog because of school where I think we will be using it semi-frequently throughout the year. Even though this started off as something for school am I kind of hoping it could move away from that or can be used as a test run of sorts if I like doing it. A few things about me are that a play the bass and love film and everything to do with creating it or reviewing them. This is because I want to do something in film as a career in the future.