BibliographY...

Fuery, Patrick (2000): New Developments in Film Theory. Hampshire: Macmillan Press LTD

Focuses on ‘The Gaze’, Identification of women, Cinematic power and many the things which relate to women.

Young-Bruehl, Elisabath (1990): Freud on Women. London: The Hogarth Press

Concentrates on Sigmund Freud and includes chapters on Female sexuality and Feminism.

Johnson, Lesley and Lloyd, Justine (2004): ‘sentenced to everyday life’ Feminism and the Housewife. New York: Berg

‘Come Back Little Sheba’ (1952) showed that just staying at home was not enough for women to make their husbands happy’

Leaming, Barbara (1998): Marilyn Monroe. London: Orion Books LTD

‘On screen Marilyn Monroe invented a character who was a happy girl: innocent, funny, with and extreme but unthreatening sexuality.

(i will be adding to this collection as over the holidays it was vey difficult to find books relating to my topic due to so many people concentarting on the same thing and all the books had been already taken out from the libraries.)

house of flying daggers

i finally managed to put the trailer up.. enjoy

My BloG BuddY.. 13C...

My Blog Buddy from 13C is Heena.

Heena’s Independent Study question is on the representation of women and ‘How they are represented in as sex objects to entertain and pleasure men focusing on Charlie’s Angels-Full Throttle.’

• Her overall study is very similar to mine as we both will be looking at females in the action genre of movies and how they have been represented.
• The main protagonists in her move are Cameron Diaz, Lucy Lui and Drew Barrymore whereas mine is Ziyi Zhang.
• The theorists that she will be looking at when writing up her study is Laura Mulvey and her proposal of the Male Gaze; Levi Strauss with Hero’s and Villains; Propp with his theory of narrative roles and Todorov with his idea of equilibriums and resolutions. I’ve decided that these theorists will fit in with my topic therefore I shall include them in my study.
• Heena’s film has a hybrid genre of Action/Adventure/Comedy/Crime and mine is similar as it contains elements of Action/Drama/Adventure/Romance genre.
• In Heena’s text, you see all three protagonists (Diaz, Barrymore and Lui) with a lot of make-up on and dressed up in sexy appealing outfits therefore reinforcing Mulvey’s theory, similarly in my text Ziyi Zhang (Mei) is very much objectified and has qualities of being ‘look-atness’
• Both our texts allow the audiences to view women in more active roles, as they take on enemies and handle heavy weapons.

BloG BuddY...

My Blog Buddy from my class is Rishi!

Rishi’s Independent Study question is 'How and why have women’s roles in action films changed?' he will also be looking at Kill Bill as his chosen text.

• His overall study is very similar to mine as we both will be looking at females in the action genre of movies.
• The main protagonist in his move is Uma Thurman whereas mine is Ziyi Zhang.
• The theorist that we will be looking at when writing up our study is Laura Mulvey and her proposal of the Male Gaze. In particular we will be analyzing the two modes that Mulvey distinguishes between, known as Voyeuristic and Fetishistic.
• Rishi’s film has a hybrid genre of Action/Drama/Thriller/Crime and mine is similar as it contains elements of Action/Drama/Adventure/Romance genre.
• In Rishi’s text, you see Uma Thurman (the bride) with hardly any make-up on at all therefore contradicting Mulvey’s theory, however in my text Ziyi Zhang (Mei) is very much objectified and has qualities of being ‘look-atness’
• Both our texts allow the audiences to view women in more active roles, as they take on enemies and handle hevay weapons.

The main iconographic image is of the ‘sword’ ( or ‘daggers’) which portrays the film as being martial arts.

Rishi's movie based in contemporary America, whereas mine is 859AD China.

Fnally both texts explore the growing power of women.

SelF-DirecteD ResearcH...

These are some of the links and other research which i have been on so far:

• http://www.laalternativepress.com/v03n17/film/antani.phpThis link is taken via 'Rotten Tomatoes' and is a short review criticising the works of Zhang Yimou, well more precisely, his attempt to captivate a love story in House Of Flying Daggers...this will be useful to me as i can state whether Yimou's effort to make a 'love story' was just a desperate way to grab the attention of female audiences...
• http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?DVDID=10546Additionally a positive review from Empire, stating that 'this is how action movies should be made...'
• http://www.totalfilm.com/cinema_reviews/lara_croft_tomb_raiderA reveiw for Tomb Raider, one of the other texts which i might refer to as it was suggested by some other people..
• http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/824016/index.htmlA short article which decribes 'The changing images of women in fiction film', as written by Sarah Cardwell...this will be usseful to me as i can compare the roles that women played in past to now...
• http://www.kungfucinema.com/reviews/enterthedragon.htmEnter the Dragon - website dedicated to asian cinematography, moreso centered around Kung Fu...
• http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/824060/index.html a link which focusses on 'women on both sides of the camera'. It talks about how over the years their occupatins in film have become ore important.
• http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/566978/index.html an insight in the theory of Laura Mulvey's male gaze. looking particulary at filmd such as AMY!
• http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385004/ provides useful inforation about the movie, such as ratings, reviews and even memorable quotes.
• Philip Allan's essential Medi Studies 'Word Ditionary' - provides almost all media terminology under the sun. I have alredy looked up some key words which i will use in my Independent Study.
• http://www.brns.com/femalewarr/pages/overview1.html this article talks about how Asian 'cinema has been the prominence of action roles for women' and how 'female actors are leading roles in contemporary action titles'
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_movie explores theories and the rise of female leads in action films.
  
  

TwelvE MORE KeywordS...

Ideology

A set of attitudes, beliefs and values held in common by a group of people and culturally reproduced within that community to sustain its particular way of life.

The major values and ideologies of the text is the dominance of women and their growing power

Institution

Any of the organisations responsible for the production, marketing, distribution or regulation of media texts.

The film is produced by ‘Sony Pictures Classics’

Kung Fu

Describes a genre of film, developed in the 1970’s around the martial arts, often produced in Hong Kong and associated with the actor/director Bruce Lee.

There are elements of the Kung Fu genre in ‘House of Flying Daggers’, plus I will be analysing ‘Enter the Dragon’, a Kung Fu film with Bruce Lee.

Linear Narrative

A sequential narrative with a beginning, middle and an end – in that order.

‘House of Flying Daggers’ follows this

Male gaze

term used by Laura Mulvey in her essay 'Visual Pleasures and Narrative Cinema' (1975) to describe what she saw as the male point of view adopted by camera for the benefit of the assumed male audience.

Mei is the object of the Male gaze in this movie, as she looks appealing with the make-up and clothes she wears.

Norms

Culturally determined, value-based rules of the type of behaviour expected in different social cultures.

In the beginning of the film, the women are seen to be serving men, therefore present them as being lower.

Protagonist

The leading character or hero in a film with whom the audience can identify and from whose point of the view the action is positioned, often set in binary opposition against the antagonist.

Mei is seen as the protagonist in the movie, however Jin is also along-side her.

Scopophilia

A term used by the psychologist Sigmund Freud to describe ‘the pleasure of looking’

When Mei and Jin first make love in the fields would give viewers pleasure of looking. This could also be voyeuristic pleasures.

Status Quo

Leaving things as they are

This film seems to challenge this as an Asian women is seen to be in a superior position, however, the ending portrays two men fighting for her love.


Subversive

Undermining of dominant ideology and values.

This text is challenges the stereotype of the dominant male, as Ziyi Zhang play the more active role.

Sword and Sandals

A film set in the ancient or biblical world

‘House of flying Daggers’ is set in 859AD

Voyeur

A person who watches the behaviors of others without their knowledge from a detached, non-involved position and for reasons of self-gratification.

In this text, there are elements of voyeurism as Mei bathes in the Lake, and when Mei and Jin have ‘wild sex’.

In DeptH AnalysiS of an ExtracT...

In this particular part of the film, Mei and Leo are involved in an intense fight between one another, where Mei is trying to kill Leo, but Leo on the other hand in trying to capture in order to find out some answers about the whereabouts of the flying daggers...


The camera moves vigorously, as the fighting between Mei and Leo begins. There is no background music, only the screeching sound of two swords battling one another. The overall lighting throughout the fight is high key, and this could suggest the fight taking place during the day. However, it also presents the Chinese culture as being vibrant, as the setting is also very colourful. The camera stays in a medium shot of the two people, allowing the audience to identify with the surroundings. We then are introduced to a very high angle shot of the brothel where the action is taking place, thus providing the audience with a clearer view, but also making us feel superior towards the fighters, as if they are puppets being controlled by our sadistic pleasures.

Moving on, the camera movements are very snappy which connotes the intensity of the action. This is further emphasized with a slow motion shot, presenting Mei’s sword as being unable to handle the immense strength of Leo’s sword. Mei is dressed up in an extremely glamorous outfit, topped off with a face painted with make-up. This juxtaposes the situation she is in, but on the other hand justifies her femininity and her right to stick up for herself. Additionally, Leo is clothed in her police uniform, which symbolizes his authority as a regulator of the law.

The non-dietetic beating of the drums starts, as Mei is forced back to regain her balance. This is traditional Chinese music and is parallel to the on-screen scene. At this point the camera begins to close in on the two characters, as they are both gathering their energy back. They have very serious facial-expressions which once again connotes the seriousness of the fight and its significance. As soon as the first drum beat sounds, they immediately charge into one another, commencing the battle. At this point the filming is done at a slight low-angle, gradually giving the two fighters some dominance. Furthermore, more slow motion shots have been included which signify certain movements. The slow-motion shots are generally used when Mei has been attacked rather than Leo, and in some ways this could portray the power that males have over females. The camera constantly moves with the actions to involve and engage the audience with the action and out them in a position of one the two fighters. The fight speeds up, so does the music, resulting in a more gripping intense clash.

The scene then changes, into a more low-key setting. The music comes to a halt as Mei searches for the sly Leo. The brawl then continues as Leo sneaks up behind Mei. They begin to go at it one more time until Leo finally defeats the helpless Mei.

KeY WordS...

Adventure Film:

A film genre in which the characters are placed in an exciting, and often dangerous, location far away from home.

Similar to 'House of Flying Daggers' when Mei and Jin are caught up against an army of Chinese Government, in a Bamboo Forest.

Big Ten:

then ten major Hollywood film studios: Twentieth Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), DreamWorks, Miramax, Sony Pictures, Paramount, Universal Studios, New Line Cinema, Walt Disney Pictures & Warner Brothers.

'House of Flying Daggers' is produced by Sony Pictures Classics

Binary Oppositions:

A term used by Claude Levi-Strauss as part of his argument that narratives are structured around oppositional elements in human culture, for example, good and evil, life and death, night and day, raw and cooked.

In this film there are obvious signs of binary opposition, for example, Mei is the ‘good guy’ and Jin is devious, however in the latter part of the film, in becomes the hero, whereas Leo’s playing a villainous role.

Bridging Shot:

A camera shot that shows a passage of time or change of location as a means of connecting one scene to another.

As we approach the ending combat, there is significance in the weather change and this connotes the duration that Jin and Leo have been battling for.

Diachronic:

In narrative, describing events that move through time sequentially. This is the opposite of synchronic which means at the same time.

Zhang Yimou uses this narrative skill in this film.

Feminism:

Political movement to advance the status of women by challenging values, social constructs and socioeconomic practices which disadvantage women and favour men.

Mei takes on a more heroic role as she participates in the fighting sequels and is apart of an elite organisation run by women.

Femme fatale:

In French film noir theory, a female character that uses her sexuality, often in devious, disreputable, secretive ways, to achieve the ends she desires.

When Mei is performing in the brothel, she dances in a mesmerizing style, seducing the head chief police-officer (Leo) and almost killing him.

Gender:

Psychological and cultural aspects of behaviour associated with masculinity and femininity, acquired through socialization, in accordance with the expectations of a particular society.

The character Mei challenges these stereotypes

Hybrid:

Cross between one film genre and another

‘House of Flying Daggers’ has elements on an action, adventure and romance genre

Iconography:

The distinguishing elements, in terms of props and visual details, which characterize a genre.

Daggers are common in this move and therefore portray an action movie.

S.H.E.P.

Historical/Social Context:

Films such as ‘Enter the Dragon’ only screened fights between males. Women played maids and servant roles, and this reflects the social attitudes of women in 1970's, particularly in Asia. As women were seen to be so inferior to men, they would be neglected and given roles as carers rather than bredwinners. Nowdays, women are beginning to play more important roles, not in just film but society as well.


Economic Context:

Action/adventure movies have higher budgets compared to other films. As it it is produced by Sony Pictures Classics, they were able to spend an estimated $20 million on this film.