Action Adventure Film Exam Monday 13

th
June
Codes & Conventions of the Genre
AKA Key Ingredients
Chase scene(s) on foot or in vehicles
CGI/pyrotechnics (special visual effects)
Fight scenes
Characters: Hero/villain/love interest for hero/sidekick for hero
(usually loveable/funny) (Propp)
Stereotypical gender representations men are butch, women are eye
candy (Mulvey)
Stunts & Daring saves at the last minute
Simple, closed narratives (Todorov) easy to follow
Hero usually on a Quest
Heavily reliant on binary oppositions (Good vs Evil, Right vs Wrong,
Hero vs Villain)
Snappy dialogue & catch phrases
Ticking clock scenario time limitations which create tension
Go through the list of codes & conventions and apply them
to an Action Adventure film you have seen recently. This
will mean that you have examples to refer to in the exam.
If you havent seen an AA film recently (or at all) then
watch one or more of the following:
Mr & Mrs Smith on Film 4 at 9pm on Friday
Batman Begins on ITV1 at 10pm Saturday
Fantastic 4 on Film 4 at 9pm Saturday
The War of the Worlds on Film 4 at 3.30pm on Sunday
Collateral Damage on C5 at 9pm on Sunday
Representation - Gender
When we first look at some of the titles for Action
Adventure we immediately think of men fighting over
treasure or women and the woman in question being very
weak.
Allowed to be tough, but still wear revealing clothes and
are, for the most part, controlled by or need rescuing by
men (Think MULVEY!).

Charlies Angels
The Angels are the strong
heroes but are sexy & use their
bodies to get what they want.
They are also
controlled by
Charlie a
man.
Other common female
representations
Sneaky and manipulative
although Evelina Salt is strong and
fierce, she is also cold, calculating
and vicious she is strong but not
necessarily heroic.
However
Throughout the franchise of Pirates of the Caribbean
Elizabeth Swann has become a strong female use this
to argue that representations are becoming less
stereotypical in some films.
Men macho heroes
Sylvester Stallone in Rambo
Arnold
Schwarzenegger
in Conan the
Barbarian and
Commando
More metrosexual heroes





Spiderman he cries





Legolas (Orlando Bloom in Lord of the Rings) Bromance with Aragorn?

Jack Sparrow slightly
camp and very goofy

Representation Race, Ethnicity,
Nationality, Disability
Action Adventure is unfortunately renowned for being
unfair to certain other demographics as well as
stereotyping gender.
This is particularly evident if you look at villains, who
are often disabled, conventionally unattractive and/or
foreign (i.e. not American there are many British
villains in action films!).
Often non-white American/British groups are not
represented at all consider the main characters in the
Pirates of the Caribbean films.
Ability/Disability

Jaws/Zbigniew Krycsiwiki in the Bond films The Spy Who
Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979) : Jaws is meant to be
Polish.
Bloefeld



Nick Nack in The Man with the Golden Gun
Villains are often disfigured or depicted as insane. Heroes are
beautiful, graceful and gallant.

Albinos
Silas in The Da Vinci Code

The Twins in Matrix Re-loaded
Bald
The Mummy Returns - High Priest Imhotep
Pirates of the Caribbean At
Worlds End Sao Feng (with
facial scar also)
Robin Hood - Sir Godfrey
Bond - Bloefeld
Damodar in Dungeons and
Dragons
Race
Villains are often non-white or foreigners in Hollywood Action
Adventures.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indians and Raiders of the Lost Ark -
Germans
The
Mummy -
Egyptians
The Goonies the
Fratellis (Italian)
Race
Asian (Chinese, Japanese etc) characters are often
wise or skilled in
martial arts (Karate Kid,
Jackie Chan/Jet Li/
Bruce Lee films).
Negative representations of Race: The
cowardly/incompetent black side kick
Chris Tucker as Ruby Rap in The Fifth Element




Snails in Dungeons and Dragons (Marlon
Wayans)
More recent improvements
Denzel
Washington
Wesley
Snipes
Samuel L Jackson
Will
Smith
There may well be a question in the exam asking you to discuss
representations of a certain group or more generally in the
exam. Ensure that you have reasons and examples to discuss the
following viewpoints:
Representations of gender are stereotypical and favour a male
audience.
Some films offer representations which are less stereotypical,
or not stereotypical at all.
Representations of race, nationality and ethnicity have
historically been negative and limited but this is changing.


Action Adventure Audiences
Generally speaking: Primary audience =
Working/lower-middle class males aged 15-24 whose
interests include sports & computer games. Secondary
audiences = Older men and Women.
For YOUR film youve been asked to target FAMILIES
though this is your PRIMARY AUDIENCE and is very
BROAD.
Uses & Gratifications Theory says that audiences
choose media texts to fulfil specific needs/desires.
Different audiences may choose AA films for different
reasons:
Uses & Gratifications
Surveillance people feel better feeling that they know what is going
on in the world around them. News and other non-fiction texts are
often used to fulfil this need, although reality television and some
fiction texts can also be used.
Personal identity allowing us to recognise aspects of our own
character in the characters we see in the media, or to aspire to them.
Soaps are often used here, as they aim to represent real life and so are
identifiable for real people.
Personal relationships using the media to enhance relationships
with others or even forming a relationship with a media text. All media
can be used for this, as they can be a shared experience which people
can use as a talking point.
Diversion being entertained or immersing ourselves in a media text
to be distracted from our real lives. Films are particularly popular for
this, as they encourage total immersion in the world of the film.
CGI Computer Generated Imagery (e.g. monsters, mystical
creatures, flying)

Pyrotechnics explosions, fires, bomb effects

Mulvey Laura Mulveys Male Gaze Theory says that women in
film are represented in a way which appeals predominantly to
heterosexual male viewers, usually sexually



Binary Oppositions Claude Levi Strauss says that all
narratives contain conflict (e.g. good vs bad, man vs woman,
heaven vs hell) and that we only fully understand one because of
the existence of the other
Closed narrative where there is a definitive ending (all the
loose ends are tied up)
Open narrative where the ending is left open, possibly for a
sequel or for the audience to interpret for themselves
Todorov Tvetzvan Todorovs narrative theory says that all
narratives follow a pattern of Equilibrium-Disruption-New
Equilibrium (e.g. Harry Potter lives under the stairs-Hagrid
comes and Harry is a wizard! He has to battle Lord Voldemort &
wins-Harry is safe again but now lives at Hogwarts & has a very
different life.)
Propp see separate slide



AA Characters tend to conform to Vladamir Propps theory that all
characters fit a certain type. They are:
the villain, who struggles with the hero
the donor, who prepares and/or provides hero with magical agent
the helper, who assists, rescues, solves and/or transfigures the hero
the Princess, a sought-for person (and/or her father), who exists as a
goal and often recognizes and marries hero and/or punishes villain
the dispatcher, who sends the hero off
the hero, who departs on a search (seeker-hero), reacts to the donor
and weds at end
the false hero (or antihero or usurper), who claims to be the hero,
often seeking and reacting like a real hero (ie by trying to marry the
princess)