Since the early eighties, the spectator has become a key
centre of debate in feminist film theory. In recent critical studies the female
spectator is produced variously as an absence within a mode of address that
privileges masculine subject positions, the point of a specific generic address
(work on 'women's' genres) and as a subject from whose position textual meaning
becomes destabilised and pleasure reconceived.
These debates have keyed into studies of the figuration of
the feminine within social and cultural discourses and representational forms
in a larger attempt to account for the processes of feminine subjectivity; one
that provides a dialogue between the rhetoric's of address in popular
representation and the forms by which social life is organised and articulated.
Feminist theorists have asked not only what the category 'woman' means and how
it is produced, but what it means for women to take up their own position in
relation to femininity. This has entailed turning away from cataloguing
'correct' or 'positive' images which are seen to voice women's 'reality', for
such catalogues not only suggest that there are such final judgments to be
made, but also pin down the feminine to an orthodoxy within which no struggle
can be articulated. Instead, theorists have sought to find the right range
of definitions inscribed within representations of sexual difference,
disaggregating those categories which act to fix and polarise sexual
difference. They have moved to analyse the diverse modes of subjectivity, to
analyse the ways in which we may use our engagement with representational
mechanisms to 'perform' the contradictory relations of gendered identities,
focussing on differences between women and within
the construction of femininity. The female spectator is formed in a delicate
balance between the recognisable common strands of female subjectivity and the
disparate particularities of her own history.
In films there are shots purposely made to attract 'The Male
Gaze' which is a shot where it focuses on the female body in a sexual way for
example, this can also be done to the male figure but this is much less common
in film.
In horror films usually the female body is used for its sex appeal, the women used are stereotypically good looking with little intelegence. In running scenes they usually have their boobs boucing up and down then they'll fall over while trying to get away. As they are getting murdered usually the weapon will be used on the chest of the women for example the woman on scream when the murderer stabs the woman in the chest area.
Thursday, 6 March 2014
Scream opening scene
Scream opens with the title of the film coming together with a load slamming sound then the sound of a telephone ringing and after this the sound of a woman screaming and an evident knife sound. The writing turns red indicating blood and comes at the screen.
First time we see this character she picks up the phone is looks like quite a nice clam happy character but as doement and constant ringing happens over the phone she becomes more and more uneasy. The repeated use of the phone, the knife and the mask makes them icionic items for this film. The mask is to cover the villians identity, the knife is used as a weapon and the phone is how the villain gets hold of the victim before he comes to get them. She wears a light coloured sweater which shows that she is a good girl, quite a simple women, not educated highly, just quite average. Her being blonde is steriotypically used for them to be quite uneducated and simple minded, this is connotation.
The caller rings again and the camera comes in on the woman suggesting fear. After she hangs up again it cuts to a scene outside showing the tree swinging outside on its own, the sounds of the rope moving are quite loud with the sound of crickets and wind too. This make it seem like there is a jump scene so the viewer expects it. The next shot is on the oven as the woman turns the cooker on to cook the popcorn, the index is a flame and the popcorn. The indexical of this is the more the popcorn gets bigger the more her parania gets bigger.
At this point in the scene we can tell that this girl is starting to get annoyed that this person keeps ringing, as he rings this time she answers the phone unlike she has the other times. She seems less friendly and happy this time as it's starting to become quite creepy. Flames and knifes are being shown on camera quite frequently which builds tension and intends they will need to be used soon. He asks her what she is doing and the coversation turns but to quite polite and flirty, she tells him she is making popcorn for a scary movie. As he is asking what her favourite scary movie is, she is playing with her kitching knifes and the sound used for when she takes a kitchen knife out of this stand is applified and unrealistic but this is used a lot in horrors as it makes it much scarier and this is foreshadowing what is later to happen.
On the phone the flirting continues as shes ask him if he wants to ask her out on a date and he begins to lead her on and asks if she has a boyfriend and she says no. As this conversation is going on she is walking around the house turning lights off, shutting windows and locking doors so basically she's locking up the house before she watches her scary film.
Here the man ask for her name so she replies asking him why he wants to know and he tells her he wants to know who he's looking at which completely changes the vibe of the film and the expression on her face and tone in her voice, even the music comes on with a very eerie feel. She begins to panic and look around the garden to see if she can see himand she finally hangs up on him as she locks another door and she really begins to do all she can to prevent anyone coming into the house by rushing to all the doors to make sure this person can't come in.
He rings again and this time she sounds upset and he sounds angry that she hung up on him as he told her not to hang up on him earlier on, she tells him to bother someone else then she hangs up once more. Straight away he rings back and she answers straight away this time and screams down the phone in an agressive tone "Listen Asshole" as she gets interupted by the guy shouting at her in an even more agressive tone and this turns the tables back around on her not being in power and it makes the viewer think he is even scarier than they first think as now he seems like a physco who shouldn't be messed with. He threatens to gut her like a pig and this is very messed up but this person is obviously insane if he is willing to do that to a girl who hangs up on him let alone someone who has insulted him further. He calls it a game which suggests he finds it fun to be doing something like this, almost like a hobby.
The music becomes louder and more dramatic to build even more tension, this film builds up a lot of tension in this opening scene. She looks through the window looking out for this man, the music and the shot type makes it seem like a jump scare is about to happen so viewers get ready for this. She is now basically crying because of how scared she is as now he tells her he wants to see what her insides look like, this confirms that this man is extremely troubled mentally and this makes the girl even more scared with the abusive language she is reciving.
She starts to cry properly and the door bell rings which almost gives her a heart attack which has been caused by the man on the phone. Then he rings the phone again which also triggers her to nearly have a heart attack again, he plays with her over the phone by giving her tips how to survive almost like this is a agame now. She tries to turn it around on him by screaming at him telling him her boyfriend will come and beat him up then he replies with sarcastic comments showing that this nutcase isn't scared of anything that we know of.
He mentions that he knows her boyfriends name in a way the he might know where he is and this shows that there isn't any hope left and this must have been planned. The sound effects come in a lot more towards the end like for when he tells the girl to turn on the patio lights suggesting that's where her boyfriend is. As she does this slowly and the music sounds tramatic it builds the shot up even more.
