This was the second instalment of the Batman trilogy which was directed and produced by Christopher Nolan. The movie was based on the DC comic books which were written in the 1940's. In the movie, Batman played by Christian Bale forms an alliance with a police lieutenant in order to try and dismantle organised crime in Gotham City. However, they are faced with the Joker who's plan is to rival Batman and take Gotham City further into chaos.
Critics rated it one of the greatest films of the decade and 77 critics named it the movie of the year for its screenplay, visual effects and performances. Heath Ledgers interpretation of the Joker role was creepy and psychotic but it was done so well. He won a BAFTA and a golden globe for 'best supporting role in a movie' for his enticing performance. Bale's performance was not as well received as Ledgers but he still won an Empire award as the best male actor. Personally, I really enjoyed this movie as it combines Superheroes with a phycological thriller which produced a masterpiece enjoyed by millions of fans. Here is the trailer which shows a glimpse of the action.
Jaws
Based on the previous years novel also called 'Jaws' this movie was directed by Steven Spielberg. Jaws is based on a great white shark who eats humans causing police to go into chaos after a woman is eaten whilst skinny dipping on a beach. However the mayor won't close beaches due to Amity Island's necessity for tourist revenue. Police chief Roy Schneider teams up with a ship captain and an ichthyologist to try and capture the shark.
Jaws was received very well by the public as it was the first so called 'summer blockbuster' which is a movie released close to July 4th in order to maximise box office revenue. Spielberg uses the theme song of the shark to foreshadow a death. Jaws has won Academy awards and BAFTA's for its music as it contributes to the suspense which is built throughout the movie. When released, Jaws is said to have been the first movie which had repeated viewings by its audience due to how much people enjoyed it.
Psycho
Known for being Alfred Hitchcock's major hit, 'Psycho' was the most popular film in the 1960's and rated as one of the greatest thrillers of all time. However it was a change for Alfred as it had a lower budget and he decided to produce it in black & white. Due to the small budget he had to use actors from his television series instead of casting a worldwide star. The movie is based on a women who steals money from her employer and goes on the run, eventually winding up in a hotel where she meets Norman Bates.
Upon release, it received a mixed response from critics due to its violence and it was said to have 'slow buildups to sudden shocks'. However, even after a poor reception from the critics, the movie was a huge success among the mainstream population and had audiences breaking records in UK cinemas. Within recent years, Psycho had been rated 96% by Rotten Tomatoes due to the normalisation of horror since the 1960's. This was one of the first horror movies so its understandable that it received poor ratings at first.
Research into the best thrillers of all time gave me the chance to analyse why these movies have been so popular within their time period. For example, 'Jaws' was an unconventional movie in the 1975's as it contained a lot of horror even though it was deemed as a thriller. This made 'Jaws' stand out and therefore become popular.
Representation The ideology of representation in media is one which is theorised by many philosophers as it is very important in todays society. Stuart Hall's theory of encoding and decoding is an important part of audience theory and aids to help audience how an audience will think. This theory suggests that the director encodes a particular message or meaning which the audience can analyse and decode to find out the meaning. Hall believes decoding is the most important part of theory as not many theorists analyse it. We decode depending on psychographics and demographics personal to the viewer. Hall also believes that audience members adopt one of 3 opinions to what they are seeing: Dominant / Preferred reading - this is the opinion which the director wants the audience to take. This will likely be due to a similar age, culture or background which the audience member and director may share. Oppositional reading ...
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