This document provides a summary and critical analysis of the 1994 film Leon: The Professional. It discusses the unconventional characters of Leon and Mathilda and how they subvert expectations. It also analyzes the villain Stansfield and use of iconography and color in the film. Specifically, it notes how the red and white on Leon's milk carton represent his dual nature, and how yellow and green colors signify the corruption of Stansfield's character. The document also examines the film's narrative structure and applies various narrative and character theories to its plot and roles.

1. James Pearson
PR3: Critical Responses to Media Products
In this document I am going to be exploring the different aspects and critical responses of
the media product Leon the Professional, exploring the different genre defining aspects and
how the characters differ away from conventional movie characters how they react with
each other and what they represent as a genre defined character, one of the other main
things I will be looking at is how the different inanimate objects and colours that you see
and what they represent about the landscape around the characters. Also in the article I will
be exploring the genre representations along with the narrative and how it separates from
any other action film, the last thing that I will be analysing is the different ways in which the
director uses certain colours and objects to represent certain facts about a scene.
To start of the article, I am going to be recording the initial information about the film:
Year of Production: 1994
Director: Luc Besson
Cast: Natalie Portman, Jean Reno, Gary Oldman.
At first glance when the film opens it doesn’t feel like an action film even though we have all
the anticipation of the scenes but it completely takes you by surprise when it shows you a
calm tracking shot taking you through New York city and with the addition of the calm music
that completely changes the atmosphere of the film and gives it an alien feel to it and it
instantly makes you want to watch more, within the first few scenes we are introduced to
all of the main characters both clearly representing who they are and what they are bringing
to the story.
when we see Leon for the first time we don’t see him saving a life or in a fast pace chase in
fact we barely see him at all, we don’t actually see him fully till the end of the first scene
when he threatens the mob boss, this represents something new that we had never seen in
a movie hero before he is not shown in full view and he is not doing anything heroic, he
works in the dark and kills silently and with no moral remorse constantly scaring the life of
the people who he is targeting, it is as if the director is intentionally trying to make you
afraid of Leon because he wants you to know that Leon is not a good person, he kills people
because he is payed to, he kills at least 8 people in the opening scene but there is one thing
that separates him from the villain, he doesn’t kill women or children and that is the case
for the whole film, the way the director shows this quality of him when we meet the villain
and in his opening sequence he kills both women and children showing that he too is a killer
but he is worse of the two because he is supposed to represent good as a cop but he is
worse than an assassin who is supposed to represent everything bad.
Within the next the few scenes we are introduced to Mathilda who is the second main
character in the film and she is supposed to represent everything Leon is and isn’t, and

2. James Pearson
troubled yet innocent because the way she dresses is a like a typical child but her whole
domineer is of a troubled girl who is really struggling to cope and this is shown in the first
shot when she is shown smoking but later when her dad shows up she swaps it for a lolly
pop showing that she is very intelligent and knows how to get away with things. She is
meant to represent a victim of an incident but as the film goes on she starts to drift away
from that role and she gets stronger and stronger and as this happens we see a lighter side
to Leon, seeing him grow more and more caring towards Mathilda and by the end it is as if
she becomes Leon not even afraid to kill someone if she was given the chance, it is
characters like her that give this film a real gravity within the character development, always
keeping them alive within dialogue and reactions.
The last main character of the film is the villain Stansfield who is magnificently portrayed by
Gary Oldman who portrays the psychotic and dangerous actions of a corrupt cop who will
do anything to get what he wants and that includes killing, but the way they portray him
was so unique even for a movie villain because it was if he held no moral compass, unlike
other villains in this genre he was willing to kill anyone in his way and that includes women
and children, the way the director wanted this character to be portrayed as if he was
everything he was supposed to protect people from, killing, stealing, drug abuse, selling
drugs, everything he is as a character is everything Leon despises and everything that he
doesn’t want to become.
Iconography
Many defining elements of this film can be told in the atmosphere and the very props that
the character’s use to define their character along with the colours that come with it and
what they represent for instance the milk that Leon drinks has a very distinct packaging with
the colours red and white on the cover, it can be said that each of the colours on the milk
carton represent the two divided aspects of Leon’s character, Red indicating the dangerous
side to him with the fact that he kills people for a living, on the other hand the White colour
represents life and hope when he saves a little girls life, so it can be explained that the milk
carton is a perfect representation of Leon and who he is as a person.
The Villain of the film Stansfield on the other hand every time that he commits a violent act
towards someone or threatening someone he always has his tablets with him which are
coloured yellow and green , both of the colours are meant to represent corruption and
brutality within the very department meant to keep people safe so every time he is even in
a room with someone there is at least one of these colours to represent him and in the
scene where he kills Mathilda’s family and he is talking to one of his men he is stood closely
behind a beaded curtain and all the beads were coloured either yellow or green keeping in
mind this is the first time we are properly introduced to his corruptive nature and it fully
introduces his character.
Style
The style that the director uses for this film is very unique in a way that it appears as an
everyday action film but there are aspects of the filmthe solidify it as a very unique and

3. James Pearson
gripping filmalways keeping you guessing what is going to happen because of the unique
character structures in the film even though when we don’t see the characters we see a
very simple exterior to the film such as the setting which was set in new York which is a very
easy choice for a film like this but the director uses the city in a way that it represents two
different worlds one being the lush and beautiful city of New York which in the film
represents corruption and brutality as in when we are in the smaller, more confined part of
town we feel more at home with the characters and we can easily band with them when
they are in that kind of atmosphere, keeping in mind that the first kills that we see in the
film take place in a hotel room located in the centre of new York, giving us the feeling of
unease when we first see Leon appear from the dark making us feel very unsafe. On the
other side of the city is where Leon lives and every time that he is over there in that area in
the film apart from the end he is always calmand collected going about his everyday life, it
is this technique that makes this film so unique, the fact that the director was able to define
characters through where they are in the city so it is as if the city is presented as a state of
mind for the characters and when they interlock like they did at the end it explodes in a
frenzy.
Narrative theory toLeon
Act 1: When it come to the narrative structure of the filmLeon the professional it shows you
quite a basic narrative structure that reveals a situation between the characters and
therefore creates an inciting incident when Stansfield kills Mathilda’s family and makes her
an orphan and linking this to the exposition where she returns and sees what has happened
and she walks to Leon’s door and he saves her life signifying him as a good man.
Act 2: The rising action of the story is when Leon agrees to train Mathilda to clean (kill) and
she gets better and better at it and from then on tries to kill Stansfield but fails and it results
in one of the most compelling scenes in the entire filmwhen Stansfield integrates Mathilda
solidifying Mathilda’s hatred for him, leading to the climax when Stansfield and his men
track down Leon and Mathilda resulting in a large scale gun fight between Leon and the
police.
Act 3: the final falling action of the film is when Leon and Stansfield are killed in a suicide
bombing inflicted by Leon himself, giving his life so that Mathilda can get away in the chaos
and the final denouement of the story is when Mathilda goes to her old school and plants
Leon’s plant outside on the school grounds representing life as she is getting her life back on
track.
Propp’s character rolls:
The hero, (Seeks Something)
The Villain, (Opposes the Hero)
The Donor, (Helps the hero by providing a magic object)
The Dispatcher, (Send the Hero on his way)
The false Hero, (Falsely assuming the role of hero)
The Helper, (Gives Support to the Hero)
The Princess, (The Reward for the hero, but also needs protection from the villain)
Her Father.

4. James Pearson
Todorov’s Theory: His whole theory is based around the assumption that each story starts in
a state of equilibrium meaning that life for both the Hero and the Princess are happy, with
this comes a disrupting force which has to be stopped by the Hero so the equilibrium can be
returned. This theory can be applied to the structure of many films that we see in cinema
today.
Straus’s theory: He was in belief that a story can be studied through myths and tribal
cultures and how it reflects on it almost unconsciously this is usually expressed in a form of
binary opposition, this theory has been studied and adapted by many media theorists who
learn this for future media texts.
I will now apply the exact same method of analysis to a new Title Production.
The Hateful Eight Critical Responses
In this section of audience critical responses, I will be looking at the film The Hateful Eight
and the impact that it had on me as a viewer, the main aspects of the film that I will be
looking at are the genre conventions along with the narrative and the semiotics, I will also
be talking about the representation, all of these aspects of the films production is what I am
going to analyses to see what kind of film it is and what it was trying to represent as a genre.
. Name of Production: The Hateful Eight
. Director: Quinton Tarantino
. Year of Production: 2015
. Cast: Samuel L Jackson, Tim Roth, Kurt Russel, Channing Tatum, Walton Goggins.
Setting
The main setting for the film was very unconventional and very unknown for a film like this
for instance Quinton Terantino always loves to film in unconventional locations and he went
far of the lines with Tellirude which is a very isolated location which is what the director was
going for because it is as if the very surroundings of the film are meant to make you feel
unsafe and on edge the whole time making you feel that something is going to go wrong
The second main setting for the film is a lodge which is where a large proportion of the film
takes place and with it being a small environment for so many characters it makes you feel a
sense of claustrophobia every time a character even talks. With that it is as if the two
locations in the film are connected for instance the storm outside is the unrelenting force
that keeps these people trapped inside and the lodge is keeping them safe but it is the
characters themselves that are the main threat to the story.
Characters
The characters in this are truly the best part because each one of them has a certain
ideology that another character would not agree with and it is that sort of tension that
slowly builds up higher and higher until it explodes in a fight towards the end, the whole
point of each one of the characters is that they each have factor of their personality that a
person wouldn’t like even with the very characters that are meant to represent good have
something that a regular person would despise, for instance John Ruth who is a strong
character who could be likable but he is very a very violent man who enjoys hitting the
prisoner but won’t kill her so it is those two factors that divide his personality between good
and bad, and it is the exact same sanario for each one of the other 7 characters they all
represent something that is meant to be good but each one of them has something that we

5. James Pearson
hate in each of them that is what sets them away from other conventional movie
characters.
Iconography
There are not many iconic features to this filmthat are visible but the storm and the lodge
both represent safety and danger and every time that the characters are in the snow a
person is always in danger of death but when they are in the lodge they feel safe even
though they are not.
Style
The style of the film really sticks to the Terantino format for instance he always likes to push
the boundaries with the narrative and the dialogue and those are the main aspects of the
film with action as a secondary aspect making the filma sort of murder thriller rather than
an action thriller, keeping in mind the fact that every kill in the film carries weight similar
the format of Pulp Fiction every time a person dies you feel as if a person dies not just some
secondary character but an actual person, that is the great thing about a Quinton Terantino
film it makes every character feel real no matter how wacky that character may be.
Narrative
Act 1: The Inciting event for the film is the scene when John Ruth is poisoned and along with
his driver chokes to death on the coffee but the exposition is Sam L Jackson putting a stop to
it by taking the gun of the prisoner and taking control of the situation.
Act 2: The rising action is the bounty hunter killing the gang members one by one
eliminating the threat but this all comes to a climax when him and the sheriff shoot the last
gang member leaving just them and the prisoner.
Act 3: The falling action is when the two characters Mannox and Warren hanging Daisy until
she died paying homage to John Ruth The Hangman and the denouement of the story is
when Mannox reads the letter from Abraham Lincoln and it fades out to credits as they both
slowly yet silently die on the bed ending the film.
On this Document I will also be discussing the narrative for the film pulp fiction and how it
put a trademark on unconventional narrative and how the intertextuality shows something
new and how you can’t pin point key points of the filmbecause it doesn’t go by beginning
middle and end it completely goes off the rails when it comes to characters and story telling.
Pulp Fiction
Genre and conventions
Pulp fiction as a production is very unconventional because it does everything in its power
to separate itself from the normal action thriller due to either the extended dialogue or the
unconventional storyline mixing interlocking storylines and characters, it is all of these
factors that make the filmmore of a crime thriller rather than an action thriller because of
the lack of action but the high rate of build up to the murders giving more gravity to every
event that takes place in the film.
Style and Representation (Parody and Pastiche)
the style of the film is very productive in recreating media products and in some parts it
acts like a pastiche because in scenes you will see remnants of past media productions this
is especially represented in the Jack Rabbit slimscene with Mia and Vincent going to eat, it
is in this scene that Quinton Terantino pays homage two multiple directors and characters
from the past that would have had a massive impact on both him and the people he works

6. James Pearson
with so he pays homage to them all in this very scene. However this film can also act as a
kind of parody with John Travolta in mind because when he was younger he loved making
dancing productions which always resulted him in creating flashy performances and in Pulp
fiction we see him again in a completely different role but Terantino adds small points in the
film which is basically himhaving fun with Travolta creating it as an in joke creating shots of
images that are exactly the same as the older films that Travolta had made, in that split 15
minute of the filmwe had been referenced to 2 past films that John Travolta had made
named grease and Saturday night fever, but the parody aspect of it is that John Travolta is
now older and he is no way close to being as athletic as he used to be and that was made
apparent in the dancing scene with Mia when rather than doing an impressive dance he
does a very old person like dance creating the joke about his dancing making the movie
funny for a split second
Pulp Fiction Narrative Theory analysis
Act 1: the inciting event for the filmmay sound confusing but it is when Butches Dads friend
gives him his father’s watch and telling him how important it was to him and that he needs
to keep it safe, it is that moment that actually kicked off the film and the exposition being
him going to the bar to meet the crime boss Marsellous Wallace to talk about the fight that
he will throw.
Act 2: the rising action of the filmis when butch turns on the crime boss and steals from
him and runs off to get the cash that he stole leading to climax when the crime boss finds
butch and chases him, leading to the events that cause butch and the crime boss to work
together to escape the pawn shop basement leading to the crime boss sparing Butch even
with a shotgun in his hand but just tells him to leave town immediately.
Act 3: The falling action for the film is when butch rides of with his wife on Zeds motorcycle
creating a kind of cliché ending to a filmwhen he is riding of into the sunset with his women
by his side but it is that that reminds us why we love Quinton Terantino films so much, he
can take clichés and flip them upside down with the characters help.
Full disclosure I now that that isn’t the way the film went but when you re arrange the
timeline you will find that it has a beginning middle and end and in the end it all revolves
around butch and his father’s watch and all the other characters are just playing as part in
the story line but it is all that intertextuality that makes us love the unconventional narrative
of the film and why we respect Quinton Terantino and each one of his films that he directs.
Production Technology and distribution
During the many years in which filmand cinema has been part of the main stream and many
productions that have been made over the years have been viewed and remembered by the
viewers and are constantly referenced in present day productions as the media industry
gets bigger and more advanced we always track it back to the start when we only had
cinema and as it gets more and more advanced we always keep aspects of that old
technique with us because we are still using televisions and we are still going to the cinema
respecting the old technology and how it contributed to the development and distribution
of technology in the media industry.

7. James Pearson