LESSON 520152: WHAT DO YOU UNDERSTAND? AUDIENCE POSITIONING

In Lesson 4 we explored some ideas around how media language constructed an understanding of Aileen as a killer.  We may each have arrived at differing points on a line of understanding but each of us used the information provided by the music, the shot choice, the editing to form an opinion as to Aileen's motives and the judgement we make of her.

Now we can move to consider how the mid-section of the film attempts to convey more complex ideas/understandings of Aileen and her relationship with Selby.  The details here - a further murder, the incident with the character with the disability, the visit to the funfair all add to our view of Aileen, supporting or challenging our perceptions of 'what she is'.

There is no doubt that there are apologists, those who whilst not excusing or even condoning Aileen's rampage, see some understanding of the justification of it .In this, they see Aileen as she depicted herself in court; the victim of a misogynistic male dominated society in which her main crime was to to be a woman who fought back to punish those who had exploited or abused her throughout her life.

There are others, the vast majority, who see her as a killer, an emotionally unbalanced woman who saw conspiracy's all around her and used violence to take what she wanted.

Patty Jenkin's film seeks to shed some light as to why this should be so and offers an opportunity for audiences to make up their own minds. We must bear in mind that her film is a partial account, one that has only one voice in it - that of Aileen who even, at key moments, narrates it.

A key narrated sequence occurs in sequence 3 which we viewed in Lesson 3.  Aileen returns from the second murder and as she washes up in the bathroom whilst Selby waits at the door she narrates in a voice-over the story of the huge Ferris wheel that arrived in her town one day - The Monster.  This wheel saw captivated the young Aileen that she could think of nothing but riding it but when she finally did she was terrified and violently sick. Clearly, the voice over is significant - why else include this one seemingly meaningless fact from her childhood when there are so many much more relevant stories of abuse committed upon her.

TASK: 

• What is the significance of the story of the Monster Ferris wheel? 
• What do we learn from the incidents with the man with disabilities; what about the incident with the killing of the ex-police officer?  How does the film use these to further our understanding of Aileen?
• What is the impact of Aileen's ride on the Ferris wheel with Selby in this film