Essential Word Dictionary Homework

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

· Characters frequently face physical and environment challenges, e.g human enemies, dangerous or exotic animals, difficult terrain, natural disasters and dangerous missions.

· Adventure films are usually produced as family entertainment with a range of characters to appeal to all ages, genders and ethnicities.

· The genre is broad one and includes action movies, historical fantasy films and even war movies

E.g. (Spy Kids – Robert Rodriguez 2001 and Mission Impossible Brian De Palma, 1996)

This particular keyword helps me because my character Batman is involved in many situations where he faces danger. It also relates to my study because it appeals to a wide range of audiences from children to adults.

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

· In contemporary media narratives, cowboys/Indians, black hats/white hats and gangsters/police represent binary oppositional forces. The audiences are attracted by the dynamics of this conflict with the possible variations leading usually to the ultimate triumph of good.

· Audiences are positioned in narratives to take sides and rewarded by the success of the side they are identified with.

· Binary oppositions are also present in non-fiction texts, such as news reports and newspaper articles, where audiences are positioned on one side of an argument, e.g. security forces/terrorists, the police/criminals, management/unions.

This helps because of the two opposites there are in the film, referring to Batman himself as the good character and the villain who creates nuisance for him, but which also makes the film more exciting to watch.

3. Blockbuster – A big-budget Hollywood film

· Blockbusters combine known stars and celebrities with fast-moving action narratives, spectacular sets and many special effects. Heavily marketed and promoted, they are designed to generate maximum box-office takings to justify the large sums invested. The emphasis is on hype and spectacle rather than on plot and character development.

· Blockbusters are part of an extensive merchandising operation designed to sell associated products. Ideologically, they are dominated by US cultural perspectives and values.

This keyword helps me because Batman is defiantly a blockbuster film, which is heavily marketed, and has an array of special affects within the film.

4. Body Double – An actor whose body is replaced that of another actor for particular scenes.

· Body doubles ma be used for dangerous shots, where stunt actors are employed, for those involving sexual contact or nudity of for shots where the actor’s body may not be considered suitable

· E.g. – (Pretty Women, Julia Roberts used a body double for nude shots and also in posters advertising the film.

This is useful to me because there are many parts where batman is shown flying around and doing stunts, which is where a “body double” enters and accomplishes this particular task.

5. Cameo – A brief appearance by a famous actor in a film production.

· A cameo is often used to increase the marketing appeal of a film as the cameo actor’s name can appear on posters and publicity materials. Cameo actors can often demand large fees for a brief appearance.

This particular word helps because there are sometimes brief appearances in other Superhero films, which increases the marketing of the film, E.g. Superman (Richard Donner, 1978).

6. Crane shot – A type of shot in which a camera is positioned on a specially designed crane, which can be raised and lowered at will.

This shot is used a numerous amount of times in Batman begins, because of his special powers to fly in which case this shot is needed quite often.

7. Fabulation – The construction of moralising stories about the origins of conflict in a society and the positive resolution of that conflict.

· Fabulation involves the construction of allegorical narrative where characters are used to act out a particular example of a dilemma which then becomes a metonym for larger social issues. The resolution reinforces the mainstream values of the society involved and overlooks underlying contradictions.

This is helpful because within the film there are a lot of social issues that the “corrupt government” and Batman are trying to overcome.

8. Fantasy – Genre built around an artificially constructed reality which could never exist in real life, often involving classical mythology or fairy tale.

· Fantasy films generally set real human characters against mythical or supernatural creatures in an imaginary world.

· Computer-generated images have made possible a dramatic extension of the fantasy universe.

This helps because Batman Begins is based on a fantasy, as he has powers that are made up, which makes it more appealing to the target audience of mainly children.

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

· Representations of gender increasingly challenge traditional concepts of masculinity and femininity.

· Girl power, launched as a marketing device for the Spice Girls in the early 1990’s, created new role models of assertive young women, rejecting the traditional passive female role.

· Traditional masculine traits of violent aggression, sexual promiscuity and high levels of alcohol consumption are increasingly represented without gender distinction. And female representations in film may challenge or subvert traditional femininity and female roles, E.g. Kill Bill.

This helps my study because of different concepts of male and female roles in films.

10. Hero – The principal male or female protagonist in any narrative, with whom the audience identifies and who exhibits moral virtues in line with dominant ideology.

This is linked to my study of how superheroes have changed and I can compare them to the past superheroes such as Superman.

11. Patriarchy – Male domination of the political, cultural and socio economic system.

· Under patriarchy, male perspectives and male achievements are valued and rewarded at the expense of the female. Female contributions to society are ignored and women are culturally and economically invisible, being defined solely by their relation to men.

· Patriarchy is an important assumption behind some feminist film criticism, which sees the male domination of film discourse as evidenced in the male gaze.

This helps because in Batman, it is shown as a patriarchal society through Batman being the hero throughout the film; dominating the film.