The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre was released in 1974 and was perhaps one of the greatest slasher films of its time as it was the first film which began to reveal the horrific traits and repertoire of elements which are now so commonly viewed in slasher films today. Due to the fact that it was so successful, the film was remade in 2003 and as technology has advanced so rapidly since the 1970's, it was able to capture the horror and the graphic detail to its full extent making it just as successful. This essay will compare and contrast both versions and attempt to make a judgement as to which one is more successful in achieving its purpose.
The mask is an important symbol in which both films have. The fact that the villian cuts his victims faces off and wears them as a mask adds to the plot and resulted in the villian earning the nickname "Leatherface". The mask was first introduced as a tool to establish suspense and horror within in the film which was successful, therefore, newer films made then borrowed the idea of a masked villian, for example Halloween and Scream. Although the mask is a symbol within the film, the film is recognised by the chainsaw. This extreme tool is used as a weapon throughout both films in order for it to be gory enough to appeal to their target audience which consists predominantly of C1 C2 and perhaps even D teenage males who experience voyeuristic pleasures in watching the characters within the film suffer, particularly the final girl.
The original film is a lot less graphic and gory due to the technology used back in 74, therefore it does not create the same impact that the newer version does. The 2003 version allows the audience to understand each character easier so that we can establish a relationship with them so that once they are murdered, the audience is able to empathise with the final girl and are therefore left satisfied at the end when she finally escapes. Propps theory is challenged as the “princess” in need to be saved actually takes on the role of “the hero” which can be considered to challenge patriarchal ideology despite her being the subject of voyeuristic pleasure from a male audience.
To conclude, both films are overall very similar as they portray the same ideologies yet their content and the use of editing and direction is completely different in order to appeal to its newly developed younger target audience. When viewing the 1974 version today, some may view it as perhaps a classic however younger audiences may see it as as almost comedic. Male ideologies are challenged when “Leatherface” is shown to be wearing a kitchen apron which in turn also affiliates with the film “Psycho” and the idea that a “woman” is the cause of such mayhem to occur.
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Similarites and Differences of Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Iconography
1974- the main iconography from this version of the film is that of the famous mask which is used by the character leatherface.
2003- the same mask is used however with the use of make up more detail was put into the mask and also the same chain saw is used, but it is used more often in the newer film compared to the older film
Setting
1974 - the setting of the film is in America, Texas the film is based in the desert with other scenes featuring the house of leatherface and different shots of the outdoors in that area.
2003 - the film features in the same area of texas, the film shows all other bits of the old film but inside the house it is quite different, in the older film they didnt go into leatherfaces headquaters as much but in the new film characters are acctually shown moving about.
Narrative
1974 - narrative of this movie follows the narrative of a classic slasher movie/ kids get stuck in the middle of nowhere looking for shelter and get killed one by one
2003 -The narrative in this movie is the same/ kids in a van get trapped in the middle of nowhere where they look for shelter and go into the wrong place and get killed
Characters
1974 -
final girl
main male character
other members of their group
leatherface
leatherface family
2003 -
final girl
main male character
other members of their group
leatherface
leatherface family
Girl who kills herself and her brother
People who lived in the caravan
Themes
villain vs. hero ( both)
final girl/ good vs. Evil (both)
1974- the main iconography from this version of the film is that of the famous mask which is used by the character leatherface.
2003- the same mask is used however with the use of make up more detail was put into the mask and also the same chain saw is used, but it is used more often in the newer film compared to the older film
Setting
1974 - the setting of the film is in America, Texas the film is based in the desert with other scenes featuring the house of leatherface and different shots of the outdoors in that area.
2003 - the film features in the same area of texas, the film shows all other bits of the old film but inside the house it is quite different, in the older film they didnt go into leatherfaces headquaters as much but in the new film characters are acctually shown moving about.
Narrative
1974 - narrative of this movie follows the narrative of a classic slasher movie/ kids get stuck in the middle of nowhere looking for shelter and get killed one by one
2003 -The narrative in this movie is the same/ kids in a van get trapped in the middle of nowhere where they look for shelter and go into the wrong place and get killed
Characters
1974 -
final girl
main male character
other members of their group
leatherface
leatherface family
2003 -
final girl
main male character
other members of their group
leatherface
leatherface family
Girl who kills herself and her brother
People who lived in the caravan
Themes
villain vs. hero ( both)
final girl/ good vs. Evil (both)
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Targets
-Write the essay in more of an academic way rather than a fan based way.
-Include more media language points.
-More book research.
-Sort footnotes out.
-Include more media language points.
-More book research.
-Sort footnotes out.
Scary Movie Franchise
The Scary Movie franchise are a number of spoof films which parodie the horror, slasher and mystery genre. Scary Movie films have made a number of references to a number of other films. These films include:
Scream
I Know What You Did Last Summer
The Exorcist
The Blair Witch Project
The Usual Suspects
The Shining
Titanic
Thinner
The Matrix
Drop Dead Gorjeous
Scream
I Know What You Did Last Summer
The Exorcist
The Blair Witch Project
The Usual Suspects
The Shining
Titanic
Thinner
The Matrix
Drop Dead Gorjeous
The Franchise:
Scary movie 1 -8th September 2000 (UK)
Scary movie 2 -7th September 2001 (UK)
Scary movie 3 - 23rd January 2004 (UK)
Scary movie 4 -13rd April 2006 (UK)
Post-modern-
Pastiche-A media text made up from other media text pieces or of imitations of other styles.
Irony- Irony is when humour is based on using words to suggest the opposite of their literal meaning.
Intertextuality- The practice of purposely including a reference of one text in the narrative of another, it can generate levels of meaning for the viewer.
Parody-A parody is in contemporary usage, is a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, or author, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation
Spoof- a composition that imitates or misrepresents some body's style, usually in a humorous way
Sunday, 29 March 2009
Scream Franchise
Throughout Scream 1, a variety of references to other horror films are made. These films include:
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Halloween
Carrie
The Thing With Two Heads
Dementia 13
Night of the Living Dead
Candyman
The Howling
Frankinstein
The Texas Chainsaw Massicre
Firday the 13th
The Exorcist
Psycho
The Scream films were very popular amongst lovers of the slasher genre as it revealed a different aspect to the killings and the slasher genre as a whole. It also had a number of references to the majority of the most popular horror films ever made.
The props and all of the weaponery used in the Scream movies are similar to the props and the weaponery that were used in other slasher movies, for example the knife that the killer uses is the same weapon used by Michael Myers, Jason and even Freddy, as the knife being a phallic symbol but it is also chosen as the slasher weapon as it recieves a more visceral effect from the audience. This movie revitalized the slasher genre since the 1970's to the 1980's as it used a similar concept to Halloween, which was the concept of the 'tongue in cheek' approach that combined straightforward scares with dialogue that satirized slasher film conventions.
Scream became a major commercial success upon its release, and was one of the highest grossing films of 1996. It was also highly acclaimed by many critics worldwide, who appreciated the film's tongue-in-cheek approach. It received an 84% "fresh" rating on rottentomatoes.com. As a result it spawned two sequels, Scream 2 and Scream 3. A fourth film was announced by The Weinstein Company in July 2008.
Pastiche: a work of art that imitates the style of some previous work.
Irony: a literary or rhetorical device, in which there is an or discordance between what one says or does, and what one means or what is ...
Intertextuality: the shaping of texts' meanings by other texts. It can refer to an author’s borrowing and transformation of a prior text or to ...
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Halloween
Carrie
The Thing With Two Heads
Dementia 13
Night of the Living Dead
Candyman
The Howling
Frankinstein
The Texas Chainsaw Massicre
Firday the 13th
The Exorcist
Psycho
The Scream films were very popular amongst lovers of the slasher genre as it revealed a different aspect to the killings and the slasher genre as a whole. It also had a number of references to the majority of the most popular horror films ever made.
The props and all of the weaponery used in the Scream movies are similar to the props and the weaponery that were used in other slasher movies, for example the knife that the killer uses is the same weapon used by Michael Myers, Jason and even Freddy, as the knife being a phallic symbol but it is also chosen as the slasher weapon as it recieves a more visceral effect from the audience. This movie revitalized the slasher genre since the 1970's to the 1980's as it used a similar concept to Halloween, which was the concept of the 'tongue in cheek' approach that combined straightforward scares with dialogue that satirized slasher film conventions.
Scream became a major commercial success upon its release, and was one of the highest grossing films of 1996. It was also highly acclaimed by many critics worldwide, who appreciated the film's tongue-in-cheek approach. It received an 84% "fresh" rating on rottentomatoes.com. As a result it spawned two sequels, Scream 2 and Scream 3. A fourth film was announced by The Weinstein Company in July 2008.
Pastiche: a work of art that imitates the style of some previous work.
Irony: a literary or rhetorical device, in which there is an or discordance between what one says or does, and what one means or what is ...
Intertextuality: the shaping of texts' meanings by other texts. It can refer to an author’s borrowing and transformation of a prior text or to ...
Nightmare on Elm Street Franchise
The Nightmare on Elm Street films have been said to be perhaps the most successful within the genre of slasher and yet they introduced a new sub genre, being the supernatural sub genre.
Wes Craven set out to make a deliberately more cerebral film than the previous entries to the franchise - which he regarded as cartoonish and not faithful to his original themes. This was the main reason for changing some of the themes involved in the film and modifying the mask slightly to make it look more scary. More of the props of the original movie have been changed or modified to fit in with the more sinister theme of the movie, for instance the glove which was made to be more sinister.
Wes Cravens New Nightmare was preceeded by Freddy's dead and it was followed by Freddy Vs Jason which was the merge of the two most popular characters within the slasher genre and both have made a name of themselves through killing people and contrasting in their killings.
This film was a forerunner to Wes Cravens Scream which was made just two years later.
Wes Craven set out to make a deliberately more cerebral film than the previous entries to the franchise - which he regarded as cartoonish and not faithful to his original themes. This was the main reason for changing some of the themes involved in the film and modifying the mask slightly to make it look more scary. More of the props of the original movie have been changed or modified to fit in with the more sinister theme of the movie, for instance the glove which was made to be more sinister.
Wes Cravens New Nightmare was preceeded by Freddy's dead and it was followed by Freddy Vs Jason which was the merge of the two most popular characters within the slasher genre and both have made a name of themselves through killing people and contrasting in their killings.
This film was a forerunner to Wes Cravens Scream which was made just two years later.
Friday The 13th Franchise
The original 'Friday the 13th' film was released 29 years ago, in 1980. A number of sequels were made afterwards, most recently the remake of the original was made this year in 2009 in order to keep the younger generation up to date with famous slasher films.
Jason was the main character within the film, however he only appears at the end of it in order to keep the suspense levels up amongst the audience so that they gain a more visceral reaction.
Freddy Vs Jason was created which took the two most popular characters from the slasher genre in order to attract a much larger audience.
The film crew had been changed for the remakes to make the films appear more modern rather than like the previous films. They done this so they could attract more people, especially youngeer audiences.
The film was made into a novel and even a comic book.
Jason was the main character within the film, however he only appears at the end of it in order to keep the suspense levels up amongst the audience so that they gain a more visceral reaction.
Freddy Vs Jason was created which took the two most popular characters from the slasher genre in order to attract a much larger audience.
The film crew had been changed for the remakes to make the films appear more modern rather than like the previous films. They done this so they could attract more people, especially youngeer audiences.
The film was made into a novel and even a comic book.
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