Section B&C exam questions|Easter break

Section B-Living with crime 

How far do the opening sequences of the films you have studied for this topic introduce their key messages and values?

Bullet Boy and Get Carter share similar key messages and values in their opening sequences, although they are introduced in different ways. Both share a journey back home that takes them from an open, rural countryside with high-key lighting to a dark, bleak urban setting which is portrayed as being very industrialised and fore-boding. In Bullet Boy's opening sequence Ricky finds himself being released from prison and being greeted by his friend and his little brother. The exterior shots of the prison show it to be quite secluded but still enticing with rolling green hills and a bright shining sun. As Ricky is about to leave the prison he views his brother and friend in a long shot through a door. The shots shows a prominent black bar forming a divide between Curtis and Wisdom. This is used to reinforce the sense of innocence as Curtis is only young but if he is corrupted by the likes of Wisdom and Ricky then he could end up in the exact same situation as Ricky. The scene in which Wisdom drives Ricky and Curtis home also introduces the message of division as there is a blatant difference between the scenery as they drive from the rural setting to the urban setting. As they get closer into the city the lighting changes from high-key to low-key and the buildings grow taller and more daunting, connoting the entrapment Ricky feels going back to his home. Throughout the car ride Ricky is also viewed with close-ups which imply that he's feeling trapped and scared, it also adds to the sense of claustrophobia that Ricky is feeling. 

The message of division is also apparent in Get Carter. Jack's train journey from London to Newcastle is very similar to Ricky's from prison back to Hackney as it takes Jack from bright country setting to a dark, industrialised city. As the train journey develops and Jack continues to go through many tunnels the lighting again turns from high-key to low-key ever so slightly through the course of the sequence. Jack is often framed in a mid-shot other than a close-up because unlike Ricky he isn't daunted by the trip and doesn't find it a threat to his personal safety. Also throughout the course of the sequence Jack is shown taking several drugs. This connotes that he is an addict but he doesn't care as he is taking them on a train in daylight. It also shows us that there a class divide between both Ricky and Jack as Jack takes the drugs recreationally and Ricky does it because that's all he's done his whole life and he doesn't know any differently. 

Another key theme that is apparent in both Bullet Boy's and Get Carter's opening sequence is the theme of crime. It is obvious in Bullet Boy as Ricky is getting out of prison so he must be a criminal. It is less obvious in Get Carter that Jack is a criminal because there is no blatant iconography such as a gun or prison which shows the audience that Jack is a criminal. This being said at the very start of the opening sequence when Jack is sitting in a room with other men and a woman looking at slides of pornography it is apparent that there is definitely something happening that is illegal or shady. Also the mise-en-scene in Get Carter is a giveaway for the criminal aspect as they are all wearing sharp suits which makes them look incriminating yet dapper. The mise-en-scene of Bullet Boy however is typical of the East London criminal world, as it is different to the organised crime business. Ricky and Wisdom's attire is very casual but still it can be distinguished to be relatable to East London criminality.

The theme of family can also loosely be applied to the opening sequences of both Bullet Boy and Get Carter. In Get Carter, the reason Jack is travelling back to Newcastle is to avenge his brothers death and find out the case, even if as the story progresses we find out Jack is more interested in keeping the family name untarnished than his brother. Bullet Boy on the other hand carried the theme of family high during not only the opening sequence but the whole film. The fact that Wisdom cares enough to drive all the way out to the countryside to pick up Ricky shows that they are more than just friends and more like brothers. Also the fact that Curtis hides in Wisdom's car boot shows how much he admires and looks up to his big brother. 

Section C-US Cinema 

'Films always reflect the times and places in which they are made.' How far is that true of the American films you have studied for this topic? 

For this topic I studied War of the Worlds and Invasion of the Bodysnatchers. They both provide the audience with an allegorical tale which does tend to reflect the times and places in which they were made. As a comparison they are both from the science-fiction genre and they both use aliens as a representative of something more. As Invasion of the Bodysnatchers was made in 1956 the majority of sci-fi movies made in the 1950's often incorporated genetically mutated beings. This is due to the mass hysteria revolving around  nuclear fallout from Hiroshima and the nuclear threat from the USSR. Senator Joseph McCarthy played on this already established paranoia that the communists were people to be scared of and he became the figurehead the McCarthy campaign which used propaganda and scare tactics to persuade the citizens of America that the communists were people to be feared of. War of the Worlds on the other hand was made in 2005 and set in a post 9/11 society. Like Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, War of the Worlds uses an already established hysteria to demonstrate the effect that 9/11 had on America. 

From the start of Invasion of the Bodysnatchers the genre isn't really established.  At the start of the film the small town that Miles lives in seems harmless and almost utopian. But as the narrative progresses we learn that the town is slowly being infiltrated by pod-people, an alien which takes the appearance of a person in every way. The pod-people are used to represent McCarthyists because the number of them grows considerably during the course of the film. The pod-peoples agenda is also to assimilate and conquer, much like McCarthyists who wanted to force their ideologies onto the unknowing public through propaganda and scare tactics. McCarthy mainly liked to go after people in high jobs such as film directors and people in the media as they had the most power over American citizens. 

In the 2005 remake of War of the Worlds Spielberg uses post 9/11 iconography to create a link between the two. He does this by referencing the disaster in the movie and using iconography found in a post 9/11 society. Creating a link between the two causes the audience to feel real-life fear when watching the movie and initiates paranoia within them. The main icon used in War of the World referencing 9/11 is the use of Aliens. They have lots of similarities with the terrorists who caused 9/11 and Spielberg uses this to his advantage in the movie. The main similarity between the two is that they both use technology as a weapon. The aliens are more technologically advanced than the terrorists and use high tech weapons to destroy the human race but both are similar. Furthermore both use transport as a weapon against their enemies, this implies that every day items have a potential to be a weapon. Another similarity  between them is that they both want to exterminate humans; in the terrorists case they want to because the Americans don’t share the same views as them but the Aliens just want to wipe out the human race.

Throughout the movie the aliens are commonly referred to as ‘things’ or ‘them’ which implies that they are mysterious creatures and this adds to the theme of ‘Fear of the unknown’. Another example of iconography used in War of the Worlds is the use of grey dust when the tripods are obliterating the humans. The dust connotes the iconic image from 9/11 when dust and rubble covered streets within a miles radius. This creates a sense of realism within the scene. Spielberg stylistically chose the people to be turned into dust instead of blood splatter for instance because it links in with the 9/11 theme and subconsciously reminds the audience of the famous photographs.