Unit 10 – Assignment 1

Unit 10 – Assignment 1

Codes and conventions

Stylistic

The horror genre is one of the more recognizable genres which allows horror films to be analyzed with ease as they have been drawn out and redone numerous times which creates a pattern of repetition, two examples of this are Friday the 13^th (2009 reboot) and Alien.

These two films are a prime example of the repeated codes and conventions in the horror genre, but as the theorist Steve Neale suggest, an audience demands repetition and difference and the horror genre is made up of both especially these two films.

One of the most iconic scene from the franchise is the scene of the chest burster killing one of the characters in the film. This follows some codes as its bloody by spurting out blood everywhere but the use of diegetic sound creates this realism for the audience which shocks them as this bloody mess I going on screen, this goes against the codes and conventions of a horror film as a usually the sound intensifies a murder or tries to scare the audience by instantly going load to create a jump scare.

Alien (a very iconic and well know horror film) is almost entirely shot in lowkey lighting which is a clear code for the horror genre and creates a constant eerie atmosphere creating suspense and allows the audience to sympathies with the characters with how little they can see.

                                                                                       

Another stylistic code and convention of the horror genre is the

isolated setting creating fear as the characters can’t leave nor ca they call for help. Alien’s location follows this convention as it’s on a ship in space and the alien is in with them and as they can’t leave the ship making escape/survival difficult creating tension and a sense of being hunted. Friday’s location also follows this convention as it’s on a camping site which is in the middle of nowhere and audiences can recognize this as its purpose is to be isolated away from technology and on the country side away from any and all safety.

Usually in the horror (mainly the slasher genre which resides in horror) there is a central weapon or prop used that can be recognized, two examples are Michael Myers’s kitchen knife and predator’s wrist blades. Jason’s machete falls directly under this convention as its used in very film and is associated with the character. Whereas Alien goes against the character is it kills without using anything that isn’t a part of the character’s costume for example it’s tale, second mouth and acid blood, this keeps true to the animalistic nature of the Xenomorphs.

A recognizable and iconic costume/look is what every horror film/franchise tries to accomplish which is what these two films accomplished as Jason’s hockey mask, towering body along with his machete has become an icon for the character as his height dehumanizes the character making him more of a monster and a beast, his iconic mask hides his disfigured face but intensifies the fear of the unknown as the human imagination will always be worse no matter how good the makeup is. The costume/look of a Xenomorph is instantly recognizable not only due to its franchise but through the freedom they had to create this creature as it didn’t need be something anyone had seen before as it was unworldly, and as it was a part of a species with realistic attributes like the tail and body it frightened audiences to think that this could exist somewhere out in the far depths of space.   

Narrativ

Films in the horror genre usually have a predictable narrative for example one of the most used convention of horror is the final girl where the films begins with a group of character’s which re usually just introduced to be killed off and by the end the final girl is left to either escape of to defeat the main antagonist, these film directly follow this convention the final girl in Friday is Whitney Miller played by Amanda Righetti and in Alien the final girl is Ellen Ripley played by Sigourney Weaver. 

The purpose of a final girl is to have a (despite her gender) relatable character that the audience can sympathies with as the story progresses and to express terror to the audience throughout the film.

Another narrative convention is isolation, the isolated setting traps the protagonist and antagonist together which at first allows all some/all other characters to get killed as the protagonist is hunted but either near the end or half way through the film the protagonist realizes they need to fight back which results in the conclusion/final battle ending by the traditionally the final girl finds a way to get the upper hand, in Friday its Whitney Miller using the locket of Jason’s mother as she looks like her to confuse Jason as they surprise him and “kill” him, in Alien its when Ripley fights the alien queen with a mech suit. 

These films take a very different approach to defeating their antagonist the more memorable is Aliens since its more of a show down and a struggle between the two characters which creates tension and excitement whereas Friday’s approach is more anticlimactic as they psychologically stun him by chance that the final girl happens to look similar to Jason’s mother and then beat and “kill” him.

The structural theorist Tsetzvan Todorov suggested the five stages of a film which were the Equilibrium, Disruption of order by an event, Recognition that the disorder has occurred, the attempt to repair the damage of the disruption, A return or restoration of a new equilibrium.

Todorov’s Theory can be applied to both films, in Friday the equilibrium is when the teens are all happy and normal having a good time, the disruption is when Jason attacks them then when they try and run and hide that becomes the Recognition of the disruption then comes the attempts to repair the disruption when they try and kill Jason then when they succeed this is the restoration of the new equilibrium.

In Alien the Equilibrium is the journey to their destination, the Disruption is when one character gets infected with the face hugger which leads to the chest burster comes out and kills the character this would be the recognition that the disorder has occurred leading to other events throughout the film, the attempts to repair the damage is when they kill all the aliens and finally the new equilibrium is when the characters return to highper sleep.