My 10 key words from the Essential Word Dictionary

The words that are relevant for my independent study:

1. Barthes, Roland (1915-1980)

He was a French academic responsible for applying and extending Saussure’s work on semiology to contemporary culture.

He explores the language of signs, their combinations paradigm choices into a construction of meanings and concept of denotation, connotation and myth which is applied to film.

Barthes also explores the structure of narrative, identifying 5 different codes which engage the audience. The most important is the enigma code and the action code, semic, symbolic and cultural codes.

The most important to my independent study is the enigma code. This is used throughout the film to engage the audience and keep them attracted to watch what happens next, as a result getting a large audience.

2 .Binary opposition:

This is a term used by Claude Levi-Strauss as part of an argument that narratives are structured around oppositional elements for example good ad evi, life and death, night and day, raw and cooked.

In contemporary media narratives, black and white, hero and villain represent binary oppositional forces. He says the audience is attracted by the dynamics of this conflict with the possible variations leading usually to the ultimate triumph of good.

Audiences are positioned in narratives to take sides and rewards by the success of the side they identified is positioned with.

This key word is relevant to my independent study because my film contains a lot of binary oppositions such as Good and Evil, Black and White, Hero and Villain, Male and Female.

3. Femme fatale:

This is a French film noir theory. The theory is that a female character uses her sexuality, often in devious, disreputable, secretive ways, to achieve the ends she desires.

The femme fatale is a dangerous character whose sex appeal often disarms the male protagonist and allows her to manipulate the action.

This is a useful key word because it relates to Charlie’s angels-full throttle, coyote ugly, American pie-the wedding well. In those films the women are seen as sex objects to get what they desire.

In Charlie’s angels 2, the strip club, they are dancing in a seductive way so the male audience are distracted and so they can get something for their own benefits, they are using their bodies to distract the males.

4. Hollywood

Hollywood is part of the district of Los Angeles, California. This is the centre of the US film industry during the golden age of the studio system.

Hollywood remains a playground for the super rich and their glamorous celebrity’s lifestyle.

This key word is useful to my independent study because my main text, Charlie’s angels- full throttle is a Hollywood text and casts many celebrities to make it a successful film.

5 .Levi-Strauss, Claude

French structuralist anthropologist whose analyse of human culture. His narrative theory of binary oppositions is based on the essentials differences between such concepts as culture and nature, raw and cooked, good and evil. Narratives are based on oppositional and resolution of conflict. Audiences are positioned on the side that justifies their own cultural values and resolution reduces underlying anxiety about threats to their way of life.

His theory is relevant to my independent study as I have explained above why due to the binary oppositions that arise throughout the text.

6. Marxist feminism

This is seen from a feminist perspective which sees capitalism as the principle source of gender inequalities.

In a capitalist class hierarchy, women are seen as being subordinate to men and serving the male workforce in terms of low paid, low status employment and unpaid domestic labour and child rearing.

Domestic violence against women is seen to be result of the powerless male workforce. The media serves the interest of capitalism by reinforcing traditional gender roles and supporting the status quo created by the dominant ideology.

This key word is useful because it challenges this theory however was present in the past and I can use this theory to compare the past against the future according to gender roles and representation on women.

7. Mulvey, Laura

A feminist academic and media and film critic, responsible for developing theories of the male gaze in her 1975 essay ‘Visual pleasures and Narrative cinema’

Her theory is useful especially her essay on the male gaze. I also think her theory on passive female and active male is useful as my text challenges the theory as the females are the hero and protagonists.

8. Patriarchy

A male domination of the political, cultural and socioeconomic system.

Under patriarchy, male perspective and male achievements are valued and rewarded at the expense of the female. Female contributions to society are ignored and women are culturally and economically invisible, being defined solely by their relation to men.

Patriarchy is an important assumption behind some feminist film criticism, which sees the male domination of film discourse as evidence in the male gaze.

9. Scopophilia

This is a term used by the psychologist Sigmund Freud to describe ‘the pleasure of looking’

The term is used by Laura Mulvey in the development of her ‘male gaze’ theory in her essay Visual pleasure and narratives cinema.

10. Synergy

This is the coming together of two separate media texts in such a way as to benefit both.

Synergy usually means that the combination of elements has a greater effect than the individual elements would have alone. With media texts, for example this can mean that the simultaneous release of a film and a film sound track will stimulate greater consumer interest than if the products had been released separately.

This key word is useful to because my chosen text, Charlie’s angels full throttle has a soundtrack called independent women by Charlie’s angels but also in my other texts such as Coyote ugly, which LeAnn Rimes called cant fight the moonlight.