Representations in Shaun Of The Dead

How are following groups represented in Shaun of the Dead

• Men
• Woman
• Day2day life


The main male characters in Shaun of the dead are, Shaun, who is the protagonist of the film,
Ed, who is Shaun’s best friend, David a friend of Shaun’s girlfriend, Pete, Shaun and Ed’s nasty flat-mate and Philip, Shaun’s stepdad. All these characters follow somewhat stereotypical representations of men, for example, Shaun and Ed follow a ‘geeky’ ‘blokey’ or ‘laddish’ stereotype, listening to old school hip hop on vinyl, regularly visiting their local pub and playing computer games this can often be applied to men in their teens, although Shaun and Ed are in their late twenties, implying part of the narrative that they need to grow up. Shaun also conforms to the ‘heroic’ stereotype as the title of the film hints at, it is mainly him who battles the zombies, baseball bat in hand and wins back the affections of his girlfriend, Liz. David, who when applying Propp’s theory, is the ‘false hero’ of the film, it is implied that He too, is in love with Liz, even though dating another female character, earlier on in the film he plays the stereotype of a good boyfriend, for example visiting the theatre with his girlfriend, however later in the film this is turned on it’s head, his character is shown as coward, for example being torn apart by zombies. Pete, a much smaller character in the film has already ‘grown up’ and in part, turned particularly nasty, putting the name ‘loser’ on Shaun, he has a car and a job, and wears the typical costume of an office worker, in a shirt and tie. Philip’s character is interesting, Him and Shaun’s relationship is dysfunctional, Shaun has never accepted him as a father figure, however this relieved in the end when Philip makes a death speech, and Shaun finally accepts him as a significant part of his life. Philip is much older than the other characters in the film, this can be seen in his costume and ability to afford a nice car.

The main female characters in the film are Liz, Shaun’s girlfriend and love interest, Barbara, Shaun’s mum and Diane, Liz’s friend – the failed actress. Liz is a typical example of femininity she had longish blonde hair and wear feminine clothing, she longs for a more mature relationship with Shaun, which is typical of a female in her age group. Diane a smaller character in the film is almost a re-representation of Liz, and conforms very much to a ‘best friends’ stereotype. Finally, Shaun’s mum Barbara, is very stereotypically a ‘mumsy’ character, offering to make tea and sandwiches, adopting nicknames for Shaun like ‘pickle’ and hiding that she has been bitten to not worry others.

Day to day life is also a very prominent aspect in the film

Shaun of The dead

forms of Audience positioning

preferred
negotiated
oppositional

hypodermic needle

two step flow

uses and gratifications:
entertainment
information
social network
personal identity

Gender > Situated culture > Cultural experience

Notes:
gender - preferred - blokey
20 -30s white, middle class
sexuality & religion is not relevant
old people wouldn't like it
ethnicity - mostly white - little cultural range


Genre -
appeals to genre fans
- a mix of horror zombie film and romantic comedy - with British elements
a 'ZomRomCom'.

Atonement - Industry

Country Origio - France/UK
Certificate - 15
Production companies - Working title/studio Canal
Distribution Company - Focus Features/united international pictures
Budget - 30M
Total Gross - 129,266,061 ($)
Awards - Won Best original Score and was up for & nominations in the Oscars
14 nominations for Baftas, won two, Best Film and Best Production Design.

owned by Vivendi universal Conglomerate.

Atonement - Audience

The audience is mainly active/ passive, they work to create an already diplayed meaning.

Audience responses:
Gender
Culture
Situation

Stuart Hall's theory ('73)
oppositional
negotiated
preferred

Cutural Experience:
Ethinicity - white audience - relvant to the context of the film
Sexuality - more in relation to attitudes towards sex opposed to actual sexuality
Age - young stars attract audiences
Religeon - Patriachal Christian Britain

situated culture
-When audience is 'forced' to watch, outcome is usaully good, however a large audience is put off by tradtional elemnets in the film.

Uses & gratifications

Atonement - Narrative

Narrative is a series of elements which are organised in a way to make sense of a story.

Atonement has non-linear elements to the narrative - for example The use of flashbacks.

Todorov's theory works well with Atonement's narrative
- Equilibrium - the beginning of the film
- Disruption - The rape and persecution
- Recognition - Bryony realises what she has done and begins to feel guilt
- Repair -she writes a book so Robbie and Cecelia's characters can be together forever
- New Equilibrium - Bryony no longer feels guilt and can die peacefully

Propp's theory isn't applicable to Atonement, many of the characters hold different roles and its difficult to apply as Atonement is a story inside a story.

Atonement - Genre

Genre - Is a system of classification where by texts are categorised by the attributes they share.
Atonement is mostly classified as a 'period drama'.
It has also been called a Romance.
Genre Conventions:

-Narratvie events
Diivorce ( the cousin's parents) this is unconventional to a period drama, Tension between lovers, this is conventional, party preporations and teen rivalry.
-Audio / technical codes
Typewriter, classical music, soundFX under water - or the bee is louder than usual
slow moving and establishing shots.
-Characterisation
Formal conversation, class differences, money, unconventionally, Cecealia - a woman is a dominant character
-Setting
big country house, beautiful garden, wooden interior
-Iconography
The font used for typewriting, Cecealia's haircut (same throughout all stages of film) cigarettes - v 1930s, the vase and Doll's house - being the same as the big house.
-Themes
Social class, binary opposition, love, war and social mobility.
-Mise-En-Scene
Clothing & costume, natural lighting - almost over exposed, stereotpyes within class, carefully constructed frames.

Audience Classifications

Last week we realised the content of The Big Issue is (by estimate) 60% advertising.

This Week we looked at forms of Audience Classifications.

The NRS audience classification:

A - Upper Middle class
B - Middle Class
C1 - Lower Middle Class
C2 - Skilled Working Class
D - Working Class
E - Under Class

The Family Nest:

Singles
Newly Weds
Full nest 1 (youngest child under 6)
Full nest 2 (youngest child over 6)
Full nest 3 (Older Married couple with dependant children)
Empty nest 1 (Older Married couple still working)
Empty nest 2 (Older married couple, retired)
Working Survivor
retired survivor

Some say these classifications are out-dated.

Psychographics:
This was developed during the digital convergence where more individual factors could be focused on, including:
Personality
Values
Attitudes
Interests
Lifestyle

This is more specific toward the audience and has become prevalent since 'mass media' (newspapers/tv/radio) has began to be replaced by the Internet. an example of psychographics could be Facebook using specific information you have posted and a relevant advertisement appearing in your sidebar.

Applying this to magazines we have studied.

The Big Issue - tendency to be aimed at a younger, but educated audience.
Typically people in the 'c' categorise and singles/full nest 3

Radio Times - More likely to apply to Full nest+ and ABC1.

Magazines are more likely to classify using the older methods as they do not have an interactive relationship with the audience, like the internet does.