Most texts today mix genres, how true is this of District 9? (30)

Most texts today mix genres, how true is this of District 9? (30)

District 9 can be labelled as a post-modernist mixed genre text due to its hybridity between different genre conventions. Being prominently a Sci-Fi movie, District 9 features a common convention which is a polysemic narrative. On a primary level, the film to viewers is about a struggle between aliens & humans, however on a deeper second level it is representative of the Black & White struggle during the Apartheid years in Johannesburg. This convention is represented by Wikus' dehumanisation in labelling the aliens as 'Prawns'. This is the polysemic reading within the text and is indicative of the verbal abuse black south africans endured during the apartheid years. More active viewers will also understand that the relationship between how Pre-Alien Wikus is received and how Half Alien Wikus is received .

However an example of hybridity can be accredited to Horror elements. In one scene in which Wikus' is a subject of an Experiment, we see a close up shot of his mutated arm notifying us that this film features body horror as well as Sci-Fi elements. The miss-en-scene, oxygen masks, arms strapped ot the bed, and blurry security cameras al display elements which we would assossicate with modern Horror texts. In one shot we see Wikus regaining his consciousness, accompanyed by muffles inaudible diegetic sound coming from the Doctors, imitating creepy whispering voices, which is further a convention paying homage to the horror genre. However these Horror/Body-Horror elements are combined with the Sci-Fi convention of Alien/Human relations in which we see the green tinted lighting representing a common Sci-Fi lighting technique. This dirty green lighting, in partiuclar a scene in which we see Wikus trapped inside a body bag, is deonstranted to presents a grubby unclean dystopian view, which also links to a a horror convention in its use of unclean clear lighting.

Documentary style conventions are also mixed with Horror and Sci-Fi elements, presents by further analysis of Wikus' experiment scene in which one camera shot presents stock footage. The stcok footage has the words REF CAM accompayned by a mutitude of numbers. This is an example of the hybridity the film presents, as the Futuristic/Medical style of the camera further pays homage to Sci-Fi and Horror elements.

Wikus Van De Mere & Genre Convention(s)

Characters & Genre

Wikus Van De Mere

• Genre Conventions
• Polysemic Narrative - District 9 features a common convention of Sci-Fi movies, which is a polysemic narrative. On a primary level, the film to viewers is about a struggle between aliens & humans, however on a deeper second level it is representative of the Black & White struggle during the Aparthied years in Johannesburg. This convention is represented by Wikus' dehumanisation in labelling the aliens as 'Prawns'. This is the polysemic reading within the text and is indicative of the verbal abuse black south africans endured during the apartheid years. More active viewers will also understand that the relationship between how Pre-Alien Wikus is received and how Half Alien Wikus is received. Wikus becomes an outcast of society during his transformation body-horror, and is received by the human population as an animal or something no longer human. The dual meaning in this particular narrative is the representation of white people during apartheid who referred to black americans as monkeys. 

CJT edit!

In this Investigation, I will be analysing how my two chosen texts, 'Sun, Sex, and Suspicious Parents' and 'Shoplife', represents young people and question if it is accurate or conforms to stereotypical pre conceived notions of how young people behave. Secondly I will question how this construction of so-called reality could influence an audiences judgments and conceptions of young adults. I will support this by applying Cultivation Theory, along with Jaques Lacan's Gaze Theory and the development of this, Laura Mulvey’s the Male Gaze theory.




The History of Reality TV is something, which has crept into our national culture and rooted itself in the domain of national identity, says who? with endless formats and ideas thrown about and watched by Millions of the British public. Prove it.

Reality TV, or similar forms, can be dated back to 1940. 'The American Family', a 12 part docuentary, focussed on the marital tensions and issues experienced in family.

Is this needed? Link to texts - delete?

One could argue that young adults are represented in mainstream television and in my text Sun Sex and Suspicious Parents stereotypically. This would include being lazy and lethargic, being over-cared for by their parents and lacking the independence they need to progress into adult life. “The media tends to portray young people in an overwhelmingly negative light, according to a Mori survey”(1) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/3736156.stm 

Coursework representation Analysis

Writing Style Analysis Parts

In this Investigation, I will be analysing how my chosen 2 programs, 'Sun, Sex, and Suspicious Parents' and 'Shoplife', infuences the audiences judgements/conceptions of young adults, and explain how the Cultivation Theory, along with Jaques Lacan's Gaze Theory and the development of this, Laura Mulveys Gaze theory. I aim to explain how these theories apply to the texts and explore how the representation of young people, portrayed through these 2 programs, shapes these perceptions.




The History of Reality TV is something which has crept into our national culture and rooted itself in the domain of national identity, with endless formats and ideas thrown about and watched by Millions of the British public. Reality TV, or similar forms, can be dated back to 1940. 'The American Family', a 12 part docuentary, focussed on the marital tensions and issues experienced in family. Coupled with the fact that this was revoloutionary in media terms, it expressed the first forms of hybridity, acting also as a documentary, which is echoes in modern time with examples being my chosen texts.

It is evident now that reality television has slithered into our. Whether it's our fascination with the "Bachelor" or "Mob Wives," reality TV dominates our lexicon, our water-cooler gossip and even the way we dress.[1]

It is obvious that this influence on our lives has demonstrated the cultivation theory. Invented by Professor George Gerbner, who began the 'Cultural Indicators' research project in the mid-1960s, to study whether and how watching television may influence viewers' ideas of what the everyday world is like. HE found that people who watch a lot of television are likely to be more influenced by the ways in which the world is framed by television programmes than are individuals who watch less, especially regarding topics of which the viewer has little first-hand experience.[2] Linking to my chosen texts we can see how this theory can apply to the audience of ‘Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents’ and ‘Shoplife’, who without experience of growing up in the past 10 years make judgements based the dominant Ideology and their perceived views collected from watching such reality TV. Further enforcing the view of Culitivation was Baudrillard, who argued that reality in the modern world canot exist. The media saturation of society means that ll presentations of truth or facta re actually representations that are mediated selected and filtered. This leaves us in the Hyperreality, where what

Whilst Reality TV has captured the nations viewing habits and interests, the representations of its participants have evolved, particularly young people. The representation in these shows, in specific, Sun, Sex, and Suspicious Parents, are overwhelmingly derogative and like a leech saps all credibility from the young people of today. Reality TV of this sort furthermore demonstrates the way in which the Gaze Theories, most prominently Jaqques Lacan. His theory encapsulates why we have the fascintion with tv and television represention, and aprminent elemt to this theory was the ‘Mirror Phase’. He suggested that when a small child sees his/herself in a mirror, what it sees is the perfect being, and his translates to our fascination and idolization of realty TV stars, who we see as the ‘Perfect Beings’. This then leads to people emulating and acting as the program presents its protagonist. Hyper-Reality is now the phenomenom we are experiencing, where what we see on TV is barelt a copy of reliaty whichwe mirror, therefore we end up emulating a hypothetical world on TV which we perceive as reality. This theory as much can apply to the influence that Sun, Sex and Suspicious parents has on young people in particular, by glorifying and focusing on cheap alcohol fuelled holidays we being to emulate this.

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[1] -[1] http://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/tv-and-culture/reality-tvs-influence-on-culture.htm , John Perritano

[2] http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/cultiv.html  , Daniel Chandler

1.  One could say that toung adults are represented in sun sex and suspicious parents as being stereotypically lazy, being over-cared for by their parents and lacking the independence they need to progress into adult life. With my chosen text particularly depicting a young male as particularly dependant.

However there is evidence for this statement, a investigation done by BPHS in 2008 found “For young adults completing full-time education, it has become commonplace to return home. More specific to males they found that ‘Men remain more likely to be living in the parental home than women’.

It is visible to see that sun sex and suspicious parents’ representation complys to this stereotype, and this is proven by a scene in which we see the young male character Ronnie summon his mum to cut his toe nails whilst in the bath, and the narrator also back this view by saying “the only downside (referring to going on holiday), is leaving his doting mum”.

2. A further representation generated by Sun Sex and suspicious parents would be the sexual nature and the importance of Sex in young peoples culture and identity. We are shown images of various sexual acts being performed between boy/girl, and are constantly reminded that this is the reason, predominantly boys, go on holiday. The Girls are seen as over suaxual, aiming to appease the boys by wearing skimpy revealing outfits.

One quote explains this representation and enforces the stereotype of young adults being sexually obsessed. When questioned by his parents, he spoke out for his ‘generation’, claiming “I’m just doing what every lad does…This is what people our age do.” - http://www.concrete-online.co.uk/sun-sex-and-suspicious-parents/ . However it is not just the males stereotype which is reinforced, the subject of teenage sexuality is equally as discussed.  In an article written, ‘Why do teenage girls dress so provactively?’, the author wrote…’They want to cut a slit in their t-shirts so that their cleavage shows.   Girls want to cut holes in their jeans to show a little skin or a trace of their underwear.’ http://www.chicagonow.com/good-bad-parents/2012/01/why-do-teenage-girls-dress-so-provocative/

It is evident that the male and female characters overwhelmingly comply with the stereotypes. It is proven by one scene in which we see Sophie, the female character, saying how she refused to allow her mum to repack her suitcase due to the fact she had hidden condoms in the bottom. This proves the representation the program aims to create of teenage empahasis on sex. Another piece of prrof to back this statement is a short shot of one of Ronnies friends humping his bed, stimulating sex. Overall, from the vidence we can see clearly that this represenatation has a solid foundation and is proven to be reinforced.

3. One huge issu/representation that featres massively in the construction of the program is teenage drinking. As soon as the credits orll we ar lambasted with images of drunken misbehavior, and copious images of alcoholic beverages. This is a stereotype which has been developed and exploited by programs as such, and whether this representation is wholly true or only partly is irrelevant to the producers; tey want to present teenage drinking in its most prominent and irresponsible forms.

Statisticas gathered from a website called ‘Teenage binge drinking’ back up this idea of xtreme alcohol consumption within young adultsn and the fact that ‘90% of the alcohol consumed by teens is consumbed in the form of binge drinking.’ Reinforces the representation. Statistics also found that On average, young people have about 5 drinks on a single occasion, which can be considered binge drinking.

One of our first insights intp the girls holiday experience is when they have just unaced in the paartmeant, and Sophie is heard saying, “ I aven’t even been here 10 minutes and already I want to go out and just drink some cocktails”, and late on she is quoted saying “ I wan to get fucked”. The theme of drinking also relates to the boys, and inparticular we are shown a shot of Ronnie taking a shot of liquer up his nose.

4. However the antics displayed in Sun Sex and Suspicious parents cannot be applie to Shoplife, which gives a much better representation of the same age group. Th stereotype of teenage over depedance and binge drinking is not highlighted in Shoplife instead we witness a struggle in which young people are desperately trying to find employment or trying to increase their employability in some cases.

How do your chosen texts use genre conventions?

How does Sin City portray genre conventions?

Sin City is a neo-noir action crime thriller targeted at a wide audience, and is designed to entertain he audience through its unique hybridity of the superhero genre and the film noir genre. Both genres have their own conventions and features respectively and they are blended together to create a film based strongly around action and crime, but also with a strong influence of film noir.

Film Noir Conventions

• Displayed thoughout the film are prominet Film Noir elements which help shape the viewers perception and thoughts, and add a depth and style to the film. Film noir is strongly based around lighting, props and character conventions. In Sin City, particularly the scene involving Shellies new boyfriend, there are various genre conventions displayed. The running common lighting technique throughout is the Black and White theme and lack of colour. This is the most well known convention of all, and applied to Sin City, represents the gritiness and crime revolving around the films plot, the black and white also alludes to the whole Good (cop)/Bad (cop) theme running through the story line. This scene also presents a few of the accepted character roles featured in film noir. There is clear protagonist, Dwight, who portrays cynical and violent tendencies, and Jackie Boy, who we later discover is the generic Corrupt Cop. The undercurrent of mistrust and hostility is also important to notice as this is an overwhelming atmosphere convention that is common in film noir.

Coursework Question: Research Links

Construction of the Program + Interview with Character

http://www.studentjournals.co.uk/blogs/109-features/interviews/2003-what-it-s-like-to-go-on-bbc-three-s-sun,-sex-and-suspicious-parents-an-interview-with-the-4-10-student

Representation of young adults on Shoplife

http://uktvreviewer.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/shoplife-bbc3-review/

Shoplife example episode

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HekIGbj01Y

Sun sex and suspicious parents example episode?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlKoOEkRijk

• BBC 3 target demographic is 16-24.
• Sun sex and suspicious parents shows us a much more detrimental representation of young people, however shoplife is not the complete opposite but represents them in a much more empathic way ie. looking for work/promotions/daily struggles.
• Young people have become so accustomed to seeing bad representations of their age group, and by copying a program such as sun sex and suspicious parents they are copying the HYPER-REAL. Also links the Laura Mulvey male gaze theory, however it is not the male gaze, we are accustomed to seeing bad representations of teens so we associate ourselves with them.
• Things to talk about:
• Audience
• Representation eg. non diegetic sound, camera shots, shots of the lazing in bed/ getting drunk. Contrasted with more serious interviews of them sharing their ambition in work.
•   Coded scenes.
• Male/Female stereotypes , teenager stereotypes reinforced mainly.
• Materialistc, self obsession stereotypes are reinforced (First character in shoplift episode)
• editing
• He’s drinking again!' she wailed. Oh, for goodness sake, give it a rest, love - he’s on holiday. That’s what lads on holiday do.
• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2263599/Sun-Sex-And-Suspicious-Parents-review.html
• luara mulvely fetishism is what the mums of sun sex and suspicioua parents reference.
• article proving sun sex as right and that young peopl eare all lk ethat h

Fish Tank Scene Commentaries

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoofjmU6RW4

• This scene is very useful as it demonstrates many features associated with the 'Social Realism' genre. The tinny/echoey sound coming from the obviously cheap CD player is completely dietetic  hence the poor sound quality, and this adds to the realism that the audience is meant to grasp from the film. The further diegetic sound of children coming from outside furthermore reinforces that the director has aimed to make the film as realistic as possible, and by keeping these element of natural diegetic sound you keep the feeling of realism and immerse the audience as much into the natural realness and credibility of the film. The scene also exposes the main actor, an unknown actress making her debut in a full length film, presumably hired on a low budget. This keeps the trend of making the film as down to earth as possible, and fitting into the accepted conventions of the 'Social Realism' genre.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoofjmU6RW4 (0:00-0:44)

• Narrative is demonstrated very cleverly in this scene. The mise-en-scene of the dogs and the broken scooter near the metal railings tell the reader that this is meant to be as realistic as possible. Furthermore by looking at the location, a run-down, impoverished council estate, we can tell a lot about the characters and how poor their living conditions are. The dialogue in this scene, littered in swearing it may be, represents how uneducated and poorly disciplined the teenagers are. Camera shots of Mia's face show the anger and ill discipline, something we associate with council estates. The boys looking at the girls dancing shows objectification, conforming to one of the accepted stereotypes in cinema. The look of the boy and the appearance of the girls is not as glamorous as high budget cinema, but the stereotype of women being sexual objects is still noticeable. Moving onto appearance we can guess by their tracksuits that they are not wealthy whatsoever, Mia in her case comes from an underclass family. We do not have to directly relate to the characters, but we associate them as Chavs, and most people are aware of these stereotypically violent individuals. The headbutt is also unusual and shows the undercurrent of violence and hatred, as a head butt from a girl is not something we expect, and it certainly isn't a stereotype of young girls/women.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoofjmU6RW4 (0:44-1:36)

• In the same clip we see representation displayed. It is evident from the dirty messy kitchen that they are represented as an uncaring unclean family, a stereotype of most council flats. The mum smoking at the table also reinforces the uncleanliness that is being portrayed, as smoking is often viewed as dirty and is unhealthy. Simple things like the beer cans lying in the work top show that the mum, who we assume  is stereo typically in charge of cleaning, doesn't care and has no consideration for taking pride in her belongings. The animosity between Mia and her mum when they conversate also conforms with our accepted idea that council flats are home to hostility,and not a very welcoming place to be. It also shows domestic problems between the family and the lack of dynamic, something we think of as belonging in a place like that. At the end we hear the make shift father tell the girl to go and get dresses, and she obliges. This represents the man as having power over women, as she previously doesn't listen to the mother. Living i a male dominated society we are led to believe that males have power and it is a stereotype we accept.