Semiotics in the opening scene of pride and prejudice

In the opening scene of Pride and Prejudice you see horses feet, galloping strong and kicking up and wrecking the ground around them, this shows power and importance because they has mere disregard fort eh earth around them. The two men riding the horses are Mr Bingley and Mr Darcy the horses feet kicking up the ground strongly represents the how these two men are stirring up trouble in this quite if so boring new town in which they have arrived. The trouble and influence they cause is within the Bennet family regarding the Bennet sisters.

Mr. Bingley is riding a white horse showing purity and innocent, this could be a reflection of his character and personality with him being sweet and polite. This you see later on in the film with his ability to fall in live so quickly with one of the Bennet sisters. Where as Mr. Darcy's horse is almost a striking black. This shows darkness and and gives you a a warning of further occasions. the dark horse may show Mr. Darcy may be hiding something there may be a dark secret behind his calm look, you may even be able to say this reflect Mr. Darcy as a dark horse being someone you need to look over for whether that may be for good or bad reasons. 
The contrast of the colour difference of the two horses is another sign that the two characters of the men could be completely different yet could balance and counteract each other out.

Rowland Barthes - semiotics

Semiotics began to become a major approach to cultural studies in the late 1960s, partly as a result of the work of Roland Barthes.

Barthes is one of the leading theorists of semiotics, the study of signs. His work pioneered ideas of structure and signification which have come to underpin cultural studies and critical theory today. Barthes articulated a view of the critic as a voice from the margins.

A sign, in this context, refers to something which conveys meaning – for example, a written or spoken word, a symbol or a myth. Such as the colour white as a symbol of purity and red as a colour of danger and warning shown in real life such a warning signs on the road are red.

As with many, one of Barthes’s main themes was the importance of avoiding the confusion of culture with nature. Another important theme is the importance in being careful how we use words and other signs.

One characteristic of Barthes’s style is that he frequently uses a lot of words to explain a few. He provides detailed analyses of short texts, passages and single images so as to explore how they work.

Another trait of his work is his constant categorization. He draws up schemes for categorising the signs and codes with which he works, which can be applied to divide a text, a narrative or a myth into different parts with different functions. He draws up something like a blueprint of the areas of discourse he studies, showing how the different parts hold together.

references:
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem01.html

Film review on Vertigo focussing on the representation of women

The film starts with a dramatic chase sequence on the roof tops of buildings. This immediately gets you intrigued with the film and gets you wanting to know more. Then ‘scotty’ has a near miss of a building and nearly falls, using a trombone shot to show the danger of the height. This shot also first introduces the main theme of the film being ‘Scotty’ is afraid of heights and vertigo.

The first girl character we come across once the film has started is Midge; she’s blonde, very pretty and is a fashion designer. This occupation subjects women to the low end jobs such as a house wife not like the high end job you see Scotty has as a detective. Some could say this could be a representation of the theory of the ‘Male Gaze’.  Midge is portrayed in this film to be a traditional, caring, maternal role, helping Scotty with his fear of highs. You can tell Scotty is shown to be an independent, strong man having power over Midge; but this all come crashing down with his fear of heights. The main women in this film are rarely if not at all seen as powerful or independent they are always attached to man, midge with Scotty and the Kim Novak and her husband.

Women in general in this film are stereotyped and possibly shown in a slight misogynistic view, being men are more important and powerful then women. In scenes like the court room where Scotty is under trial to if he was guilty for Kim Novak’s death, there was no women in the court room or jury. This shows that women’s views and opinions didn’t count or are they important as women are seen as only good at things such a cooking and knitting. Kim Novak could easily teas Scotty into thinking she was mental or crazy, this I believe as women in the film are seen as weak and the men’s power used to help them. This could relate to the Male Gaze theory as well because the theory suggests men see themselves over women and that they are weaker.

The second main woman to be shown in vertigo was also very pretty, sleek and bleach blonde. The male gaze suggested a theory that films are directed by men to appear to men as an audience especially the way women are portrayed to be sexually appealing. This could be Hitchcock’s way to portray his fantasy women and the male gaze through his films. As he was known for the women in his films being typically blond, very pretty and slim nicknamed ‘ice maidens’. He also was very decisive in how they would look and dress. As Kim Novak was seen idyllically in a grey suit, even though grey was seen to wash out Kim with her blonde hair Hitchcock insisted it must be grey. So you could say in this film Hitchcock created his own male gaze view specific to how he viewed women.

The music in Vertigo shows the strong relationships men and women have in this film. It shows the fascination Scotty has with Kim Novak with romance and desire. It builds up in the right places to create intense feelings for what is happening in the film.

Laura Mulvey - The Male Gaze

Laura Mulvey (born August 15, 1941) is a British feminist film theorist. She was educated at St Hilda's College, Oxford. She is currently professor of film and media studies at Birkbeck, University of London. She worked at the British Film Institute for many years before taking up her current position.

Mulvey's ideas were first expressed in an article written in Screen in 1975. It was then a highly theoretical cinema journal. The article which became a seminal one is called "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema"
Laure Mulvey coined the term ‘male gaze’ in 1975. She believes that in film audiences have to ‘view’ from the perspective from a heterosexual male.

 The concept of the gaze is one that deals with how an audience views the people presented for feminists it can be thought of in three ways:

·         How men look at women

·         How women look at themselves

·         How women look at other women

Laure Mulvey describe the male gaze as

·         Looking at women for visual pleasure and narrative cinemas (1975)

·         Active male / passive female

·         Women as images/ men as ‘better of the look’

·         How men look at women as sexual objects

·         Fetishistic

Criticisms of Mulvey’s theory

·         She doesn’t consider female spectators

·         Her views are that only heterosexual males are the spectators

·         Since 1980’s there has been a large increase in sexualisation and display of the male body

Vertigo

Vertigo is one of the films we are looking at for are collective identity project. We are mostly looking at how women are presented in this film as Alfred Hitchcock the director was typically known for stereotyping women into his ideal women. 

This is the background of the film I found out from the IMBD:

• Made in : 1958
• Genre : Mystery, Romance, Thriller
• Director : Alfred Hitchcock
• Country : USA
• Release Date : 21 July 1958
• Budget : $2,479,000
• Grossed : $ 25,000,000
• Run Time : 128 minutes
• Continuity : The ice cubes in Gavin and Scottie's drinks disappear  

Opening sequence

I thought the opening sequence of Vertigo was very dramatic and striking, it definitely caught my attention. It starts with an extreme close up of a womens lips in black and white, this itself is a very dramatic camera shot. The music is also striking and flows with the opening it creates a worried and curious sense to the film. The close up flows the womens face up to her eys wear she looks slightly worried looking back and forth. 

The extremem close up them zooms more in to a single eye, then the screen turning a red colour. possibly showing a sign of danger and warning but also showing the wide use of colours Alfred Hitchock uses in the this film. A swirl appear in the pupil of the eye and I beieve this is the represent the films title 'Vertigo' as it means a condition in which somebody feels a sensation of whirling or titling that causes a loss of balance. 

The eye disappers and the swirl is left it starts to get bigger and bigger, changing shape, colour. I think this creates a visual effect of vertigo but it seems dangerous as if there is going to be a hazard.