Representation Analysis

The "Close the Loop" ad by H&M is an excellent example of how to represent your entire audience. The ad featured people of all races, ages, genders, social classes, body times and more. For example, senior citizens, who are often portrayed as boring and tasteless because of their age, were shown wearing extremely trendy and exciting clothing, with pops of color, crazy fabrics, and interesting shapes. A man was also shown wearing a skirt, which is also rare considering the gender roles placed on men. Men typically are judged if they are not dressed in a more 'masculine' way, because society puts men and women in their own groups, making it hard to try out different styles of fashion. The ad is very successful in portraying that regardless of who you are, you can wear whatever you want.

However, the Axe commercial poorly represents women. While there are women of all races, including white, hispanic, black and asian, their body types are really what misrepresents them. All the women in the video are tall, toned and have large breasts and butts. This causes the female audience to become insecure, as it portrays this massive group to only have one 'perfect' body type. Seeing something representative of yourself in media builds confidence in a sense of belonging, so this only leads to an unrealistic expectation of women. Additionally, this creates a negative effect on men as they will believe that these are the 'golden standard' of women, as they are all chasing the very happy male character. The ad also over-sexualizes the women in their choice of minimal clothing and degrades them to just being an object of a man's desire.

Genre Research- Fantasy

Fantasy

Genre Conventions- Content

The genre of fantasy is characterized by the imagination of things that are impossible. Therefore, unlike many other genres, the content one can create is limitless, as it is all up to one's imagination. Fantasy is often known for including elements such as magic, supernatural forces, mystical creatures spirits, and other elements that can't be found in our natural world.

Pirates Of the Carribean (2003) is a film centered around fantastic elements such as the undead and other magical spirits.

Genre Conventions- Production Techniques

The production of fantasy films relies heavily on the mise-en-scene more than anything. With proper execution, the set and decor, costume design, and makeup can help to create a whole world that the audience has never been exposed to, further submersing them into the film beyond just with an interest in plot. The film Alice in Wonderland impacts the audience mostly by exploring the world that is Wonderland, and creating beautiful creatures and natural elements that one could never imagine on their own. The movie is so successful in that the audience fell in love with Wonderland because it was so different than our narrative world.

Alice In Wonderland (2010)

In the Lord of the Rings, director Peter Jackson created what he calls 'bigatures,' miniature set pieces big enough to fill an entire set. The use of these helped instill the sense that there was really a whole world that the characters in the film were living in, and further develops what makes the movie so unique in itself.

Lord of the Rings series

Institutional Conventions

For the fantasy genre, marketing has to be especially engaging. Many fantasy films in today's age are live action versions of novels, such as the previously discussed Alice in Wonderland film. In this, the filmmakers and marketing team have to be able to capture the essence of the original piece while incorporating new and exciting elements to the film. This can be done through the trailers, which have to sell the entire film to the audience in about 3 minutes. Social media plays a big role especially in that a large part of the target audience is in the youth and young adults, who spend a lot of time on social media. Fantasy films also produce a vast amount of merchandise, especially clothing and toys. Most Disney fantasy films are able to milk the film with numerous toys to be sold, creating an even larger success for the movie.

Avengers: Infinity War

This movie is a great example of a fantasy film because it incorporates so many unnatural elements that make the film so appealing. Most importantly, the majority of the characters in the film are superheros with supernatural powers beyond a regular human's capacity, Additionally, there is the use of magic and spirits involved too. The film also features 6 different planets, each unique in their people and setting. The work to create such a vast universe is what gives the franchise such a large fandom, completely obsessed with all the different characters and places.

Coraline

The animated film also embodies a fantastical film because of its plot. The main character discovers a whole other world through a small door in which everyone has buttons sewn into their eyes and lives a seemingly happier, more colorful life. This film used mise-en-scene, particularly in the set design and the costume design to juxtapose the better world from their original narrative world. The film is a stop-motion film, and the effort that was put into creating such small details is what gave the film its personality and success.

More Fantasy Films

• Pan's Labryinth
• Enchanted
• The Wizard of Oz
• Aladdin
• Ghostbusters

https://siobhannmediastudies.weebly.com/blog/three-different-conventions-of-the-fantasy-film-genre
https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199791286/obo-9780199791286-0192.xml#backToTop
https://www.ranker.com/list/sci-fi-fantasy-movies-sense-of-wonder-tricks/erin-mccann

Julieta
I am creating this blog for media studies.
I took this class because I was interested in all sorts of media, especially film, and how they can affect people.