Cover work: Analysis of a scene

In the beginning of the scene we see a shot of the institution sign of the film in big which are, ‘Screen Gems’. Screen Gems is an American subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation. Screen Gems mostly make movies that are thriller or Sci-fi, such as, Zombies and The Grudge. The scene starts with Milla Jovovich lying in a bathroom and only covered in the shower net. The camera zooms out on her and shows her whole body. In this image she is represented as week as she has no clothes on and looks helpless. She is also represented as a sex object, this is after the bath scene we see her wear a red dress which is quite short this reinforces the stereotypes that women are seen as sex objects as red connotates love and makes her look seductive, she also reinforces some of the stereotypes that are linked to Malveys 'male gaze' theory. The lighting is very dark which foreshadows that something bad is going to happen or has already happened. After that we the camera slowly walking with Jovovich in a dark corridor and then in a white, bright corridor, the cut from a dark lighting shot then a white shot shows Binary opposition between good and Evil. This could give the audience a clue that the story is line is about good vs. evil. In the next shot we see Jovovich get shot the camera then fades to black and we see her fall to the ground, the fade to black creates a sense of sadness in the audience as it slows the shot down. In all of these shots the music is quite slow paced which build up tension to the audience. We then see a man who looks like a scientist tell some other people to dump Jovovich’s body; this shows the female character as week as the man has defeated her. After this the movie is kind of gone to a new theme, this is as before Milla Jovovich is represented as weak; this is as she gets killed. However in the shots shown after she dies she is represented as an independent and strong female, her character seems to be challenging the stereotypes that females are associated with weak, emotional, and sex objects. Milla Jovovich is represented as dominant in the rest of the scene as we can see her riding a motorbike which is usually associated to men who are mostly stereotyped as strong and powerful. She is also shown as a powerful character and challenges stereotypes as she is shown using weapons such as guns and machete’s to kill zombies. There are many narrative theories that can be applied to the film, one of them include the Proppian theory. The film contains both hero (Milla Jovovich) we can tell this because she is the main icon on the poster of the film e.g. she’s positioned in the middle also the film starts of with her, and Villain of the film (Iain Glen) this could be identified through his first appearance in the film e.g. in a lab experimenting with clones etc. other narrative theories that can be applied to the film is Todorovs equilibrium theory. However you cannot apply the theory exactly because the film doesn't exactly start of with an equilibrium however there is a disruption and realisation and a new equilibrium where she kills the villain. We can also apply Levi-struasses binary oppositions to the movie, for example there is the binary oppositions of good and evil and light and dark. The film also contains narrative enigmas for example at the beginning you see a big close up of the protagonist eye, it then slowly zooms out showing her in a bathtub with a white cloth over her, this starts getting the audience thinking as to why she’s there and what the situation and the slow paced music also builds up tension which therefore leaving them wanting to know more. Milla Jovovich is viewed as the hero ‘who will save the day’ not just through the shots but through the way the shots are put into sequence with the phrases. Jovochic is represented as powerful, mainly through the use of propp's e.g. her gun. The film Resident evil clearly suggests that the representation of females within the film industry has changed, due to the reason that nowadays there are many female action stars whereas before females were only given parts which fitted in with their stereotypes e.g. housewife or object of sexual desire for the male. By Jovovich taking on a masculine role she is presenting females as more independent and strong. On the other hand it can also be argued that she is still represented as a sexual object, mainly through her clothing, for example at the beginning of the film she is wearing a red dress which is quite revealing, this could portray her as seductive. The text is likely to be aimed at teenagers and adults from all ethnic groups aged 18-35 who are interested in action/horror movies. The primary audience could be males because of the genre of the film; action, which boys are normally associated with, however due to the protagonist being a female it could also be primarily aimed at females. From the text we can tell that the audience would be interested in films that include violence and guns because the film includes many scenes of violence. The audience could be consuming this text mainly for entertainment or division; to escape from the reality they are in. The audience are actively engaged in the interpretation of the text therefore they would be decoding the text in ways that relate to their social experience. The film is likely to be aimed at people of all genders and ethnicity in order to target a wide range of audience, in order for the film to be successful, also the film does not contain any particular ethnic groups e.g. whites whereas it includes ethnic groups such as black and white and also other actors e,g, Oded Fehr, an Israeli.