Me and My Movies

Olivia Berry

Comedy.

I have chosen to look at the Comedy Genre as a lot of my favourite films are comedies.

I have been tasked with finding three films which relate to this genre. I have chosen:

- Three Men and a Baby - Uncle Buck

- The Hangover

Three Men and A Baby

• Director = Leonard Nimoy

• Year of Production = 1987

• Brief Synopsis = Three friends - architect Peter, artist Michael, and actor Jack are sharing an apartment in Manhattan. After Jack goes filming in Turkey his two flatmates find his baby daughter - which Jack doesn't know about - left outside their door. The two are left to look after the baby, and realise how difficult this can be. How would this baby change the life style of these confirmed bachelors?

Frameworks of Interpretation

This is a screenshot from the film three men anda baby trailer. Throughout the trailer you gain an insight into what the film is going to be like. The 4 main characters (3 men and baby) are shown the most so you can see who is going to star. As thefilm is a comedy the trailer is funny and the best bits of the film are usually taken. It shows the three men undertaking the roll of a first time father in comic ways. It is also quite stereotypical in a way as it almost shows that a man cannot do as good ofa job at bringing a child up as its mother can, however in the end this is proved wrong as they learn new things along the way.

Uncle Buck • Director = John Hughes

• Year of Production = 1989

• Brief Synopsis = As an idle, good-natured bachelor, Uncle Buck is the last person you would think of to watch the kids. However, during a family crisis, he is suddenly left in charge of his nephew and nieces. Unaccustomed to suburban life, fun-loving Uncle Buck soon charms his younger relatives Miles and Maizy with his hefty cooking and his new way of doing the laundry. His carefree style does not impress everyone though - especially his rebellious teenage niece, Tia, and his impatient girlfriend, Chanice. With a little bit of luck and a lot of love, Uncle Buck manages to surprise everyone in this heart-warming family comedy.

Frameworks of Interpretation Much the same as three men and a baby, Uncle Buck shows a lot of the comic bits in the film, as well as the sentimental parts to show the viewer what they are going tobe watching. It shows the change in “Uncle Buck” as the trailer goes on, from struggling man to one who is in charge of the situationshe finds himself in. It also focuses on the struggles in teenage and adult life, highlighting that a lot of them are the same and the problemswe all face overcoming them.

The Hangover• Director = Todd Phillips

• Year of Production = 2009

• Brief Synopsis = Just two days before his marriage with Tracy, Doug, in the company of two friends: Phil Wenneck and Stu; and Tracy's eccentric brother, Alan, head out to party in Vegas. Driving his father's Mercedez, they rent a villa and head for the rooftop to have a good time. They later wake up with a hangover, unable to re-collect what exactly happened. With the villa in a wreck, they find that they have a baby in the closet; a grown tiger in the bathroom; Stu has a missing tooth and a hooker for a bride; and Doug is missing. Hilarious chaos results as the trio head out to re-trace their steps as well as try to locate Doug and bring him home in one piece before the wedding.

Frameworks of Interpretation The hangover is a film that is set to have you laughing from start to finish, therefore the film trailer has to show this and it does, we get to almost know the characters as it plays out, seeing how theyreact in the different situations they find themselves in. You get to know who takes the role of which character which should be made clear in all films. There will be the clever one, the stupid one, a normal one and someone who unwillingly gets dragg-ed into the situation.

A lot of the clips in the film are taken from the funniest moments which is what makes it more appealing to the people wishing to go and see a comedy. The trailer itself makes you laugh which is what is needed. A lot of classic comedy conventions are used to make it funnier, such as the tiger pictured above, babies, the clothing they wear, classic comedy setting, and alcohol.

What attracts me to Comedies?

• I think the thing that attracts me to the comedy genre the most is that they are easy to watch. They do not require that much focussed attention and they are always guaranteed to cheer you up or make you laugh.

• I tend to watch a lot of 80’s comedies – I feel that this is because this is the type of films my mum grew up with when she was in her teen years.

• Then if I see an advertisement for films in these more recent years that I like the look of, I will watch that for something different even though my preference is the 80’s films.

• The story line behind comedies are usually light hearted and easy to follow which I enjoy.

Intertextuality • I wouldn’t say that I look for intertextuality

within films although when you do notice some in a film it does make you think of why the director has done this.

• When I first saw the main advertisement photo for The Hangover, I noticed it had a great resemblance to one of my favourite comedies, Three Men and a Baby with the three main stars of the film holding the baby they found. The film also features elements of drugs like the other film does.

• In Lost, s03e16, One of Us – Sawyer says to Hurley, Charlie and Aaron: “Well, if it ain’t Three Men and a Baby. I counted Hugo twice.” → Three Men and a Baby (1987).

• The first two films I mention also have large elements of the family genre in them so a lot of the story line focuses on this.

Star Theory

• I do tend to watch films with stars in it that I like, even if I am not particularly fond of the genre. For example, I am not a huge horror fan. I don’t like the thought of being scared, although when I realised Daniel Radcliffe starred in the film, The Woman in Black, I set out to watch it because of this.

• There are also times when a certain celebrity you usually associate with other talents, i.e. singing, star in films. If I like this artist I want to watch the films they are in. A good example of this is Miley Cyrus with her films The Last Song and the Hannah Montana Movie.

Media Literacy

• There are many different ways that you can find out about films. These include film magazines, social media, web apps and blogs. I like to watch the advertisements on YouTube before I set out to watch a film to see what it is going to be like. I also like to hear what other people are saying about the film on sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Reception TheoryThe way that the audience respond to a message within the text which is constructed purposely by the producer or director. The meaning that they want to convey to an audience. It can be done through many ways including actions in the film or the characters dialogue. Reception theory according to Stuart Hall is: Dominated – What the audience wants to hear from people with limited knowledge of the subject. Negotiated – This is when the audience agrees, disagrees or will question it. This means they are making their own opinion on it. Oppositional – This is where the audience recognizes the message within the text however rejects it as they have their own personal opinion on it. These people will have made up their minds on the person or subject involved. This is based upon out gender, ethnicity, age and social class.

Active Spectatorship Active spectatorship is the relationship between a film and its audience showing the reactions that they get out of people. These will tend to vary depending on the circumstances. When making a film the directors and producers already know that their film will provoke some sort of reaction from their viewers. For example, The Rocky Horror Picture Show has one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) cult followings. Its fans love to submerge themselves into the film more so than somebody who just watched the film for fun would. There are now midnight showings of the film where people dress up in full costume and really get themselves involved with it. The message that a film gives off is important as many people perceive it in lots of different ways.