Claude Levi Strauss

The 8 Roles

•The Villain- struggles with the hero

•The Donor- prepares and/or provides the hero with magical agents

•The Helper- assists, rescues, solves and/or transfigures the hero

•The Princess- a sought for person, who exist as goal and often recognises and marries the hero and/or punishes the villain

•The Father- the Princess Guardian

•The Hero- Departs on a search, reacts to Donor and weds at the end

•The False Hero- Claims to be Hero, often Seeking to be the Real hero

Applying Barthes Theory to my Film

Roland Barthes 5 narrative Codes:

•Action code - applies to any action that implies a further narrative action. For example, a gunslinger draws his gun on an adversary and we wonder what the resolution of this action will be.

•Enigma/Hermeneutic code - refers to any element in a story that is not explained and, therefore, exists as an enigma for the audience, raising questions that demand explication.

•The semantic code - any element in a text that suggests a particular, often additional meaning by way of connotation.

•The symbolic – annoyingly difficult to explain. You will only understand it if first we look at binary opposites.

•The cultural code - any element in a narrative that refers "to a science or a body of knowledge". In other words, the cultural codes tend to point to our shared knowledge about the way the world works. 

Applying His codes to our film:

- One code that was in our film was the Enigma/Hermeneutic code. This is because tension is built in the lead up to the death of our main character's friend.  By cutting to black after the crash, we leave the audience wandering what has happened and why that person is so important to him? Also, the truth behind the crash is purposely avoided.

- Another code that was used in our film was, the semantic code. The fact our character is staring off into the horizon is a semantic code suggesting he is contemplating his future. This visual motif is often used in films to show a character contemplating what to do with his life - e.g. Submarine.

Binary Opposites

•Levi Straus believed that the world was split into a series of ‘binary opposites.’ Essentially one thing can only be defined in relation to something it isn’t. e.g. a hero is only a hero if there is a cowardly option.

Dave Harrison - 7 Representaions of Youth

1. Youth are often represented in accordance with popular or hegemonic notions of adolescence
- An example of this is the programme, 'Misfits', were we see youth represented as reckless criminals that curse and commit anti-sociable behaviour.

2. Youth are often ‘demonised’ by the mass media.
- 'Truth about Britain’s feral youth: Small core of youngsters commit staggering 86 crimes by age 16'
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2163979/Truth-Britain-s-feral-youth-Small-core-youngsters-commit-staggering-86-crimes-age-16.html

3.Youth are represented as being let down by adults
-This is an article by the 'Dailmail' about the blaming of adults for teenagers being selfish.
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2514694/So-young-adults-today-selfish-monsters--parents-blame-says-YASMIN-ALIBHAI-BROWN.html
- Another example of this is in the film 'Kings of Summer', were the teenage character's parents cause them to run away from home because they are annoying and do not look after them appropriately.
 
4. Youth are represented as part of a subculture
- 'Mean Girls' is a grate example of this because, although it is an American film, there are very clearly defined examples of group categorisation. For example, the plasics, Emos, nerds, etc. 

5. Alienation – youth are represented as being estranged from parts of society, particularly adult society.
- This article by the 'Dailymail' reinforces this representation because it states that youth have low moral standards and are outsiders of adult society.
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1214549/Feral-youths-How-generation-violent-illiterate-young-men-living-outside-boundaries-civilised-society.html

6. Youth are product of the society they were born into, and often embody the faults and fears of adult society.
- An example of this is in the film, 'Attack the Block', were a group of young teenagers at represented at violent and criminals. We also see that they are living in poor conditions in a housing estate, being brought up around dangerous people (for example, drug dealers). 


7. Representations of UK Youth are often nostalgic and romanticized
- An example of this is is the film, 'High School Musical', because it shows the enjoyment that people have in their teenage years although this is an american film so does not represent the UK youth society. 

Narrative vs Story

Story:
- All of the events in a narrative, those presented directly to an audience and those which might be inferred.

Narrative:
- A sequence of events organised into a story with a particular structure.


My G321 Film

Story:
- Following the death of his best friend in a cycle accident which he witnesses, a teenage boy has to re-build his life. Plunged into depression he is saved by a young girl who helps him to rediscover the value of life.

Narrative:
- We started off by showing the death of his friend in the first scene (a bike accident). We then employed a flash forward in time to show our protagonist on a beach, hopelessly contemplating his future.

Alternative narrative:
- Starts with our character meeting a girl, asking why he is in the depressed state that our protagonist is in. It then flashes back in time showing the bike accident, then the story is chronologically told up to the point where the boy meets the girl.

American Pie - Representation of Youth

This film represents young people as hormonal, reckless teenagers who priority in life is to loose their verginity. This is shown but the use of dialogue and Mise-en-scene.