In sequence 2 we find Ricky's 12
year old brother Curtis is battling his own pressures, caught between this
world and his mum Beverley's competing aspirations for him. Ricky is at a
turning point - his mum and girlfriend Shea are struggling to help him stay out
of trouble but he owes a debt of allegiance to Wisdom who some years previous
took a knifing for him. Wisdom has
little hope of escaping the world of gangs and guns.
Unaware of
his intentions Ricky is dragged along when Wisdom shoots Godfrey the rival gang
leader’s dog. Ricky attempts to make peace, declaring that he is not part of
any dispute the rival gang may have with Wisdom but there is a return attack in
which Wisdom’s car is smashed and threats made on his life. Sensing that
violence is unavoidable, Ricky is an accomplice in Wisdom’s attempt to kill his
rival, an attempt that goes hopelessly wrong. Ricky tells Wisdom that the debt
he owed him has now been repaid and he wants no more part in Wisdom’s life.
Narrative
& Genre
These two elements
are what are known as ‘meta-concepts’ – sometimes called macro
concepts. These two are the elements
of a text that create an arc that encompasses all of the other so-called micro-concepts
of editing, shot choice, music, lighting, costume etc [the mise-en-scene]. In writing about these macro concepts you
will need to draw upon the ideas and understandings constructed by the micro
elements of the film.
To some extent, the
fact that a film belongs to a particular genre – such as ‘crime’ – will dictate
the story being told [the plot/script/narrative]. It also dictates the director’s use of the
micro-elements to reveal that narrative in the manner that audiences of that
genre would expect. The deploying of
mise-en-scene elements such as music and lighting will be key elements in
creating the conventional atmosphere appropriate to the genre – the
high-pitched violins in the shower scene in
Psycho, the theme that heralds and underpins the early
shark attacks in Jaws. How audiences ‘read’ a film is based on
their understanding of its genre [their
anticipation as to what they are going to see and what it will be about] and
the narrative is the means by which the ideas of the film are revealed. The narrative, in effect shapes how we
understand the events that are presented to us, how we feel about a character
and their actions. In the crime
genre our approval or our judgement on a character depends on ‘how’ their story
is told to us - what are we shown.
How we are shown it – the micro-concepts – is the thing that determines issues
such as whether we see it as real or our levels of appreciation and enjoyment
of the film.
Narrative, along with the key concept of representation,
is key to the ideological intention of a film.
In looking at
narrative audiences ask :
- ‘What is this story
about?’
- ‘How am I shown it?’
- ‘How do I feel about
what I’m being shown?’
- ‘Does this change how I
feel about this matter?’
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