Narrative Structure - Todorov's

White Chicks

1. State of equilibrium: The text i've chosen doesn't fit Todorov's 5 stages of narrative. This is because at the start of the film, Kevin Copeland (Shawn Wayans) and Marcus (Marlon Wayans) are two FBI agents, undercover at  shop. Three men then enter the shop, supposedly delivering ice-cream and ask for payment for this. Both Kevin and Marcus put on act until they reveal themselves to be FBI agents. After they try to overcome the delivery men, they open the containers to find out it is just Vanilla Ice-cream. Just after that, another 3 men enter the shop claiming the "ice cream" has arrived, and then realise that Marcus and Kevin are FBI agents. They then have a shootout and the all 6 men flee the shop, confusing Kevin and Marcus who is the real delivery men. This shows that, this film starts off without a state of equilibrium, as there is already trouble happening.

After this happens, equilibrium is restored, and they are back to work, with a new case to be solved, however this soon gets disrupted.

2. Disruption of that equilibrium: chief holds a briefing to explain suspicion of a kidnapping of the Wilson sisters, and they need someone to protect them. Kevin and Marcus end up being the two to protect them. On the way to the Hamptons hotel with the sisters, they crash, and the sisters refuse to leave the hotel with the scars they have on their face.

3. Recognition that the order has been disrupted: Due to the fact that the girls wont leave the Hampton hotel, Kevin has the idea that him and Marcus, pretend to be the Wilson siters, and call a makeup artist to transform them.

 

4. Attempt to repair the damage: Both Kevin and Marcus go undercover and live everyday life pretending to be these girls, to find out information for the case. After being put through various situations they find out that the...

Later, Kevin and Marcus find out that, due to his bankruptcy, Mr. Vandergeld - along with Heath - has been behind the socialite kidnappings in order to save himself and his family from poverty and they manage to capture Mr. Vandergeld before he succeeds. At the fashion show, after Megan and Heather Vandergeld are embarrassed and Kevin and Marcus interrupt the show, a shootout occurs. Vandergeld takes one of the real Wilson sisters and Marcus hostage, and Latrell takes a hit from a bullet shot by Mr. Vandergeld to protect Marcus, only to be alarmed and enraged to discover - not that Marcus is actually male - but rather, that he's actually black. Lucky for him, Latrell soon meets the real Wilson sisters, much to his delight. After Vandergeld's arrested, Marcus apologizes to his wife Gina after realizing that being a female is a hard task, and also because he'd been ignoring Gina for his job. Denise falls for Kevin, after Kevin saves her from Vandergeld who tried to kill her for exposing his crime on camera. Tori, Lisa, Karen, Kevin and Marcus then make a pact to remain friends and go shopping.

Genre

The film; 'The Good The Bad & The Ugly', is typical of it Western genre by iconographies, narrative, representations and ideologies.

Iconography:
The first thing that i noticed when watching, 'The Good The Bad & The Ugly' was Iconography, which connotes Western. The scene is sit in a dessert like surrounding, most Western films are set in a dessert, therefore very conventional. As well, Western films are known for there male characters to wear Stetson hats, and all 3 of the men in this scene wore one, this is once again a typical convention of a Western film. Other elements such as there clothing and the colours that they wore i.e. browns and greens, the usage of guns, all give off the same conventions of a Western film.

Narrative:
The storyline of the film resembles many Western films, for example the Hero is challenged by the villans, and therefore many show downs occur in order for the Hero to defeat the villan.

Male Gaze - James Bond

The James Bond franchise is a clear example of film objectifying females and forcing the audience to view females via the male gaze. The scene within, "Die Another Day" when James Bond meets the character Jinx demonstrates my previous statement... by numerous techniques.  The scene starts with a view from Bonds binoculars, this is automatically giving us a view from a males perspective. It then zooms out onto the women, Jinx in the sea. At this point a post-production happens, the text is edited after its been shot, and the movement of Jinx has been slowed down. The audience watches Jinx leave the water, in a slow and exaggerated way. This ables the audience more time for pleasure and focus on her body, the female is being objectified. Her human identity is lost, and the women's main role at this point in the scene is to please the audience.

Once she leaves the water, and enters the beach bar, she has a full face of makeup on. This is creating a fake, constructed idea that all women look that good at all times, which they don't. It suggests that the barrier of beauty shouldn't be dropped, and that all women should looks this, creating a hyper reality.






- slow motion
-makeup, even tho was in the sea
- camera shots, focus on a girls assets
-non-deigetic sound
-sexualised body movements, over emphaised
- language: 'great view' 'wasted on everyone else' 'looking for birds' 'that looks like a mouthful'