2. PR4 Me & My Movies
Ben Holmes

3. Genre: Comedy
The genre I have decided to choose 3 movies for has
to be comedy. I enjoy the comedy genre over any
other genre due to the fact that most comedy films
include a lot of intertextuality from other media.
Another major factor that influences me towards
comedy films is that they usually have a strong
casting crew containing more than one A-listed
celebrity. Many film fanatics are most attracted to a
movie depending on who is starting in it. This is due
to people watching other successful comedy movies
that their favourite actor is featured in and seeing a
newly released film containing the same actor, this is
known at Star Theory. Another important factor that
steers me away from watching action movies or
horror movies is that the story line always seems too
‘cheesy’ or extremely rushed with a strange ending
that does not fit the plot of the film. This is why I
enjoy comedy as there is no real story line necessary
to create a good movie.

4. The Hangover
Director: Todd Philips
Year: 2009
Angelenos Doug Billings and Tracy Garner are about to get married. A few days before the
wedding the four men decide to take a trip to Las Vegas for a pre-wedding party. Doug, Phil,
Stu and Alan all jump into Tracey’s father’s pride and joy Mercedes convertible for a 24 hour
stag party in Vegas. Phil, a married high school teacher has the same maturity levels as his
students when he is united with his friends. Stu, a dentist, is worried about everything;
especially what his controlling girlfriend Melissa is going to say. As she completely disagrees
with the traditional male bonding rituals, Stu has to lie to her about the party, leading her to
believe that they are going on a wine tasting tour in the Napa Valley. Regardless he intends on
eventually marrying her, against the wishes of his close friends. The morning after their arrival
in Las Vegas, they awaken in their hotel suite each with the worst hangover. No body
remembers what happened last night, the hotel room is destroyed and things have gone
missing. One of the most important missing items being husband to be Doug. Stu, Alan and
Phil try and piece the night together using items discovered in the hotel suite to find Doug.
However they are in a race against the clock as if they can’t find Doug I the next few hours,
they are going to have to explain to Tracy why they are not yet back in Los Angeles and
furthermore they may not find Doug in time for the wedding.

5. Superbad
Seth, Evan and Fogell are three curious teenage guys who love to
drink and are in desperate need to get laid. When a female colleague
that Seth really likes invites him to one of her parties and asks him to
bring the alcohol for the party. Seth sees this as a perfect opportunity
to make his move on her. The trio plan out how to get the alcohol as
they are not old enough to legally purchase it. Fogell’s fake ID is there
only hope and fails miserably. Seth and Evan become separated from
Fogell (now known as McLovin on his fake ID) and they still haven't
recovered the alcohol for the party.
Director: Greg Mottola
Year Of Production: 2007

6. Pulp Fiction
This film follows two hit men; Jules Winfield and Vincent Vega
whilst on a job to retrieve a suitcase for mob boss Marcellus
Wallace. There are many obstacles along their way but nothing is
too big for these two professional hit men. In my opinion the
proffered demographic audience for this movie would be males
aged between 18-30 due to the year the movie came out combined
with the language included throughout the film. There is also a lot
of violence shown in some of the scenes. Pulp fiction uses its story
line to entice viewers instead of special effects and expensive
products.

7. Media Literacy:
There are a number of different ways of promoting new / up-coming movies. The
advertisement industry is one of the largest methods of getting new movies seen and
spoken about. Advertisements can consist of TV ads where a brief overview of the movie is
shown in between programmes at prime time on television. Other less expensive methods
of advertising consist of adverts broadcasted via radio. The use of Billboards, posters and
magazines have also been successful in advertising movies. Another way of getting a recent
movie recognised is through interviews. Interviews are also a type of promotion that actors
often use to talk about a movie they have recently featured in giving their fans a better
insight to the film they are promoting. More old fashioned techniques of media literacy
consist of word of mouth between friends and family recommending movies to each other.
Also one of the most common ways to view what is currently being shown in your local
cinema and at what times is to visit their official website for example Red Cinema or Odeon
and check the film listings. There has recently been a huge increase in the use of social
media to advertise new movies for example famous actors will make an account on
Facebook or Twitter then post interviews and trailers for their hundreds of vans to view.

8. Intertextuality
Some movies refer directly to each other – such as
in ‘remake’ movies. The interpretation of these
references is influenced by the audiences’ prior
knowledge of other movies.
Take the movie The Hangover for example, we can
see that the narrative is following the journeys of 3
men who’s task is to look after a baby. In my
opinion this is very similar to the narrative of the
movie Three Men & A Baby. The film is pretty much
about the same thing, three men taking care of a
baby, this can be referred to as intertextuality

9. Star Theory
All three movies I have talked about have included major stars in their cast. This
would help attract a much wider target audience simply because they are already
famous and have cult followings where a fan base is created just based around one
actor. For example Superbad includes Jonah Hill as the main character, People will
already know his face from previous movies he has featured in and remember his
comedian attitude. The reputation and popularity of an actor can be a great
advantage when it comes to including major stars in a movie.
Star theory is also another major factor in the Pulp Fiction movie. John Travolta and
Samuel L Jackson are huge stars. At the time this film was created John Travolta
would have a huge fan base aged around 20-25 due to starring in Grease Lighting
(1978). Another big star is Uma Thurman who plays Mia Wallace in the film; Uma
later went on to star in Kill Bill, another successful Tarnation movie.

10. Stuart Hall came up with the reception theory, this suggest that we
react to films based on our age, gender, ethnicity, social class and
cultural background. Producer encoding is what the director chooses
to include in their movies. What they decide to include in their film
could be based on their age, gender and cultural background.
Audience decoding is how we interpret the meaning of a film. Our
opinion is either Preferred, Negotiated Oppositional. Preferred is
when we enjoy a film, negotiated is where we see the good points
and bad points to a film and oppositional is where we dislike a film.
Reception Theory

11. Active Spectatorship
Active spectatorship relates to how some people will react to a movie differently
to others, such as the way they embrace the meaning or the message the film
includes. Active spectatorship is very similar to reception theory because it says
that each individual will react differently to what they are being shown. This also
leads to cult following of a film; this is a fan base that is very interested in the film
and its meaning be it due to a certain scene, plot or quoted from the movie that
the individual has actively picked out. The cult followers may pay attention to
much smaller details than the average box-office viewer due to their passion for
the movie. Films that are in sagas such as Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter often
gain the largest cult following along with auteur movies such as Fight Club and
Pulp Fiction.