In what ways does you media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media product?

I have used and incorporated a range of different theories into my media project. A key example of how I have gone against the conventions of horror film and horror genre is that I have made the female character in my media piece the main character/main villain. I believe that stereotypically are shown the weaker gender, are always distress and have to be saved by a male character. By doing this I have gone against the normal conventions of horror film genre and have also gone against the Male Gaze theory by Laura Mulvey. I am challenging this as the Male Gaze theory being one of the leading stereotypes in the world. In my film project I have made sure that Amelia will not be a typical damsel in distress. In my media project I am hoping to show that women can be more powerful than men.

I am appealing the Propps theory in my film. Propps theory appeals that narrative structure can be determined by role, where character roles help the audience understand the constructed nature of the narrative. In the theory there are character roles;

The Villain The Hero The Dispatcher The False Hero The Donor The Helper The Princess The Father

Propps theory helps us understand that each character role has a purpose within the narrative and audience identification. I have used this because I have appealed some of his theory into my media work, I have incorporated some parts of the theory but have gone against most as my villain in my horror film is being played by a female actor, and how Propps says that there has to be “the Princess” who only exists as a goal or reward and often recognises and marries the hero and/or punishes villain. When researching into this I went against all that and used how the main character is the villain in my film. Making her to be very powerful over all the men characters presented on the scene.

Another reason why my film challenges horror genre is that my protagonist is a female who goes against the norms and values of horror films. She is seen to be weak at the beginning but vastly becomes very unstable and dangerous through the film. This is made clear to the audience through my advertising methods I have used to promote this film. When researching into this I found out that not a lot of horror films make go against conventions as they like to play save with the audience and follow the norms and values of horror genre. I found out that when going against conventions some films make the female character unstable and very dangerous when making them the villain and I wanted to present them differently but throughout the production of the House Guest I followed the path as the other films when creating the main character and villain to be played by a female. Many films show female characters are unable to look after their self and are expected to be

saved by a “strong, resilient male” to help them out of their predicament. In horror films female characters are portrayed as the victims and this is a convention that I am not following. I have made it clear that female in this horror film will not be taken advantage of and will show their more “manly” side.

Other theory that I have appealed to my media trailer is the Feminist and Male Gaze theory. In many films women will be represented how men want them to be seen on T.V. the Male Gaze theory says three main points;

How women look at themselves How men look at women How women look at other women

These are the three main points in the Male Gaze theory, if you put them in sub-headings, these are the three topics you will get from the theory. In The House Guest I showed how the female will have more power over the male characters and they will be dominating throughout the film. Amelia in The House Guest presents on scene how unequal power relationship can be when the table have been turned around. I show the audience how different and unique a film can be when conventions are not followed in a horror film. Where Laura Muley says, she believes that in film the audience have to ‘view’ characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male. Often a female character has no real importance herself, it is how she makes the male feel or act that is the importance. In my film I have shown how the woman doesn’t have to be objectified by the male viewers and how a female character is very important in the film plot. Making sure that they take the woman serious to understand the film.

The Male Gaze theory leads to the Hegemonic ideologies within our society. Hegemonic = dominant or ruling in a social context or political. From the beginning this theory shows that women in our society are just objects to men, and I wanted to show how much power a women can have over men in the horror genre. I believe that horror conventions make female characters act very stupid and are very unequal to men in films. Like they don’t always have to be saved by a male character trying to be the hero in the film. Other reasons are that an erotic object for the characters within the narrative to view and secondly an erotic object for the spectators within the cinema to view the characters. In many of the scenes from The House Guest, you will see how the female has more dominant than male characters and I have shown how she shows more power to the aude9icne and will tell the audience that women are very powerful.

Onwards another theory I have appealed to The House Guest is Stuart Hall and the theory of Encoding and Decoding. I have encoded that two male characters living together in the house are best friends and I have made it clear that the female character has more power over the two male characters. But some audience may decode it as the two male characters are gay, and may think that I have represented the gay men to be weak and less powerful because them being gay together. The audience can decode the film trailer like this but I want to make it clear that I am showing the female character very powerful and not following the norms and values of horror genre. The two male characters are best friends in

the trailer and that is why they live together, not because they are gay nor are they represented very weak over the female character because they can be decoded as being gay together.