1. Within different aspects of the media, there are various different things that will allow someone to
think differently toward a movie. These can be anyone one of a number of things (as shown below)
• Genre
• Narrative
• Semiotics
• Representation
The genre of a movie shows tells the audience what to expect before watching the movie, and also
during the movie.
The narrative of a movie is very important, this is because depending on whether or not it’s a linear
narrative or a non -linear narrative. This will give the movie a different edge to it and will change the
view of the movie for the viewers.
The semiotics of a movie are one of the most important aspects, this is because it will show to the
audience what the character is feeling and expressing through the things he or she does or the way
they react, Not only that but when advertising a movie the poster shows various semiotic things, the
lighting, the positioning of specific things.
Representation in the film industry is basically how they show certain things and the way they are
fed to us, like in Leon, the way mitildia is portrayed but also how Leon is portrayed, and the
relationship they have. This is all part of representation.
Here I will be talking about Narrative theory in the movie Leon.
The movie was released on the 14th of September 1994. By a director called Luc Besson. The cast
was Jean Reno as Leon, Natalie Portman as Mathilda, Gary Oldman as Norman Stansfeild and many
other great actors.
This is a plot synopsis written by J.S.Golden - After her father and little brother are killed by
her father's employers, the 12-year-old daughter of an abject drug dealer is forced to
take refuge in the house of a professional murderer who by her request, teaches her the
methods of his job so she can take her revenge from the corrupted DEA agent who
ruined her life by killing her brother out of no actual reason.
My personal Leon synopsis would be something along the lines of: After a 12year old girl is taken in
by a mysterious hit man, she learns the art of being a cleaner. This is because she saw the dead body
of her farther just moments after a DEA agent murders her whole family. This is not a tale of love,
but more a revenge riddled action with a dramatic ending.

2. Within the beginning of the movie, there are a lot of icon and conventional things shown, such as
the city of New York, and the busy high streets with people oblivious to what’s going on. And the
way the camera pans out across the streets, and changes angles. This sets the stage and tells us
where the movies based.
In the actual movie itself there are a lot of different character representations. Such as the illusive
hitman that is silent, a little weird, but extremely deadly. And the cute innocent little girl who ends
up being revenge riddled and very different to what we might have first thought. Not only gender
but the movie also shows a corrupt DEA agent, this tells the audience that this movie will be filled
with ‘dirty cops`.
Mathilda, within this movie is portrayed as a very cute innocent little girl, up until her family gets
murdered and she learns to become a hit man. This shows the audience that even a young girl can
become deadly if she wanted to be, but also her use of language and the fact that she smokes also
shows that this young deadly girl craves to be older, and doesn’t like being told she can’t do
something.
The relationship between Mathilda and Leon is a very questionable one, this is because you see it
more as a father daughter sort of relationship, and the fact that Leon protects her and trains her
shows that he cares, but Mathilda shows a very different relationship need. Its almost as if she
wanted more out of the relationship. This is proven on many occasions by Mathilda and her
behaviours. Such as telling the receptionist at the hotel that Leon was her ‘lover’ and begging Leon
to kiss her in the restaurant.
The style of the movie is also very iconic, in the way the mese en scene shows specific things
creating the movie more in the eye of the genre, and the way the editing of the camera shots are
used. A perfect example of camera editing is when leon is killing all the guards in the begging, and he
coming from every angle, and the camera cut speed is very fast passed and quick turning
All these different things I have talked about help together to create the genre, and make the movie
fit its established title.
Pulp Fiction –
Pulp Fiction was made in 1994, by a Producer by the name of Quintin Terrinteno. This movie stared
Samuel L.Jackson, John Travolta and Uma Thurman.
In this movie we soon discovered that the writer, Quintin Terrinteno had created this movie in a non
linier structure, this means that different bits of the story are played. And the story’s not got a set
path that it follows. This is a movie about 2 hit men. Their name, Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield.
These characters, at the beginning of the movie, retrieve a brief case for their boss and major crime
boss Marcellus Wallace. We don’t know what the brief case contains but it’s worth a lot to their
boss.
In another part of this movie, Vincent has been asked by his boss to take his wife out to dinner, and
keep her company. In this scene where Vincent and His bosses wife, we see a lot of connections with
to other movies. Such as one of the waiters is dressed like a girl from the movie ‘Grease’ which is a
movie that John Travolta is well known for. There’s also that connection to ‘Grease because before

3. entering the restaurant, Vincent and The girl are sat in the car, and the shot angle is the exact same
as the shot angle from a scene out of ‘Grease’.
We call this Intertextuality. There is another use of Intertextuality found in this scene. This is when
there sat in the restaurant and the image shows a person looking very similar to Marlin Monroe. This
character’s dress is blown up, exactly like Marlin Monroe’s dress in the Movie ‘7 Year Itch’ which was
created in the mid 50’s.
Within the Movie scene where they are in the restaurant There is a verity of different genre’s shown
and depicted within this scene. We see clearly that there is reference to the 60’s 70’s and 80’s due to
what people are wearing and the hairstyles shown. There is also reference to the 50’s with the
Marlin Monroe. This is called Bricolage. The mix of historical genera’s in a single scene.
In the media we use a term called self-referentility. This is when a movie shows direct reference to
another movie, or another piece of work. In this case the movie ‘kill bill’ witch is another Quintin
Terrinteno movie, makes reference to Pulp Fiction because when Uma Thurman and John Travolta
are in the restaurant he goes on about her being a star in a series, And the series, would it have been
created, would have been about a group of 5 girls, by the name of ‘FOX FOURCE 5’. And they go on
about each character that would have been in the fox force 5, and this is a direct link to kill bill
because the movies all about the 5 girls, in a team. This just shows us that Quintin Terrinteno makes
a lot
Also while I am on the topic of the restaurant scene there is a perfect example of Reflexivity. This is
where the film makers show some of the film equipment used in the creation of the movie, and
show it in the movie. There is a perfect example in the scene where John Travolta and Uma Thurman
are in the car, a rectangle has been edited into the scene.
The way this movie is put together is called a Non linera structure. This basically means that the
story line isnt in a stream, there all mixed together and woven in and out. This makes you think
about the movie, and try and work it out in your head.