THE MAGAZINE FOR STUDENTS OF FILM AND MEDIA STUDIES

APRIL 2019 ISSUE 68

THE i SORRY TO BOTHER YOU TAIKA WAITITI AND MASCULINITY LIFE ON MARS SEMIOTICS IN RUSSIAN DOLL TELLTALE GAMES NIKE & COLIN KAEPERNICK CITY OF GOD BANDERSNATCH Contents

04 MediaMagazine Conference MediaMagazine is published Koatherr Aggouche and by the English and Media Aqsa Safdar from Burntwood Centre, a non-profit making School review the day. organisation. The Centre publishes a wide range of 08 Sorry to Bother You classroom materials and & Code-switching runs courses for teachers. 08 Giles Gough explores the If you’re studying English relationship between race, at A Level, look out for capitalism and language emagazine, also published in the much overlooked by the Centre. but essential new film.

12 The i, the Little Paper that Could It may be the new kid on the block of British newspapers, 16 but the i is showing its older siblings a thing or two about keeping up with the times. Georgia Platman explains.

16 Cinematic Language and Representation in City of God 24 Photography and montage editing construct a powerful representation of life in the The English and Media Centre Brazilian favela in Meirelles’ 18 Compton Terrace City of God, says Sophie Muir. London N1 2UN Telephone: 020 7359 8080 20 The Ideology of Beauty Fax: 020 7354 0133 Joanna Bailey deconstructs Email for subscription enquiries: the disturbing messages [email protected] in Jean-Paul Gaultier’s perfume commercial ‘Welcome to the Factory’. Editor: Claire Pollard Illustrated by Tom Zaino. Associate Editor: Dan Clayton Copy-editing: Jenny Grahame Andrew McCallum 32 Subscriptions manager: Maria Pettersson Design: Sam Sullivan Newington Design Print: S&G Group Cover: Bandersnatch/Netflix

2 Contents

24 The Theory 48 Searching for the Drop: Semiotics Truth in Sugarman Claire Pollard explains how Caroline Birks asks whether semiotics is more than just audience’s expectations of a set media theory - it’s reality are being manipulated something you do every in an apparent search for ‘truth’ day in your own life. in Searching for Sugarman.

28 It’s the Freakiest 50 Interview with 52 Show: Postmodernity Stephen Segerman and Life on Mars Maggie Miranda interviews Jonathan Nunns the man who began the shows how you can use search for Sixto Rodriguez. theories of postmodernism to help negotiate the 52 Cuarón, Realism & world of Life on Mars. Y Tu Mamá También Nick Lacey examines 32 The Rise of the Narrative Cuarón’s use of the long Adventure Genre and the take, just one of the methods 38 Fall of Telltale Games he uses to create a sense Telltale Games were one of realism in his films. of the most successful companies in the industry. 58 He’s a Real Bad Egg Laurence Russell suggests the Kirsty Worrow examines reasons behind their downfall. representations of masculinities in the 38 Just Don’t Do It films of Taika Waititi. With their latest campaign Nike have turned shopping 64 The Careers Download 42 48 into an act of revolutionary Imriel Morgan, CEO of the protest. Welcome to the end ShoutOut Network explains of history. By Rashid Nix. her role and route into the world of podcasting. 42 Bandersnatch: Choosing Your Own Adventure 66 Film Notes Swimmer in an Online World Symon Quy and his With the new Black Mirror imaginary A level student giving the viewer control discuss Lynne Ramsay’s over the narrative, are we hypnotic short. all becoming consumers and producers at the same time? Missouri Sutcliffe looks at the options. 58

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3 STUDENT CONFERENCE 2019

Koatherr Aggouche and Aqsa Safdar from Burntwood School review the day.

The day needs to What made Excellent choice Very enriching. be longer, as the event is so Anamik Saha’s talk so of guests that directly Students have a better amazing that by the end of interesting is that most relates to the A Level. understanding of the it I was ready for round two! people can identify with Excellent venue. contexts of media Daniel Bostock, student being stereotyped in Dawn Baldwin, and the industries. at Seaford College the media or real life. Xaverian College Rebecca Doncaster, Gurdev Tumber, student Beechwood School at Beechwood School

4 Ian Hislop compares Trump to Mussolini and declares that print media are not dead

MM editor Claire introducing the guests Photos: Gizem Kirdagli Gizem Photos:

uring the MediaMagazine conference, A Level students from various schools were presented with a Drange of different speakers from all areas of the media landscape. We gained a better understanding of the industry, benefiting our general knowledge but also helping us with our Media Studies course. Alex Hudson on Online News The first speaker was Alex Hudson, deputy editor of MetroOnline talking about online news. He explained the way MetroOnline calculates readership Alex Hudson explaining how Metro.co.uk targets or ‘success’ and how much that means their younger, more socially aware audience to him as a writer and editor. His team came up with an algorithm which goes helpful in clarifying the importance It was therefore interesting to receive beyond counting how many ‘clicks’ their of the circulation of online news. a professional’s viewpoint. We were articles get; instead they’re interested shown two music videos: Bronksi in how much time is spent on articles, Emily Caston on British Beat’s ‘Smalltown Boy’ from the 1980s whether people read to the end and Music Video which dealt with homosexuality, and who their loyal readers are. This gives The Moonlandingz’ ‘The Strangle them a better understanding of what Professor Emily Caston produced of Anna’ from 2017. This raised the online readers are doing whilst on his over 100 music videos and discussion of representation of gender page and how he can improve on it to commercials for extremely famous in society. She told us that great gain a larger audience. His speech was artists before becoming an academic. music videos are about breaking

5 Tobi Oredein and Imriel Morgan talking about how they made successful careers outside the mainstream media industry

Anamik Saha speaking about race in the media the rules and not mirroring the mainstream industry’s ideologies. Ian Hislop Ian Hislop was our third speaker. He is best known as a team captain on the BBC show Have I Got News For You and as the Private Eye editor since 1986. He by far brought the most humour to the conference that day. He made it known to us that he has been sued many times due to his various controversial yet very funny newspaper Kirdagli Gizem Photos: articles and statements. He talked to us about different newspaper companies her father had lied about her mother Anamik Saha on Race in the and how ownership and control are leaving them when she was very little. Media Industries important issues for media students. He walked us through the making of his film and how most people worked Our final speaker was Dr Anamik Q&A with Alfie Barker, for free; any expenses to make the film Saha from Goldsmiths University. We Director were covered from his own pocket. were presented with a clip from Citizen Due to his young age, he was very Khan and asked whether or not we Alfie Barker, a 22-year-old filmmaker relatable for A Level students wanting thought it reinforced or challenged and graduate of the BFI Film Academy, to go into filmmaking and it was very cultural stereotypes. It was evident screened his short film I was 3 about a inspirational to hear his experiences. that the majority of students thought young woman (Katie Jarvis) finding out it reinforced stereotypes. One student

6 STUDENT CONFERENCE 2019

Allfie Barker talks Out of the Box Panel about the films that Discussion inspired him to pursue filmmaking Finally, there was a Q&A session with Tobi Oredin and Imriel Morgan. Tobi Oredin is a journalist who edits an online publication Black Ballad. Imriel Morgan is a podcaster who has produced many events and festivals including ShoutOut Live (see Imriel’s Careers Download on page 64). Both talked about their struggles finding their way into their industries as young black women. They mentioned how a few years ago large companies did not want to hear their opinions but now, as companies struggle to put out content that attracts certain audiences, it is women like these that they turn to for help. Black Ballad is an online magazine that covers many black women’s stories. Their aim is to get the everyday black woman’s story heard to the public and overall give black women a platform where their voices will be heard. They pay and support the women who write for them as they understand that journalism for black women should be valued just as highly as any others in the journalism industry. It was incredible to hear these women’s stories and how much they had to struggle to reach the point that they’re at today. Overall the MediaMagazine Conference was a truly eye-opening experience. We can sincerely say that we have both learnt so much about

Photos: Gizem Kirdagli Gizem Photos: the different aspects of media in ways we never knew about before. from each side was asked to justify their to witness the discussion and hear reasoning. One student stated that it people’s viewpoints and ideologies. Koatherr Aggouche and Aqsa Safdar indeed did reinforce stereotypes due Dr Saha explained how diversity has are A level Media Studies students at to the references made to so-called become a box-ticking exercise, and Burntwood School in London. Asian cultural norms, values and beliefs. made us think about how race is used The student from the opposing side and represented in the media. This was said that the jokes made in the sitcom the most enjoyable discussion by far were so blatant and exaggerated that it as it was relatable to us, not only as was evident that it actually challenged media students but as people of colour. conventional ideas about Asian culture. For people of colour, it was interesting

7 Despite limited cinema release, Sorry to Bother You is now available online and packs a mean punch. Giles Gough explores its focus on code-switching and the relationship between capitalism and racism.

8 Use my white voice? Lakeith Stanfield as Cassius Green in Sorry Annapurna Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection. Alamy Stock Photo. Stock Collection. Alamy / Courtesy Everett Annapurna Pictures to Bother You (2018)

orry To Bother You came out in the UK in change the way they express themselves’. In other December of last year, and you would be words, people change their language depending forgiven for missing it. Many of the upon who they’re talking to. On some level, most mainstream multiplex chains passed by this of us will be familiar with this process. Anyone in cinematic gem, and if you wanted to see it in the a position of responsibility will often speak with cinema, you had to seek it out. It takes an one linguistic register whilst exercising that role, intersectional approach to tackling the and use a completely different one in private. connection between capitalism and racism, and it Code-switching can also come in useful when does it with an irreverent charm. For this article, dealing with people in positions of authority; and we’ll be focusing on code-switching: the central those who are unable to adapt their language to conceit of the film. It’s also worth saying at the different settings often suffer the consequences. outset that when dealing with such a provocative film, referencing some offensive language will be Switching Codes unavoidable. In short, we’ll be dropping some N-bombs. To use a well-worn cliché: code-switching In this film, we see the protagonist, Cassius movies are like buses; you wait for one for ages Green (played by Lakeith Stanfield) code-switch and then three turn up at once. In the same to make himself sound more ‘white’ in order to sell year, we had The Hate U Give, BlacKKKlansman more at his telemarketing job. But what exactly and Sorry To Bother You. The Hate U Give dealt is code-switching? Chandra Arthur defined it in with it on a young adult scale, watching how her 2017 Tedx Talk by saying; ‘code-switching is this process affects the young protagonist, what happens when people reflexively or subtly Starr. BlacKKKlansman told a dramatised version

In simple terms, people hear someone who sounds like they don’t have a care and will associate that feeling with the product he’s selling. This is one of the central elements of aspirational marketing, and when Cassius begins to employ this strategy, he soon becomes very successful.

9 Annapurna Pictures/Entertainment Pictures. Alamy Stock Photo. Stock Alamy Pictures. Annapurna Pictures/Entertainment

Tessa Thompson and of real life events where a black police officer aspects of advertising. In simple terms, people Lakeith Stanfield as used code-switching to infiltrate the Klu Klux hear someone who sounds like they don’t have Detroit and Cassius Klan. Sorry To Bother You is by far the most a care and will associate that feeling with the politically and artistically radical of these three, product being sold. This is one of the central and when you consider the competition is elements of aspirational marketing, and when Spike Lee, that’s some feat. Let’s look at how Cassius begins to employ this strategy, he soon code-switching is used in the film in question. becomes very successful. He is promoted to Cassius Green begins working at a being a ‘power caller’ and is moved to a higher telemarketing company called Regalview. He is floor. There, he is greeted by a man who looks struggling to make any sales until his co-worker like a steam-punk gangster-pirate who tells him Langston (played by Danny Glover) tells him: to use his ‘white voice at all times here’. Cassius’ ‘You wanna make some money here? Then read ‘white voice’ is actually overdubbed by the white your script with your white voice’. Cassius is actor David Cross, giving it a humorous quality. initially confused by this statement but Langston elaborates, saying: ‘It’s like sounding like you Fitting in or Selling Out? don’t have a care. Got your bills paid, your happy The comedy helps the audience to digest about your future, you ‘bout ready to jump in the message that people code-switch all the your Ferrari out there after you get off this call’. time to fit in better in a business environment. What Langston is illuminating here is a very However, with approximately 82% of businesses specific form of code-switching. In order to sound in America being run by white people, it could be non-threatening to people on the other end of argued that a person of colour code-switching the phone, he is urging him to switch linguistic to fit into this environment is trying to make codes to project an image that is both comforting themselves more ‘white’ and homogeneous. and aspirational. He then adds: ‘It’s not really a They end up suppressing elements of their own white voice! It’s what they wish they sounded like. cultural identity to better fit in. This is definitely What they think they’re supposed to sound like’. the case with Cassius, as he begins accidentally This aspect of ‘what white people think they’re to use his white voice at home with his feisty supposed to sound like’ links with one of the key girlfriend Detroit. He also distances himself from

10 Cassius is simply code-switching to a modern day black minstrel who offers no threat to his capitalist masters. He’s essentially being asked to be ‘more black’, but not an authentic representation of himself, merely a stereotypical parody of what it means to be a black man. his old co-workers, who have formed a union to its primary themes – the embrace of demand better pay. As a result, Cassius begins capitalism, the support of patriarchal to show more characteristics in common with violence, the conservative approach his power-caller colleagues than his friends, to gender roles, the call to liberal becoming what is colloquially known as an individualism – all reflect the ruling ‘Oreo’ – someone who is black on the outside values of imperialist white-supremacist and white on the inside. As if these problems capitalist patriarchy, albeit in black face’. aren’t enough, later on Cassius has to code- switch to make himself sound more ‘black’. hooks goes on to say In one particular scene, we see Cassius at a ‘Much hip-hop culture is mainstream lavish party being thrown by his boss, Steve because it is just a black minstrel Lift (played with reckless abandon by Armie show – an imitation of dominator Hammer). At one point he tells Cassius: ‘I think desire, not a rearticulation, you can rap! I think you should rap’. Despite his not a radical alternative’. protestations, he is conveyed to a make-shift A black minstrel show was where white stage, and a small crowd urges him on. Once performers would blacken their faces in order given the mic, he begins haltingly, and as his to perform musical or comic sketches, often faltering rhymes continue, he starts to lose the portraying black people in a stereotypical audience. In a desperate attempt to engage fashion. hooks’ argument is that most rappers are them, he jumps straight into a ‘call and response’ simply providing entertainment for a primarily loop where he shouts: ‘Nigga shit! Nigga shit! white audience by perpetuating ideologies Nigga nigga nigga shit!’ The assembled crowd that have oppressed minorities for centuries. In responds by chanting it back to him, and essence, by constantly saying ‘nigga shit’ over Cassius saves face on this one occasion. and over, Cassius is simply code-switching to a Putting aside the garden-variety racism in modern day black minstrel who offers no threat Lift’s belief that Cassius is a proficient rapper to his capitalist masters. He’s essentially being based on nothing more than his ethnicity, we asked to be ‘more black’, but not an authentic see another interesting element displayed representation of himself, merely a stereotypical here. The repetition of the phrase ‘nigga shit’ is parody of what it means to be a black man. essentially a parody of mainstream rap music. It Sorry to Bother You may be Boots Riley’s is not feasible to go into the history of hip hop directorial debut, but he has been expressing here, but at one point in its evolution, it could be himself as a rapper with his group The Coup seen that hip hop’s themes split into the political since 1991. His politically-charged lyrics have and the commercial. Politically-charged groups made him a well-respected artist in the industry, like Public Enemy had songs such as ‘Fight the but prevented him from breaking into top tier Power’ that encouraged people to question commercial success. The temptation to code- the power structures they lived in, whereas switch to a voice that is more palatable to a groups such as N.W.A conveyed a hip hop style mainstream audience in order to gain success that was superficially threatening, but in truth must have been overwhelming, but if he had simply perpetuated inequality and the capitalist done so we would never have had Sorry To Bother drives that had put so many black people in You which, if nothing else, is a bold refusal to oppression in the first place. As the academic speak in anything other than your real voice. and social activist bell hooks wrote in her 2004 book, We Real Cool: Black Men & Masculinity Giles Gough is a freelancer education writer and ‘ …not only is hip-hop packaged for leads filmmaking workshops at www.daskfilms.com. mainstream consumption, many of

11 he i makes for a pretty Cheaper Than Chips fascinating industry case study. Other newsbrands would be The saying may be ‘cheap as chips’, wise to take heed of its tactics but the i undercut the local chippie by toT understand why the quality compact a mile. Its incredibly cheap cover price has made such a big impact in the has been key to drawing in readers, tough world of news publishing. whose pockets had been hit by the With its single, perky, lower-case, red 2008 financial crash and the subsequent letter ‘i’ as its whole name, its disregard austerity measures the government of traditional newspaper conventions, enacted. Although the price has crept and its diminutive cover price of just up over the years to 65p, the i is still the 20p, the i newspaper felt transgressive most affordable quality daily. The price the second it hit newsstands on does a fine job of being economical October 26th, 2010. It was the first enough to make readers from The quality paper to be launched in almost Guardian (£2.20), The Times (£1.60), 25 years and it managed to draw in Financial Times (£2.70), and The Daily new readers in an industry many had Telegraph (£1.80) think twice about It may be the new kid written off. Almost nine years on, the what to buy based on price, while also on the block of British i is a fixture on newsstands around persuading those who only pick up newspapers, but the the country and has been firmly the Metro and the Evening Standard i is showing its older embraced by the establishment: it won that ‘quality’ and ‘independence’ might be worth paying a little bit for. siblings a thing or two a swathe of gold and silver awards Striking this balance has been crucial about keeping up with at the 2018 British Media Awards for both print and digital content. in the 21st century, as the newspaper the times. Georgia Despite this institutionalisation, it industry has been irreparably hit by Platman explains. still retains a lighter touch and a the triple threat facing news publishers far less stuffy approach than many in the digital age: declining sales of of its competitors that means it physical papers, soaring print costs and is holding onto readers while its plummeting advertising revenue. The rivals are haemorrhaging them. dire financial straits it has caused for For those who did not grow up some publishers has meant that in its with the traditional broadsheet/ nine years of existence, the i has already tabloid dichotomy, or those not been tossed between three different used to reading physical papers, owners – Lebedev Holdings, Johnston it might be difficult to understand Press and, most recently, JPI Media. what the paper is doing differently. Yet, in spite of the turbulence, the In a nutshell, the main differences i’s average circulation – the number of between the i and other newspapers newspapers that go out each day – has back in 2010 was its cheap cover held steady at between 240,000-300,000 price, its compact ‘tabloid’ size and (2012-2018) while other brands have low page count, and its quality-over- nosedived. This is a staggering success quantity approach to content. given that it had aimed for a circulation

12 Public domain Public

of 150,000 when it was launched. And to its very clear understanding of As the even though the i’s circulation figures its audience from day one, setting newspaper are now in decline – the paper saw it up for success. The Marketing an 8 percent drop in circulation from Society (see link at the end) explains industry has 2017 to 2018 – compared to the mid- that the original market research been irreparably markets – the Daily Mirror and the undertaken for the paper found hit by the triple Daily Mail were both down more than three potential target audiences: 12 percent – and the other quality 1) lapsed readers of qualities threat facing papers – The Guardian was down 13 2) new newspaper readers news publishers percent and The Daily Telegraph a 3) people ‘upgrading’ from the Metro. whopping 23 percent – it’s doing pretty ‘Research showed that these in the digital well to retain readers. The market it potential audiences viewed age: declining managed to carve out in its early years the Metro as an ideal size for seems to be largely loyal, making it an a commute but the editorial sales of physical attractive asset despite the gloomy content was too simplistic, slow papers, soaring climate for the industry in general. and celebrity-focussed. Similarly, they viewed the midmarket titles print costs and Size Matters (The Daily Mail and The Express) plummeting If you look at a news stand today, as being the right size, but too advertising you’d be forgiven for thinking the i opinionated and biased. Quality looks similar to some of the other dailies were highly regarded for revenue. quality publications, but back in 2010, their content, but were too large the i’s decision to produce broadsheet- (pagination) and too expensive.’ standard content in a tabloid format The idea of producing a paper with was bold, as most qualities were still in a low pagination (fewer pages) worked the folded, unwieldy broadsheet format. on two levels. On the one hand, it kept The i’s sister paper, The Independent, the industry costs down – fewer articles, when it was still a print paper, had fewer journalists, lower printing costs, pioneered the move from broadsheet lower delivery costs – but on the other, to tabloid proportions back in 2003. it hugely appealed to an audience However, while The Times followed living in an age of information overload. suit in 2005, The Guardian held out It’s well established now that society until 2018 and The Daily Telegraph has faced an increase in mood, sleep and the Financial Times are yet to and anxiety disorders as people have see the light, stubbornly believing had to grapple with new addictions their readers like, or should enjoy, a and dependencies to the internet, our wrestling match with their papers. phones, social media and rolling news, The i knew it had to be small, thanks so it was a genius marketing ploy to

13 smash into the market offering a quality news roundup that gave people an Fact File: (Correct at time of print) alternative to phone notifications. Editor: Oly Duff (since 2013) Killer Content Launch date: 26/10/2010 Perhaps the real innovation of the Type of paper: Quality compact i was to create an entirely new genre of newspaper, the news briefing. It Audience 75% ABC1; 60% men; 75% over 35s; (reach, approx.): average reader age, 50 really serves its audience of time-poor modern professionals by condensing Political leaning: Centrist, pro-market, liberal economics the news into bite sized chunks. Many Owners: JPI Media (formerly Johnston Press (2016- of the sections are prefaced by a ‘matrix’ 2018), Lebedev Holdings (2010-2016)) of stories – ‘The News Matrix’, ‘The Opinion Matrix’, ‘The Business Matrix’ Brand reach: 593,000 daily, print & online combined – each offering a grid of mini articles Circulation (print): 240,000 daily – fewer than 50 words – representing Print reach: 413,000 adults daily (352,000 aged 35+) those considered the most important of the day by the editorial team. It has Cost: Mon-Fri edition, 65p; weekend edition, £1 made the news easy to read, instead of a chore. It reassured its highly educated ABC1 demographic that it was OK to want their news simplified, with a healthy double page spread of The idea of producing a paper puzzles (because this has to be one of with a low pagination (fewer the main draws of a physical paper!). Another way the paper soothes its pages) worked on two levels. readers is through its tagline, ‘Quality, On the one hand, it kept the concise – the future of independent journalism’. It concocts an aspirational, industry costs down – fewer progressive personality for the paper articles, fewer journalists, lower and determinedly assures potential customers that they are not old- printing costs, lower delivery fashioned for reading a paper. One costs – but on the other, it hugely of its forward-thinking tactics has been to use syndicated content from appealed to an audience living in other similarly-minded newsbrands. an age of information overload. Most often, the content comes from The Independent and the Evening Standard, incidentally both owned by the i’s former owners, Alexander and Evgeny Lebedev. The paper’s latest collaboration with The Economist is an even more confident move to align itself with an established brand. Using syndicated content cuts costs and gives audiences what they want; the latest industry figures reveal that the only newsbrands showing an increased readership are those who publish weekly, of which The Economist is one. On the Fence A final reason for the i’s success must be its apparent unbiased, centrist stance on politics. While other papers throw their weight behind the political parties Public domain Public

14 In a nutshell, the main differences between the i and other newspapers back in 2010 was its cheap cover price, its compact ‘tabloid’ size and low page count and its quality-over-quantity approach to content.

during elections, the i stayed on the had long used private investigators to fence, observing the playing field dig up personal information, often by The i’s new owners, JPI with a detached overview with only illegal means. The 2011 inquiry into Media, are using the subtle inflections as to which side it journalistic ethics, led by Lord Leveson, hashtag #buyapaper would prefer to win. This has helped revealed the depth of this sleazy on Twitter to support the i maintain its reputation for good underbelly of journalism, uncovering journalists and local journalism in an era when the public’s police bribery, the hacking of murder newspapers. If you have trust in newsbrands has been severely victims’ phones and cosy friendships never bought a paper tested. And it’s not unfounded, a between media moguls and politicians. before, give it a go and quick search of the Independent The fresh faced i came along as Tweet about it – let the Press Standards Organisation’s archive the new kid on the block just at the publishers know young reveals that the brand has zero right time and managed to revive people are willing to give complaints raised against it. Thanks the format, gain public trust and old media a try! to its minimal online presence while give the industry hope that it might it grew its print brand, the i has also have a bit of life left in it yet. managed to escape the worst of the accusations of ‘fake news’ – something Read More Georgia Platman is a writer, copy editor, its former parent paper The Indy has filmmaker and media teacher based in Case study of the i launch on The suffered from since going online-only. North London. She previously worked in a Marketing Society’s website https:// newsroom as a copy editor and writer for www.marketingsociety.com/ A Matter of Timing teleSUR English. the-library/2012-independent- While the i has done a lot right, it i-newspaper-launch-case- has also enjoyed a lot of luck. Good study#TbtSkkxIYvZQicPl.97 timing has played a huge part in the Guardian: News magazines paper’s success: it came along just at enjoy circulation boost while the time readers had given up on the celebrity titles suffer https://www. more established newsbrands after from the MM vaults theguardian.com/media/2017/ the phone hacking scandal broke in Independent Thinking: an Interview aug/10/news-magazines-circulation- 2009, which revealed that newspapers with Simon Kellner, MM6 celebrity-private-eye-economist

15 Photography, cinematography and montage editing construct a powerful representation of life in the Brazilian favela in Meirelles’ City of God, says Sophie Muir. Pixabay

16 The first-person narration is used by Meirelles as an intimate, personal and thus meaningful insight into the devastating poverty of the favelas.

ocket, the narrator of City of God (Meirelles, technique is reminiscent of the documentary 2002), provides a recollection of the crime- and social realist genre, therefore creating ridden favela in Rio De Janeiro known as an apparently truthful and immersive film Cidade De Deus (City of God). The first- which powerfully portrays life in the favelas. person narration is used by Meirelles as an intimate, personal and thus meaningful The Power of Editing insight into the devastating poverty of the favelas. Connotations of threat and danger are further The movie is based on a semi-autobiographical evoked and enforced in the opening sequence 1997 novel of the same name, which explores of City of God not only through Meirelles’ realist the violence of one of Rio De Janeiro’s most approach but also through the use of big close renowned neighbourhoods, namely, City of God. The suburb was established in 1960 by ups and staccato editing. For example the first the government of Guanabara State as an shot of the movie is an extreme close up of a attempt to remove favelas from the centre knife being sharpened, accompanied by the of Rio De Janeiro. Consequently, the original non-diegetic Foley sound. This abrupt and inhabitants of the city were relocated to the intimate introduction to an object which can suburbs in an attempt to remove criminality be interpreted as a violent weapon establishes and barbarity from the heart of Rio de Janeiro. City of God with an undertone of jeopardy and In homage to Russian filmmaker Vertov’s peril. The atmosphere is further heightened cine-eye montage techniques representing ‘life by the fast-paced editing. As the film cuts unawares’, Rocket’s obvious fascination with from knife to chicken with flashing images of photography creates a method of meaningful and musical instruments in-between, the spectator personal storytelling, but also an observational is unsettled by the unsteady and off-beat cuts. account of other people’s experience within Further, the associations drawn between the the City of God. In the opening sequence of the knife and the chicken are rather sinister; as the movie, Rocket is established with his camera in chicken breaks the fourth-wall in close up, the a mid-tracking shot discussing his aspirations implicit threat to the chicken becomes clear. of becoming a photographer for the local Despite only being a feeble animal, the viewer paper. The use of the camera both as part of the is prompted to sympathise with the chicken by mise-en-scène, but also a vital macro-element the intense camerawork and editing style. As the of the narrative, signifies Rocket’s impartial montage progresses, juxtaposed images of merry omniscience, but also reinforces and replicates dancing and animal brutality create an unnerving the observational position of the audience. tone. The contrast between the implications To further create an emotive movie, Meirelles of the two subjects creates discomfort in the heavily employs the use of a handheld camera, viewer, which is then intensified by uneasy particularly in the opening sequence. This camera movements, particularly the use of

17 Alexandre Rodrigues as Rocket in City of God (2002) Photo Stock / Alamy AF archive

zoom. As the camera zooms in and out again game of football and identical rows of houses. on the chicken, the spectator loses equilibrium, However, in the opening scene of the film, mimicking the disarray of life in the favela. gangs run through narrow backstreets and passages which represents both the industrial Personifying the Favela progress but also over-population of the favela. Through use of the mise-en-scène Meirelles has The atmosphere of the favela is personified transformed a location into a character, just as through cinematic techniques beyond the central and prominent as the narrator, Rocket. opening sequence throughout the movie, where the continually changing colour palette Freeze-Frames and Fourth-Wall- and mise-en-scène of the shot replicates the evolving society within the City of God. As seen Breaking in the opening sequence, the colour palette Another noteworthy aspect of Meirelles’ is extremely low-key, high contrast and grey- filmmaking is the use of freeze-frames. This scaled. This signifies the lack of life in the favela, editing technique, as popularised by filmmakers which is further implied by its neglected and such as Scorsese, characterises the particular sordid buildings. Graffiti and overgrown plants frame with great significance. For example, the sheath the area which suggests abandonment first use of freeze-frame in City of God marks and illustrates not only the dilapidation of the the introduction of the protagonist, Rocket, in physical environment but also the society within close up, which allows the audience to infer the the favela. This idea is reinforced in an arc match- significance of his character. Rocket’s importance cut which, accompanied by Rocket’s voiceover, is further made clear by the non-diegetic, establishes the City of God in the sixties. fourth wall-breaking narration: ‘sorry, I forgot Immediately the change in the colour palette to introduce myself’. Meirelles has now clearly from inhospitable grey-scale to welcoming warm- and quickly established where our narrator, tones signifies the shift in the political and social Rocket, fits into the narrative. Additionally, the status of the favela. The contrast between the freeze frame is combined with a zoom and non- favela in the sixties and at the time of narration is diegetic camera-shutter sound effect, which notable, and visibly lessens over the course of the foreshadows Rocket’s future fascination with movie. Upon exposition of the favela in the sixties, photography. The idea that Rocket is reminiscing it is apparent that the area is underprivileged about his past through photos demonstrates yet communal. This is clear from the cooperative not only that the narrative is non-linear, but also

18 that it is a personal and thus meaningful one. which most famously inhabit Cidade De Deus, The second use of freeze-frame in City of but more importantly many other shanty towns God is much more apparent, and occurs only around neglected areas of the world. Whilst seconds later. As above, the freeze frame signifies providing insight into a life unknown to many a moment of importance; in this instance the westerners, Meirelles succeeds in creating a low-angle mid-shot of the tattered football meaningful and impassioned film which calls accompanied by the on-screen text marks the for a wider social and political awareness. beginning of a new chapter, namely ‘the story of the tender trio’. By doing this Meirelles is able to Sophie Muir is a Film Studies student at Collyer’s break-down a complex and confusing narrative College, Horsham. into segments which enable the viewer to follow the intertwining character development. The cinematic language of City of God, including personified mise-en-scène, emotive editing and subjective camerawork, contribute from the MM vaults towards creating a film which not only follows Rocket’s personal struggles with growing up City of God: Exploring Brazilian in a favela, but also reflects the widespread Cinema – Symon Quy, MM9 instability of poverty in Rio de Janeiro. The film Ghetto Culture – Pete Turner, MM35 alarmingly illustrates political and social issues

Connotations of threat and danger are further evoked and enforced in the opening sequence of City of God not only through Meirelles’ realist approach but also through the use of big close ups and staccato editing. Moviestore collection Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo Stock / Alamy collection Ltd Moviestore

19 20

Illustration by Tom Zaino What is ‘beauty’ and how do producers of advertisements for beauty products present their vision of perfection in order to sell their products? Joanna Bailey investigates.

Illustration by Tom Zaino Tom Illustration by any advertisements work within In the TV advert, we can follow the the frame of the ‘Feminine beauty manufacturing process of the legendary ideal’: the heteronormative social perfumes, Le Male and Le Classique. But, there belief that beauty is the defining are also many different representations – of characteristic of women and an asset that self-image, gender, beauty and femininity – all females should approve of and strive to that dominate the video. Using sailors and achieve. Feminine beauty, while still a broadly mannequin-looking corseted models, these subjective concept, can be represented as an discomfiting gender representations are ideal to the consumer, promoting products also reinforced with other semiotic codes. that can then help the consumer achieve We notice musical organs and perfumes, this desired state. Many of the cosmetics intolerably tight corsets and sensual images of adverts that we’re all familiar with follow the flowers that are synonymous with femininity. narrow view that beauty is as an idealised But how does this advert represent beauty state of perfection for women to aspire to. and perfection in the cosmetics industry? Notions of traditional beauty (both masculine and feminine) exist Homogeneity is Perfection? in even the earliest forms of The fact that a woman, Dutch model Daphne media. We might recognise We recognise that Groeneveld, dominates the screen time in the this in Renaissance art, such TV advert should serve an inspiring purpose. it is a man who is in as Botticelli’s ‘The Birth of Her confident entrance (reinforced by a centred Venus’ and Michelangelo’s control, a man who frame and direct mode of address) could suggest ‘David’, and more modern representations of women in advertising are has constructed representations are all around being transformed from women as passive us in the mass media. Often this passive female subjects of the male gaze to powerful and influenced by impractical notions emotionally independent agents. Yet Groeneveld gender role of beauty and attractiveness, becomes the archetypal passive female; she images of unattainable beauty can and a man’s is quickly greeted by other red-lipsticked glorify weight loss and stereotypes models who are equally objectified. They are perception of sex appeal. One example of an identically underdressed on the conveyor belts, advertisement that could be studied of idealised a message capable of manipulating the anxieties to explore notions of beauty and of young women. Perhaps such a sequence beauty and used to explore the application of serves a hegemonic function that legitimises different theoretical positions and femininity the inferior position of women in society. readings is Jean Paul Gaultier’s, Must we achieve a certain ‘look’, a face with that is actively ‘Welcome to the Factory’. no blemish or individuality, to be accepted? promoted in the

perfume advert 21 Male gaze production line. Scenes from Gaultier’s commercial

The advert recognises its audience is not a faceless mass. But it does prompt an active audience to better themselves physically to attain this feminine ideal. The women are sexualised collectively. They are all identified by their aesthetics rather than their intellect. This is achieved by the synchronised lip pouts and identical stick-thin pale body types. Is the use of makeup destructive or beneficial here? In this case, is it a visual code supported by misogyny? Can we argue that the advert represents the women as narcissistic? Although it is empowering to witness women in control of their physicality, they still appear to beautify themselves for the gratification of the male gaze. It can only be said that not only are they ‘all the same’ in terms of makeup and dress, but they all follow the other aimlessly as if governed by a These mind that is not their own, a mind we realise in the progression of the advert that is determined discomfiting gender by their ‘easily compliant female’ gender role. reresentations are Gender Roles are Perfection? also reinforced The pejorative female stereotypes promoted with other in this ad are the result of a form of ‘raunch semiotic codes. culture’. According to feminist theory, this describes a highly sexualised society in which We notice women are objectified and are encouraged to musical view the sexualisation of themselves and others as a social norm. The image of women staring organs and demurely at the sailors as they tighten a large perfumes, corset is especially disturbing. The models are also involved in moving the cogs to trigger the intolerably manufacturing process. They catwalk on pieces of tight corsets and machinery as if oblivious to the situation at hand. This encourages us to believe they are aware sensual images their bodies are projects in this process executed of flowers that by men. They amuse themselves by whistling, blowing coy kisses and embracing the finger- are synonymous points and stares. The director also cross-cuts with femininity.

22 between the sailors and models. Arguably, it was the directorial intention to portray the models as coy for the sake of audience gratification. Although the sailors are macho stereotypes, they are still members of a dominant culture or patriarchy. They are perpetrators of this female objectification, controlling the models, roping the corsets painfully tight in an extreme close up and rowing boats to catalyse the production of the perfumes. Although the sailors are themselves working for someone else’s benefit, in one respect, there is still a noticeable gender hierarchy in this video. There is a binary opposition between the male sailors that labour in the factory and the female ‘in-group’ of objectified models. As the perfume solution works its way through the factory to produce the signature fragrances, Le Must we Classique and Le Male, viewers discover Gaultier himself in the video’s denouement. The factory achieve a mise-en-scène is revealed to be enclosed within certain a fragrance package, which Gaultier firmly closes. We recognise that it is a man who is in control, ‘look’, a man who has constructed this passive female a face gender role and a man’s perception of idealised beauty and femininity that is actively promoted with no in the perfume advert. The video essentially blemish or encourages women to achieve a certain idealised appearance to be fully accepted by men. individuality, to As a whole, we can judge that feminine beauty be accepted? is constructed and reinforced by an advertising industry that seems to subscribe to a ‘raunch culture’. ‘Perfection’ and beauty have become counterparts in a performance of sorts, with the media providing an eloquent script. A particular image of beauty is represented as an ideal in the advert and others are overlooked. As a result, young girls can be made to internalise the director’s perspective of beauty. It can determine how they perceive themselves, leading to habitual body monitoring and shame. In Gaultier’s ‘Welcome to the Factory’ perfume advert, the viewer is gendered as male and is passively placed in masculine and heteronormative spectator positions, with the models on screen as objects of voyeuristic pleasure. Although the sailors are looked at in some shots, it is the male gaze that dominates.

Joanna Bailey is an English Literature student at Queen Mary University, London.

References ‘Welcome To The Factory’ Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male Commercial 2016 www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=59&v=EwNWSReNPxY

23 The Theory Drop The Theory Drop The Theory Drop The Theory Drop The Theory Drop The Theory Drop The Theory Drop The Theory Drop The Theory Drop

Semiotics

emiotics is about meaning. There is nothing about the Semiotics might sound like a Words, although just a assemblage of the letters t-a-b-l-e complicated ‘theory’ but the collection of letters, carry that suggests a flat surface on four practice of making meanings specific meanings and ideas. legs but that’s the meaning that has SWhen I teach semiotics, I begin by and reading meanings is been assigned to that word and we getting students to draw the following a media student’s bread have all agreed upon it, so a ‘table’ things: drum, tree, death. Usually the and butter. Claire Pollard becomes a table. This is semiotics. images they draw are very similar explains how it’s a fancy – a child’s toy drum, a standard oak- Signifier and Signified way of describing something shaped tree and, for death, usually we all do every day. a skull with or without crossbones. Ferdinand de Saussure said that These words immediately conjure up anything can be interpreted as a images which we have in our heads sign and signs are made up of two when we hear them. This is semiotics. parts – the signifier and the signified. Three years ago, you could only have guessed what a ‘Brexit’ might be. And presumably at some point an aubergine emoji could be used to mean ‘fancy moussaka for dinner?’ Now it has taken on an entirely

different meaning. domain Public

24 What does it all mean? Courtesy of Netflix

This is where it can start to sound goes) connote that this is an outsider certain words or references will have slightly complicated but in the or a new girl who might go on to be taken on a meaning (beyond the example I have just given you, the a disruptive force in the narrative. We dictionary definition meanings) that signifier is the word ‘table’ and the know this because we’ve seen this only you and your friends understand. signified is the surface with four legs. kind of thing before in other narratives Together you’ve arrived at and agreed Saussure was a linguist, dealing with and we use that understanding to upon that meaning. You’ve made language - but what does this mean help us read this set of images. Texts a sign; you’re doing semiotics. for students of film and media? communicate their meaning (bad girl in It happens all the time in written Most media students, certainly at town) through a process of signification and visual language. Three years ago, A level are adept at taking meanings – in this case the combinations of you could only have guessed what a that step further – into connotations. elements of mise-en-scène, costume, ‘Brexit’ might be. And presumably at When you’re writing about denotation, casting, camera and editing. some point an aubergine emoji could for example, if we see a character in be used to mean ‘fancy moussaka close-up followed by a cut to an image Making Meanings for dinner?’ Now it has taken on of an ice cream, you are reading and an entirely different meaning. And understanding the sign (signifier and Saussure also said that anything for all sorts of reasons, the same signified). When we start thinking that can be interpreted as a sign IS signifier can have multiple signified about the possible implied meanings a sign. New signs get made all the meanings, which is what polysemy - the character wants to eat the ice time. In my first lessons on semiotics, is all about and why for one person cream, this is a greedy person or I always get my class to come up (your dad) the full-stop might signify someone who deserves a treat, they are with a random word (last year it was an almost meaningless grammatical being punished somehow, these are “fastac”) and then I DO something sentence break in a written message, the connotations, the deeper meanings random, like waggling a ruler like but for another (your younger sister) that might be attached to the sign. a lunatic and we decide as a class it ‘means’ a harsh end to a social Often these deeper meanings have that this is what fastac is – the act media conversation that leaves her also been agreed upon over time. of waggling a ruler. Together we feeling upset. Signified meanings Here’s another example: a girl with have made a sign – we’ve agreed shift over time and aren’t always multiple piercings swaggers into the on a meaning for a word, we’ve anchored to the original meanings school playground as the bell goes with created a signifier and a signified and they might have had, which is a graffitied bag and chunky boots while enacted the process of signification. why people argue over words like everyone turns to look. The multiple In short, we made meaning. ‘literally’ and ‘gay’ and what they signs (her walk, her piercings, her bag, You probably do this all the time mean, and why others interpret her boots, her arrival just as the bell in your friendship groups, where visual icons in very different ways.

25 Nadia, played by Natasha Lyonne, producer and creator of Russion Doll (2018) Courtesy of Netflix

Roland Barthes and ‘Myths’ code, as they allow you to pinpoint the fruit seems to be moving through the connotations quickly and using linear time when the characters are Roland Barthes built on Saussure’s relevant theoretical vocabulary. not? How come nobody has noticed work in his collection of essays or commented on these stinking Mythologies (1957). The main takeaway A Case Study in Narrative heaps of mouldy produce? The main for media and film students here is Codes character Nadia stops to contemplate how socially constructed notions - that this question herself in a later episode is, ideas that are created collectively I’ve just finished watching Russian when she realises all the flowers and in a society - become naturalised. Doll on Netflix. It’s a brilliant (female produce in her local deli are rotting. This means that certain meanings, driven, female written and directed) The thing about semiotics as a like the phallic emoji of the previous narrative about two characters who theory in media or film studies is that paragraph, are created or brought are stuck in a loop, a glitch in the it refers to something you are probably about in society and, over time, once universe. Every day they die and already doing or already know. If enough people know about these their lives are reset to a particular you’re talking about how meaning newly constructed meanings, they moment the day before (similar to is created in an image or sequence are ‘naturalised’, accepted and agreed Groundhog Day). As they relive their of images, that’s signified meaning. upon. Just like the scenario with last day on earth around 15 or 20 times If you understand how, over time, the disruptive girl walking into high over, things (fish, people, furniture) certain things take on meaning (a school. Making meaning is a process. start disappearing. Each time their slow zoom usually means we’re meant lives reset, or the universe in which to be considering that characters’ Barthes Narrative Codes they are moving reopens, it seems dramatic thoughts or feelings) that’s to shrink. When you open Russian the ‘process of signification’. If you’re In another, later book, S/Z (1970) matryoshka dolls, they too get smaller explaining how the use of violin music Barthes suggests that there are and smaller. So the title acts as a tells us this is an emotional scene, it’s different types of signs or, as he symbolic code here. The symbol of semiotics. When someone’s telling called them ‘codes’ that help readers the Russian doll helps us (eventually) a banal story and someone mimes to understand narratives. These can to make sense of the narrative. playing a violin to make people be nicely applied to moving image At some point, fairly early on, the laugh this is a ‘naturalised’ meaning, analysis. You can use all five if you camera pans past and lingers on a close and, you guessed it, it’s semiotics. really want to be impressive (they’re up of a bowl of fruit that is entirely in the box-out) but the three you’ll rotten – only the most observant find most useful to develop your viewer (usually the student or teacher Claire Pollard is the editor of analysis of semiotics are enigma of film and media) sees this. This is an MediaMagazine. code, cultural code and symbolic example of an enigma code. How come

26 Barthes’ 5 Narrative Codes • Hermeneutic code or ‘enigma code’ – this is anything in the text that is mysterious or unexplained, usually raising questions that the reader or viewer needs answered. Enigma code is a really useful bit of vocabulary for media and film students. • Proairetic code or ‘action code’ – this refers to how sequential elements of action in the text can create meaning. Something happens (a character picks up their car keys), and it suggests what might happen next (they leave the house and go somewhere). In many ways this is simple but it’s quite hard to pin down examples if you’re not confident. • Semantic code – this refers to elements of the text that carry deeper meaning. It’s basically connotations so you might as well stick with connotations as a term if that’s what you’re used to. • Symbolic code – you can use You probably do this all this term to describe anything that has a symbolic meaning. the time in your friendship Colours in lighting, set design or groups, where certain costume for example (white for purity, red for danger or love) are words or references will examples of symbolic codes. have taken on a meaning • Cultural code – this refers to that only you and your anything in the text which refers to an external body of knowledge friends understand. such as scientific, historical, and Together you’ve arrived cultural knowledge. A Black Power salute would be an example of a at and agreed upon cultural code – in a particular part that meaning. You’ve of the world during a particular time it is loaded with meaning, made a sign; you’re in another place at another doing semiotics. time it might mean nothing.

27 t’s been a strange time. What with Brexit and the odd, shouty man who moved into the White House after the nice one left. Old certainties have been shattering. Can we trust the economy? Nope, not if all the jobs getI automated out of existence. What about politics? Are things better there? Not so much, not with fake news, deep fakes and chat-bots to mislead people into voting for self-serving hypocrites masquerading as politicians.

Public domain Public So why are the meta-narratives, those concrete certainties that seemed like they would always exist, dissolving like ice on a hot rock? Just like the actual ice It’s the freaky show that transports caps. Wasn’t the climate supposed to be inexhaustible and can’t science fix the unfixable? If we can reach the its confused protagonist back moon, why can’t we fix the planet? Just another thing to to the 1970s: Jonathan Nunns lose your faith in and the end of meta-narratives is exactly shows how you can use theories of that: a profound loss of faith in fundamental beliefs. postmodernism to help negotiate All bets are off and the future, once a drift towards a the world of Life on Mars. modernist ‘utopia’, instead looks scary, unreadable and threatening. Less Star Trek more Mad Max: Fury Road. Can one theory explain the complex turns of history? Of course not. However, it might offer a way in, a means to crack open the can. How you handle the contents is another issue, but if you don’t have the

28 Wikimedia Commons

Bowie’s intertextual track continues as Sam’s subjective state melts into a non-linear montage of music, childhood memories Philip Glenister and John Simm in Life on Mars (2006) and sound intrusions from the outside world while medics fight for his life.

Poor Sam Tyler. In season one, episode one, (the Eduqas set text) his life gets turned inside out. In the standard steely blue/grey colour-palette of crime drama, police cars move purposefully toward the home of suspected killer Colin Raimes. With rules and protocols Public domain Public observed, Tyler effects a textbook arrest. Using a minimum of force to ensure justice is done, DCI Sam gets his man. answer at least you might then know the question. Then things come unstitched. At the station, Sam’s Good timing then for A level Media Studies to ‘slam dunk’ interrogation of his prime suspect is derailed have included postmodernism as a key feature of its by the battery of social workers, case workers and theoretical framework. The concept has had a good lawyers called upon to uphold the suspect’s rights and airing in these pages (see Theory Drop: Postmodernism their revelation of an inexplicably ironclad alibi. In the MM66), so I won’t attempt a definition here. Instead I following scene, rules-obsessed Sam falls out with fellow will apply postmodernity to a set exam text, Life On Mars cop/girlfriend Maya, over his inability to act instinctively; (BBC, 2006-07). This is an example that was chosen for ‘What place is there in this room for feelings?’ he shoots its evident postmodernism (amongst other things). back, commenting on their relationship as much as the ‘Take a look at the lawman, beating up the investigation. In a misstep for a 21st century show, token female cop Maya reductively proves herself a Proppian wrong guy’ Princess by taking on the antagonist alone – promptly Postmodernism seeks to explain a world where leading to her kidnapping – after which she vanishes, her life feels unanchored and nothing can be trusted, place established as a motivational Macguffin for Sam. especially the evidence of your own eyes. So Distressed at Maya’s disappearance, Sam finally shows it is with the hyperreality of Life On Mars. relatable humanity as he tearfully drives from the scene

29 of her abduction. Diegetic sound recedes as the narrative an iPod, but a vintage cartridge-player. If this were not centres on Sam’s face close up with subjective audio POV disorientation enough, Sam abruptly meets a uniformed (point of view). After a near miss, a distracted Sam pulls officer, a stolid and fatherly figure, an intertextual link to over and diegetic-audio snaps back in. David Bowie’s ‘Life the origins of the TV crime genre, in the form of the equally on Mars’ (1971) plays on his iPod as Sam steps from his car fatherly Dixon of Dock Green (BBC, 1955-76). In a moment of only to be struck, a split second later, by a speeding vehicle. dramatic irony, the extent of Sam’s predicament becomes As Sam lies prone, a face close up takes the audience into clear. The Dixon lookalike has no knowledge of Sam’s Sam’s interior world. Bowie’s intertextual track continues modern SUV and mobile phone and yet, Sam is expected as Sam’s subjective state melts into a non-linear montage in his new surroundings, reduced to Chief Inspector and of music, childhood memories and sound intrusions transferred to a new division. Sam runs from this dystopia, from the outside world while medics fight for his life. the stark wasteland intertextually referencing the bleak landscape of 70’s crime thriller Get Carter (Hodges, 1971). ‘Wonder if he’ll ever know. He’s in the best- As he strides through Manchester, audiences see what selling show’ Sam has yet to accept, a recreated world of 70’s mise- en-scène. Finally, Sam sees a distorted reflection in a car Sam wakes, snapping him back to life, apparently wing mirror, his new self seen for the first time. Patting his unscathed; Bowie is still playing, a diegetic sound-bridge pockets, Sam finds his warrant card, a 70’s relic, leading him between worlds. Sam is now dressed in 70’s finery; leather to the Police station his 21st century self worked from. jacket, polyester shirt and flared trousers. The colour palette Sam’s squad room, familiar to him as a steely haven is transformed, a muddy green/brown grainy sludge, light of scientific professionalism, is now a sludgy, smokey years from the high definition desaturation of Sam’s 21st dystopia of overflowing ashtrays and stacked paperwork. century. Sam stands on waste-ground, which a billboard Computers replaced by typewriters, mobiles by vintage confirms, will later become the road on which he was dial phones and sleek professionals by cheaply suited, struck. His 4x4 now a dated saloon, Bowie blasts not from polyester-clad slobs. As he tries to process this, the audience acclimatises with Sam via his slow motion POV, observing first-person the newly found chaos of his previous domain. Sam’s disorientation is accepted by the team due to the mores of the time; they assume he has ‘had a couple of stiff ones’ en route, an integral part of the stereotypically macho hard living lifestyle expected of the 70’s TV cop. Completing his dislocation, a confused and irate Sam, acting the boss, runs into the actual boss, a coughing and retching intertextual lookalike of the old-school coppers beloved of shows like The Sweeney (ITV, 1975-78). Gene Hunt, Sam’s paunchy binary, emerges from his drab office to grab Sam by the lapels. Smiling at this and thinking he finally gets it, Sam has a question ‘What year is it supposed Public domain Public In the current highly uncertain climate, many might empathise with the profound sense of dislocation faced by the protagonist of Life On Mars. The hyperreal blending of modern media forms offers a confusing mass of raised Public domain Public voices and competing claims, some real, some fake, making it very difficult to know who, or what to believe.

30 to be?’, to which Gene replies, ‘It’s 1973, it’s nearly dinner time and I’m having hoops’. Here Gene makes several intertextual references. In 1973, Life On Mars would have been a zeitgeist track. The ‘dinner time’ line references an iconic quote from The Sweeney. Jack Regan, the original Gene announcing mid-arrest, ‘We’re the Sweeney son and we haven’t had our dinner, you’re nicked!’ The ‘hoops’ reference alludes to the stereotypically poor British food culture. Pasta was still exotic in 70’s Britain, the canned version a modern instant snack. An ideal junk food addendum to Gene’s hard drinking/smoking lifestyle. ‘Is there life on Mars? The opening scenes are the clearest in terms of intertextual references and wider postmodernity, not least for the doubt they cast on reality. As Sam says in his Glossary prologue to later episodes, ‘am I mad, in a coma or back in Meta-narratives time?’. Mention should also be made of the later scene where Narratives about narratives themselves. Meta-narratives the TV in Sam’s grungy flat acts as a portal to the present. are highly postmodern and self-referential. The scene implies a 21st century doctor is attempting to reach Sam via his subconscious, reinforcing the coma Postmodernism interpretation of his situation. However, the final scene of Postmodernism is an experimental cultural movement the episode, where Sam attempts suicide to shock himself that distrusts all established philosophies. It questions into reality, casts doubt on that explanation, leaving Sam on traditional structures, representations and expectations. a literal and metaphorical cliff edge, unsure of his best move. MacGuffin Life On Mars is a homage to period crime dramas, An object or device in a film or a book which employing postmodernism to transport 21st century values serves merely as a trigger for the plot. to the past, using Sam as an avatar for the modern audience. In the current highly uncertain climate, many might Zeitgeist empathise with the profound sense of dislocation faced The defining spirit or mood of a particular period of by the protagonist of Life On Mars. The hyperreal blending history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time. of modern media forms offers a confusing mass of raised Proppian voices and competing claims, some real, some fake, Referring to Vladimir Propp’s theory of narrative structure making it very difficult to know who, or what to believe. and character types. Good theory, such as postmodernism, should have direct real world relevance and impact. It is not sat-nav, to be unthinkingly followed, quite the opposite. Instead, it can help you know for yourself when you are lost, which from the MM vaults (as for Sam) is the very first step in finding your way. Life on Mars Analysis – Michael Massey, MM22

Jonathan Nunns is Head of Media Studies at Collyer’s College, Partners in Crime – Luca Johnson, MM36 Horsham.

31 In this case study, Laurence Russell examines the success of Telltale Games, one of the most successful companies in the industry and suggests the reasons behind its downfall. Images courtesy of Telltale Games Telltale Images courtesy of

32 Telltale’s The Wolf Among Us

33 n the 28th of December 2018 Netflix released an innovative new film as part of The unfortunate news sparked the Black Mirror franchise entitled a wave of debate amid game Bandersnatch. Bandersnatch is a unique production referred to as an ‘interactive film’. Its news sites around the urgent story is reliant on viewer choice, as Netflix need for games developers subscribers select decisions for the protagonist to undertake during the story, leading to myriad to unionise. Several almost endings, each more gruesome than the last. dystopian and farcical accounts The film was released around the same time Netflix released Minecraft: Story Mode, surfaced concerning developer developed by Telltale Games to be ‘played’ exploitation in the games industry. through their service. Netflix’s sudden investment in the interactive film with Black Mirror seems to be motivated by a partnership deal they made with Telltale Games in June 2018 in which they agreed to stream all their games as interactive films through their online service. An exciting prospect until Telltale Games unexpectedly dissolved overnight on the 21st of September just months later. To understand how such dizzying success could precede such sudden and absolute failure, we have to go back to the beginning. In 2012, Telltale Games, a small developer of ‘point and click’ adventure games, released The Walking Dead, an adventure game set in the world of Robert Kirkland’s wildly popular comic series of the same name. The game was an astounding success, with lots of critical praise and staggering sales numbers. The game’s ‘episodic’ release, spread across five separate release days between April and November, separated the game’s story into individually crafted chapters, each of which seemed to gain popularity as the game snowballed its way into gaming history, much

like an explosive season of a television show. Games Telltale Images courtesy of

34 The Walking Dead heavily modernised the projects that were released in Telltale’s heyday. woefully outdated formula of adventure games The full scope of Telltale’s legacy in trailblazing by massively simplifying and streamlining its the narrative adventure game, and perhaps a notorious puzzles, combining short problem- new cinematic medium may not yet be fully solving sections with carefully written dialogue understood as Netflix makes its first steps into and high-stakes cinematic decision making. the realm of financing interactive films. Telltale continued their long streak of creating Telltale never quite recaptured the sheer games set in existing universes, visiting the hype of their breakout success in The Walking worlds of Game of Thrones, Borderlands, Guardians Dead, instead entering something of a rut. of the Galaxy, Batman, and of course Minecraft. The rust on their game engine started to Across these games, Telltale continued show as formulaic plots became frequent in to streamline their formula until they their work. Nevertheless, Telltale never lost spearheaded a new subgenre known as the favour with their fans. Innovative, witty writing ‘narrative adventure game’ a cinematic variant cemented Telltale’s reputation as a gaming of the genre with a large emphasis on filmic household name for almost a decade. set pieces, clever, innovative dialogue, and Then, the company’s executives announced player choice, which set their work far apart their studio’s bankruptcy in late September from the more sedate traditional proponents 2018, firing 90% of their employees without of point-and-click adventure that they had severance, leaving only a skeleton crew to fulfil cut their teeth on in the late 2000s. minor obligations. Development of its major A sudden newfound popularity of narrative releases was abandoned overnight. These adventure games brought on by The Walking discarded projects included the remaining Dead paved the way for the release of other episodes of The Walking Dead: The Final Season, games in the same vein such as Life is Strange the last game in the series, and the pre- or Night in the Woods that may not have been production work on a Stranger Things game. conceived of or thought commercially viable if it We now know that this occurred due to weren’t for the achievements of Telltale Games. Telltale’s ‘last major investor’ pulling their This is to only speak of well-known titles, and funding unexpectedly leading to the executives

35 scrambling to ‘end all production as soon as possible’ to mitigate the costs of a startlingly messy collapse of a beloved developer, as fans could only look on in stunned silence. Telltale’s story developers went from enjoying secure jobs at the cutting edge of a global industry to being herded out of their offices within thirty minutes of the company’s decision, left struggling to pay rent and losing access to their healthcare benefits. Intellectual properties like The Wolf Among Us went from being set in stone for release, to being unlikely to see the light of day ever again. Melissa Hutchison, the voice actress for The Walking Dead series’ leading lady, Clementine, explained she received the news practically mid-take during a recording session, and that she and the sound team were forced to ‘immediately end’ their session before being ordered out into the cold parking lot. Three days after, a class action lawsuit was filed against the company for breaking federal law by not warning employees before In the sea of ultraviolent laying them off en masse. The results of this accusation have yet to be resolved, but from gun-toting that is the an outside perspective, the evidence against modern video game market, the executives seems rather damning. The unfortunate news sparked a wave of Telltale continuously debate amid game news sites around the urgent delivered character-driven need for games developers to unionise. Several almost dystopian and farcical accounts surfaced narrative content where concerning developer exploitation in the games no one else could. industry, such as Rockstar’s methods of forcing their employees to work eighty-hour weeks in the lead up to the release of Red Dead Redemption 2. In the aftermath of the incident, former Telltale employees leaked a string of unfortunate stories

that shed some light on the nature of the studio’s Games Telltale Images courtesy of

36 downfall. They spoke of the executives’ gambit remains to be seen but, at the very least, Telltale’s of pumping out more and more episodes to a legacy seems as strong as ever in the wake of tried and tested formula, using an outdated and their ignoble end, and the vacuum of narrative- overtired game engine while the company ran heavy games only widens in their absence. at an uninterrupted loss in the vain hope that Fans stuck with Telltale because although they’d strike gold like they had with The Walking their games felt samey, not many developers Dead. One employee laments that they were were creating anything with a story focus. essentially ‘making the same game over and over’. In the sea of ultraviolent gun-toting that This came as some surprise, since criticism is the modern video game market, Telltale of ‘the Telltale formula’ expressed in game continuously delivered character-driven reviews is often thought to be an unfair narrative content where no one else could. remark about a burgeoning genre finding Telltale Games breathed life into the its feet, only for it to transpire that the narrative adventure media genre, something employees themselves were more upset both video game publishers and digital about the problem than any of their critics. streaming services are now investing millions As the years passed, the executives continued in, and their reward was constant financial to rely upon the same practices that had uncertainty and eventual unemployment. forced the studio into such a tough financial It’s a terrifying reality of the commercialised and creative position. It is perhaps a small world we live in that our pioneers of mercy that even the collapse of Telltale Games entertainment are given such a raw deal in has inspired the games industry to action in exchange for their creativity, especially in campaigning for fairer working practices, and the video games sector. We can only hope less precarious economic models. For fans, some of the world of narrative adventure Telltale’s closure leaves little to be hopeful for. media can accommodate the people who The precise fate of the company’s properties invented it, as the trend continues to has yet to be confirmed by its executives, and draw interest across the media map. the remaining episodes of The Walking Dead: The Final Season are planned to be conducted Laurence Russell is an A level media technician, a by Skybound Entertainment with the original freelance media journalist and an aspiring author. development team, although it’s unclear if every former Telltale employee has regrouped there. Whether the former Telltale employees find a permanent home at Skybound, or yet again find themselves ushered on to new pastures

37 Days after 9/11, with the US economy frozen in shock, President Bush ordered Americans, as their patriotic duty, to go shopping. September 2018, Nike – with their latest campaign – have trumped Bush and turned shopping into an act of revolutionary protest. Welcome to the end of history. By Rashid Nix.

Kaepernick’s activism and celebrity has somehow eclipsed the police brutality issue he was originally protesting about and courtesy of the sports brand, he has become the iconic face of modern protest.

38 Robin Utrecht/SIPA USA/PA Images USA/PA Robin Utrecht/SIPA

The attention grabbing billboard campaign from Nike I suspect that actually this is a world Harlem for a photo shoot to invoke where Black lives probably don’t matter the spirit of The Greatest, Muhammed and brown lives (of Asian sweat shop Ali, who would often hang out in the workers) definitely don’t matter – but world’s most famous black community Nike sales and profits certainly do. Nike when he was banned from boxing has spent three decades burrowing for his anti-Vietnam War stance. hen Colin Kaepernick into the souls of black folk. More took a stand, or rather than any other institution (with the Brand Synergy a knee, to protest exception of the church), they have The relationship between the sports against police brutality finally achieved the unachievable; industry and clothing brands has duringW the national anthem at the the Swoosh has managed to splice always been important. In 1985 – two NFL games, he divided a country, itself into DNA blackness to the extent years before Kaepernick’s birth – rookie angering Donald Trump who on the host now craves the parasite. Michael Jordan slipped past then top Twitter said that the ‘sons of bitches’ Kaepernick’s activism and celebrity NBA shoe supplier, Converse (ironically who disrespect the American flag has somehow eclipsed the police now owned by guess who?) after being should be fired. But many were brutality issue he was originally ‘dissed’ by his favoured Adidas and inspired. Subsequently Kaepernick protesting about and courtesy of the signed with Nike. No one believed was frozen out of the league – he sports brand, he has become the iconic this would be the most brilliant move didn’t play for the best part of a year. face of modern protest. Kaepernick’s in the history of marketing. It’s not Nike’s ‘Just Do It’ 30th anniversary stylist, Rachel Johnson, turned him haters’ hyperbole; but Nike were in campaign, fronted by Kaepernick, now into a catwalk Black Panther for the real danger of disappearing in the no longer playing as a quarterback November GQ front cover, dressing 80s when they were pitched against in the NFL, must rank as the most him in iconic 60s black revolutionary Adidas, whose sales were buoyed by cynical marketing move ever made: it garb complimenting his huge Afro. In the burgeoning hip hop generation’s was style over substance, well-crafted a further nod to that turbulent decade, love of their ‘shell toes’ (Adidas imagery versus cold economic reality. GQ cynically packed Kaepernick off to Superstar), climaxing with rap duo Run

39 DMC’s 1986 smash hit, ‘My Adidas’. Nike, with a master stroke of long- game genius, initially paid Jordan $500,000 annually and in return experienced stratospheric growth their rivals could only dream about. By building their brand image around Jordan’s ‘cool’, Nike’s stock and shoe sales flew. The Air Jordan was the ultimate gamechanger and when the NBA banned them for dress code violations, Nike’s marketing team actually hyped the controversy and stores couldn’t keep up with demand. They realised ‘black cool’ sells sportswear...and there is nuttin’ cooler than a black superstar baller, soaring way over his opponents heads, in front of millions of screaming fans, to slam-dunk a large brown ball into an 18 inch hoop whilst wearing a pair of (banned) black and red Air Jordans. The legend was born. By 1988, when Nike enlisted the services of a young, black, film-director named Spike Lee, to shoot a series of (ice cool!) adverts featuring Jordan and Spike Lee’s alter ego, Mars Blackmon, it was game over for other sports brands. As the 1990s arrived Nike had the crown and they’ve been wearing it –with increasing swagger – ever since. They had everything on lock: basketball courts, football fields and the streets by employing this formula again and again. Today, Nike supply footwear to approximately 75% of the NBA. courts – from Harlem to Compton – Styled as a Black Panther activist, Colin giving away fresh exclusive kicks to Kaepernick is the face of modern protest Exploiting the Black players with the nicest game. This Community was classic street hustling- instantly But as Jordan’s gravity defying skills recognisable to drug dealers- as a way Nike’s ‘Just Do It’ tore through NBA, the crack epidemic to kickstart demand whenever new 30th anniversary ripped through black America. The product arrived. According to Naomi political response to the growing crack Klein, Nike called this technique ‘Bro- campaign, fronted by crisis was classic kneejerk; tougher ing’(as in ‘Hey bro! You like these?’), ex-NFL quarterback policing and harsher, mandatory prison but in today’s modern sales babble, sentencing. ‘Super predators’ was the ‘brands now have to engage key Colin Kaepernick, term Hilary Clinton used to demonise market influencers’. And have been must rank as the most a generation of inner city black youth successfully exploiting and glorifying in 1994, which brought the full weight the streets for profit ever since. cynical marketing of US law enforcement crashing down In 2013 the Black Lives Matter move ever made: on them. Under President Bill Clinton movement was born. Soon after, – elected by huge numbers of black the American Dialect Society chose it was style over voters – the prison population rose #BlackLivesMatter as their word of the substance, well-crafted alarmingly and disproportionately. year and Yes! Magazine picked it as one Meanwhile, Nike’s marketing crews of the twelve hashtags that changed imagery versus cold were working out how to profit from the world in 2014. By September 2016 economic reality this, stalking inner city basketball the phrase had been tweeted 30 million

40 times. Activism was changing and Nike, slavery, branding was brutally used by this time NFL’s main sponsor, knew on slaves to denote ownership and it. The online media storm created by hamper escape. Fast forward to 2018, Beyonce’s 2016 Super Bowl half-time consumers now run towards brands show, inspired by the Black Panthers’ for their liberation. According to 50th anniversary, would have been Brandwatch, 91% of consumers would followed closely by their analysts switch to a brand that supports a working out how they could turn this good cause, if it had similar price and phenomenon into a profit for Nike. quality. Moreover, 92%, if given the So, do the math; March 2018, choice, would support a product with Nike agrees a 10-year extension a social or environmental benefit. to its 5-year $1.1bn NFL contract. Kap’s NFL career has already peaked, Industry insiders believe Nike are while Nike’s revenues continue to ‘shutting out’ competition with these climb and are looking to hit $50 Outraged patriots mega deals. Meanwhile, speculation billion by 2022. However, his activism posted clips of grows that Kap (who ‘only’ earned has created a new, more lucrative, $39 million of his $126million San socially rewarding, conscience-salving themselves cutting Francisco contract) will get his own role: that of civil rights activist whilst, the swooshes out ‘socially conscious’ subsidiary brand. ironically, on the payroll of one of This claim is supported by very brisk the most exploitative companies out of their socks or sales of his online merchandise. there. According to a 2017 Guardian burning their Nike Of the 100,000 Twitter posts in expose, Nike’s Asian factory workers the first 24 hours of the Just Do It – when not fainting from long days gear (duh!),’woke’ campaign, the #BoycottNike only or excessive heat – earn about £150 parents sent their made up a fraction of that amidst per month, which is the price of ONE huge support for Nike and Kaepernick. pair of sports shoes. Nike sell 25 pairs kids to school decked An estimated $43 million of free every second, according to analyst out in the swoosh advertising did wonders for the new Matt Powell (that’s 125 pairs shifted in campaign’s profile. And while outraged the 5 seconds it took you to read that to show solidarity... patriots posted clips of themselves last sentence! 1500 pairs gone in 60 as if this multi-billion cutting the swooshes out of their socks seconds!). Meanwhile, Michael Jordan, or burning their Nike gear (duh!),’woke’ the jewel in Nike’s crown, earns $5 dollar company really parents sent their kids to school million a month from his subsidiary needs their support! decked out in the swoosh to show brand which sold a staggering $4 solidarity... as if this multi-billion dollar billion worth of shoes last year. company really needs their support! In Greek mythology, Nike is the fabled I screamed in disbelief when actress goddess of victory. Maybe her message Jenifer Lewis appeared on the Emmy’s is long overdue for the thousands of red carpet in a Nike top, emblazoned Asian female factory workers who toil with a giant diamond-encrusted six 12-hour-days a week. With minimal swoosh proclaiming, ‘this one’s for employment rights, short contracts Kaepernick!’ He’s received accolades (opposed to Nike’s 10-year deals) and and awards from Sports Illustrated, maximum worker exploitation there The American Civil Liberties Union is no victory in sight for them or their and GQ magazine amongst others families and I have yet to see any for his services to kneeling. Even the overpaid celebrity take a knee on their References Kardashians follow him on Instagram! behalf. That’s why I don’t just do it. Nike skilfully market themselves as https://www.esquire.com/style/ a company not afraid to get involved g2811/coolest-sneakers-of-2016/ Rashid Nix is a media educator and activist in wider societal issues. However, in London. http://uk.businessinsider.com/ according to an NY Times article nike-nba-shoes-sneakers- from October 2018, they were on the 2015-2?r=US&IR=T verge of dropping Kaepernick until their chief communications officer https://hoopshype.com/ personally intervened to explain category/sneakers/ just how badly that would play out https://www.nytimes. amongst their core buyers– racially com/2018/09/04/sports/nike- diverse and two thirds under 35 years colin-kaepernick.html old. During the 300 years of plantation

41 Bandersnatch has definitely been cooking up a social media storm, with Twitter users taking to their phones to live-tweet their experience and Redditers raking through every possible choice outcome to provide people with flowcharts of every pathway and potential ending. Stuart Hendry/Netflix

42 Will Poulter as computer programmer Colin Ritman in Bandersnatch

With the new Black Mirror giving the viewer control over the narrative, are we all becoming consumers and producers at the same time? Missouri Sutcliffe looks at the options.

43 en seconds, two options: finish The traditional sense of the that two thousand word essay that’s due in tomorrow or watch audience no longer exists Black Mirror on Netflix. You have because social media, such a pretty good idea which road each decision will lead you as Twitter live-tweets and down and your story will end up differently Reddit-rabbit-holes allow us to whichever you choose, for better or worse. We’re faced with choices upon choices in our everyday ‘talk back’, to express every lives. Buy that takeaway or use up that tin of emotion, criticism, appraisal. beans in the back of the cupboard; walk to work or catch the bus; listen to that podcast or this We mould the cultural climate playlist. Well, you’d better get used to it, because as much as it moulds us. we’re about to be barraged with even more decision-making after the release of Netflix’s new interactive Black Mirror film Bandersnatch, which gives viewers ten seconds to make two-option decisions at different intervals within the plot. Incredibly, the film doesn’t cut to a black screen and pause the viewing as you’d imagine; the flow of the motion picture remains seamlessly unbroken, almost as if Stefan was always going to pick Sugar Puffs over Frosties. That really is one of the choices. And yes, you will be wondering how significantly a cereal choice is going to affect your protagonist’s future. It really gets the cogs turning on how every decision you make, however small and seemingly unimportant, can affect your life drastically. Honestly, as if we weren’t involved in enough mind games. The introduction of this pioneering technology into one of the most popular streaming services is great news, especially for those of us who take to Reddit each night to disparage this narrative choice and that character flaw. But will the latest technological development be a hit? Bandersnatch has definitely been cooking up a social media storm, with Twitter users taking to their phones to live-tweet their experience and Redditers raking through every possible choice outcome to provide people with flowcharts of every pathway and potential ending, of which there are ‘officially’ five, with each providing a multitude of variations. This doesn’t mean interactive programmes will take off, though, especially when you consider the speed at which we eat up developments and regurgitate them. Besides, we’re actually no stranger to the prospect of options within storytelling. There are plenty of choose-your-own-adventure books, such as Emma Campbell Webster’s Lost in Austen, the Fighting Fantasy books of the 1980s, or even the immersive storylines of first-person video games such as The Witcher or Far Cry franchises, that allow us to delve into a world as if we are really in it. Interactivity within storytelling is another layer of immersion within the escapist Image courtesy of Netflix

44 Bowl of Frosties? Fionn Whitehead as Stefan Butler in Bandersnatch

45 fantasy of living in a fictional world, which is very desirable, assuming you’re not diving straight into a Stephen King novel… unless that’s what you’re into. It would seem the moving image industry has been sitting on a gold mine for years, and Netflix has blown the whole thing wide open. In fact, streaming sites seem to be an almost unfairly ideal platform for this particular technology, seeing as most people will use their laptops, phones and game consoles to access these sites. Although, to avid gamers, Bandersnatch might not be so appealing, given that it is much more small-scale and finite compared to a lot of video/computer games out there. The streaming giant has been trialling its latest foray into new technologies for the past year with children’s shows such as Puss in Book: Trapped in an Epic Tale (2017). This is the ideal testing ground, because to a child there are no boundaries. Children are constantly pushing the limits of what they can and can’t interact with, and the testing must have paid off for Netflix to commission Bandersnatch, which is aimed at an adult audience. But they shouldn’t get too comfortable, as they are still walking into new, unstable terrain. Pitching interactivity to adults is going to be harder than convincing a child to engage with its content. Most adults watch television shows and films because they want to relax after a long day at work; they want to be immersed in a different life even if it’s just for thirty minutes. To ask them then, to make the decisions, after they’ve spent the last eight hours at work making decisions, could be a difficult task. It begs the question: do we really want to be the writers? Arguably, one of the best parts of watching a television series or a film is the debate that springs from them, whether that be from the Pitching interactivity to actual themes and content, or from your opinions on a plotline or character or cliffhanger. I love a adults is going to be discussion as much as the next person. In fact, harder than convincing in my house we have an ongoing debate about redeemable characters – specifically about Luke a child to engage (Ryan Gosling) and Avery (Bradley Cooper) in with its content. Most Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines (2012) – and let me tell you, it gets pretty heated. adults watch television But does that mean that any of us would actually shows and films want to change how the story unfolds? If you’re familiar with the media theorist Clay Shirky’s ‘end because they want of audience’ theory, then perhaps the negatives to be immersed in a of interactive episodes are already ringing in the back of your mind. Once we were all just different life even if it’s consumers, but now we have also become the just for thirty minutes. producers. The traditional sense of the audience no longer exists because social media, such as Twitter live-tweets and Reddit-rabbit-holes allow us to ‘talk back’, to express every emotion, criticism, appraisal. We mould the cultural

46 Image courtesy of Netflix

climate as much as it moulds us. But are we just falls and mass consumerism we know today. In Hmmm. I’m not sure becoming an echo chamber of ourselves? If social this sense, Netflix and Black Mirror have allowed this was the right decision. media has taught us anything, the more we themselves to skirt the question of debunking discuss the more we seem to disagree, and the the very technology they are incorporating and more we dig deeper into our respective camps. selling, which is perhaps a disservice to Black Perhaps interactive technology will only add to Mirror in itself; a show praised for its bold and self- the discourse of contempt we have created for aware approach to the negatives of technology. ourselves. In engaging audiences more deeply, If interactive TV series and films kick off, what we may lose the sense of escapism and light does this mean for the future of screenwriting relief we crave in our viewing habits. We enjoy art and the future of viewing habits? With the because it has been created, exists as a finished recent release of Bandersnatch we’ll soon product and we can forge opinions on it based find out what the future holds. But for now, on its categorically unchanging existence. If we all I can say is that the landscapes we are changed everything we didn’t like we’d have familiar with are changing and a whole new no stability at all. We’d also have no artists, world is being created. But would you choose because in this instance, in a sense, we’ve all to enter it? The power is in your hands. become the artists. We all have a stake in it, and suddenly that’s quite a worrying thought for Missouri Sutcliffe is a film student at Oxford Brookes the future of creativity and ownership of it. University. Netflix certainly know what they are doing, though. After all, they’ve picked not only one of their most popular TV shows, but perhaps the most appropriate. Black Mirror is famous for its often-unsettling exploration into the consequences of technology and the way humans decide to use technology, and most ‘Black Mirror’ episodes do not look favourably on technology’s place within civilisation. Significantly, Bandersnatch is set in the 1980s, an era devoid of social media and the rapid technological rises and

47 In addition to its

Hollywood style ‘rags Caroline Birks considers to riches’ narrative, whether the audiences’ when first watching expectations about reality are being manipulated in an Searching for apparent search for the ‘truth’ Sugarman you’d be in Searching for Sugarman. forgiven for thinking it was a big budget fictional film because of the cinematography and general style of the film.

48 ver since the earliest documentaries delighted uses a muted colour palette and a range of abstract images. and enthralled their viewers in the early days of All the micro elements used here deliberately reinforce film, critics have questioned the authenticity of this sense of mystery and signify to the audience that the images on screen. The Lumiere Brothers’ 1895 this will be an investigative documentary much like Nick film Workers Leaving the Factory was one of the first Broomfield’s Kurt and Courtney (1998) which investigated ‘actualities’ that captured people going about their everyday the death of Kurt Cobain. However, this is misleading business. But, if you look closer, you begin to see that the as, unknown to the audience at this point, Rodriguez is workers seem to know that the camera is there. Occasionally, actually still alive and living a peaceful life in Detroit. they look in its direction and many of them seem to be Searching for Sugarman begins by establishing the myths dressed rather formally for an average day at work. A film surrounding Sixto Rodriguez in order to create a more that appears to have captured the ‘truth’ seems staged. powerful, engaging narrative. The spectator is shocked to The question of how much film makers have manipulated hear of such a brutal suicide at the beginning of the film their footage to create their narrative is one that has been and therefore relieved when they later discover it is not at the centre of documentary-making for many years. true. We also experience the elation of a happy ending Some documentary modes such as the observational when Rodriguez appears on stage performing to his South mode (also known as direct cinema or cinema verité) African fans at the end of the film. The response from the aim to capture the truth with as little interference as viewer is arguably more complex and conflicted than if they possible. The job of the filmmaker is to observe and were watching a fictional film because what we are told record events with a sense of detachment. Interviews, about Rodriguez, is true. In The Documentary Film Book voiceovers and reconstructions are all avoided to capture (Ed. Brian Winston) Annette Hill suggests that spectators of the truth. Albert Maysles (a pioneer of the direct cinema documentary experience a range of responses when viewing movement and a contemporary of D.A. Pennebaker) said documentary and take a default critical position. Some viewers may feel manipulated by the structure of Searching ‘A true documentary is shot with no control. for Sugarman and therefore take an oppositional reading of You might even call it uncontrolled cinema.’ the text. Some reviewers have called the story ‘far-fetched’. However, other documentary makers have taken a In addition to its Hollywood style ‘rags to riches’ narrative, different, more controlled approach. John Grierson when first watching Searching for Sugarman you’d be (considered to be the father of the British documentary) forgiven for thinking it was a big budget fictional film defined documentary as ‘the creative treatment of actuality’ because of the cinematography and general style of the and favoured the expository mode. The expository film. The opening wide shots of the mountains of Cape mode features ‘voice of god’ narration and promotes a Town, are beautifully cinematic with sweeping crane shots specific point of view. An example is Watt and Wright’s of Chapman’s Peak, a well-known route in South Africa often Night Mail (1936) which used staged, studio footage and used in car commercials. Segerman, who drives this route, poetic voiceover to show the importance of the postal had to re-do this shot 25 times because the director, Malik service. Grierson’s definition of documentary highlights Bendjelloul, had a specific image in mind. The ‘talking head’ the problematic nature of this interviews with music executives form – how can a film be real and and people that know Rodriguez, are truthful when the filmmaker has beautifully framed with participants treated the footage creatively? often off centre and in shallow focus. Although ideas about documentary This positioning and careful control have moved on since then, the same of the camera is not something debates over truthfulness and creativity we would usually expect from still surround documentaries today. documentary, the norm usually being For example, the 2012 award-winning hand-held camera and interviews documentary Searching for Sugarman, sometimes happening ‘on the run’. has been accused of deliberately Another unexpected feature creating an air of mystery about of the documentary is the use of musician Sixto Rodriguez. We can see animation. Although graphs, maps and this in the pre-title sequence where the other illustrations are often used in voiceover of Stephen ‘Sugar’ Segerman documentary to present information, tells the audience about one of the Searching for Sugarman uses biggest albums in South Africa in the 1970s called Cold Fact animation in a more extensive way. For example, a sketch by Rodriguez. He tells us that nothing was known about the of Detroit takes us back to 1968 when Dennis Coffey first artist but that his popularity matched that of The Beatles. saw Rodriguez play. Coffey’s voiceover reinforces the earlier The sequence ends with Segerman saying that Rodriguez established mystery as his description of the scene in the bar had committed suicide by setting fire to himself on stage, is similar to a film noir location. Later, we see an animated ‘the most grotesque suicide in rock history’. Whilst the minor Rodriguez walking the streets of Detroit before cutting key music builds in volume, we cut to a title sequence which to actual footage of the city. This montage, set to music,

49 n the documentary, Stephen Segerman tells us how the album, Cold Fact, was like the soundtrack to their lives. The lyricsI in Rodriguez’s album resonated Linus Halls / SCANPIX/TT Images Association Agency/Press News with many South Africans during the struggle who were deeply unhappy with the prejudice and injustice during the apartheid years. Maggie Miranda met with Stephen Segerman Sixto Rodriguez, the lost musician in Searching For Sugarman in Cape Town recently. She wanted to know more about his involvement gives us a sense of location and the political issues that in making the documentary. Rodriguez wrote about. The use of Super 8 film stock and a vintage iPhone app provide a sense of authenticity, working in a similar way to archive footage and reconstruction What did you know about Rodriguez – techniques typical of other documentary films. back then? Despite (or because of) manipulating documentary Very little. And the album was banned conventions, Searching for Sugarman proved a great success. during the censorship of the apartheid It opened the Sundance Film Festival in 2012 and won many government. Later we believed that he awards including a BAFTA for Best Documentary Film and was dead. There was no Wi-Fi to check it an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Part of out, no ‘Mr Google’. Even when there was its undeniable appeal is its focus not only on Rodriguez’s internet years later, there was nothing career but also on the nature of fame, the control of record about Rodriguez, just the website that companies and most importantly, apartheid, censorship my friend and I put together asking ‘are and music as protest. Perhaps even more intriguing than there any musicologists out there?’ Of the story of Sixto Rodriguez and his music is the story of course, if we had been able to reach the making of the documentary and its director Bendjelloul. him all these years ago, that would have Telling the story of Rodriguez was a labour of love for been great but there would be no film. Bendjelloul. He directed, filmed (using his iPhone when I’m interested in the sequence of money for film stock ran out), created the animations and events. How did it all start? wrote some of the music. He spent 1,000 days editing the We really believed that he had died. film. His influence on the film doesn’t stop with technical At the time there was so little telling us aspects though. He scripted some of the dialogue of the film anything about what had happened and recorded several people telling the same story, choosing to him. We just wanted to know more the best version in the final edit. His approach to the ‘truth’ and started asking questions. When is apparently influenced by German director Werner Herzog we tracked him down and when he who, according to Leo Robson in the Financial Times, phoned me at my home...wow! ‘wants to tell stories and doesn’t feel beholden to facts’. Searching for Sugarman was Bendjelloul’s debut documentary. His success in telling this story, despite The question of how financial issues, proved Bendjelloul was a talented much film makers have and determined young film maker. By presenting his version of the truth and by questioning the ‘truths’ manipulated their footage around Rodriguez, he was perhaps harking back to to create their narrative is those very early documentaries and questioning the very notion of searching for the truth. one that has been at the centre of documentary Caroline Birks is Head of Media and Film Studies at Hills Road making for many years. Sixth Form College, Cambridge.

50 What’s it like to see Rodriguez live? Stephen ‘Sugar’ Let me tell you what it’s like to see Rodriguez on stage. There’s all the Segerman tells build-up. He comes on stage, helped the audience by his daughters. He shuffles to a chair. He sits. He tunes his guitar. It’s all quite Stephen Segerman in 2018 about one of the a performance. But he’s strong. He’s biggest albums not frail at all, well he wasn’t then. How did you meet Malik Bendjelloul? in South Africa Malik was a documentary maker, in the 1970s with an interest in rock musicians. He’d been working for Swedish television. called Cold Fact Anyway, he was visiting South Africa, by Rodriguez. looking for a good story. We had one. There was already some footage, shot He tells us that by a member of the band and myself. nothing was Malik had done research. He came to my house and asked questions. known about the When he watched Man on Wire and artist but that he contacted the producer Simon Chinn, he said to him ‘I’ve got a film here that’s his popularity better than Man on Wire. And so it began. matched that of The film opened at Sundance film festival. We were all there. It got an Maggie Miranda by Photo The Beatles. amazing reception. Rodriguez got up and played a tune after the screening. Rodriguez was dead, he was not only postcard, epic Cape Town scene. The audience went nuts. Remember, very much alive but also on tour in Tell me about the Oscar success. they had just watched a film where at the Australia and NZ. In 1981 he was the It was Malik’s first feature documentary beginning they thought that Rodriquez support act for the band Midnight Oil and it was brilliant. We were all there, was dead. Then the story unfolds in because they shared the same manager, all except Rodriguez. He didn’t want it the documentary. And now here he Zev Eizik. If we had known that, then we to be about him. That’s Rodriguez. is, performing live in front of them. would have known that he was alive, but Afterwards, because the film had I’m curious about which facts might we only found out about his Australian won, Malik, Craig and I got into all have been tweaked for the film. tours that night, with Rodriguez literally these huge celebrity-filled parties. I What was left out? After all, any standing in front of us for the first time. met Buzz Aldrin, a childhood hero for documentary only offers a version of Malik and I were discussing the film. me, and I thought to myself, I don’t the ‘truth’. What were the facts, the We both said, ‘what do we do here? Do belong here, I should go home. cold facts if you like? Where is the truth we bring this in? But we decided no, You played a vital role in the telling in this film? this was not our story in South Africa. of this story and the creation of a It’s all true. Nothing is made up. It’s For fans here, this was about Rodriguez unique documentary. I wonder...what all as it happened. Remember, when being found and coming here for the if you hadn’t asked those questions? we were looking into all of this it was first time. And that was incredible. What if you had never spoken with pre-internet, February/March of 98. What were some of the interesting Rodriquez’s daughter? Do you ever The story unfolded over many years. things in production? think about that? After we eventually made contact The footage came from all over. More than you can imagine! I’m a with Rodriguez, there was the We shot some of it in the streets of huge music fan. I loved this musician. excitement of getting him to South Cape Town, in the stairs by my home, And I got to become part of this story. Africa to play live. I mean, it was in the record shop and in this room In the 70s my friends gave me the brilliant. He was finally coming to SA. (a room full of vinyl, CDs, posters). nickname Sugar. And here was this The film has been accused of omitting There was a band member who had artist singing ‘Sugarman’…weird huh? facts. What actually happened was, when some footage from gigs and she gave I’m humbled that I got to be involved. Rodriguez arrived in Cape Town, he had that to Malik. And then Malik shot so his wife, Connie, and two daughters, much of it himself, with a super 8 camera. Maggie Miranda is a freelance film writer Eva and Regan, with him. Connie sat This was such a small production. and film examiner. us down and took out a photo album The opening sequence of me of performance pics. It was then and driving on Chappies (Chapmans only then, that we came to learn that Peak) took 26 takes. But Malik knew during those years that we had thought exactly what he wanted, that picture

51 52

Carlos Somonte / Netflix From the Netflix film, Roma

Nick Lacey examines Cuarón’s use of the long take and explores how he uses this, and other methods, to create a sense of realism in his films from Y Tu Mama Tambien in 2001 to Roma in 2018.

53 uch of early film theory considered the extent to Cuarón subverts which the medium could be considered to be realist. When movement was added to photography, his (and Bazin’s) cinema was invented and reality could be idea of realism reproduced in four dimensions (the rules of perspective adding the third dimension to flat by having Luisa screens, the fourth adding the capacity for break the ‘fourth movement through time). One of the most influential theorists, André Bazin, believed that the long take and wall’. As she deep focus cinematography were the ideal techniques for dances back to producing realist films. He thought that editing overly determined what the audience should look at and reminded us the boys she we are watching a film. Deep focus, allied with the long take, looks directly allowed the spectator to choose what to look at. Alfonso Cuarón, the director of Y Tu Mamá También clearly agrees with him: into the camera ‘…in a long take, we can shift our focus from the and, in doing character to the background and back again. We can notice things we otherwise wouldn’t. Scenes shot in long so, reminds takes feel ‘more real’ not just because of the continuity us we are of time and performance, but also because we have the time to really invest in the backgrounds.’ (August 2014) watching a film. The long take is one of Cuarón’s signature techniques. His films often include a ‘sequence shot’, in which the whole Roma (2018) scene is shot without edits; you can catch how powerful Alfonso Cuarón / Netflix Cuarón Alfonso

54 Luisa in Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001) breaks the fourth wall to remind the audience that what they are watching is a TCD/Prod.DB / Alamy Stock Photo Stock / Alamy TCD/Prod.DB construction

this can be in his three times Oscar winning movie Roma (2018), which is available on Netflix. There are three intensely dramatic scenes in the film, all of which use the long take. In one of them, where the protagonist Chloe (Yalitza Aparicio) gives birth, Cuarón uses actual medical staff rather than actors; Aparicio herself did not know how the scene would play out. Both these factors, together with the long take, add to the sequence’s realism. As the film is a recreation of Cuarón’s childhood it is important that we believe the events actually happened. Probably his most famous long take is the opening of Gravity (2013) which, although often described as 17 minutes long, actually consists of two shots: one of 13 minutes and the other four. Films set in outer space are usually science fiction, where a suspension of disbelief is usually required; here, however, the special effects are so realistic, allied to the long take, that the audience has no problem in believing what we see. Creating long takes in Gravity was relatively easy as the film was almost completely digitally created. In Y Tu Mamá También, however, the long takes are all shot in real time. The film’s realism is further enhanced by location shooting and because most of the film was shot in the order of the narrative; the epilogue, which takes place ‘one year later’, was the only exception, because the longer hair styles of the actors necessitated shooting the scene first. The longest sequence shot in the film (six minutes 38 seconds) occurs at what appears to be the narrative’s climax, where the trio drink at a cantina before spending the night at Chuy’s, after being forced to leave their tents to marauding pigs. For much of the sequence the camera is placed at the end of the table where the three protagonists are talking about relationships, as they do

55 throughout their road trip. This discussion ends with ‘Scenes shot in long takes Julio’s admission that he’d had sex with Tenoch’s mother too (as well as with Tenoch’s girlfriend) – which gives the feel ‘more real’ not just film its title. Whereas confessed infidelities had earlier led because of the continuity to a rupture in their friendship, this admission is seen as reaffirming their bond. It appears we are at the narrative of time and performance, resolution, with the boys’ friendship repaired. As Julio but also because we have confesses, Luisa is making her way to the jukebox and the handheld camera moves away from the table to follow her. the time to really invest She randomly puts on ‘Si no te hubieras ido’ (‘If you hadn’t in the backgrounds.’ left’), a popular song about lost love, and then dances back to the boys; framed in a medium shot the camera moves – Cuarón, 2014. back with her. She then gets them to dance with her. The long take gives intensity to the scene as it is obvious that the actors are performing these moments in real time; apparently the scene took a day to rehearse and was shot by Jean-Luc Godard. In this film the voiceover consists of only once. Although the three are dancing in harmony, characters commenting on the narrative; in Y Tu Mamá the choice of music suggests that this ending won’t be También the narrator is an omniscient ‘voice-of-God’ happy. As we learn in the film’s epilogue, Luisa had only offering observations on the action. The ambient sound months to live, and the boys’ friendship is about to be fades out abruptly just before the voiceover starts, further fatally damaged after they spend the night together. drawing attention to its extra-diegetic status and so further Despite the realism of this long take, Cuarón subverts distancing the audience from the film in a Brechtian fashion. his (and Bazin’s) idea of realism by having Luisa break the So, paradoxically, what we have in Y Tu Mamá También is ‘fourth wall’. As she dances back to the boys she looks two opposing realist techniques: Bazin’s ‘long take’ seeks to directly into the camera and, in doing so, reminds us we convince the audience of the realism of the film through are watching a film. This is a Brechtian device designed its lack of editing, while Brechtian devices remind us we to get audiences to think about what they are watching, are watching a constructed film, which of course is actually rather than being simply immersed in the text. what we are doing. The voiceover arguably also adds to the This is not the only time Cuarón uses a non-realistic film’s realism because it offers more information about the device to draw attention to the constructed nature of the characters and sometimes contextualises what is happening film. The voiceover, heard 27 times, was inspired by the in the real world. For example, early in the film when the French ‘new wave’ movie Masculin Féminin (1966), directed boys are stuck in a traffic jam caused by the death of a N Photo by Carlos Somonte Carlos by N Photo

Alfonso Cuaraon on the set of Roma

56 Friends again. Luisa, Tenoch and Julio played by Maribel Verdú, Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal TCD/Prod.DB / Alamy Stock Photo Stock / Alamy TCD/Prod.DB migrant worker hurrying to work we learn about the reality ordinary albeit privileged boys, and their road trip is rooted of life for migrant employees in Mexico City. Such extra in the real world, we understand the events to be ones that information, apparently superfluous to the narrative of the are possible. The film uses realist techniques to engage film, is also present in a two minute 45 seconds ‘sequence the audience in the tale and, at the same, time reminds us shot’ when the three stop for a beer at a cantina. Here the about the reality of life in Mexico in the early 21st century. camera is walked into the kitchen where an old woman After Y Tu Mamá También, Cuarón made Harry Potter dances and food is being prepared. We get to see literally and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), the brilliant Children behind the scenes, a place that narratives usually ignore. of Men (2006) and Gravity. He returned to Mexico for This creates a sense that life is actually going on beyond Roma, a film that was for many the best released last the narrative, and thus enhances the film’s realism. Most year. All these films use the long take (although it’s mainstream narratives prioritise ‘economy’ and so show barely seen in Harry Potter), but Y Tu Mamá También is nothing that is not needed to understand the story. the only one to combine it with Brechtian devices. When considering realism we should look beyond formal techniques, such as the length of take or devices that draw Nick Lacey is a freelance media educator and his study guides on attention to the constructed nature of the text. If Avengers: Y Tu Mamá También and other set texts are available on Kindle. Endgame (2019), for example, included numerous ‘sequence shots’ we would still be unlikely to think of it as a realist film. But because the story of Y Tu Mamá También is about two

References The film uses realist John August (2014) ‘Long takes and realism’, johnaugust. techniques to engage the com, available at http://johnaugust.com/2014/long- audience in the tale and, at the takes-and-realism, accessed December 2018 same, time reminds us about the reality of life in Mexico from the MM vaults in the early 21st century. Theorists: A Beginners Guide to Laura Mulvey – Lucy Scott Galloway, MM21

57 Hunt for the the for Hunt Wilderpeople Wilderpeople 58 (2016)

Activités culturelles UdeM / Flickr Photo by Gage by Skidmore Photo

Taika Waititi

Taika Waititi, best known for directing Thor Ragnarok has a tradition of using comedy and pathos to critique traditional masculinity in his films. Here, Kirsty Worrow takes us through all his films to date looking at the common themes of performative and dysfunctional masculinity.

rior to Thor Ragnarok (2017), most movie fans were unaware of Taika Waititi – the Māori director and actor who helmed the third instalment of Marvel’s Thor franchise. Ragnarok bought Waititi’s distinctive comedic voice to an international audience and shone a light on his existing works; a filmography consisting of independently produced, low- budget happy/sad New Zealand films, most of which deal primarily with issues of masculinity. Eagle vs. Shark (2006), Boy (2010), What We do in the Shadows (2014, co-directed with Jemaine Clement) and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) present males who ‘perform’ masculinity, often demonstrating a desire to conform to traditional expectations of men. Waititi constructs characters

59 Jemaine Clement and Loren Horsley in Eagle vs Shark (2007) Photo Stock / Alamy TCD/Prod.DB who display overt macho characteristics, and of the tragic loss of his older brother (played by then, using comedy and pathos, subverts their Waititi himself) – the star athlete who was his ‘masculine’ qualities, positioning the audience father’s favoured son. Jarrod’s behaviour then to see them as ridiculous and pathetic figures. is a reaction to his own grief and the futility of There are two critical concepts which are trying to live up to a lost ideal. Despite this, he useful in unpacking Waititi’s representations. doesn’t redeem himself; in a dark comic twist, Judith Butler argues that gender identities the bully is revealed to be wheelchair-bound, are performed, insofar as we learn through and even after a genuine apology, Jarrod (with socialisation what is expected of males and bandana and nunchucks), beats him up anyway. females. Butler suggests that this is problematic as it leads to limited ideas about gender. Paul Boy Kivel proposes that men reinforce the boundaries Waititi’s coming-of-age tale focuses on the of acceptable maleness by chastising those troubled relationship between an 11-year-old who do not conform to the expectations of called Boy and his absentee father. Boy’s focus on masculinity. Those who do not fit inside ‘the man masculinity is pronounced given the absence of box’ are often labelled ‘gay’, ‘female’ or ‘loser’, any significant female figures; the film begins as strengthening the idea of what men ‘should’ be. Boy’s grandmother departs leaving Boy in charge of his younger brother, Rocky, and an assortment Eagle Vs Shark of smaller cousins for a few days. Through Boy’s Waititi’s male characters are typically ‘losers’ chirpy narration, we learn that Rocky thinks he who lack self-awareness. Eagle vs. Shark’s has superpowers: a tragicomic delusion informed Jarrod, is an awkward games shop worker in by the death in childbirth of their mother. this indie rom-com. Protagonist Lily’s crush on Boy idolises his absent father, Alamein (played him is the first point of humour in the film as by Waititi) and explains that he’s away ‘doing some he is not conventionally attractive or in any pretty important stuff’. The viewer later learns that way ‘a catch’. Jarrod’s character is an amusing this is a fiction; Alamein is a convict, who returns riff on the romantic archetype of the brooding to his family home in pursuit of stashed loot, hero. He is aggressive, competitive, emotionally leading Boy to discover the distance between aloof, which he describes as being ‘intense’, the fantasy of his father and the disappointing but Jarrod, played by Flight of the Conchords’ reality. In characterising Alamein, Boy relies Jemaine Clement, is a parody of these tropes. heavily on macho archetypes like the ‘do-or-die’ His performative macho behaviour is informed soldier, the Japanese Shogun and the troubled, by media and culture; his dialogue draws on brooding superhero. In one scene, Alamein likens the clichés of American action heroes, seriously himself to The Incredible Hulk to legitimise his using the line: ‘Tell him that justice is waiting violent behaviour. Waititi is interested in men for him’. As their relationship progresses, Lily and boys who think they are ‘cool’ but aren’t. accompanies Jarrod back to his hometown for a Alamein is the epitome of this idea; his costume, confrontation with a former bully. Here, we learn car and tattoos are part of the iconography of

60 Waititi the outlaw; but comedy is created when he attempts to demonstrate his ‘cool’ masculinity constructs to others but fails, like when he tries to stage an characters ambush but ends up getting his foot stuck in a rope swing. Despite the humour, Boy is made who display affecting as it explores the emotional conflict overt macho between a child who desperately wants the love and approval of his father and a man who characteristics, struggles with his grief and responsibilities. and then using What We Do in the Shadows comedy and Waititi’s next film has a much less serious pathos, subverts tone. What We Do in the Shadows is a spoof vampire mockumentary, focusing on a group of their ‘masculine’ undead housemates. The characters are based qualities, on iconic vampires from popular cultural history, and the ensemble cast offers a variety of male positioning the representations. Waititi’s character, Viago, fits audience to the ‘dandy’ archetype, inspired by Anne Rice’s novels. He is coded as ‘feminine’ in that he is see them as emotionally sensitive and is concerned about ridiculous and domestic tasks (as seen in the first couple of scenes). Vladislav is aggressive and sexual, an pathetic figures. echo of Gary Oldman’s Vlad the Impaler from Bram Stoker’s Dracula but his masculinity is undermined when he’s revealed to be unable What We Do in the to cope emotionally with the growing success Shadows (2014) Activités culturelles UdeM / Flickr culturelles Activités

61 Hunt for the the for Hunt shooting Taika Waititi Wilderpeople 62

Activités culturelles UdeM / Flickr Waititi presents macho characters, but often allows them to renegotiate their interpretation of masculinity, with a recognition of their own faults or their own emotional needs. These endings are as represented ‘right’ outcome for the characters.

youthful exuberance. Bella’s partner Hec, is a grumpy old man – a fitting counterbalance to Ricky. Introduced carrying a dead hog and a shotgun, he relates that he’s a skilled hunter and a loner (in the tradition of many macho heroes of a previous girlfriend. Deacon is modelled on from cinema history). In going on an adventure the rebel teen vampires of 80s cult film The Lost through the bush with Ricky, Hector transforms Boys, conveyed by his costume, body language and opens up to a familial relationship with Ricky. and his reluctance to do his chores. Deacon’s Across these films, Waititi demonstrates a overt masculinity is humorously juxtaposed by thematic interest in masculinity. His frequent his ‘erotic dance’ performed for his housemates. references to popular culture suggest that Waititi The film also features a generic werewolf pack, understands how media texts reinforce societal offering commentary on violent mob behaviours ideas about maleness, as Judith Butler argued. (football hooliganism for example) and the Waititi presents macho characters, but often consequences of masculine loss of ‘control’. allows them to renegotiate their interpretation of masculinity, with a recognition of their own faults Hunt for the Wilderpeople or their own emotional needs. These endings are Comedic adventure Hunt for the Wilderpeople represented as ‘right’ outcome for the characters. (2016) also presents recognisable masculine The interesting thing to note is that this is not archetypes which Waititi proceeds to critique. limited to Waititi’s NZ films; his values inform Ricky Baker is a foster kid who has been poorly the representation of masculinity in his corner served by social services. In the opening, Ricky of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Think about is described by the child welfare officer as a ‘real the scene in Ragnarok where Thor and Hulk talk bad egg’; however the montage illustrative shots in Hulk’s chamber; Waititi manages to stage an of his ‘crimes’ (loitering, disobedience, kicking emotional dialogue scene between two of the stuff, running away) immediately subvert the most macho superheroes whilst they are both seriousness of the claim. Society has treated sat on the same bed. Armed with knowledge Ricky according to his type – young, male, angry of Waititi’s interior meaning, that interaction and dysfunctional. His transgressive behaviour seems much more like Waititi than Marvel. is revealed early on to be a performance. When his foster “Aunty” Bella asks Ricky what he will Kirsty Worrow is Programme Leader for Media name the dog she has gifted him, his suggestions Studies, Film Studies and Music at Shrewsbury Sixth – Psycho, Megatron or Tupac – convey his need Form College. to find an appropriately macho name, as the beast will be emblematic of Ricky’s toughness. Ricky explains, in an attempt (like Waititi’s other lead males) to look cool, that Tupac is ‘a really cool rapper and he’s like my best friend’, instantly betraying his vulnerability and undercutting his efforts at portraying male self-reliance (enhanced by the fact that at this point Bella is tucking him in for the night). Ricky is quickly established as a character of great warmth and

63 The ShoutOut Network was set Imriel Morgan up to address a lack of diversity in the media industry. It provides a platform for voices that tend to be excluded. Imriel Morgan joined What is your job/job title? as co-founder and CEO, and began CEO of the ShoutOut Network presenting her first podcast Melanin Millennials in December 2015. What does that mean? My role varies day to day or month to month because we’re still a start-up and our team is still very small. The main parts of the network are releasing podcasts and creating and organising events. As a result, most of my role involves overseeing the production of our in-house podcasts alongside the Head of Production. I also work closely with the podcasters on the launch and promotion of their podcasts in the first 2-4 weeks. In addition to that I create and manage our events and festivals, strategy budgets and can often be heavily involved in the operations and logistics of our in-house events. Most importantly, I deal with our corporate partners and sponsors, and create proposals that enable the network to reach its diverse audience base. What was your route into the media Imriel Morgan industry? I’d hazard a guess that my route into media is very unconventional. I studied Biological Anthropology at university focusing on primates and behaviour. Almost a year after graduating, in 2011 I was hired as behavioural science research assistant for 2 years in Saint Kitts (a Caribbean island). I ended up leaving the island and found myself unemployed in London without any idea on what to do. I joined a recruitment/ HR start-up as an account manager and within

64 The best thing is seeing how happy the podcasters are when their vision becomes a reality.

the first 6 months found myself managing the top talent. Audio Producers are doing better now blog, social media and the email marketing. I but for aspiring talent, it’s difficult without a pre- absolutely loved it. My role evolved from there existing community or audience. As podcasting and I was in the fast track to what I imagine becomes more popular it’s harder to be wildly to be a pretty successful marketing career. successful in it and that makes my job a little I met the founder of the ShoutOut Network harder as we have to be more and more selective on a popular dating app and he explained he about the voices we pick and decide to promote. was building a podcast network. I didn’t have any clue what a podcast was at the time. We What advice would you give young were hanging out and during that time he people wanting to work in the was buying all sorts of equipment, watching media industry? YouTube tutorials on sound engineering and going to meetings with influencers and Get comfortable with rejection and the word comedians. When I saw how seriously he was ‘no’. Also, don’t take it personally if someone doesn’t respond to your email or provide taking it I offered to help him with the brand and feedback. It’s a very busy industry and often marketing. A few months in I ended up being people are wearing many hats so there’s a real asked to run the company and start a podcast need to protect our time and that sometimes which would then stimulate podcasts led by means not getting back to people in a timely a whole host of people of colour in the UK. fashion. I’d get used to hearing nothing but persisting anyway. The most persistent What’s the best thing about the job people tend to get a response in the end. you do? The best thing is seeing how happy the What’s next for you? podcasters are when their vision becomes a I’m looking at how we can reach and reality. It comes at so many different moments discover new voices from outside of London too. There are so many steps in creating a and even the UK. I want to create an inclusive successful podcast so it’s always amazing media landscape that has no borders. We’ve to give someone the space to record their started doing some work in Africa and hope ideas and subsequently hear the final edit to create some amazing content from within and have strangers react positively to it. I the continent. As for me, personally, I’m writing feel both pride and joy in those moments. again and you will likely see a few articles pop up from me in the very near future. What’s the worst thing about your job? Imriel Morgan was a speaker at the 2019 Honestly, how little financial reward there is MediaMagazine conference. for it. Don’t get me wrong: there’s more money in UK podcasting than ever before but it tends to pool at the top, with the hosting platforms and

65 Title: Swimmer (Lynne Ramsay, UK, 2012)

Production context: Swimmer was in its structure. Critics have commented one of four unique co-commissions on the oneiric (dreamlike) quality of the in partnership between BBC Films, film and described it as ‘lyrical’, ‘poetic’ Film4 and the London Organising and ‘like an ode to the mirage of cinema’. Committee of the Olympic and That’s well pretentious. I can’t Paralympic Games to celebrate the imagine writing stuff like that in my 2012 Summer Olympics. The film evaluation. My teacher did describe Iain McGuinness / Alamy Stock Photo Stock Iain McGuinness / Alamy Lynne Ramsay was funded by the National Lottery the film as an arthouse movie, and Creative Scotland as a Warp though. What did she mean by that? So, it’s going to be worth me Films production in association with Can that help us to understand it? considering the use of sound in the Rocking horse Films. Director Lynne Maybe. ‘Arthouse’ movies are a film more fully then? Ramsay was nominated for Best strand of experimental filmmaking Definitely. Ramsay’s films are Short at the British Independent Film in the history of cinema. These films characterised by their sound Awards (BIFA). Ramsay went on to are characterised by a rejection design and she loves using receive a BAFTA Award for Best Short of the conventions of mainstream music creatively, too. Film at the 66th British Academy cinema. They go against the current of Yes – my mate told me that Film Awards in 2013 for the film. commercial productions. (See what I Ramsay collaborated with the Indie did there with swimming metaphors?!) band Doves on their 2004 single Swimmer is proper strange! I don’t Cheesy, but I take your point. ‘Black and White Town’. She shot really know where to start trying to The viewer has to actively interpret the video, which was filmed in make sense of it. these films. I think there might be Summerston estate, Glasgow, where Maybe start with your own something going on about birth she had set her first feature film responses to it and work from there. and death in Swimmer? The shots at Ratcatcher (1999). Well, Swimmer doesn’t have a story, the opening make him seem almost And her films are notable for their so it doesn’t really fit in to any film primeval – the man is of the water. depictions of realistic characters genre like the movies that I have It’s fascinating watching him as he in moments of crisis – look at her watched. In fact, I’m not really sure swims towards us from the deep in early shorts and Morvern Callar if considering its narrative is a good slow motion black and white. (2002) and We Need to Talk About way to understand the film either. Monochrome is another way to put it. Kevin (2011) as examples of this. No, probably not. Classical realist Now this is getting interesting – you’re But the central character in narrative movies follow a formula: generating your own reading of the Swimmer doesn’t seem real. My events happen to stock characters film and starting to think about what teacher says the actor is Tom Litten, over time. Conventional narrative the film is, rather than what it isn’t. a British Olympic team competitor films provide emotional resolution As well as the interesting visuals, and that the black and white – sorry, for their characters and closure for it’s the sound of the film that created monochrome – visuals emphasise the audience by the end. Swimmer a strong impression on me. I found his physique. doesn’t follow that template. the meaning of the sounds to be You’re right. It’s almost like the OK so Swimmer’s ‘story’ if it has quite elusive, too. realism of his swimming is heightened one, is non-linear and its ending is Yes – the soundscape of the by the slow motion and Natasha ambiguous. It does have a central film is really complex. It combines Braier’s close up cinematography character, the swimmer, but I’m not water sounds, music and samples where you can see muscle formation sure if we are supposed to relate to from British social realist films, and definition. The representation him. Ramsay hasn’t done anything such as The Loneliness of the of the human body here is more like to make the viewers feel like they Long Distance Runner (1962) early documentaries, such as Olympia ‘know’ him. and Billy Liar (1963). The sound (Leni Riefenstahl, Germany, 1936) Yes – the meaning of the film is an Foley was developed by Ramsay’s or in the films of French surrealist enigma or mystery and this is reflected husband, Rory Stewart Kinnear. filmmakers of the same era.

66 The Official BBC Synopsis of Swimmer Swimmer is a poetic journey through the waterways and coastline of the British Isles, following a lone swimmer through lakes, rivers and coves. The journey is framed by a soundtrack of seminal British music, combined with a sound tapestry of hydrophonic recordings and snippets of bankside conversations. The film aims to give a real feel for the diversity of landscape and people of Britain.

OK, I get it. The best ways for me to approach this film is to consider my own responses to it and in relation to other classics of experimental cinema rather than mainstream Hollywood movies. So, don’t write: Swimmer is a black and white film that would be even better if it had been shot in colour and had a proper story. Do write: Swimmer resists meeting viewers’ expectations of what a film should be and is better understood as Lynne Ramsay’s unique vision for cinema.

Symon Quy is a lecturer at the University of Bedfordshire and freelance media educator.

from the MM vaults We Need to Talk About Kevin – Andrew McCallum, MM63

Follow it up • Interview with the cinematographer: https://britishcinematographer.co.uk/natasha-braier-the-swimmer/ • Interview with the director: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/feb/25/lynne- ramsay-director-you-were-never-really-here-observer-interview • Interview about sound: http://designingsound.org/2011/09/16/paul-davies- special-the-lynne-ramsay-collaboration-exclusive-interview/ • Article about woman directors and the Oscars: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-47312896 • Overview of Ramsay’s films: https://lwlies.com/articles/the-films-of-lynne- ramsay-ratcatcher-we-need-to-talk-about-kevin/ • Auteurist review of her films: https://thevoid99.blogspot.com/2011/12/auteurs-6-lynne-ramsay.html • Tony Zhou’s documentary ‘Lynne Ramsay – The Poetry of Details’: https://www.bing.com/videos/

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