Macrofeatures

Narrative - characters, ending, story and character arc, symbolism, narrative structure and theories
representation - the perspective through which a character is portrayed, resulting in the spectator feeling a certain way about the character.
narrative theories - Todorov (5 stage equilibrium) , Barthes (action/enigma) , Levi-Strauss (binary opposites) , Propp (Cinderella template )

Social realism aesthetic influenced by Italian Neo-realism and french new wave. Tends to have a lack of artifice.

Film poetics - the study of how things are made.

genres can have socially agreed tropes and conventions e.g. horror films - the dumb ones having sex die first, the smart chaste seemingly weak girl is the last and only survivor.

A study of narrative can look at:
 - representation of time
 - use of narration/voiceover
 - how dialogue propels the narrative
 - creation of drama or action
 - character development - heroes and villains, ambiguity
 - character alignment and identification
 - how narratives present an ideological viewpoint
 - enigma codes
 - generic narratives and formulas
 - binary oppositions

agency - having an element of control over your own life.
Mia tries the whole film to prove her independence in her struggle to be an adult, and break away from societal expectations, but at the end she fails in that plight as she goes away not alone but with the other boy.

Formalism - A look at a film's structure and recognises the differences between the story and how it is told through the plot.

Structuralism - the conception of binary opposites. Levi-Strauss theorised that as all cultures are products of the brain, beneath the surface, features that are common to all. The structures that produce meaning in film are auteur, linguistic, social and institutional. It doesn't take into account spectatorship or ideology. Structuralism attempted to deromanticise the filmmaker as auteur and apply a more scientific approach to uncover the underlying structures of film.

story - the events of the narrative
plot - how the story is presented to us e.g. linear/non-linear, interweaving (requiem for a dream, pulp fiction)

ideology - a system of ideas and ideals , which could form for example a political or economic theory of policy

In terms of an ideology, people can either be conformists or dissidents (rebels)
Dissidence - the act of going against an ideology
ISA (Ideological State Apparatus) - how an ideology is enforced onto people e.g. media, church , family



Binary Opposition
Narrative tension is based on opposition or conflict. This can be as simple as two characters fighting, but more often function at an ideological level.

good vs evil
young vs old
man vs nature
ignorance vs wisdom
action vs inaction
humanity vs technology
democracy vs dictatorship
boy vs girl
strong vs weak
man vs woman
civilised vs uncivilised
first world vs third world
peace vs war
domestic vs foreign
east vs west
decisive vs indecisive
protagonist vs antagonist
motivator vs observer
empowered vs victim
good looking vs ugly
father vs son
morality vs immorality

binary opposite of civilised vs savage within connor
empowered vs victim - mia is always the victim
morality vs immorality of having sex with an underage girl
action vs inaction of mia and connors relationship



Todorov - equilibrium
A basic structure for all narratives. begins with a calm equilibrium, something comes and disrupts this, realisation the disruption has happened, attempt to repair the damage, finishes with restoration of equilibrium.
Propp - Character types
-Propp was a Russian and Soviet formats scholar.
thought up the typical 8 character types:

• hero
• villain
• princess/prize
• father of princess/prize
• the donor
• the hero
• the false hero
• the dispatcher

Roland Barthes - Action vs enigma
Famous culture literary theorist.
Action - what will happen next? she falls - will he catch her? she's been caught - what will he do with her?
Enigma codes - the audience question why... why is there a shoe on the floor?

the 7 story archetypes:
overcoming the monster
rags to riches
the quest
voyage and return
comedy
tragedy
rebirth

Popular narrative theories

Propp

villain - connor

helper - billy, dancing

princess/prize - billy, dancing

father - connor, Joanne

donor - connor??? billy

hero - mia, billy

the false hero - connor, val

the dispatcher - mia's friend

Todorov's equilibrium theory 

equilibrium -life on a council estate, not much going on

disruption - connor comes to stay with mias family

realisation of disruption - when connor has sex with mia, then leaves

attempt to repair damage - mia goes to find connor

restoration of equilibrium - mia goes off with billy in his car at the end

The three act structure

act 1 - setup
act 2 - confrontation
act 3 - resolution

Fish tank:
act 1 - living in a council estate, head-butt, connor comes in, mia has confrontation with gypsys.
act 2 - connor and mia getting closer, river scene - connor as father or lover?, when he puts her on the bed, mia sees Joanne and connor having sex, (ascending action), connor and mia have sex and connor leaves
act 3 - mia goes to find connor, connor finds her and takes her back to the station, mia then discovers his life, she takes his Keira, returns her later, connor hurts mia, she goes back home and goes to audition(obstacle), dances with Joanne and Tyler (denouement), goes off with billy in the end.




Connor is atavistic - acts on his animalistic instincts. `

The Oedipal Trajectory

A combination of Freud's conception of the Oedipal complex and Jacques Lacan's account of the mirror stage.

Oedipal trajectory summary for males:
A male child who at first is bonded with his mother imagines himself a united whole with her. However, when held up to a mirror, he perceives his difference from her. He becomes aware of the illusion of unity yet still desires it. This desire becomes sexual. He comes to hate his father, as his father has lawful access to the mother. The child perceives this difference as one of castration : he sees the mother as castrated. To identify with her would thus mean he would be without this penis - in identifying with her he becomes like her ; in uniting with her , he runs the risk of castration from his father ( he assumes the father has this power). He attempts to identify with the father ; he sets about trying to find a female. The male child can now move towards social stability and continue the cycle.

In the cinematic narrative, the male protagonist moves through the resolution of a crisis towards social mobility. The female is a stationary site, he is the active subject. The threat of castration is dispelled and the masculine role of the patriarch is assumed.

The threat is broken down fetishism :  a fragmentation of the female body and obsession of small parts (legs, hands etc.) The woman as a whole is now no longer a threat. The body is denied its difference and rendered phallic (e.g. through, for example, slinky black dresses, high heels and long fingernails).

If the male subject fails to achieve social stability, a crisis of masculinity is revealed.


Oedipal trajectory summary for females:
The mother is the first love object of the female child. However, since there is no perceived difference between mother and daughter the daughter rejects her mother due to penis envy. The mother cannot provide her with a penis so she turns to her father to provide her with it in the form of a child. To fulfil her Oedipal trajectory and enter into the social order of things, the female child must turn from the mother, even though she may still desire her - she must conform to male subjectivity. Failure to do so will result in punishment - either through marginalisation or death. Independent women, in mainstream cinema, eventually come to their senses, they marry the guy if its a comedy ; they are brought to their senses if its a film noir or thriller.



Oedipal trajectory (female) in Fish Tank
When Mia comes home and her mother confronts her about the fight, and they argue, this is a showcase of how they have both rejected each other, they are constantly at conflict due to penis envy. When connor is introduced, this is a new feeling for Mia as she has no father at home. This leads to her gravitating towards Connor as she is curious about having someone in her life with a penis (she lives with a mother and sister) and so she turns to him for attention. She displays the typical behaviour between daughter and father when she is trying to impress him with her dancing. When she has sex with him, she is succumbing to male subjectivity. Before conforming, she was marginalised by her family and by society. When rejected by Connor, her marginalisation is most emphasised when she goes to his house and kidnaps Kyra.  The retained desire for her mother is shown only at the end when she is trying to repair their relationship by dancing together. The fact that she walks away from the strip club shows how she is rejecting male subjectivity, and so the result is her resorting to billy.



Suture

suture - stitching something together. In film, its the way spectators are stitched into the narrative of the film. For example, a shot/reverse shot establishes two different viewpoints which the spectator adopts.

Unsutured from - taken away from. If there was no reverse shot, the viewer would become aware of the limit of the frame, what they cant see behind them. This, however, can be used intently, for example, in horror films, the spectator would be more tense if they didn't know everything that was happening, they would feel vulnerable and unaware.

Suture allows film ideology to be absorbed by the viewer without their knowledge, thus making it less likely for them to reject the ideology. Film is thus hegemonic rather than a reflection of reality. So in Hollywood, we are presented with an unquestioning idea of the idealness of American values.