Marina- Film Studies

Task 1 - Analytical approaches to film

The film  I have chosen to analyse is one of my favourite films of all time. It is the film Fantastic Mr Fox. fantastic mr fox was originally a book written by the author Raold Dahl. Both the movie and the book come under the fantasy genre as it focuses on the lives of woodland animals and give them the characteristics of humans and gives them their own human like world. this captures the very essence of the fantasy genre by giving the audience a new version of our reality through the use of humanised and personified animals.

Content Analysis
The film Fantastic Mr Fox focuses on the life of (you guessed it) Mr Fox. It follows his adult life and follows him through his mid- life crisis as he embarks on an adventure to recapture his youth and outsmart 3 of the meanest farmers in the land.

Narrative Analysis
The movie starts with a young Mr Fox and his wife Felicity getting trapped whilst raiding a squab farm. Whilst trying to find a way out his wife reveals the fact that she's pregnant with their son Ash. Scared for their lives she begs him to find a safer line of work if they survive. He agrees and they then dig their way out of the fox trap. 2 years later Mr Fox, his wife and their son Ash are living in a underground burrow. Mr Fox kept his promise to his wife and has taken a job as a columnist in the local newspaper. Depressed about living in a hole he moves the family into a tree on the other side of the river and completely disregards his lawyer Badger's advice about the dangers of the area. As the tree is located near to 3 of the meanest farmers. After the foxes have moved into their new tree Felicity's nephew Kristofferson comes to stay with them as his father is ill. Kristofferson is better at everything than ash and the aces hi jealous. Mr Fox then decides to take up his old line of work again as one last heist. He decides to raid each farm with the help of his friend Kylie and is wife's nephew. the causes problems for the rest of the woodland animals, as the farmers decide to retaliate by shooting off Mr fox's tail and digging up his tree in an effort to kill him. It forces him, his family and the rest of the animals underground and into the sewers. In an effort to regain favour with the woodland animas he plans one last heist and steals everything he can from the farmers which only makes things worse because it angers the farmers further and causes them to flood the sewers with cider in another crazy effort to flush them out. To cut a very long story short MrFox has a final showdown with the farmers that he wins and him his family and the rest of the woodland creatures live happily ever after in the sewers.

Define reception Study
Reception Study is the theory that all media products are encoded and can be decoded by the audience. The producers of media products encode messages, morals or values in he product that can be received and interpreted by the audience in the way the producer wants or in the way the audience wants. Stuart Hall the theorist behind this theory believes the audience can be split into 3 categories depending on their perception of the product.

1.Dominant or preferred readings
2.Oppersitional Reading
3.Negotiated Reading

Fantastic Mr Fox has an audience demographic that mainly consists of children between the ages of 4 and 10 which are the ages that most children learn and develop morals and values. By turning Fantastic Mr Fox into the cinematic masterpiece that it is, it has given the audience a visual representation of the story and makes it easier for the primary audience to understand the messages and values the book maybe trying to portray. The Film Fantastic Mr Fox teaches the audience morals and values. One of the main values this movie is supposed to teach is that honesty is the best policy because if Mr Fox was honest about what he was doing the story could have gone a different way. It also teaches that every action has a reaction. People who have watched the movie and have a dominant or preferred reading will see the film this way.

Define Fan Study
Fan studies is research focused on the fans of media content and fan cultures. The word fan is short for fanatic. A fan is someone who has a great passion for a media product and shows devotion to the product. Groups of fans are known as fanbases or fandoms. As there so many media sectors that produce different products there are different types of fans. Examples include the following;

• Celebrity Fans
• Gaming fans/ Gamers
• Music Fans
• Anime and manga fans
• Political fans/supporters
• Sci-Fi
• Sports

There are many more types of fans as there are many sectors of media. A fan study is an in depth look into the audiences of media and the different degrees of devotion and impacts on society that media has.

Task 2- Film in Theory

Task 2.1

Auteur Theory- The belief that the director has the most creative influence of a movie, which makes them equivalent to the author of a book/novel. The theory was established in the 1940's and it seen as a value system that was developed by the French film critics Andre Bazin and Alexandre Astruc. It was then named The Auteur theory by an American film critic by the name of Andrew Sarris. It was created and is used mainly to differentiate between French New Wave filmmakers and the Hollywood directors that use the studio-system. The term Auteur is used to describe different filmmakers or directors that produce films using an easily identifiable style of thematic preoccupation/ method of direction(production). Now it can be applied to other aspects of media such as;

• Music Producers 
• Video Game producers

Feminist Film Theory- Based on feminist views, Feminist film theory challenges the roles and views of women in the film industry and other areas of media. It criticises and analyses how women are shown in movies, TV shows, videos etc. It looks at the foundations and elements of film from the female point of view as most aspects of media content are produced in the male gaze.


Semiotics- The study of creating meaning and the process of how signs are made for movies. It also consists of the study of meaningful communication. It can sometimes be confused with Semiology (a sub-category of semiotics developed by Ferdinand  de Sassure). Semiotics includes;

• The study of signs and sign processes 
• Indication
• Designation
• Likeness
• Analogy
• Allegory
• Metonymy
• Metaphor 
• Symbolism
• Signification 
• Communication

Semiotics focuses on signs and symbols and how they have a large impact on communication.


Structuralism- Shows how meaning can be highlighted in films by using codes and conventions which isn't any different to how language is used to communicate.

Queer Theory- Looks at any kind of identity or behaviour that would fall outside of typical mainstream or can be considered as other/ deviant. It studies and examines non-narrative expressions of gender, sexuality and identity.

Marxism- The restoration of a relationship between 2 opposing sides in society via a mediating product or object. In media the object of mediation is the medium of communication. The medium of communication is shown through media products like films, TV shows, music etc the subject of these products bridge the gap between society's culture and the audience?

Psychoanalytic Theory- Is separated into 2 waves: Gaze and the second wave. 

• Gaze-  Developed in the 1970s separately by Laura Mulvey and Christian Metz. Mulvey's gaze theory states that audiences whether they are male or female have to view women from the view of a heterosexual male (AKA the male gaze). Metz argued that the viewer identifies more with the view of the camera which is is made more prominent by the film itself.
• Second Wave- The second wave of psychoanalytic film theory is associated with Jacqueline Rose put emphasis on the search for missing desire within a film from the point of view of the audience. In the 1990's other theories linking to marxism and post structuralism.

Assignment 26.1- Theory of Films

https://docs.google.com/document/d/171H8RkplXt7VCBNKU_--nR6POTFZ-KKrZacn-df35TU/edit?usp=sharing