Creative critical reflection.

1. Creative critical reflection.
Kasim.

2. About the task.
In this presentation, I will compare my sequence to other action sequences from popular films in
order to establish whether my sequence shares any of the conventions of the Action Film genre
and therefore can be identified as an action film. To this end, I will provide a list of conventions of
the genre on the next slide.
Also, I will try to establish the ways in which different social groups are represented in my
sequence.

3. Action Film Conventions.

4. Conventions.
Now we know what conventions we should be expecting to see in an action film. On the next
couple of slides I will demonstrate how some of these conventions are represented in popular
Hollywood films. Then, I will do the same with my sequence in order to establish whether it
can be truly identified as an action sequence.

5. Convention 1: Heroes and Villains.
Here is an example of a Hollywood action sequence. Here is the relevant part of my sequence.

6. Analysis 1.1.
In the sequence from Spider-man (2002), the hero-and-villain
convention of the action genre is very well-illustrated. In the
sequence, the main character, Peter Parker, gets bullied by
Flash Thompson and refuses to fight - which in a way shows
that Peter opposes violence, which in turn is a key
characteristic of a hero. Then, however, Flash keeps insisting
on the fight and acts aggressively which illustrates that he is
the bad guy.
After, Peter decides to fight back in order to defend himself
and knocks his offender to the ground which was a way of
showing that in the end, the hero always wins, which in turn
supports the hero-and-villain narrative. To conclude, this
analysis proves that the hero-and-villain convention is present
in the sequence and therefore this sequence belongs to the
action genre.

7. Analysis 1.2.
In my sequence, the hero-and-villain convention is also
present. Firstly, the main character is being bullied and
does not fight back. During that part, the bullies are
clearly represented as villains because they are bullying
the main character in order to get his money. Then, the
main character, turns angry and fights back and
accidentally kills his offenders. Even though the killing
was unintentional, the point here is that the character
being bullied stands up for himself and fights off the
‘villains’. This strongly represents the hero-and-villain
narrative in the sequence, making it akin to action
films.
Another convention that was demonstrated in the two
clips from the previous couple of slides is fighting. In
both sequences, fighting is perhaps the elemental.
Therefore, both sequences can be attributed to the
action genre.

8. Analysis 1.3. – Camera
work.
Another very important convention is in the camera
work in my sequence. For example, the majority of
the sequence, when the main character is being
harassed, consists of low-angle shots of the main
character and high-angle shots of the bully. This was
done purposefully in order to make the main
character seem weaker and inferior to the bully so
that it is easier for the audience to sympathize with
him. The bully, on the other hand, was made more
superior through the high-angle shots that helps
establish the fact that he is in charge.

9. Representation.
On the next couple of slides I am going to discuss the ways in which different social groups are
represented in my sequence and a Hollywood sequence, which will be from Spider Man (2002). I will take
one social group, - that I think is present in both sequences, - as an example and try to establish ways in
which it is represented in both sequences.
I decided to pick high school kids as my social group. On the next slide I am going to play the relevant
parts of my sequence and the Spider Man sequence.

10. Representation – social groups.
This is the clip from Spider Man (2002). This is the relevant part of my sequence.

11. Analysis 2.1. – Ideologies.
I was able to establish one way in which at least one social group is represented in both sequences. This
social group is male high school students.
In both sequences, the main character is being picked on by bullies and then retaliates. But in this case, I
want to focus more specifically on the bullies as examples of high school males. In both sequences, the
bullies are represented as ‘the villain’ that is being unjustifiably abusive of the main character for a petty
reason. For example, in the case of Spider Man, Flash (the bully) realizes that Peter had (accidentally)
dropped his tray on him and starts abusing and fighting him. This illustrates the idea that high school
students often solve their conflicts through violence and abuse.
Also, the fact that the main character is wearing glasses represents the idea that he is weak. This is because
psychologically it will make him look physically weak in people’s minds. Therefore, this helps present the
main character as weaker than the bullies in order for audiences to sympathize with him.