Snatch

Paige Woolf

What/who/how is being represented?

Cousin Avi- a smug character who is represents most of the power because he's the first character we get shown his name.

Sol- is the rich yet careless man because he throws a stack of money away as if he's got more money than sense.

Mickey- Mickey represents violence as he goes to bite someone and back hand themFranky Four Fingers- shoes a man who loves a gamble. He bets away his riches with a hand of

cards. He lives life on the basis of luck.Turkish-has an element of power as he shouts at G.G when punching the bagGorgeous George- he is the muscle behind Turkish as he takes order from him Tommy- shows a more weaker character as he gets knocked over by a punch through a bag from

G.GBullet tooth Tony- the high end gansta. Wearing a suit and putting someone is a car boot really

juxtaposes themselves.Boris 'The Blade‘- pulls out hard gunnery. Shows he isn’t physically strong yet he has the best

gadgets out them allDoug 'The Head' - the old man who looks more like the has-been. Looks like a wheeler dealer…

anything to get some moneyBrick Top Polford- the old man who would rather do his own dirty work. Smashing some ones

teeth in shows that he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty

How is the representation made to seem 'true', 'commonsense' or 'natural'?

• Using Roland Barthes theory within the clip Snatch, the connotations of significant props are.. The diamond symbolises power, wealth and significance. The gambling of cards shown with Franky Four Fingers shows the connotations of it being dirty money. The money they all deal with is money they got by doing unlawful things, or collected their riches in an unpraisworthy way.

• The denotations of the features within this clip are the hammer represents the violence within the film, gun shows death and shootings and finally the money shows the wealth.

• Looking at where the scene is set you see that the violence, gangs and money is more natural that anything else. The environment the characters are in shows that it’s a mans world and violence is part of day to day life.

Is Dyer or Baudrillard’s theory more appropriate in relation to the opening?

Justify, using detailed examples.Dyer and Baudrillard• Dyer’s theory does agree with the

characters within snap. The idea that the masculine stereotype has been a way of life so that men should handle the money and be the breadwinner.

• Although these stereotypes used to exist Baudrillard’s theory explains he stereotype is dated and there is a sense of hyperrealism. Not every male handles all the money and deals with gun crime on a daily basis.

Examples within clip• Dyers theory is shown as

there are no women within the opening of snatch and the men are al handling the money.

• Baudrillard theory is shown as 7 out of 11 characters all was shown with money or riches and not 7 out of 11 men will have that much money

What is foregrounded and what is backgrounded? Are there any notable absences?

• In the foreground you see violence and destruction through fighting and the gambling.

• The background, which is representation that has been pushed backwards in order for the main representations to be more noticeable. However, the representations of the men dressing up as Jewish people, showing prejudice. The different ethnicity’s of people shows diversities of cultures, within you have ethnicity cultures but also social diversities, for examples the travelers within the clips.

Whose representation is it? Whose interests does it reflect? How do you know?

Representation

The characters being represented are stereotypical masculine characters. For example, Gorgeous George is a typical man when looking at the cultural context.

The representation make the characters look negative as the foreground representations show violence and hurt.

The clip does represent the interests of the characters, which they all have the same interest... money

How do people make sense of the representation? According to what codes? (Consider Barthes concept of myth – make reference).

• People make sense of the clip due to Barthes idea of Enigma. This is the questions we ask when watching the opening. For example, asking why they all have nicknames, is this because they don’t want people to know the real them, for make lawful reasons.

People also make sense the representations because of Barthes idea of culture. We understand why the men are all violent because where they live they have to be violent as its a violent culture they live in.

Apply the theory of semiotics to the sequence: i.e. what are the signs and their associated meanings? And what has the audience learnt about the overall direction of the film’s

representation?

• Semiotics= the caravan in the clip would indicate that the men never stay in one place for a long periods of time.

Vinny clutching the gold could symbolise the greed of all the men for money and wealth.

The safe would symbolise the secrecy and that the men are not trust worthy or reliable. The safe shows privacy and lack of openness.

Overall, the audience understands that from the music it could be a mocking film about a serious subject, the guns and hammers show that these men live in a really rough area and the people they live with would be willing to kill for money. But the mixture of music, the big name actors and the funny nicknames would indicate that the men take it on the chin and don’t take serious things to serious. Its a hard film with very violent films yet the directors has made the film to be light and easy to watch.

What way do you believe you have ‘received’ the meaning of the film: through preferred, negotiated or oppositional reading? (Hall’s theory) Explain in detail, using supporting textual reference.

Preferred reading- the viewer does so the characters how the director wants them to see them at first as we instantly believe its a mans film with violent. However, depending on gender, I believe that the men would enjoy watching this film and wouldn’t mind watching it and see the characters as a mans man. Where as women may not enjoy watching it and don’t see the stereotype like that any more.

Negotiated reading- relating back to gender, as that the producer encodes the characters representations in a certain way, however, the viewer will decode it and interpret the representations differently.

Oppositional reading- the idea that the director wants the viewer to look at it a certain way however, the viewer will interpret the representations all differently. In Snatch the viewer could see real destruction, and the downfall in sociality where as, the director could see it as a light hearted masculine film.