Historical text analysis and research
- how society and the issue you are investigating has changed over the years and how these changes are reflected in different media texts, or - to put it another way...
- how popular culture reflects the 'spirit of the age' or zeitgeist
- How is it similar/different to your main text?
- How does this show how the genre/society/issue has changed?
Tomb raider (2001)
This clip is very similar to my main text in the sense that it has a lead female protagonist that leads the narrative of the film. She portrays to the audience that she is strong and confident which is evident in the trailer when she says to the male character that he will 'try' to kill her. However it is different in the sense that in Tomb Raider it seems to be one female against different men. However in Hunger Games it is a mix. You see that the main antagonist is a male however at the end of the film trilogy she kills a female antagonist. In this film there is a range of males and females - especially within the tributes who have been selected to enter the arena to participate. There has been a change in gender representation that is visible in these two films. In Tomb Raider you have the main female protagonist where clothes that are flattering to the male gaze. Despite the fact that she is a ground breaking female action hero, her sexual objectification in order to appeal to the male audience seem to be a part of the film that is heavily focused on. However in the Hunger Games, this isn't the main focus, in fact, it could be argued that Katniss Everdeen is not sexualised in this film, Although in the poster it does show her to have a curvy figure and skin tight clothing that shows of the figure which would suggest an argument that that could be a form of sexualisation of the character. In my opinion I feel like this is just Mainstream cinema trying to appeal to the audience as much as they can without diverting the attention from the storyline. As it is about a rebellion and the fact that they are kids fighting to their death. I feel like this shows the change of society from then as it has shifted from focusing on the body and the image of the character like in Tomb Raider to the more complex parts of the character just like Katniss Everdeen.
Princess Leia in Star Wars (1977)
Leia could be said to be an iconic figures for female roles that subvert gender stereotypes. In these clips that have been selected from the films you can see that she isn't simply just the damsel in distress and that she does take some lead and control over her life. In the first clip you can see that she is speaking directly to the Antagonist Dark Vader. Which highlights a sense of confidence and bravery. In these clips you see her outfit changes sometimes they are loose fitting and sometimes they are tight fitting. This could suggest that despite the fact that this is trying to portray women in a new light, it is still focusing appearance - especially in the scene where she is giving the male characters the medals which shows an almost revealing dress. This could be seen as the birth of the second wave feminism in which we begin to see a change in the way women are portrayed in film. Which leads me back on to the Hunger Games in which we see that due to this slow change in the cinema world. Katniss Everdeen is the dominant role in the film. The film begins with her and ends with her. We see different aspects of the characters and isn't necessarily focussing on how they look the majority of the time. yes you still see that when they are trying to gain sponsers, all the tributes look more extravagants to match with the residents of the Capitol, which could reinforce the fact that everything does come down to appearance/image.
These two examples show hoe the films are a zeitgeist as it shows how the different values of society at the time. The fact that different thing were considered important. The change in how females are represented and how the change has affected how we perceived the characters.
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