Critical Review of Personal Film Spectatorship - Spectator Position

Spectator Position can be a huge contributing factor to the way we respond to a film text. Spectator position can be seen as a literal thing; so that could be where we are when viewing the film, who we are with and what we are doing. All these things can make a huge difference to how we receive the movie. When I first watched the movie Mean Girls, I was at a friend's house for a sleepover. We wanted to put something on that wasn't too serious and that we could watch and understand without too much concentration as we knew that it was more than likely that we would talk during the movie. Unlike the others who had seen the film several times before, I stayed quiet for most of the film as I didn't have much to say about the characters because I was still learning about them as I watched. However, thanks to my friends, I knew all about the main characters (who was 'good' and who was 'bad') even before the movie had shown it. I would usually have found it quite irritating to have people telling me about the characters rather than allowing me to figure out their personalities for myself but with Mean Girls, the characteristics of each person are so hugely amplified and exaggerated anyway that it was obvious.

We could also look at our spectator position in terms of who we are as individuals and the expectations we already have of the film we are going to watch. For example, I was already a fan of Lindsay Lohan before I viewed Mean Girls because I'd enjoyed her performances in other films (the Parent Trap is one of my favourite movies of all time). So this alone had already enhanced my expectancy as I already had positive ideas about it because of the lead actress. In addition, the fact that I myself was a high school student when I first watched the movie, I feel, made a huge impact on the way I received it. As a year 7 pupil, I had just started high school myself that year so I could relate to the protagonist Cady and her worries about school life. However, at such a young age there were also a number of themes in the movie that I didn't completely understand and therefore a lot of jokes and quips to do with some these topics went straight over my head. The Sex Education scenes for example; now they are some of my favourite scenes, but when I first saw the movie I didn't really understand the humour behind them. This is one example of how age can really contribute or negate your viewing experience as a spectator.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N47aKq7uxa8 (the full scene - slightly longer)


It's 5 years later and I still enjoy Mean Girls every time I watch it just as much as the first time I saw it even though my spectator position has changed. I am older now and I am now more aware of the jokes and hidden meanings behind some of the lines in the text. Sometimes I watch the movie by myself on my iPad when I'm on long journeys and want something humorous to view. American film director David Lynch believes that a spectator cannot experience the entire viewing pleasures of a movie if they do not go and see it in a cinema and instead watch the movie on there phone.

"It's sad that people think they've watched a movie but they haven't" - David Lynch

 I understand his point of view on this topic and I do think that in some cases viewing a movie on a handheld device such as a mobile phone definitely does detract from the viewing experience. For example, films that demand an emotional response or films which rely heavily on graphics or high quality visual effects cannot be viewed properly on such small screens - the necessary atmosphere cannot be created this way. But in the case of a film such as Mean Girls, I disagree. Once you've watched Mean Girls the first time on a big screen (whether that be in the cinema or on a television), I do not think that it is detracting at all from the viewing pleasure of the spectator if they were then to watch it again for a second, third, fourth even fifth time on a smaller screen such as on a mobile phone or iPad. Mean Girls is a comedy and most of the pleasure being received from it comes from the actual script itself; the comical jokes and witty one-liners. The size of the screen is not an issue for me and I don't believe that it would be a huge deterrence for most.

So that's the case for when I am watching the movie alone, but more often than not, I watch the film with my friends and when I do it is usually on a television. Now that we have all seen the movie so many times, most of our pleasure comes from experiencing the film as a group. We quote memorable lines from each scene to each other and sometimes try to match ourselves to different characters by identifying shared traits that some of us have, and therefore showing an active response to the movie. Now that we are all older high school students, we can relate a lot more to some of the themes in the film text, such as bullying, underage drinking and weight issues, that we maybe couldn't really before. My spectator position has changed since the first time I viewed Mean Girls but I feel that this has only increased my viewing experience when watching the film.

Critical Review of Personal Film Spectatorship - The Movie

For my second task within this unit, I have been asked to critically review and analyse my response to a film text of my choice. The movie I have chosen to respond to is the 2004 American teen movie Mean Girls. Directed by Mark Waters and loosely based on the Rosalind Wiseman novel 'Queen Bees and Wannabees', Mean Girls is 97 minutes worth of comical high school drama.

The movie follows the life of Cady Heron and her transition from home-schooled girl to high school student. We see Cady, played by Lindsay Lohan, struggle to find her place in this new world full of various cliques and social standings. Whilst trying to fit in, Cady falls victim to the lifestyle and culture of the "queen bees" of the school, quickly losing her way and becoming like them - a mean girl. As a mean girl, Cady soon realises that despite her popularity, she no longer has any real friends she can trust no-one. And after being thrust into the middle of a huge school scandal, Cady finds that perhaps the popularity, as exciting as it may be, is not worth all the spite and drama that comes with it and soon she finds herself just wanting to be a regular girl again. 

The movie was a huge hit when it came out, grossing over $129,000,000 worldwide. I think the reason for the film's success is due to a combination of a star-filled cast and the relateability of so many of the characters and themes in the story. Whilst the drama surrounding Cady's life is a main focus of the story, it is not the only one. The idea of the different cliques found within a school and how these cliques can shape a school's society is another main theme running parallel throughout the whole film. A lot of other themes and areas typical of a usual high school environment, including teen pregnancy, under-age drinking and bullying are  also touched on - all relateable topics which I think would've boosted the movie's popularity.

Convergence Culture (Henry Jenkins)

"We are entering an era where media will be everywhere, and we will use all kinds of media in relation to one another..." - Henry Jenkins

Cultural Convergence describes the way audience members use and react to original media texts. Viewers can form strong, slightly bizarre connections with certain aspects within the media, particularly with films and film characters. One genre of film which has acquired a huge fan base is science fiction. There are massive conventions in fancy dress held annually and huge blog groups dedicated to films such as Avatar and Star Trek. 'Klingon', the language spoken by the fictional warrior race the Klingons in Star Trek, is now a credited language in today's society. It is even possible to take a degree in the fictional language. People can form strong connections to what they see in movies and in order to prolong the experience they create ways to access it outside of the cinema. Fifty Shades of Grey is a prime example of the outcome of convergence culture in today's society. The novel, written by E.L. James, was originally a fan fiction story in response to the Twilight Saga movies. The character of Christian Grey was based on vampire Edward Cullen and protagonist Ana Steele on Bella Swan. James was so affected by her experience viewing the movie franchise that she took it upon herself to create a story herself, prolonging the lives of the characters. It was just by chance that her story was scouted and became a huge success in itself. User-generated content is available all over the internet - especially on YouTube. Fan-made amateur movie responses and movie spoofs are huge on the video-sharing website.

Uses and Gratifications Theory (Katz and Blumer)

The Uses and Gratifications Theory differs hugely from the Hypodermic Theory and in fact takes the complete opposite approach. Initially when the relationship between the media and the audience was discussed, researchers focused on the idea of the media being this huge influential source which could affect the audience in any number of ways. This theory, on the other hand, looks at how we as an audience take what we find in the media and use it for our own satisfaction and gratification. One huge distinction between the Hypodermic Needle Model and The Uses and Gratifications Theory is the way in which the audience is viewed. Rather than viewing the audience as a collective group of identical individuals who receive information in the same way, Katz and Blumer decided that within the audience there are different characteristics and ideas and that how a person views and uses the media for gratification depends on who and what the person is.The model is broken down into four different areas of gratification: surveillance, social interaction, entertainment and identity.

Surveillance

As humans, it is natural for us to want to know what’s happening in the world around us. Being kept up to date with general news and social affairs helps us to feel connected with the rest of the world and makes us feel better about our personal safety. For example, using the media to intake information on some of the negative aspects of life can give us the confidence to know that we can avoid these areas and therefore reduce our chances of also being affected. 

Social Interaction

We can sometimes use media as a platform to form or strengthen relationships with others. Discussions over favourite films or genres can be used as very easy conversation starters create the feeling of acceptance and belonging. Finding common ground with someone can ease the minds of all those involved and make communicating a lot easier. Viewers can also use the the media to gain perspective on situations they may not have previously thought of and develop empathy as a result. 

Entertainment

The media can be used by the viewer as a method of escapism. Sometimes the stress of life may start to become too much for a person and a good movie can be a great way to escape from all that. Problems stop being the sole thought of a person’s mind for just a couple of hours and they are allowed that time of release and relaxation. Or sometimes a person might just want to enjoy a good horror movie for no other reason than just to enjoy themselves.

Identity

Being able to identify with a character or character trait being portrayed in the media, particularly through a film, can help to gratify a viewer. Being able to relate to a character and the experiences they are going through could really help to give an audience member that sense of gratification that they are seeking for and help them to develop their own sense of identity.

Mean Girls

Mean Girls is a great example of a film which allows the audience to receive gratification from all four areas specified by the Theory. The idea of surveillance is demonstrated as the audience are able to view aspects of teen life that do constantly occur in high schools. Themes such as bullying, peer pressure and underage drinking are explored and viewers are educated considerably in these areas and many others. The audience can also receive gratification through escapism. The viewer can throw themselves into the madness and comic turmoil of the drama found in the film and in the lives of the teen students. The highs in the film can create a sought after distraction from the hardships in the viewers’ lives and give them a reason to laugh, whilst the lows can be used to perhaps put the viewers’ own lives into perspective - maybe there are people out there a lot worse off. Mean Girls is a film that audience members can hugely identify with in one way or another. We’ve all been there, we were all high school students once and are likely to have experienced at least one of the issues highlighted within the movie. This idea of recognising a personal trait within an onscreen character can issue a viewer with a huge sense of gratification because of that idea that they can relate to the character/s. On the flip-side, a character with some very negative character traits, in this case such as Regina George, could help to deter a viewer from developing such traits and therefore help to define them as a person in a positive way. In terms of allowing the audience to receive gratification through social interaction, Mean Girls is definitely a film that is capable of doing this. Because of the combination of humour, relateable themes and big Hollywood names, Mean Girls has become such an iconic movie, particularly for the teenage audience. Quotes from the movie are so easily recognisable and are often used between friends to gain a quick laugh.

The Hypodermic Needle Model (Frankfurt School)

Violence is a constant reoccurring theme on our tv screens, whether it be two grown men having a bar fight in an action movie or a heavy crate falling on top of an animated character in a family film. We are surrounded by these sort of images within our every day lives, but does that necessarily mean that we are influenced by them? Violence within movies is a huge theme with there even being an entire genre dedicated to it (i.e. Action). Therefore, does this mean that the producers and creators of these violent films are directly responsible for the violence we see and are exposed to in real life? The hypodermic needle model suggests that indeed we are hugely influenced collectively as an audience by what we see and receive through the media subconsciously. It is thought that information from the media is directly injected into the brains of the passive audience and can alter a person's behavior or response to things in their everyday lives. The theory suggests that we as an audience all receive the media in exactly the same way. 

Positive and Negative Effects

The hypodermic needle theory suggests that as an audience we can be made to accept things through medium such as film that we may otherwise not have chosen to accept. For example, by viewing a film such as 'Natural Born Killers' which holds a lot of violence and seems to show it in an acceptable and almost glamorous light, with the main characters of the film being shown to get away with their crimes, we as the audience will digest and in some ways be made to accept this violence as normal. It is from here that the violence within a person could stem from. The idea that the hypodermic needle theory could influence the audience in a positive way is an idea which is often overshadowed by the seemingly more obvious negative effects. For example, the theory suggests that if by the end of 'Natural Born Killers' the criminals had been reprimanded and punished for their crimes then viewers would have seen this and been influenced not to behave in such a manner as it was clearly wrong and would lead to similar punishment. However, the fact that the criminals inevitably get away with their unlawful behaviour sends the message out to the audience that their crimes were acceptable, and it is this idea that would be wrongly received and consumed instead. 

Copycat Crimes

There have been several cases which seem to support the idea of the hypodermic needle theory where criminals have blamed or referred to movies as their motives to commit crimes. For example, the killing spree in Colorado described as 'The Joker Massacre' saw the death of 12 people in a cinema theatre during the screening of the third instalment in the Batman franchise. The convicted murderer, James Holmes, was said to have burst into the screening room masquerading as Batman's nemesis the Joker before open firing. Until the incident, Holmes' criminal record consisted of nothing worse than a speeding ticket. This, coupled with his choice of attire at the scene, makes you wonder whether the level of violence in the batman movies could've influenced the gunman's behaviour. The James Bulger case could be used as another possible example of how the media can influence the behaviour of people. The young murderers of the boy splashed blue paint on his body, in imitation of the film Child's Play 3. It does seem that to some extent, films could have had a large part to play in the actions of these criminals. On the other hand, it could be argued that the media was not directly to blame and could perhaps have just had a negative affect on the already mentally unstable. 

On Screen violence different to Real Life violence

The idea of violence seen in movies being to blame for the violence shown in real life has been slated by many, one example being film director Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino has faced a lot of criticism in the past for the extreme level of violence in a lot of his movies but he stands firm with his opinion that there is no link between on screen violence and the violence seen in the real world. He claims that he has no problem with violence in movies but does not condone it in real life, stating that in movies "violence is cool". It is interesting that the director makes such a clear distinction between movie violence and real life violence as surely one could argue that violence is violence no matter where or how it is portrayed? However, Tarantino really seems to believe that the idea behind the hypodermic needle model is not true and that his movies are not responsible for any violence that people choose to display after viewing them. 

The diagram shows the number of deaths shown in 8 of Tarantino's movies and the different ways in which the deaths come about. The extreme level of violence is unmistakeable. 

The work of the BBFC

The BBFC have been running for a long time now and dedicate their time to classifying films and determining what material is or isn't suitable for viewing in the UK. However, the BBFC over the years have struggled with deciding on exactly what kind of content is unsuitable for audience consumption. Films such as 'Island of Lost Souls' which in the past has gone from being banned, to X-rated to now being rated as PG, have gone under scrutiny; it is wondered why such a huge change in certification has been made. There are scenes to do with vivisection, animal experimentation and animal hybrids which when first submitted in 1933 seemed to have been unheard of. But it seems that over the years we as an audience have become more accepting of the things which we consider to be appropriate for ourselves and our children to view. Whilst the BBFC do not base their classifications on the hypodermic needle theory and the idea that what they allow to be viewed can influence audience behaviour, they do consider the response the audience may have to certain material. For example, movies which hold scenes of child abuse and sadomasochistic sex scenes, the BBFC are still very vigilant and aware of when it comes to certifying based on public consultation and academic research.

Flaws of the Theory

One of the greatest flaws in the hypodermic needle theory is the assumption that all consumers will interpret information in the same way. Not all members of the audience are wired to think and react in the same way and therefore it is not realistic to assume that they will be influenced by the media in the same way. For example, someone working in the medical profession would react differently when watching 'Casualty' as someone who does not. A doctor's real life experience would kick in and they would no longer be such passive members of the audience as those members who have not experienced such things in real life. In the same way as a naturally violent person would not interpret scenes of blood and violence in the same way as the average person would. Not everybody who has watched 'Natural Born Killers' would then come away with the idea to embark on a similar killing spree. If people really were totally passive to the things they viewed on their TV screens then anyone who had seen the movie would become irrevocably violent, which is obviously not the case.

Video Clip Media in Minutes: Hypodermic Needle Theory - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt5MjBlvGcY

References:

http://www.movieguide.org/news-articles/glamorizing-violence-villains-films-inspire-copycat-crimes.html

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/national-international/Dark-Knight-Shooting-Colorado-Theater-Batman---163158016.html

http://www.slideshare.net/KleanthisSotiriou/hypodermic-needle-theory-11056271

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17315918

http://news.yahoo.com/everything-quentin-tarantino-really-thinks-violence-movies-200748205.html

http://www.miramax.com/subscript/quentin-tarantino-violence-in-films