Pr 3 critical responses

PR 3: Critical Responses to Media Products
In this article I will look how audiences respond critically to media products. The media
product that I am analysing is Leon The professional. We all respond to different media
products in many ways some in the manner of analysing genre, narrative, semiotics and
representations. Those are the four areas I will being analysing in this media text. I will
analyse the genre of Leon the professional is an action thriller crime drama and the genre
tells us a lot about the response the audience had as well as Nick Lacey’s theory on genre
theory will show more. I will also look into the narrative side of the film and how that has
effects the film and the representation the films show like semiotics. Semiotics are signs and
symbols and their use in media texts. Leon the professional shows signs of key genre
elements and their narrative structure. Representing a straightforward narrative and
symbolism.
Genre Theory and Semiotic Analysis toLeon:
The filmLeon: The Professional was directed by a man called Luc Besson a French
film director, screenwriter, and producer. He also known for creating movies like
the fifth element, district 13, Lucy and the taken series all have similar style to
one another because of Luc. The film stars’ Jean Reno as Leon Montana the
deadly professional hitman and Gary Oldman as Norman Stansfield the mentally
unhinged and corrupt police officer who is the antagonist of the film. The film
also debuts Natalie Portman’s first filmas Mathilda lando the 12-year-old
orphaned girl who travels with Leon as an apprentice. The filmitself was a global
success grossing over $45 million worldwide on a $16 million budget satisfying
audiences all around the world giving the film great reviews. The filmwas
released September 14 1994 with the original cut being 133 minutes long later
changed to 110 minutes long for American audiences.
Leon the professional is about our main protagonist Leon living in New York as a
professional hitman but one of his neighbours Mathilda a little girl with family problems
ended up traveling and being trained by Leon after a corrupt police officer killed her family.
wanting revenge for her family Leon takes her in teaching her his methods and ways of
being a hitman. Situations get worse as Leon and Mathilda’s unusual relationship develops
more.
I will be analysing Nick Lacey’s five key genre elements in Leon: The Professional:
The first element is setting where we see mise en scene in the film. The first shot of the film
we see a long establishing shot of the city of New York in America which is an iconic because
we can see the empire state building and central park. We the
also see a tracking shot through the city like were the audience is
being shown the setting and we see more specific locations in
New York called little Italy as the camera focuses on the sign that
say welcome to little Italy. This shows us we might see some
relation parts of mafia and gangsters as its most known for being
where most mafia stories are set and they have a history in films for having unique
characters. Leon is action thriller which are usually always set in a sprawling city making it a
convention in the action films. It’s in New York and the setting itself can give a lot
convention you would see in a typical spy film like fast cars, destruction, people, buildings

and more. We also see unique shots that show the physicality of our main characters Leon
and him doing extreme dangerous actions such as killing men with no effort and efficiently.
Later in the film we see inside of the dangerous man’s apartment seeing the setting, music
and actions he’s doing make us the audience feel more sympathy for him as he does regular
house chores in lonely giving the thought that maybe he’s
relatively friendly. We also see the setting for our other main
character which is in the same apartment building and when
Mathilda’s family is killed she walks to Leon’s door. A little girl
crying saying please let me in then the door opens with the
camera still on Mathilda a bright light comes from opening the
door. This is indicating life and escape, technically it’s what Mathilda always wanted if knew
it or not. She was waiting for a door to open for her in life and to escape her miserable life
with her family. As Mathilda and Leon’s relationships develops more we see more of the city
in various places like the rooftop, alleyways and hotels but all usually set in the little Italy
part of New York showing us that this is just one New York story in a city where many things
happen. Both of the characters Leon and Mathilda need one another as much as the other
as she teaches Leon fun and humanity and maybe gives him a purpose in life now as he has
a daughter figure. Whereas he teaches Mathilda strength and skills to be able become a
hitman as well as to become person who can get by in life.
We see a set of characters in the first half the filmas the movie is a linear story and the
characters we meet are pretty typical at first in action thriller we see our main protagonist
who killed bad men making him the hero and then also seeing the typical girl who is usually
the love interest of some sort in this its Mathilda. We also see
the antagonist of the film who is a dirty cop who killed
Mathilda’s family. So we see conventions that we would
normally see in an action film like James bond with him getting
in a relationship with a girl in this its Leon and Mathilda. The
characters are unique in their own way, with Gary Oldman’s
character the first impression we get that he looks very unhinged and dirty and a bit messed
up. From the first shot we see him he does very unusual things making us and the
characters around him in the filmuneasy, showing us why no one is questioning his actions.
Later we see the twist that the antagonist is a police officer but corrupt and dirty. But most
assumed when watching that he was just some criminal from his appearance and action but
it was the opposite referencing binary opposition Levi Strauss’s theory. Norman’s behaviour
and body language shows his representations and what type of character he is. We also see
certain stereotypic traits in characters like Mathilda but in twist. She is the classic victimof
the story seeking revenge in the story as well as being the love interest and typical girl that
survives in an action film. However, she is only 12 years old and she does actions that might
make you feel uncomfortable as she wants to kill and to be with Leon in a romantic way.
We see the narrative structure of this film which is in a linear story with a clearly defined
beginning, middle and end, that is structured chronologically. The beginning of the film
really sets up the narrative of the story and the characters tell us a lot about the story of the
movie. Like I said before our main protagonist is Leon and we get this idea because he’s the
first person we see on screen and we view the first scene with Leon. The camera focuses on

his strange looking glasses at first maybe indicating that he’s an
assassin or that he does something mysterious and dangerous
as typically characters who wear mysterious glasses like that are
usually the cool characters in media texts. We also next see a
group of men in suits walk in to a room with a woman in the
room looking worried and anxious maybe a love interest which
ionic to action films where we see an attractive girl. Also seeing a gun and a suitcase of
drugs again is just more iconography of an action thriller movie. All of these characters and
props are very conventional to the narrative of an action film. Steve Neale’s genre theory
shows very conventional representations in this film and shows other representations as
well. We see small details that show us subtle hints to the characters and story itself giving
us elements of the filmfrom obvious things that the audience itself pick up while watching.
For example, we see Mathilda’s clothes are typically old and unusual for her age, this shows
us that she’s from a poor family and that she doesn’t really care about her clothes. But the
type of clothes we see the director makes Mathilda wear are usually stripped clothing like
prison uniform and we also see Mathilda in some scenes smoking alone like she’s a prisoner.
This shows us maybe she is trapped like in a prison because of the type of life she lives.
She’s wants to get out and leave her life where she’s like in a prison with her family. Leon
eventually takes her under her wing like if he was taking her out of prison and giving
another purpose and life, so Leon is her savior which is another
way of an action filmof the main character saving a girl from
her terrible situation like James Bond with the bond girls. We
also see Levi Strauss’s use of binary opposition where it uses
two opposed elements to come into one. We see a lot of
opposition in this movie which always shows us the
representation of the film and maybe foreshadowing future
events in the narrative. For example, at the start of the filmwe see the phone and knife to
his head one is to save his life and one to kill him showing opposites and tone of the movie.
We also see conventional oppositions in action films such as good vs evil with Leon
representing good and Norman representing bad in the point of view of the film. We also
get male and female, young and old, strong and weak, life and death, and countless of
others in films.
We see iconography in the film which tell us a lot about the characters and setting of the
film. Since the filmis set in an action packed city called New York we see a lot iconic
buildings and they wanted to show us a clear understanding of
the setting right from the start. The opening shot is central park
looking at skyscrapers like empire state building, we also see
iconic streets of New York and the iconic yellow taxi just
emphasizing the location of the film. We also have conventional
iconic props such as guns and fast cars that we would except
when watching an action spy thriller but we also have iconic props to Leon such as his
glasses which is like his mask when goes to work like as superhero. This shows that our main
protagonist is the hero like any other action film it’s a convention, however Leon isn’t
exactly a hero as he kills people for living as a hitman. We also see certain props more than
once in the film that could mean more than you think. A couple of the objects in the film
serve as representations of Mathilda’s lost childhood. We sometimes in the filmsee

Mathilda holding her stuffed rabbit toy. This serves as another representation of childhood
that is ultimately ironic due to her fall from innocence. Mathilda is forced to mature early on
because of forces in her life. This makes itself known when Mathilda, holding her stuffed
rabbit, tells Leon that she has now grown up. Also the colors of the film are very dark and
gritty and not at all bight and colorful like in other action films set in New York. The film has
real dirty yellowish color to it maybe symbolizing the theme and setting of the film as it is in
little Italy with a lot of death and realism.
We see the style of the film in technical ways such as the cameras. In the stabling shot we
hear non diegetic sound of the soundtrack giving the audience a first feeling and Impression
of the film which is calming, ominous and mysterious music
while we see the titles of the film. We also see a tracking shot
going through the city showing us the mise en scene of the
film. The forwards tracking shot goes into the city and into a
building making us the person going through city like if we
were and characters observing it. An extreme close up to the
first characters we maybe suggesting hes our protagonist. We
also see another character from the reflection of the character’s sunglasses fromthe
extreme close this is to make us feel curious about this film trying to hook us in and kind of
claustrophobic deliberately. We also hear diegetic sound which isn’t in English which makes
the audience confused because we saw New York and its landmarks but they’re are not
speaking in English. We also had over amplified sound from the character drinking his milk
and slamming it down on the table when finished, this is design just to make us feel uneasy
and indicating a lot of action might come like the calming before a storm. We also see a
slow paced cuts and edits which is unusually for an action movie but it the calm before the
storm so we then see a lot of fast paced cuts and edits between the three different locations
that we have seen so far of crosscutting shots. Non diegetic and diegetic sound stopped
when Leon had the knife to a guy’s neck. Also music changes when Gary Oldman’s character
comes into shot and initially we don’t see his face at first but when we do the music changes
suggesting he’s going to be a key player in the film, also getting this uneasy feeling about
him.
Narrative Theory:
Act 1: Exposition/inciting incident- The first act establishes characters and settings of the
movie. For example, we the settings of New York straight away while the opening title was
on and we see our main protagonist. There’s always an incising incident in the filmin Leon it
was the death of Mathilda’s family who was murdered by Norman the antagonist of the film
setting up the plot of her and for Leon
Act 2: Rising Action/Climax- The second act starts straight after the exposition and its
where a series of events starts building up to a dramatic climax. These are usually the most
important parts of a film as it shows the plot of the narrative. In Leon the main part of act 2
In the film it is where Mathilda convinces Leon to train her and as it goes on their
relationship develops more, building to a big film climax.

Act 3: Falling action/Denouement- The third act is where we usually see the protagonist
and antagonist of the filmhave their final conflicts giving suspense to the film. This is where
we see the final outcome of the film and ending. In Leon it was when Leon was in the
building trying to escape from the police officers and then has his moment of conflict with
Norman and the they both die. It is then revealed Mathilda escapes and goes to tony and
goes back to school to start a new life. The denouement means ending which is the planting
from Mathilda gain indicating life and new beginning. The film ends with the filmstarts with
shot of the city skyline of New York city indicating that it’s just another New York story out
of others.
Vladimir Propp was one person who had a narrative theory. He was a Russian theorist in
the 1920’s and analyzed over a 100 fairy tales. His theory is he was sure that every narrative
had the same 8 character roles which are:
 The hero (seeks something)
 The villain (opposes the hero)
 The donor (helps the hero by providing magic an object)
 The dispatcher (sends the hero on his way)
 The false hero (falsely assuming the hero)
 The helper (gives support to the hero)
 The princess (reward for the hero and needs protection)
 Her father
There are films that fit this theory such as Star Wars but there are also films that do not fit
this theory clearly such as pulp fiction. With pulp fiction’s representation of non-linear
narrative as well as its unique character you can really defy one-character role to pulp
fictions characters as they are all different. But you can give eight of these roles to a
character in pulp fiction some might have more than one. With Mia being the princess who
needs to be rescued, Vincent being the hero saving Mia in the scene and lance being the
donor who helps Vincent with an adrenaline boost which is the magical item.
Tzvetan Todorov is another theorist whose theory was he believed that all narratives follow
in a five steps the equilibrium where everything is balanced and how it should be. The
progress as something comes along to disrupt that equilibrium, realization where the
characters realize the problems going on in the moment of the film. Then step 4 is to
attempts to repair disruption where they try to repair the damage but fail in their attempts,
and then reach a resolution, when equilibrium is restored. In pulp fiction we see this in a
nonlinear path both still in the structure but splits in different storylines with the
equilibrium being the two couple in the dinner the first scene of the movie and the scene
inside Jules' car. This is a calming scene as Jules and Vincent are having a calming
conversation. This makes the audience able to trust them. Also the audience trust them as
they’re are wearing suits which kind of give an authoritative view about them. Then the
disequilibrium where Mia has a drug overdose and gives a complicated scenario for Vincent.
The n the restore of the equilibrium reinstates as Vincent the hero takes Mia the princess
back home with no longer any fears from Mr. Wallace as the problem is fixed. The story
then goes back to the equilibrium to another story with butch has escaped his pursers from
Mr. Wallace making this the calmmoment making butch like the hero at the moment.
Looking for his dad’s watch while there’s gangsters after him he then see Mr. Wallace which
breaks the equilibrium and a chase begins. Things get worse as the shop which the

disequilibrium where the wo men are the villains of the scene and butch escapes and saves
the the other man. This reinstates the equilibrium as butch and Wallace go back to their life
in good terms. Then the hero goes back to his life with his life. The climax happens where
Vincent and Jules go to the apartment dealing with the bonnie situation nearly being close
to death. The resolution takes place at the end of the film at the dinner which was the first
scene of the film but we see the characters meet each other. The resolution is where the
the second hitman gives the robber $1500 making him the hero of the film. This is confusing
in pulp fictions nonlinear narrative but aspects of Todorova’s theory do apply to pulp fiction.
How Deadpool uses Post-modernFeatures:
In the title sequence we see a picture of green lantern, this is Self
Referentiality which is when an actor or film reference their previous work
in way that it can be classes as parody. This is happening here when we see
green lantern because Ryan Reynold who plays dead pool in the film also
played Hal Jordan in the green lantern film which was a major flop in box
office. He’s making fun of his previous work making it a parody. Also the
title credits are parody of common character tropes in movies such as the
hot chick this is an intertextuality where its referencing genres in the given
forms the same with green lantern referencing other superhero films and
previous work. At the start we see the marvel studios logo coming telling the
audience what type of film this is and who it is by which give anchorage to the
audience. We first hear non diegetic sound which is the title song angel of the
morning which sounds very romantic and very soothing not fitting in to this
car crash scene that we typically see in an action superhero. The whole scene
is also from a slow tracking shot which we don’t usually see as we except
more fast paced shots and quick cuts.
How Pulp Fictionuses Post- modernFeatures:
We also see pulp fiction using post modern features particualy in the jack rabbit slims
sequence . We see intertexuality where we see john travolta pulling up in a red car similar
to the one he drove in grease in the shot was the exact same as the
shot in grease, so this is referencing other media texts. We also see a
lot of parody In this sequence when we see a person dressed up as
marlyin monroe in the thtemed diner which is making fun of the
chacrter in a humourous way to the film and I nthe film world.
Travolta also later dances on stage in the dinner creating a similar
thing he did in his previous work Saturday Night Fever. In that film
john is a great dancer where as I nthis filmhe dance really badly like
a old dad maybe showing his age compared to the other film. They show this in a very funny

way creating a pardoy because we know he can dance better and this is also self
referentiality where the actor is doing a direct reference to a previous work. This dance in
the 1950’s diner was recreated similar to his film Saturday Night
Fever. This can also be counted for being pastiche as the director is
just being clever and reminding everyone its john travolta by paying
homage to grease and Saturday night fever. The whole diner is a
pastiche to the 1950’s worth the music and style of the place. We
also see another post modern feature which is reflexivity where see
the film making process within the mise en scene. Mia says while
theyre at a table don’t be a square and wee see the mechanics of
film making when she does the square shape in mid air. An actual aniamted square sahpe
appears for the audience to only see. We also see bricolage at one point in the sequence in
the dinner we see the 1950’s theme and we even see black couple I na differen section to
the white people in the diner referencing the historical era of the 50’s.
Production and disruption methods are far greater than it ever was and developed more
Because of this this has have allowed postmodern features in media texts. When films came
out in the 60’s and 70’ the production technology was only very limited compared today,
the film was only made into one filmreel and only distributed to cinema and because of
that there weren’t a lot of postmodern features as people can only watch the in the cinema.
Now we have so many different sources to watch films we have rich amount of of
technology. We now watch films at home and anywhere on any type of technology like
Netflix they added more postmodern features like pastiche and intertextuality because in
life people watch these films more than once in a different compared to the old ways where
it was on in the cinema.
Part 4:
I will apply all all this to another film of my choice in smaller paragraphs and less detail.The
film I have chose is Ride Along, a buddy cop action comedy movie starring Ice Cube and
Kevin Hart. The film was directed by Tim Story most known for directed other movies with
the cast such as barbershop and think like a man. The film stars’ ice cube as James Peyton
detective who’s working undercover with trust issues and Kevin hart as ben barber a fast
talking security guard who is engaged to James is sister and is trying to prove himself to
James as well as trying to become police officer like James. We also have Tika Sumpter as
Angela Peyton the sister of James and girlfriend to ben. The filmbegan production in 2012
and was released January 17 2014 and the budget of the film $25 million and made $154.5
million in the box office becoming a success which eventually created a sequel called ride
along 2. The film follows Ben Barber, a high school security guard who must prove to his
girlfriend's brother, James Payton, that he is worthy of marrying her. James, a police officer
out to catch Serbian smugglers' boss Omar, James takes Ben on a ride along to prove
himself.

I will be analysing ride along using nick lacey’s repertoire of elements but the filmis not as
deep as Leon so It would not be as greater detailed as Leon and mainly will be focused in
one scene when talking about lacey’s elements. The setting of ride along is in a big city
called Atlanta the mise en scene we see conventions we
usually see in an action film such as the setting which is
in a big sprawling city. We get all the things we might
see in filmlike this such as a lot of fights, fast cars,
gadgets, destruction and more. The first shots we see in
the film are regular medium shots of people having
some sort meeting or deal. Action comedies usually
evolve around one or two characters and usually
opening with a narrative which sets up the whole film which is a convention. We don’t get a
lot of unique shots except regular mid shots of the characters particularly ice cube who
people would some is the main characters as also see a flashback of him getting into the
position he is now. We see one POV shot of a guy looking at his phone mention about cops
and it then cuts to ice cube. This shows us the audience that ice cube is the cop and maybe
he’s undercover as he’s in the meeting with bad men talking about guns and such. We then
see the camera shot change dramatically as one character draws a gun and starts shooting
in the middle of a crowd looking for a cop. We then see typical conventions to action movies
with fast paced cuts which connotes the chaos and speed going one making the action look
hectic and energetic. This sets the tone of the movie as during the shootout between cops
and bad guys the music kicks in and it’s a fun action song coming in indicating the lightness
and comedy in the movie that might come up and also the opening credits are going on.
And it freezes every now and then on a cool shot and shows the credits which is in a slick
action font. The setting really builds up the genre of the movie as we see more guns and
glass being smashed by bike transiting the scene into a pursuit which is a convention in
action films. We understand the setting more through pursuit as we see streets showing us
the audience the settings more but we also see the comedy side of the film. Ice cube is
looking for a car to chase someone so he gets car and realises it’s a Prius and gets angry
about it so he finds another car because those cars aren’t typically cool and not usually used
in action films. We also see our character talk more and see his personality creating a better
understand for the audience through him saying jokes and cop terms like freeze.
We see a set of characters in the first half the filmas the movie is a linear story and the
characters we meet are pretty typical at first in action comedy we see our main protagonist
who killed bad men making him the hero and then also seeing the typical sidekick who
might bring the comic relief who is usually the other main
character. We also see the antagonist of the filmwho is a
dirty cop who killed Mathilda’s family. So we see
conventions that we would normally see to help set the
film more by showing us the audience what type of film
were going to through the character’s representations
and stereotypes. The impression new set of ben is that
he’s very funny and fast talking and we get this because he is played by Kevin hart who is a
certain star who is famous for comedy so we see the comedic character. His behaviour and
jokes is very childish like and we get this from his setting where he has set it up a gaming
area and is playing a game talking to people on his headset and saying ridiculous words and

names in the game such as assface. Fromthe first moment we see that ben is very jumpy
man who might not take things seriously if he is wasting his time on a computer game. But
we also see he cares for his girlfriend through compliments and his ambition of benign a cop
to impress his brother in law.
Narratively the film is very easy and basic to understand as its also in a linear order meaning
it’s easy to follow. Also the film sets up the story and characters very well and in the
beginning of the movie. We know that ice cube is a main character mainly because of his
recognition and fame as an actor he is obviously the main
character but narratively he’s the first character we see on
screen. The camera focuses on him with close ups more
than anyone else in the first scene and he’s confidently
asking question like a cop about criminals. This indicates
that he might be our main character as they tell us he’s a
cop looking for answers which are usually heroes in movies
like these. Steve Neale’s genre theory shows very conventional representations in this film
and shows other representations as well. We see small details that show us subtle hints to
the characters and story itself giving us elements of the film from obvious things that the
audience itself pick up while watching. For example, we see that James’s clothes is very
basic functional and his posture rigid but mainly we see bens clothes are different. He’s
wearing a t-shirt with a sniper on it while playing games telling us he wants to be like James
using binary opposition as one is a serious detective and on is a not so serious want to be
detective giving us the iconic two different character in comedy movies. We see more use of
Saussure’s binary opposition some are conventional to the movie’s genre. For example, we
see good guys v. bad guys in a lot of fights. The good guy’s changes in films and can be
anyone the film maker chooses. The good guys are typically patriotic and the evil guys are
usually criminals, agents or a foreign power. In this case it’s the two brother in law
detectives and Omar as the bad guy.
We see a lot of conventional iconography to the films genre which is action and comedy, so
we see a lot of guns, fights, explosions, villains, heroes and more things you will see in a
James bond movie. We see these iconic props and sequences throughout the film to always
inform the audience that type of movie you’re watching. There are also items
iconic to the characters themselves such as James glasses it’s his signature
look and he always wears theme, similar to Leon when he puts it on when
he’s working so does James acting like some sort of mask showing us he’s like
a hero as superheroes wear masks like Spiderman and batman. This is another
iconic trait to action films having a hero and a villain which in this case is
Omar. We also see the comedy aspects of the filmthat clash with the action
theme and see iconography in these comedy movies such as funny one liners,
different personalities, buddy film and more which is iconic to the genre. We
see action sequences such as a car pursuit with guns and the characters will
say one liners and hilarious jokes. Also the setting itself is very iconic to the
film’s narrative which is a big city with a lots of skyscrapers on crowds of
people which is iconic in action like James bond. Yet we don’t see iconic things to the city to
tell us what city it is like New York’s yellow cabs and landmarks. We found out the city
through exposition in the police precinct which is Atlanta. Also the colors of the film are

bright and warming to show us the light comedy side of the movie but we also still see some
of the dark and real colors to also shows it’s an action film dealing with something serious.
The films color pallet has a certain cold feeling yet has a normal atmosphere when seeing
the character clothes and interior of buildings. Maybe telling us in another way that the city
is dangerous and harsh that’s why there’s two detectives trying to clean up crime. The color
is is iconography itself as action films usually always have a certain color scheme.
We see the style of the film in technical ways. We hear non diegetic sound right from the
start of the universal credits. The song is a hip hop genre and symbolizes the film well as its
for characters who fit the song well and theme with the modern action cop film. This gives
the audience already a feeling of what the movie could be about. We also hear over
amplified sound when the bad guy slams his hands on the
table we hear a loud echo sound with men guns getting
up from their seats, this is design to make us feel uneasy.
Also the scene then cuts to a police pursuit making it the
opening sequence with the first half being in non-diegetic
sound with a modern rap song. We see various shot
during the action scenes as there’s a lot of quick paced
camera shots in different position to shows us the entire
sequence better. We see some track shots of us where the camera is on the car during the
pursuit. The shot makes us see the setting more of the filmbut also makes us feel like were
in that situation where in the car chasing giving us point of view of James driving. At the
starts of the film we see a lot of close ups of the characters particularly on James giving us
the feeling he’s our main character were going to be following. For an action comedy film
we see very conventional edits in the film especially in action scenes. We see a lot of fast
paced shots and edits during fight sequences and such. We see very typical and safe editing
with in the filmbut we also get visual comedy in the mise en scene which helps the editing.
For example, we see ben trying to get information from a kid. The camera is level with the
kids so the audience is eye level with the kids as well as ben because he’s bending down to
talking with him. Usually you would see the camera looking down to show the empower of
the character but in this case it wasn’t. In the scene the kid is more confident and intelligent
then ben so when he tries to talk with him the kids just talks circle around him. This is why
the camera shot is different especially when cuts to a shot with the camera looking down at
ben when the kids get a load of people to attack him. This high angle shot makes the people
look bigger in the frame making theme look more dominate. Also like I said before the
colors of filmin the mise en scene adds the style and technical side of the film more. With
the bright colors of ben and the mute dark colors of the city and cops contrast with each
other help the narrative of the movie.
Postmodern features:
In ride along we see a postmodern feature being used in the films narrative. Throughout
the film we see a lot of intertextuality where its referencing other media texts. We hear
references to other filmsuch as training day where Kevin hart is talking about the film with
Denzel and how he going to be like that as well he quotes the phrase chitty chitty bang bang
when he’s about to shoot someone. We see these references to relate to the audience and

genre more with our character saying this, also we hear the super Mario them song in bens
ring tone which is a famous video game that nearly everyone knows. Speaking of video
games, we see a lot of parody in the film about vide gamers. Parody is where they copy
something in humorous way in the filmone of bens
hobbies is being a video gamer. However, In the filmthey
depict him in very exaggerated way as video gamer like he
mentions and quotes games during his ride along and when
we first see him he’s playing video but acting in an
exaggerated way like calling himself the black hammer
because that his gamer name and such. Besides that, we
don’t really see any more postmodern features except for a few more references to video
games because we see big framed posters of games like gear of war in ben’s house. This is
more intertextuality and besides those there really isn’t any reflexivity, bricolage or pastiche
because it’s only a simple comedy film and the director probably didn’t put a lot of
postmodern features.
Act 1: Exposition/inciting incident- The first act establishes characters and settings of the
movie. We the settings of The big city of Atlanta straight away while the opening title was
on and we see our main protagonist. We see more background information of James and
ben setting up the main plot and giving us exposition. There’s always an incising incident in
the film it’s where ben tries to become a cop on the ride along with James and he messes
things up in a way that he’s helping with the big Omar case the antagonist of the film setting
up the plot of the film.
Act 2: Rising Action/Climax- The second act starts straight after the exposition and its
where a series of events starts building up to a dramatic climax. These are usually the most
important parts of a film as it shows the plot of the narrative. During the ride along we see
ben’s life Turing more positive as he shows his talent more of becoming a cop in a unique
way where show his strengths. This builds up to a big battle that’s about to happen.
Act 3: Falling action/Denouement- The third act is where we usually see the protagonist
and antagonist of the filmhave their final conflicts giving suspense to the film. This is where
we see the final outcome of the film and ending. In the film it’s when the final battle
happens where we see Omar face to face with our protagonists about the fight. Giving the
conflict between the characters with them eventually killing Omar after taking bens wife as
a hostage. The denouement shows ben and James finally sort of showing that they
understand each other in good terms. They have a engagement party at bens backyard
showing the characters getting along leaving the characters in happy endings with a funny
moment at the end where ben get knocked back from the first of the barbecue and his
clothes burned.

Pr 3 critical responses

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Pr 3 critical responses