Examples of Post-Modernism

1.  Wolverine - Pastiche (celebrating something)
2. Matrix - Hyper-reality (in-ability to distinguish from reality)
3. Lady Gaga - Parody (mocking something)
4. Death to Videodrome - Grand Narrative/Disjointed Narrative (represents history)
5. Doctor Who - Grand Narrative (erosion of history), Dystopia (bad environment), Hyper-reality
6. Pulp Fiction - Simulacra (simulations of reality)
7. Miley Cyrus - Pastiche (parody of other video)
8. Aphex Twin - Dystopia (bad environment)
9. Dead Set Davina - Hyper-reality (in-ability to distinguish from reality)

Post Modernism Revision

Modernism - 

• Came from Victorian Era right up to 1914 - came from the believe that the lives of people we're improved by science. 

Turning point - 

• First World War made people doubt that the world was a better place. Science created weapons that destroyed.

Post-Modernism- 1960s onwards

• The idea in the loss of goodness in people and a suspicion in people. 

• Brought on by The Holocaust and The Atomic Bomb in the Second World War.

• People gave up on religion. 

• Rejects and comes after modernism.

However:

• There are still aspects of modernism in society -

1. Genre Hybrids

Theorists -

1. Baudrillard - Hyperreality and Simulacra
2. Lyotard - grand narratives (MAIN ROAD - ORIGINATOR)
3. Jameson - Hybrility

Technology:

1. Communication

2. Hyper-reality

Consumerism:

1. Food - Marks and Spencer's 

2. Clothes - reputation for people to buy into 

3. Deaths - selling products, superficial, Micheal Jackson

Emptiness:

1. Collapse of Rules and Meaning

2. No Belief - religion, science, government

Nostalgia:

1. Video Games - not immersive

2. Snakes on Nokia, PAC Man

POST-MODERNISM IS A REFUSAL TO BELIEVE IN THINGS WE ARE TOLD TO BELIEVE IN.

People have lack of belief in progress so to make anything you have to look back - that's why there isn't anything new.

Post-Modernism Text

Post-Modernism Exam Example

Grace Cuthbertson:

To what extent is Wreck It Ralph a postmodern text?

It can be argued that Wreck It Ralph is a postmodern text, but in my opinion, it is more modern than post modern. It has aspects of both modern and post modern texts though. Despite using intertexuality, nostalgia e.g. pacman and bricolage, which are all aspects of Jameson's post modern theory, this film itself is in fact more modern.

Throughout the film, there are two Grand Narratives. The first one being Religion. Ralph goes into the volcano to sacrifice himself to save the world. This shows him as almost 'Godlike'. This is clearly a grand narrative as it is a large scale theory, influened massively by the progress of history.

The second grand narrative shown is in the last scene. The idea of the female character being a princess and then wanting to become president shows the change in femininity. It is clear that a princess is a very feminine role where as president is quite masculine. The change is shown most obviously through her appearance. This goes against the modernism theory. In the last scene, combining different intertextual ideas and creating a bricolage has become a new way of making “old” feel “new". 

The film shows recycling the gaming culture and create something new that will create nostalgia for a large audience. Dystopian is very Post Modern as that type of audience reject new ideas and don't believe in progression. It can be argued that the film is post modern in the sense that it has an audience within the film as well as the audience watching, but the film follows the story of what looks like a evil person who eventually becomes good and the villain who looks good at the start but is seen as evil by the end of the film. The film follows the equlibrium theroy and has a typical, “happy ending”which is very modern. It also has the propp theory within the characters e.g. hero, villian, helper.

Overall, id say it can be argue that this is not a post-modern film but it only explains and demonstrates post-modern ideas and is in fact more modern than post modern. It does this to appeal to a wider audience.

3 Types of Post Modernism

1. Historical (as an era – 'after' Modernism or 'against modernism', end of history/progress, cynical, what caused it, when is it?)
2. Aesthetic (what it looks like, style over substance, retro, nostalgia)
3. Philosophy (what it thinks like – grand/meta narratives, hyper-reality, simulated)

STYLE

Hybridity - can take various forms across most media. Means its from more than one source, mixing and sampling of different kinds and levels. Hybrid (hierarchies of taste) distinctions between high culture and popular culture. Post Modernism 'raid image bank' is available through digital technology.

Bricolage- "Jumble" - Used to refer to the process of adaption where aspects of one style are given different meanings when mixed with stylistic features.

Simulacra- Jean Baudrillard. Blur of real in film, tv and magazines e.g. increasing CGI in films and scripted documentary in TOWIE. 

Wolverine

Shows simulacra through increasing CGI. Popular Culture.

The Matrix

Post - Modernism notes

Ideas of truth need to be deconstructed

People who are privileged construct these ideas whereas people who live in underprivileged countries break conventions every day. 

If truth is absent then how do we deal with the matters of justice.

Baudrillard believed in hyper-reality presenting a different world to our own, a fictional one.

Simularcra - simulations of reality that replace any 'pure' reality.

The concept of grand narrative, and in particular what Lyotard called the “emancipation narrative”, concerns the kind of meta-narrative which talks, not just about “one damn thing after another”, but sees some kind of interconnection between events, an inner connection between events related to one another, a succession of social systems, the gradual development of social conditions, and so on – in other words, is able in some way to make sense of history. More particularly, when pronounced as it usually is, with a sneer, the “grand narrative”, the “narrative of emancipation” is all those conceptions which try to make sense of history, rather than just isolated events in history, concepts like “class struggle”, socialism and capitalism, productive forces and so on.

According to Lyotard, in the postmodern period, people no longer believe in grand narratives, and consequently, to the armies of postmodern pen-pushers, ipso facto, “grand narratives” are old fashioned and oppressive – oppressive because one grand narrative excludes another and doesn’t my narrative have just as much right to truth as yours?

The Matrix represents what could happen in society as they realise they aren't happy plugged into machine. This could represent society becoming more reliant on technology. 

The 9/11 was a scapegoat for terrorism and military invasion.

The Mighty Boosh deliberately messes with the idea that they are suppose to be a TV show and pretending that what the audience is real - TV shows are artificial. There is no depth or meaning - it is superficial.  

What people believe in: 

Grandparents

Family

Religion

Their country

Science & Technology

The government has destroyed the believe in the system because nothing has changed. Protesting shows that people don't buy into it. People have lost faith. Post modernism is not a belief in nothing but a rejection in traditional structures/dominant idealogies. 

We have emptiness because we have no belief in anything anymore. We have moved from external desires to internal desires. 

Post-Modernism words: 

1. Intertexuality - The relationship between texts
2. Distopia - An imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one.
3. Simulacra - Simulations of reality that replace any 'pure' reality.
4. Bricolage - Bricolage is a word which is used to mean an assemblage of objects, along with the trial and error process of putting such objects together.
5. Pastiche & Parody - A pastiche imitates and celebraes something and a parody mocks it.
6. Superficial - Appearing to be true or real only until examined more closely.
7. Nostalgia - Something done or presented in order to evoke feelings of nostalgia.
8. Hyper-reality - Hyperreality is an inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality
9. Prosumers (Participatary media) - The merging of producers and consumers.
10. Grand Narrative -  An abstract idea that is supposed to be a comprehensive explanation of historical experience or knowledge

Genre Demonstration

Theories applied to my Music Video

To what extent does your music video conform to the structures of Audience theories?

The "hypodermic needle theory" implied mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences. The mass media in the 1940s and 1950s were perceived as a powerful influence on behavior change. One of the most influential versions of this kind of ‘hypodermic’ theory of media effects was advanced by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer: the ‘Pessimistic mass society thesis’ which conveys ideas of a ‘mass culture’ for the audience. This idea suggests that the media has the power to ‘inject’ a repressive ideology into the consciousness of the masses (who are powerless to resist). The theory suggests that certain music video genres/artists such as rap or RnB deem inappropriate through the lyrics or themes and can create a change of attitude (usually for the worse) or creating an acceptance. The idea for my music video shows that I have used the idea of the hypodermic theory because the idea of depression in teenagers and how they are impressionable to what they see in the media. They have been influenced by music about life. My music video will be a message influence people with depression to take a second thought and think about the good things in their life. Rather than the influence of my video being a negative effect on my audience, I will use the video to be a positive re-enforcement to encourage those with depression that life is worth living. However, my music video won’t be one that will influence people's decisions subconsciously because I want the audience to make their own decision on my interpretation of the track ’I See Fire ft. Jasmine Thompson’.

This is the idea that the audience have an active role to play in the understanding of, and creation, of meaning within a media text. The pluralist idea is the exact opposite of a hegemonic one. A pluralist model argues that there is diversity in society (everyone is different) and therefore there is also choice (we can choose what to believe and what not to believe).The readings theory could apply to my music video because I feel that my message of depression could be interpreted in a different way which could offend people rather than motivate people with depression to live their life. I think that the lyrics from ‘I See Fire ft. Jasmine Thompson’, could be mis-interpreted because the lyric, ‘then we should all burn together’, implies that I am encourages people with depression to end heir life, which could offend people. However, my view is saying that people with depression should stick together and battle their demons to commit. I don’t think that my audience should mis-interpret my message because the girl ends up fighting her demons and waking up in reality. She also wakes up and walks out of the hospital to find that she can live her dream in reality, as she wonders onto the field. 

Uses and gratifications theory (UGT) is an approach to understanding why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs. UGT is an audience-centered approach to understanding mass communication. My music video uses the UGT because it will seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs. The imagery in my video hints to the idea of the after-life and heaven which seeks out people’s religious believes. Many people believe in heaven and want to know that there’s something there to believe in when their gone. However, for people who don’t have depression, the video might not appeal to them. I do believe though that it will trigger emotions from the audience which targets what the audience wants to feels from songs, or at least my artist, ADDAL’s song.

It was Stanley Cohen, in his work, Folk Devils and Moral Panics. (1987) who first coined the term 'moral panics'. He defined the concept as a sporadic episode which, as it occurs, subjects society to bouts of moral panic, or in other terms, worry about the values and principles which society upholds which may be in jeopardy. He describes its characteristics as "a condition, episode, person or group of persons [who] become defined as a threat to societal values and interests." [Cohen, 1987: 9] Cohen goes on to discuss the way in which the mass media fashions these episodes, or stylises them, amplifying the nature of the facts and consequently turning them into a national issue, when the matter could have been contained on a local level.Cohen shows that my music video creates moral panic because I will be bringing up depression, which is a problem that isn’t discussed often in society. Seeing as I am appealing to a young audience but bringing the message of how many are depressed, it could be risky because they make not relate to that idea and may push it away. The scenes in the music video I will produce, will create a moral panic because I want to bring the topic of depression to the attention to others. The scene with the girl underwater in the bath tub could shock viewers because they won’t want to know how she got to the hospital, however this is important for the viewer to understand her pain. This triggers the audience to think emotionally about ADDAL’s song. Although my music video will create moral panic, it will be for good reasons as it will raise awareness about the problems people with depressions have to face everyday. I hope that it will inspire people with depressions that they are not alone and that someone hears, that they have a voice. I think that a way to grab an audiences attention is to shock them first, to get the idea out there, otherwise the problem of depressions in young adults is still out there.

Frank Parkin and later Stuart Hall analysed the readings within audiences as either dominant or preferred reading (the meaning they want you to have is usually accepted), negotiated reading (the dominant reading is only partially recognised or accepted and audiences might disagree with some of it or find their own meanings) and oppositional reading (the dominant reading is refused, rejected because the readers disagrees with it or is offended by it, especially for political, religious, feminist reasons etc.The pluralist model and the active audience theory could apply to my music video because I show that my audience have an active role in how I have constructed my video. I wanted to put across the theme of depression so that the audience understands the dangers if it. I wanted to bring awareness because I was inspired by audience of young adults, who suffer greatly from depression. However, my video can be interpreted differently because of the lyrics and the audience can choose what to believe or not. My music video shows that she stays in reality and ends up happier, however others could read it as her not liking reality as she walks out of the hospital she was trapped in.

Audience Theories

The 5 Audience Theorists that I have chosen are:

1. Hypodermic Theory (Media Effects Theory) - Theodore Adorno, Vance Packard
2. Moral Panic and Folk Devils - Stanley Cohen
3. Audience Positioning - Stuart Hall 
4. Use and Gratification theory - Dennis McQuail
5. Readings theory - Frank Parkin, Stuart Hall

Jason Mittel - Genre is a cultural category, the music was basically the same the whole way through, the only changes were cutler and types of people.

Derrida Genre - Mixing Genres together to create a new genre, in this case a mashup up of popular culture.

Representation - Marxism- groups in power exercise there influence.

To what extent does your thriller conform to the structures of Representation?

Our thriller plot was that the computer hacker has something valuable that the killer wants, for example government information on a USB stick. In order to get this, the killer kills the computer hacker. The sub-genre of our thriller can be classed as a crime-thriller, however it can be also classed as a mystery and conspiracy thriller too. The representation theories that I will include is Levi-Strauss and Dyer's definition of representation, Gauntlett's theory of Marxism, Mulvey's theory of Feminism, Strinati and Baudrillard's theory of Post-modernism and Reality and Lippmann's, Klapp's, Dyer's and Perkin's theory of Stereotypes. 

Representation is the ways in which the media portrays particular groups, communities, experiences, ideas, or topics from a particular perspective. Levi-Strauss believed that all representations have ideologies behind them. These can be encoded into texts and others are left out in order to give preferred representation. Richard Dyer believed that "How we are seen determines how we are treated, how we treat other is based on how we see them. How we see them comes from representation". We used representation in our thriller because we showed the killer with black gloves and a gun, and we showed the computer hacker with glasses and a briefcase. This reinforced the representation of their characters. However, the killer was dressed with a tie (smart) which challenges the representation of hired killers as assasins and ninjas because he has become well dressed for the job. This leaves out information about the killer because he's not stereotypically dressed head to toe in black. 

Marxism is circulating and reinforcing dominant ideologies and not often undermining and challenging these ideologies. David Gauntlett argues that 'identities are not 'given' but constructed and negotiated'. He also argues that 'identity is complicated. Everybody thinks they've got one. Artists play with the idea of identity in modern society'. In our opening titles we don''t use Marxism because we don't show the characters in any other role than their stock characters as Hero and Villain. For example, the killer isn't seen in any other light because he is shown as a killer and thats it. In other circumstances, he is just doing his job and he has no vendetta against the computer, he was hired by the organisation that has a vendetta against him. However, our thriller does show other sides to characters than perceived because in terms of lighting, the killer is seen in the same lighting as the computer hacker at times. This is challenging the stock characters of Hero Vs Villain because they are seen on the same level. This is because they both have the same morals. They do something illegal to get a gain from it. 

Laura Mulvey is known for arguing that the dominant point of view is masculine. The female body is displayed for the male gaze in order to provide erotic pleasure for the male (vouyerism). Our thriller doesn’t include vouyerism because it hasn’t been sexualised in any way. Even if female characters did feature in our thriller, they wouldn’t have been objectified by the camera lens because that wasn’t the idea for our thriller. It is about a conspiracy from the organisation that doesn’t involve a masculine POV but rather a Universal POV. However, you could say that the gun close-up at the end of our thriller aimed at the computer hacker from the killer, could be seen as phallic imagery. This would mean that our thriller shows female gaze instead of male gaze because the men are being objectified in front of the camera lens.

Dominic Strinati believed that reality is now only definable in terms of the reflections in the mirror. Baudrillard believed that the idea of ‘truth’ needs to be deconstructed so that dominant ideas can be challenged. He also believed that we live in a society of simulacra - simulations of reality that replace the real. I would say that we used the idea that conspiracy’s happen and exist in reality, and channelled it into our thriller. This makes people question what other conspiracy’s are out there and brings it to the surface. However, we don’t stray from dominant roles of good Vs evil  as we know that the computer hacker is good and the killer is evil. This is question as to whether the computer hacker is also evil and the truth isn’t deconstructed.

Walter Lippmann believed the word stereotype wasn’t meant to be negative and was simply meant as a shortcut or ordering process. Orrin E. Klapp defines social types as representations of those who ‘belong’ to society. Those who don’t challenge stereotypes get a stereotype. Richard Dyer suggests Klapp’s distinction can be reworked in terms of the types produced by different social groups according to their sense of who belongs and who doesn’t, who is ‘in’ and who is not. I can apply Dyer's theory of stereotypes to my thriller because we've featured the computer hacker as a hero which influences smarter people like the computer hacker that they have a sense of belonging to a group. Tessa Perkins says that stereotyping is not a simple process. She identified that some of the many ways that stereotypes are assumed to operate aren’t true. She also argues that if stereotypes were always so simple then they would not work culturally over time. In our thriller, we used stereotypical stock characters of Hero Vs Villain. This shows that we didn’t go against the stereotype because the Villain (killer) seeked out to end the Hero’s (computer hacker’s) quest. The killer didn’t change his plot to kill the computer hacker, he continued to do so and finish the job. However, in order to work culturally over time, the computer hacker, who is stereotypically the Hero, doesn’t survive and his life ends at the end of the thriller opening. This grabs the audience and makes them wonder why the information was so important for him to be killed.

Representation Theories

The 5 Representation Theorists that I have chosen are:

1. Definition - Strauss, Dyer
2. Marxism - Gauntlett
3. Feminism - Mulvey
4. Post-modernism and Reality - Strinati, Baudrillard
5. Stereotypes - Lippmann, Klapp, Dyer, Perkins

"Representations in media texts are often simplistic and reinforce dominant ideologies so that audiences can make sense of them"

QUIZ - MATCH UP

1. Lily Allen - Gender and Ideology (Feminism) (Mulvey)
2. Vin Diesel - Stereotypes (Lippmann, Klapp, Dyer, Perkins)
3. Matrix - Marxism (Gauntlett)
4. Comic Con - Post-modernism and Reality (Strinati, Baudrillard)

Feedback from Quiz:

1. Correct
2. Correction: however maybe Marxism/dominant ideology of men would be more fitting
3. Correction: Hyperreality Baudrillard
4. Correct, as you point out also could be Dyer (sense of belonging)

Good effort

To what extent does your thriller conform to the structures of Genre?

For my AS Media coursework, I created an opening title sequence for a thriller with a partner. In order to successfully come out with a good grade we followed the conventions of a thriller. Our thriller plot was that the computer hacker has something valuable that the killer wants, for example government information on a USB stick. In order to get this, the killer kills the computer hacker. The sub-genre of our thriller can be classed as a crime-thriller, however it can be also classed as a mystery and conspiracy thriller too. The theories that I will include is Christian Metz and his theory on Genre Development and Transformation, Steve Neale and his theory on sub-genres, Jason Mittel and his theory on how the Media Industry uses genre to persuade their audiences to buy products, Rick Altman and his theory of how genre creates pleasure and the last theory on the Strengths of Genre.

Christian Metz believed that there were four stages to the genre development theory, these are Classical, Experimental, Parody and Deconstruction. We used genre development in our thriller opening because ours is experimental as there is no resolution at the end when the computer hacker is killed. However, our thriller could also be considered Classical because it conforms to the conventions of stock characters (Hero, Villain etc). 

Steve Neale declares that 'genre are instances of repetition and difference', he adds that 'difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre'. To summarise, you need sub-genres in order to draw in audiences, otherwise it would just be repetitive. In our opening titles we class our genre as crime thriller because the acts that both the computer hacker and killer do are illegal, hence a crime. Although, the reasons behind their acts define them as their stock characters (Hero, Villain etc). However, our thriller could also be classed as a mystery thriller because the audience doesn't know why the information the computer hacker took was so important that he had to be killed by the killer. And there is also a hint of our thriller being a conspiracy thriller because we steer towards the idea of the government that the compter hacker stole from, is conspiring to kill him by hiring a killer.

Jason Mittel argues that industries use genre to sell products to audiences. Genre allows audiences to make choices about what products they want to consume through acceptance in order to complete a particular pleasure. It can be said that our thriller sells products to an audience. For example, the use of tension in our thriller opening when the hacker uses his computer could increase advertising for the use of technology because that is how he's able to get the information he needs. However, you could say that it would put an audience off technology buts the acts that the computer hacker is performing on the computer is stealing information from a large organisation. This is considered illegal and may influence audiences that technology is giving people too much access. 

Rick Altman argues that genre offers audiences a 'set of pleasures'. These include Emotional, Visceral and Intertextual Puzzle pleasures. I would say that we used Visceral pleasures in our thriller because at the end we have a close-up of a gun shot to the computer hacker's head. Which has a physical effect on the audience as they are shocked and draws the audience in. However, emotional pleasures also feature in our thriller opening because we sympathise with the computer hacker who doesn't know that he is being followed by the killer. We also used intertextual puzzles because a mystery is left to know why the information the hacker stole was so important.

The Strengths of Genre theory explains that the reason why it is so effective is that everybody uses it and understands it. Media experts use it to study media texts, the media industry use it to develop and market texts and audiences use it to decide what texts to consume. Without the genre in our title opening, the audience wouldn't be able to judge whether they want to watch the film or not, they need a genre because it decides what type of film it is. However, in our thriller opening, it would better to not conform to the conventions of a thriller and go against the genre. If we marketed our thriller as a romantic comedy in our thriller opening, it would be a lie and may not bring in as big of an audience.

In conclusion, our thriller does conform to the structure of genre because the mise-en-scene, characters, soundtrack, foley etc. show conventions of a thriller. For example, with the mise-en-scene, the first location was in Canary Wharf, London, which is known for businessmen/woman, which the computer hacker fit in with. This conforms to how we see thrillers because we get a sense of mystery as to why the computer hacker is in there amongst the busy workers and buildings. The characters in our thriller opening conform to the conventions of a thriller genre because they are typical Hero (computer hacker) vs Villain (killer) stock characters where the Villain (killer) seeks out to end the Hero's (computer hacker) quest (which is to keep the information from the large organisation. However, the computer hacker isn't a stereotypical Hero because his quest involves stealing, this means that maybe the characters don't conform to the genre of a thriller.

Genre Theories

The 5 Genre Theorists that I have chosen are:

1. Genre Development and Transformation - Metz
2. Subgenres - Steve Neale
3. Industry - Jason Mittel
4. Pleasure - Rick Altman
5. Strengths of Genre

To what extent does your thriller conform to the structures of Narrative?

For my AS Media coursework, I created an opening title sequence for a thriller with a partner. In order to successfully come out with a good grade we followed the conventions of a thriller. Our thriller plot was that the computer hacker has something valuable that the killer wants, for example government information on a USB stick. In order to get this, the killer kills the computer hacker. The sub-genre of our thriller can be classed as a crime-thriller, however it can be also classed as a mystery and conspiracy thriller too. The theories that I will use are Cook's theory of the Enigma Code, Propp's theory of Stock Characters, Todorov's theory of Structure, Levi-Strauss's theory of Binary Opposition and Barthes theory of Cause and Effect.

Roland Barthes theory of Enigma Code is explains that text is like a tangled ball of threads, the threads need to be unravelled and once unravelled, we encounter an absolute wide range of political meanings. This means you can look at narrative in two ways. Barthes narrowed down the action of a text into Five Codes, which are woven into any narrative. These are the Hermeneutic Code, The Enigma Code, The Symbolic Code, The Cultural Code and the Semantic Code. I would say that our thriller showcases the Hermeneutic Code because our thriller also avoids telling the truth about why the information on the USB stick is so important, in order for it stay a mystery even after the computer hacker is killed. This leaves the thriller opening on a cliff-hanger and if it were to be for a film, then that film would end up explaining and hinting clues. The enigma code is why the computer hacker is being followed as this is not known at the start of the thriller opening. We also include the code that the audience doesn't know what the information is that the hacker stole, or why is it so important. The enigma code is revealed at the end because the computer hacker is killed for the information he stole from the large organisation. 

Izetan Todorov believed that conventional narratives are structures in five stages, theses are the equilibrium, the disruption, the recognition, the repair and the reinstatement. However, for out thriller opening we are only focusing on three stages, the equilibrium, the disruption and the recognition. The equilibrium in our thriller is when the computer hacker has the information with him and is downloading it onto his computer at home so it's safe. The disruption of that is when the killer comes in and steals the information, the kills the computer hacker, The recognition backs up the idea that the killer is out to get the hacker and wants something from him in order to follow him. However, the recognition is not prominent because the disruption that has occurred (the killing) is not recognised by any other character. This would be revealed later but not in a thriller opening as this would ruin the plot.

Vladimir Propp believes that there are 8 stock characters that fairy story's in particular follow, these are the villain, the dispatcher, the helper, the princess or prize, the princess's father, the donor, the hero and the false hero. The stock characters help to define what the characters motives are because this can help to understand the plot. We used stock characters in our thriller because the computer hacker is the Hero and the killer is the Villain. The stock characters help to define what the characters motives are because this can help to understand the plot. We used stock characters in our thriller because the computer hacker is the Hero and the killer is the Villain. However, the Hero, who is a computer hacker, has also stolen from somebody, so he is an alternative hero, and some may say that he is a False Hero because he doesn’t finish his quest as he is killed by the killer, who is the Villain. 

Levi-Strauss's theory was that the way we understand certain words doesn't depend on the meaning it creates but more on our understanding of the difference between the word and it's 'opposite' which is called 'binary oppositions'. He realised that words purely act as symbols for society's ideas and that the meaning of words, therefore, he believed that they are a relationship between opposing ideas. Binary opposition can explain that with one thing, there is an opposite to this. This can help to create conflict between the characters. We use binary opposition in our thriller because the computer hacker is good and the killer is evil. This is also shown through lighting as the killer is seen in dark lighting and the computer hacker is seen in light lighting. However, sometimes the killer is seen in the same lighting as the computer hacker, which could showcase that the two characters are not complete opposites after all. 

Pam Cook argues that the Hollywood narrative structure includes ‘linearity of cause and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution’ and ‘a high degree of narrative closure’. We included cause and effect in our thriller because the cause is that the computer steals information from a large corporation and they then hire a killer to kill to computer hacker to get the information back, this is the effect. However, even though the effect is clear, there is no narrative closure to this effect as we don’t know why the information was so important for the computer hacker to be killed.

Narrative Theories

The 5 Narrative Theorists that I have chosen are:

1. Cook - Enigma code
2. Propp - Stock characters
3. Todorov - Structure
4. Levi-Strauss - Binary Opposition
5. Barthes - Cause and Effect