Use of colour in cinematic narratives – a closer look at colour and composition in animated films

To add to the group report we did on the use of colour in cinematic narratives, I thought I’d elaborate on the topic with specific focus on animated films since I’m a huge fan of them 🙂 To recap, we’ve looked at how colour can convey themes, enhance characterisation, set moods and evoke emotional responses, mark transitions, and be indicative of genre.

When it comes to making digitally animated films, a lot of attention is paid to colour because filmmakers have to basically build their palettes from scratch. It’s different from filming a live action movie, where filmmakers can experiment with colours and lighting that are already available to them on location or in the studio. Animators have to be a lot more precise about their choice and manipulation of colour and it often takes quite a lot of drafts before a suitable palette is found and finalised. For example, in the Pixar animated film Up, Kevin the bird underwent several colour scheme drafts before animators finally settled on the version we see in the film:

[Concept art of Kevin by Albert Lozano]

[Final film version of Kevin]

As we’ve seen, colour plays a huge role in characterisation and character development, but another use of colour in cinematic narratives (and particularly animated films) which is less obvious but just as important is the manipulation of colour to enhance layout and composition.

Since animators can’t use actual physical lighting as live action filmmakers are able to, they essentially have to rely on colour to simulate lighting. By adjusting qualities like the hue, saturation and tonal value of colours, animators can convey narrative details like the time of the day (eg. more warm colours to suggest daytime vs more cool colours to suggest nighttime) and the location of scenes (eg. indoors vs outdoors), and through this manipulation of colour and lighting, they can also have a focalising effect in terms of directing the audience’s attention to certain things in a scene.

To illustrate, here’s an example from Cedric Battude‘s demo reel. (He worked as a digital compositor on the production team of The Lorax)

Here, we see some suggestions of lighting (eg. on the tenting and on the Once-ler’s clothes and face). However, compare this with the composite shot that was eventually used for the film:

Here, the colours used for the background (i.e. the view outside the Once-ler’s tent) have had their contrast decreased and their brightness increased. This, in turn, simulates brighter lighting, and it has the effect of blurring out details in the background so that the characters in the foreground stand out a lot more than in the flat shot. Although there is lighting in the flat shot, it’s not nearly enough to create this focalising effect because the overall composition is too busy – the visibility of background details makes it distracting and draws our focus away from the characters in the foreground. But with good manipulation of colour and lighting, digital artists are able to simulate and even enhance what filmmakers and photographers do with their cameras.

– Amanda

Colour My World: An Exploration of the Use of Colour in Cinematic Narratives

INTRODUCTION

With the introduction of Process 4 by Technicolour in 1932, the use of colour has become increasingly commonplace in motion pictures and animated films. Movies produced in black-and-white or monochrome without premeditated stylistic purposes are rarely found. While the absence of colour is undoubtedly marked, it is evident that the use of colour has grown highly sophisticated and be imbued with salience. This is largely because colours are laden with meanings that can be conveyed through their implementation in film. Colour today presents a myriad of artistic opportunities that directors can exploit to enhance cinematic narratives.

Given these possibilities with regard to the use of colour, we explore a selection of five of these aspects here:

1. Colour as a device through which certain themes can be conveyed.

2. Colour as a device to enhance characterization.

3. Colour can be manipulated in order to set mood and evoke audience emotion.

4. Colour used as a transitional device to demarcate time or space.

5. Colour can be evocative of certain genres.

The scope of our analysis further necessitates an examination of these uses in actual film narratives to demonstrate the different aspects of colour theory we seek to present. The films we have chosen are listed below in order of examination:

1. The Lord of The Rings Trilogy

2. Hero

3. Pleasantville

4. Schindler’s List

5. The Lorax (animation)

6. Phantom of The Opera

7. Dead Again

8. The Wizard of Oz

9. Memento

While movies like Hero, Pleasantville, The Wizard of Oz and Memento have already been quite exhaustively examined in existing literature on colour in film, we included them as hallmark examples that have contributed significantly to our current understanding of colour theory in cinematic narratives. However, this report will focus on other less-discussed movies, such as those within the Lord of The Rings Trilogy, in order to provide a more in-depth and detailed analysis that can be applied beyond the traditional scope of past studies.

DISCUSSION

Colour to convey themes

First, we examined the use of colour to convey major themes within a film narrative. The symbolism and association of a colour with a concept allows that concept to be magnified or diminished in a film through the manipulation of the colour in question, as seen in Hero. Hero consists of four segments which are colour-coded by four colours – red, green, blue and white. According to Zhang Yi Mou, each colour represents a different period and different (way of telling the) story. These colours trigger schemas that evoke certain emotions and concepts associated to them, subtly orientating the audience to the themes being represented in each segment. For instance, red is often used to index intense emotions such as danger and love, and is thus used to represent the themes of anger, lust, betrayal and bloodshed in the first segment. In contrast, blue, being a cool colour, brings out the qualities of peace and unity in the second segment.

With certain film narratives, it was not the selection of colour itself that helped to convey a theme, but the presence or absence of colour that became meaningful for the narrative-internal storyline. For this, we looked at Pleasantville, in which the presence of colour in an otherwise monochrome world becomes symbolic of deviation from the expected norm, as well as Schindler’s List, which we felt provided an excellent example of both the interplay between presence and absence of colour as well as choice of colour to convey a thematic concern in the film narrative. Set during the Holocaust of World War 2, the film was predominantly shot in monochrome (although towards the ending, colour was introduced to mark a transition from the past to present-day time – another aspect of colour which we will discuss later in this report). However, in the scene where Schindler witnesses the liquidation of the Krakow Ghetto, the red of a young girl’s coat becomes the only instance of colour in the monochrome sequences. Not only does the red draw our attention to the solitary figure of the girl, it also becomes a focal point that highlights the violence and bloodshed happening around her as she walks through the massacre. Later, the red coat also unmistakably identifies the girl’s body when Schindler (and the audience, by extension) sees corpses being carted off in a wagon. This use of colour was a deliberate choice by director Steven Spielberg, who wanted to visually represent the blood on the hands of the Allies for not doing anything to stop the Holocaust despite knowing what was happening to the Jews.

Colour to enhance characterisation

Next, we looked at the use of colour to enhance characterisation. “An external physical state can tell us about the psychological state of of the person” (Talib, 2011).  In this sense, colours – a physical feature – that are predominantly associated with a particular character, for example in terms of costume colours or colours that dominate the palette when the character appears, can tell stories about that character’s personality or even psychological state. Flying Snow from Hero embodies this significantly, her personality changing in tune with the themes associated with the colour scheme featured in each segment. For instance, the red segment emphasizes her anger and hatred, while in the green segment, she exhibits spunk and youthful brashness, tying in with the segment’s theme of youth.

Notably, colour symbolism is not necessarily universal – in many ways, it is culture-specific. Similarly, the associations between colours and characters in cinematic narratives need not rest on conventional meanings behind those colours. Rather, meanings behind colours can be very specific to the film they are used in. Furthermore, colours can also signal character development by drawing our attention to changes in the character visually. For example, the character of the Once-ler in The Lorax starts out as a young entrepreneur who arrives in an unspoiled valley and harvests material from its trees to make his products. Although the colour scheme for his wardrobe is mainly blue, he dons a pair of green gardening gloves when he works. The colour green then takes on greater significance later in the film when, giddy with the success of his business, the Once-ler succumbs to greed and destroys the land’s entire ecosystem in his pursuit of wealth. Green becomes the dominant colour in his wardrobe, but it is a much darker shade of green than his working gloves, more reminiscent of money than of nature. Where green may have initially represented the Once-ler’s young and fresh entrepreneuring spirit, it eventually comes to represent his greed and extravagance. The significance of the colour green in The Lorax, a film with an environmentalist message, thus provides an example of how colour can be used to enhance characterisation and character development by invoking and subverting various colour associations within a narrative.

Colour to set mood and evoke audience emotions

We also investigated the manipulation of colour in order to construct certain moods within scenes in the film narrative, thus also evoking emotional responses and eliciting ‘visceral response’ (Bellatoni, 2005) from the audience. This facet of colour function may not be as immediately evident to the audience eye as the previous usages of colour, as the manipulation of colour hue can be incredibly subtle. In order to be able to closely study such subtle colour shifts, we chose to conduct a case study on the Lord of the Rings trilogy, examining how the progression of the plot and the transition of colour vibrancy move in tandem.

For example, the construction of a vibrant and innocent mood at the beginning of the first film was mirrored through the use of saturated, almost cartoon-like colours, as seen in the Shire:

As the storyline progresses, however, the evil that permeates the land is reflected in the infiltration of dull and non-contrastive colours, as well as a desaturation of colours over landscapes and characters’ skintones:

Our analysis also took an in-depth approach to specific scenes; the transition of mood in these scenes was seen to be aided not only by aural stimuli, but also by diffusion of colour saturation and the transition from warm hues to cool. For instance, in scenes where Black Riders appeared, the shifting of mood from safe to sinister worked in tandem with the changing of hues; warm shades of green and brown were replaced by cool shades of blueish-green and grey:

Colour to mark transition

Colours can function as transitional device to demarcate shifts in time or space. This has been accomplished by alternating between coloured and monochrome sequences, or by switching to an obviously different colour style to mark the transition.

In films where colour is used as a device to delineate time, the focal point is usually on the present where the dominant narrative takes place. The past is presented in the form of flashbacks, and typically in monochrome or sepia, as a backstory that takes the primary narrative back in time hence forming a secondary narrative. This is depicted in Dead Again, where monochrome sequences denote the past while colour signals the present. However, the reverse is employed in Phantom of the Opera, wherecolour signals the past (in the form of flashback) while monochrome sequences signal the present. This could be because the primary focus of the narrative is on events that happened in the past rather than the present. The transition from monochrome to colour (and vice-versa) demarcates different timelines within the film and helps viewers along in making sense of the discoursal time of the film narrative.

Colour can also mark transitions between two separate spaces. For instance, in The Wizard of Oz, Kansas is shown in black and white sequences (reality) while Oz (the dream world) is presented in colour.

Finally, colour is used to delineate different narrative plot-lines that hold equal weight. In Memento, the narrative structure is nonlinear with two different plot-lines unfolding. Colour is used to mark events happening in reverse-chronological order and conversely, monochrome sequences signal sequential events dealing with the protagonist’s amnesia until the two plot-lines meet at the end. This consistent alternation between coloured and non-coloured sequences enhances the film narrative by creating suspense and confusion.

Colour as indicative of genre

Since film-genres can be differentiated through their visual styles, therefore, colours as an important visual element can be a defining characteristic of genres (in addition to others such as iconography, narrative, etc). As mentioned, colours can enhance mood and tone (elements that contribute to the visual style of films), thus certain colours can be said to be associated with certain genres. However, our group felt that this observation, while valid to an extent, might be too general and contentious and cannot be applied to films across the board. Therefore, this observation is applicable only at a generic level, especially since genres are relatively unstable groupings that are “not immutable and unchangeable” (Talib, 2011). Genres can be further differentiated into sub-genres and/or hybridized genres. For instance, within the fantasy genre, we have fairytales, science-fantasy (or science-fiction), historical-fantasy, dark-fantasy (elements of horror). Similarly, the horror genre encompasses slasher films, psychological-horror, science-fiction horror, zombie films, etc. As such, the boundaries between genres are less distinct than we think.

Muted and desaturated colours (such as grey, blue and green), along with a limited colour spectrum, are associated with bleakness and grittiness and can be seen generally in war and apocalyptic films. They can also be applied to horror and dark fantasies. White and green are associated with science-fiction to bring out a clinical and futuristic tone. Warm colours are used in family films to evoke a sense of warmth while films bathed in a soft, sepia glow are defining of period films. Saturated colours are seen generally in musicals to enhance a sense of hyperrealism. Therefore, we see that colours convey a sense of temperature where saturated colours create a warmer feel while desaturated colours enhance a cooler feel.

The following screenshots were taken from a range of movies within different genres for illustration purpose:

CONCLUSION

Our analysis has observed that a chosen colour as well as its hue, tone and saturation can play significant roles in enhancing cinematic narratives. Colour is more than just aesthetic; it can be both a stylistic choice and a means of creating emotions or appealing to certain concepts.

Often, the use of colour to enhance a film narrative plays on the schemas that audiences possess. When we associate certain colours with certain emotions or concepts, we are inclined to experience or recall these when presented with such palettes within the film. As mentioned, our colour schemas can be experience-bound and culture-specific, and the predominant choices of colour used in film narratives today are likely to appeal to the dominant culture.

This study of colour will be relevant in other visual media, such as video games and advertisements. The vast potential that colour offers its creative users therefore is plenty and should not be overlooked.

References

Bellantoni, P. (2005). If It’s Purple, Someone’s Gonna Die: The Power of Color in Visual Storytelling. London: Taylor & Francis.

Talib, I. S. (2011). Narrative theory: A brief introduction. Retrieved from http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/ellibst/narr-str.html

– Amanda, Bobbie Jen, Wan Yee, Shana, Sarah

The Wordless Book

In my research for our group project on the use of colour in cinematic narratives I came across The Wordless Book. It was created by Christians and created by a Baptist preacher. It usually takes the form of pages and is therefore called a book. It consists of pages that are purely a single colour without words. Each colour represents a tenet in basic Christian teachings and acts as a visual cue. This is possible mainly because each of these colours is laden with meanings created by culture and society.

An online example with explanations can be found here.

For example, the gold page represents the love of God, the black page represents the darkness of sin and the red page represents Jesus’s dying for His follower’s sins. Each of these are crucial in Christian teachings and the book acts as a form of wordless summary of the larger Christian narrative, highlighting important events such as the death of Christ. The colours then while being a symbol of certain ideas like darkness or death, simultaneously index the Christian teaching it is assigned.

– Bobbie Jen

Narrative Continuity in Commercials: McDonald’s Double-Mega TV Advertisements

In a bid to successfully maintain brand image, companies these days tend to air television advertisements that present similar themes. Some have even taken to creating advertisements with some form of continuity. In other words, advertisement A is aired for a period of time before the company releases B which seems to be a follow up of the narrative presented in A. Curiously, the time lapse between the first and second installments of the full narrative is ignored by viewers who manage to successfully draw the link between the two and understand that they precede or proceed from one another. Sometimes, there may even be more than two installations to piece together the full narrative. These individual advertisements could possibly be taken to be narrative events that are strung together to create the full narrative.

One example is McDonald’s Double and Mega burger advertisements (taken from YouTube)

Continuity seems to be achieved firstly through the use of setting and characters. Both remain consistent throughout the two advertisements. The events within both advertisements occur at a McDonald’s fast food restaurant and always occurs between the same two characters. This prevents confusion that viewers may experience should the characters suddenly change. It is observed that as much is kept identical within reason, such that narrative continuity is achieved without it becoming unrealistic. The hairstyle and clothing style of the characters do not change but they do not wear the same clothes or sit at the exact same seat as that could come across as unrealistic. Events within the two also seem to follow the same pattern with the woman sitting down next to the man and asking about his burger.

Aiding in narrative continuity as well is the use of the McDonald’s logo which acts as a symbol (having an arbitrary relationship between signifier and signified). It is not clearly shown at the start of the first advertisement but features more prominently at the start of the second. As a symbol, seeing it informs the audience that the setting within the narrative is a McDonald’s fast food restaurant, and also that the advertisement is probably by McDonald’s. This pre-empts viewers to draw the link with the first advert which they already identified as a McDonald’s one.

Despite the time lapse in between, these strategies allow for the two advertisements to achieve some form of narrative continuity. Through this, humour is also created within the general narrative as events within both can be compared and contrasted.

– Bobbie Jen

Some thoughts on film adaptations

There’s been some discussion recently in class and on the forum about film adaptations, especially those of books and novels, and how they can be pretty frustrating for fans of the original work because they feel that film adaptations bastardise their reading experience. Naturally in adaptations across genres and media, some things will be lost in translation and the original narrative ends up being taken apart and reconstructed into something quite different. I remember discussing this with a Polish friend of mine while I was on exchange in Lithuania, and he taught me something that I think is very relevant to our understanding of film adaptations.

In English, we use the term “adaptation” to refer to a movie, television drama or stage play that has been adapted from a written work. In Polish, however, there is a distinction between types of films based on books and the terms used are adaptacja and ekranizacja.

Adaptacja, which translates to “adaptation”, is a modification of a literary work with the aim of adapting it to the needs of new customers or new means of distribution (eg. different media). So some examples of this would include the new incarnations of Sherlock Holmes that we’ve been seeing in the recent television series, BBC’s Sherlock and CBS’s Elementary, as well as the Sherlock Holmes movies starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. While all these are no doubt based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s books and characters, a lot of liberties have been taken with plot, setting, and even characterisation (for example, in Elementary, Watson’s character is female). In the case of  an adaptacja, the writer/filmmaker selects elements from the original work which will be relevant to their script, and they also provide their own interpretation of the work. Hence, the scenario may be significantly different from the original and can even have a different moral/philosophical/political significance.

Ekranizacja, which translates to “screening”, refers to a faithful transfer of a literary work to the medium of film. In a broader sense, it is a film processing of a literary work that strives to be as accurate as possible in terms of content and form. While the degree of fidelity to the original material may be a matter of personal judgment and thus quite subjective, some examples of ekranizacja could include Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence (based on the novel by Edith Wharton) or even Gary Ross’s The Hunger Games (based on the novel by Suzanne Collins).

Perhaps one of the reasons why some people feel dissatisfied with film adaptations, then, is because they expect an adaptacja to be an ekranizacja. To quote another Polish blogger on the subject: “I think one of the reasons we learn about those two different types of ‘translating’ a work from one medium to another very early on in primary school is so that we can avoid making idiots of ourselves by watching an adaptacja and going ‘I don’t like it cuz it’s, like, different from the original hurr durr.'” And I must admit, the Polish distinction definitely clears some things up for us as audiences. Film adaptations may be frustrating for certain fans, but it’s even more frustrating watching these adaptations with people who seem to completely miss the point that that’s what they are – adaptations.

When we watch film adaptations with background knowledge of the original literary works they are based on, there is an almost inevitable tendency to constantly compare the image with the text, even if we’re aware that an adaptation can never wholly reproduce the original. There’s nothing wrong with that in itself, but the point is that when we start to evaluate film adaptations based on their fidelity to the original texts, we fail to open ourselves to active engagement with these texts, both cinematic and literary. It’s not about whether an ekranizacja is inherently better than an adaptacja because it strives to be a more faithful translation of book to screen, it’s about how both types of films can stand on their own rather than function as mere ancillary visualisations. Making a good adaptation is about knowing what to pick out from the book and what to leave out, even if it means not being 100% faithful to the original.

The issue of authorship in cinematic narratives is also particularly pertinent. While it is possible to view literary works as having a single and clearly identifiable author, it is more difficult to pinpoint exactly who is ultimately responsible for what we see in cinematic works because they go through several stages of production. Hence, the authors of a film can range from the writers who produce the script to the actors who engage with the script, from the director who is usually given importance as the ideologically-centred ‘voice’ of the film to the cinematographer who is responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the visual aspect of the film. To use an example close to my heart, the recent Marvel movies featuring classic Marvel comics characters like Captain America, Iron Man and Thor draw their inspiration from the original comics, but these movies also constitute their own grand narrative – the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Some fans of the comics have criticised the movies as being unfaithful to certain plot points and characterisations in the original works, but think about it: the comics themselves have multiple authors and narrative continuity is often difficult to maintain throughout multiple series that can span hundreds of issues. In fact, narrative continuity in massive comic franchises like Marvel and DC is often disrupted when writers and artists decide to resort to reboots and redesigns in order to bring the works in line with their own visions. Interpretation and reinterpretation is all part of the industry. It just isn’t fair to expect an cinematic adaptation to be exactly like the original work and I feel that the following fan comic about the character of Tony Stark in the Earth-616 comics universe versus the Marvel Cinematic Universe puts this point across hilariously succinctly:

– Amanda

Interactive Narrative in Books

I was reading through Prof Talib’s chapter on events when I thought of detective books that I used to be addicted to in primary school. The books each had their own narrative with characters, plot and a mystery to solve. In the stories, the reader controls the actions of the characters by making choices at different junctures within the narrative. For example, when the character reaches a fork in the road, the reader may be given the choice to have the character go left or right. The reader is then told to flip to a particular page depending on their choice and continue reading from there. The reader’s decision of course may be met with positive/negative results which may require further choices or backtracking (achieved by flipping back to a previous part of the book).

Each of these presentation of choices and decisions made by the reader could then be taken to be an event, or change from one state to another. Picking one choice or the other results in a change from one state of affairs to another. It also relates to the aspect of causality which is one of two ways we relate proximate events in a story. Making a wrong choice then results in a negative outcome that requires backtracking by the reader.

Because of this causality in play, some children’s books have begun using this concept in order to teach and instill good habits in children. For example, in a book about being a good house guest, the reading child is given choices to pick from. Each of them then leads the child to a particular page outlining the positive or negative effects of that decision.

– Bobbie Jen

Stories in video games

For our reading (and pondering) pleasure, here’s an interesting blog post from one of my favourite game developers about the use and significance of stories to enhance gameplay.

“The chain of events is just the plot, and it is a device used in order to get the story across to an audience. What really lies at the core of the story are themes, locations, emotions, and so on. Pretty much all stories we have heard in our lives have been plot-based, but this is because this has been pretty much the only way of telling them. Now that we have videogames as a widespread medium this is no longer true.”

I think it makes a useful distinction between story and plot in video games, especially since it’s easy to confuse the two terms. It also conceives of story as having both an essence but also layers which are brought out through multiple levels or stages in a game. These layers can highlight particular themes and exist in an interdependent relationship to construct the overall story. This means that story isn’t just present in cut-scenes, it’s also an integral part of the gameplay itself.

They also made another post about narrative and game mechanics.

“Narrative, in film theory, is how the story is told (how characters and plot are put together). When Raph talks about narrative in the sense of choose-your-own-adventure games, he is really referring to the plot. It is not narrative, but plot (ie some very specific events), that act has the reward for the player whenever they provide input.”

Here, a distinction is made between narrative and plot, but I think their understanding of narrative is closer to what we’ve learnt as discourse (i.e. how the narrative is told) in our class.

And here’s one more post, this time about the “fun” in horror games.

“When discussing gameplay in games, the main focus is mostly on making it “fun”. The meaning of “fun” is usually that it is an enjoyable experience for the player and that boredom and frustration are reduced as much as possible. Normally this is the main priority when working on some part of the game and if it is not “fun” enough, that part will be remade or scrapped. In many horror games things are different though and focus is instead put on invoking emotions other than just “fun”.”

I find the point they bring up about how negative gameplay feedback, which basically stalls the narrative and prevents the player from proceeding, particularly interesting. It seems paradoxical that the introduction of elements that disrupt the game narrative can still function as a way to enhance the gameplay experience, especially since advancement of the narrative is regarded as one of the main methods of rewarding players, but it does seem to work well in particularly horror games!

– Amanda

Narrative in Branding: Once Upon A Milkshake

Awhile back, Amanda and I visited Once Upon A Milkshake for well… milkshakes. What struck me first was that they had a very strong brand image that was presented in their product packaging and even shop decor. It seemed like one had walked into a sort of quirky fairytale. While corporate branding is obviously in itself a form of characterisation, what really stood out for me was that their brand image was inspired by narratives, specifically storytelling and this is spelt out on their website.

It is observed on their website as well that they use the conventional fairytale beginning when relating their own story as well. This commitment to their brand image can be linked to the view that only repeated traits are considered significant and part of a character’s sum of traits.

In terms of corporate branding then, the successful creation of a corporate brand entails a visible commitment to it in terms of repetition and the more closely and frequently one sticks to the brand image, the stronger it becomes.

Once Upon A Milkshake, in a bid to feature even more storybook aspects in their product packaging, creates characters for each of their different flavours. One of these is Chocolate Truffle Castle, as shown below. It is observed that even though this character is non-human (there are human character flavours as well) it is imbued with human qualities such as volition, emotions and aspirations. The write-up of the character even includes its origins as well, tying in with the belief that a character’s past is important in narratives. These people have obviously done their homework and spare no effort in creating and maintaining their brand image.

– Bobbie Jen

Stock Characters in Horror Films

On Facebook recently, my friend posted this on her status:

I found this particularly interesting because it suggests that there are stock characters in horror movies. In fact, apart from the character that “screams like a baby”, I would have to agree that the creator of this Facebook post was pretty accurate in his/her characterisations. Stock characters are those closely related with a given narrative genre, in this case horror movies.

As mentioned by Prof Talib, stock characters may share some characteristics with flat characters even though the two are distinct. We see therefore that they are simple and uniform (possessing one/two traits that can be summed up in a sentence) and they have determinate actions. Sometimes these stereotypical characters are hard to sympathise with as well, as some of us may experience when we lament the stupidity of the character who “decides the creepy house is safe”.

What is interesting however is that even though these characters seem commonplace in horror movies, audiences are still kept on the edge of their seats or trembling with fear when watching them. One possible reason could then be that having these predictable characters creates anticipation for horror film audiences as they wait with bated breath to see who picks up the role of which stock character.

– Bobbie Jen

Characterisation and Orientalism

I was thinking about the view that characters are closely interlinked with one another and that a character contributes to our knowledge of every other, as mentioned in Prof Talib’s web book. I felt that it linked very much to the notions of Orientalism and stereotypes that are relevant in understanding narrative in war propaganda.

In his book, Edward Said addressed the concept of Orientalism, which he uses to explain how the Western gaze constructs the Middle East or Orient. It is a discourse that distinguishes the Orient from the Occident by a negation. In other words, by portraying the Orient or Oriental people as being a certain way, the West or Occident simultaneously presents itself as not possessing the same trait. An example that came up in a discussion with a friend was how the West paints Oriental people as sexually deviant even though they themselves are intrigued by such sexual practices. Defining Orientals as such then gives licence to Westerner’s fascination with these Asian women and sexual practices, while managing to prevent them from being labelled as sexually deviant themselves. This is observed in their portrayal of aspects of Asian culture such as the Japanese Geisha and Karma Sutra.

This form of characterisation may be better understood in terms of stereotypes, or oversimplified generalisations about groups of people. By stereotyping groups of people by race, gender or other differences, creators of these stereotypes fashion one flat character that applies to everyone within the said group. Therefore, people begin viewing individuals from within the group to all behave in a highly predictable manner that reflects these stereotypes.

– Bobbie Jen