Task 3: Audience Theory and Violence
Hypodermic Theory
There are a lot of theories on how the audience take in the message of the film that is being watched. In this Journal I am going to be talking about how some of these theories apply to violence scene in some of the previous movies that I have watch, which are Scarface, City of God and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
The first theory is the hypodermic needle theory. This theory suggests that the violence in the film can cause anyone that watches it to act in a similar way and go and commit violence as well. There is a very violent scene where Gina (Tony’s sister) has got shot after their sexual tension argument. You see a close up of Tony talking to Gina’s dead and then when one of Tony’s workers interrupts he suddenly comes back to reality and you get a medium shot of Tony getting angrier and getting his gun ready. You see Tony killing a lot of people and hiding and pushing around dead bodies. The final shot when you see Tony get shot numerous and is still stand then get shot and falls over the balcony and falls into the fountain. This theory suggests that people that have watched this will encourage people to do the same thing but I think that this is untrue because it depends on the maturity of the viewer and als o not everybody has the same mentality to do that. It also depends on how you can take violence as well so people don't like watching violent movies therefore watching a movie like Scarface wouldn't effect them to go and commit an act of violence. On the other hand, I think that this theory could apply to this movie because this movie influence a hip hop culture. Artist like Nas, Raekwon and Big Pun has even made songs inspired by the Scarface movie. Some people in the Hip Hop community might be inspired to go and live a life like Tony Montana because he is in a similar situation and he became wealthy, powerful and got the women that he wanted. This might encourage people to go into the drug business and also learn from Tony's mistakes like not getting high on your own supply. Ludacris, a Hip Hop artist said that "We were all living vicariously through your characters, as the whole rap community, we definitely support." This supports the idea in this case the hypodermic needle theory could apply to this film.
City of God was more realistic and actually use actors that were from the City of God to make the movie even more realistic for example the chase sequence at the beginning and end of the movie consist of fast pace and constantly shakiness which seems to have been done with a handheld camera and the combination with the raped editing created a realistic point of view shot of a chase scene. The violence was more life-like compared to Scarface which was more stylized for example . Therefore you could argue that people that it more likely for people to be influence to copy some of the violence in this movie. This theory suggest that everybody that watches this film will be influence to be go and commit an act of violence which is wrong because I for example I have watched this film twice and I haven't had the mindset to go out and start killing or shooting people. There are a lot of violence scenes in like when Knockout ned's brother tries to plead with Lil Ze and then we see a wide shot of Lil Ze's gang member shooting him, again we get this quite shaky to show how powerful the guns were. According to this theory everybody would want to go out and start shooting people which is untrue and we are amusing that everybody was born with a bit of violence in then.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking was probably the least violence movie compared to the other movies. In Scarface and City of God it was more gory and more serious whereas Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrel are trying to make the film more comical. The way the camera is shot and the dialogue are the things that make this film funny for example the scene where the gang next door and Rory's gangster are in Eddie's house and even though there is a bit of tension in the room which is done by continuous cuts of each member of the gangs face expression and when Plank says 'What the f*ck is going on?" and let's off his gun was a funny way to let start the shootout which was comical way to start a shootout. Also the fast pace music leading up to the shooting scene makes it quite funny. This film is a bit silly so I don't think that people would end out going out to start shooting because they have watched this film because in compare to the other two films this film is not as serious and in some ways making fun of gangster films.
Reception Theory
The reception is about understanding how audience take in the message of the film. For example you background or past experience can effort how you take in the message of the film. In Scarface, Tony was an immigrant and was in poverty, they worked there way to up to achieve power and money might influence some people to go and do the same because they have been in that same position and they might be inspired by Tony to go and the same thing. If we going to applied this to violence, there is a scene when Tony shoots the assassin because he was going to bomb the car that had two kids and a women inside. We see a build up in Tony reaction when he realise there are children in the car and when he shoots the assassin we see a close up of the assassin face and the blood splatter on the car which made it a bit gory. Some audience might react relieved that Tony didn't kill the kids and wife because since this film is mostly aimed at males, there might be males in the audience that have wife and kids and might have had an emotion connection. When I watched this film I was very relieved when Tony didn't blow up the car but if he had did I don't think I would have been effected as much because I know that this is a fiction film and no one is really getting hurt and when I ask a few of my family member this, they agreed with me. Some audience member might take on the message of this scene that even though you have made mistake you have to stick to your moral which can influence some of the audience.
In City of God, there is a lot of scenes that the audience may react different towards for example when Lil Ze rapes Knockout Ned's girlfriend. We see Knockout Ned on the floor while one of Lil Ze gang member make him watch. We also he a diegtic crying and screaming from Knockout Ned's girlfriend. Even though we do not see the rape scene, some audience members might be affected because this might have happened to them or they know somebody has been rape so this can cause an emotion response or might be uncomfortable to watch. Some may argue that because you can not see what is happening it is not so bad to watch. There is also another scene where Lil Ze catches two of the runts and makes 'Steak with Fries' a boy around the same age as the runts choose which one to kill. There were two runts one look around 10 and the other around 5 because we hear and the camera is more focus on the 5 year old I felt more sorry for him and didn't really care about the another runt which is what the director intend to do. If members of the audience have children or even little siblings, you will be more effective because you wouldn't want any of you family member to be in that situation and also it is disturbing to watch because everybody participating in this scene are under the age of 12 and we see children to be very vulnerable.
In Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels the audience response is going to be a bit different from the other two films because the violence in City of God and Scraface is more raw and also Lock, Stock.. is also a comedy film so some of the violence scene will find a bit funny. For example the scene where Rory set the guy on fire because he turn off the TV. The narrative from the bartender made this scene funny because of the cockney slang he was using to describe what was going on and also how calm Rory was once he set the guy on fire. The whole scene was over the top which I think that is what the director wanted to show. Unlike City of and God and Scarface I don't think they is going to be any emotional response because everything was done in a comical way. The audience may have a connection with Big Chris and his kid because even though he was committing crime alongside he kid, he was also trying to be a good father and teach he son some morals and manners, which I think some audience may relate too.
The reception is about understanding how audience take in the message of the film. For example you background or past experience can effort how you take in the message of the film. In Scarface, Tony was an immigrant and was in poverty, they worked there way to up to achieve power and money might influence some people to go and do the same because they have been in that same position and they might be inspired by Tony to go and the same thing. If we going to applied this to violence, there is a scene when Tony shoots the assassin because he was going to bomb the car that had two kids and a women inside. We see a build up in Tony reaction when he realise there are children in the car and when he shoots the assassin we see a close up of the assassin face and the blood splatter on the car which made it a bit gory. Some audience might react relieved that Tony didn't kill the kids and wife because since this film is mostly aimed at males, there might be males in the audience that have wife and kids and might have had an emotion connection. When I watched this film I was very relieved when Tony didn't blow up the car but if he had did I don't think I would have been effected as much because I know that this is a fiction film and no one is really getting hurt and when I ask a few of my family member this, they agreed with me. Some audience member might take on the message of this scene that even though you have made mistake you have to stick to your moral which can influence some of the audience.
In City of God, there is a lot of scenes that the audience may react different towards for example when Lil Ze rapes Knockout Ned's girlfriend. We see Knockout Ned on the floor while one of Lil Ze gang member make him watch. We also he a diegtic crying and screaming from Knockout Ned's girlfriend. Even though we do not see the rape scene, some audience members might be affected because this might have happened to them or they know somebody has been rape so this can cause an emotion response or might be uncomfortable to watch. Some may argue that because you can not see what is happening it is not so bad to watch. There is also another scene where Lil Ze catches two of the runts and makes 'Steak with Fries' a boy around the same age as the runts choose which one to kill. There were two runts one look around 10 and the other around 5 because we hear and the camera is more focus on the 5 year old I felt more sorry for him and didn't really care about the another runt which is what the director intend to do. If members of the audience have children or even little siblings, you will be more effective because you wouldn't want any of you family member to be in that situation and also it is disturbing to watch because everybody participating in this scene are under the age of 12 and we see children to be very vulnerable.
In Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels the audience response is going to be a bit different from the other two films because the violence in City of God and Scraface is more raw and also Lock, Stock.. is also a comedy film so some of the violence scene will find a bit funny. For example the scene where Rory set the guy on fire because he turn off the TV. The narrative from the bartender made this scene funny because of the cockney slang he was using to describe what was going on and also how calm Rory was once he set the guy on fire. The whole scene was over the top which I think that is what the director wanted to show. Unlike City of and God and Scarface I don't think they is going to be any emotional response because everything was done in a comical way. The audience may have a connection with Big Chris and his kid because even though he was committing crime alongside he kid, he was also trying to be a good father and teach he son some morals and manners, which I think some audience may relate too.
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