How are representations constructed in the theatrical poster for Kiss Of The Vampire (1963)
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- The gesture code of the woman on the left is of a stereotypical, passive victim. Her is limp, relaxed, unconscious. Her head is leant back in a gesture that exposes her neck, a genre convention of the vampire genre.
- Additionally, even though unconscious, she is thrusting her exposed cleavage forward, a clear example of sexualisation. Women are often sexualised in media products for financial purposes, as this allows the product to target heterosexual male audiences
- The target audience for this film is male, younger, and heterosexual
- The vampire woman is a subversive representation of women . Her aggressive facial expression is further anchored through the assertive grappling of the recumbent man. By depicting a woman attacking a man is an example of challenging patriarchal hegemonic values
- Serif font of the title is in the style of a wooden stake, a paradigmatic convention of the vampire genre. Additionally, the MES of of the stake functions as a proairetic code
- Chekov's gun: if we see a gun in a narrative, we expect it to be fired
- Dark colour palette symbolises dark themes and depressing ideas
- Victim woman is draped unconscious in the arms of the antagonist which constructs him as both stronger and more masculine, which reinforces a stereotypical 1960's stereotype of the roles of men and women
- MES of hair colour: victim's blonde. Hammer films made heavy use of typecasting, casting the same kind of hegemonically attractive woman over and over again. Blonde hair here is symbolic of hegemonic attractiveness, and reinforces certain stereotypes about the value of women
- Binary opposition between the blonde hair of the victim and the dark hair of the antagonist constructs a symbolic binary between good and evil and light and dark. This assumption is potentially racist, or at least highly postcolonial attitudes
- Paul Gilroy argued that we still have systemic racism in the UK today, which are based on stereotypical and repeated assumptions about certain groups of people
- Male vampire has a terrified expression, which is a clear subversion of genre conventions and subverts the stereotype that men are strong, powerful and active
- Symbolic code highly suggestive of sex in the gesture of the victim women pressing her breasts in to the body of the man. At this stage it was absolutely illegal to depict anything approaching explicit sex, so British films in particular had to rely on symbolic codes
- British Board Of Film Censorship
- Also a vulnerable sexualised image of a man being attacked by a hegemonically attractive woman, which is clearly subversive of the expectations of men and women
- Generic fluidity: this sexy vampire film has evolved in to far more explicit erotic and romantic vampire films of the present day
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- Anchorage of the letter V in the KOTV logo, reinforces a clear generic convention of the vampire genre
- MES of the male vampire's face is one of fear. This is highly atypical of a conventional vampire film where vampires are typically represented as evil and fearless
- Low key lighting is symbolic of horror and dark themes, which communicates clearly the genre to the audience. The genre must be clear to the target audience in order to maximise profit
- MES of the female victim's costume is highly polysemic and can connote both stereotypically sexualised and innocent. The
- From the context of the 1960's , the woman's costumes are somewhat revealing, with a big focus on breasts and cleavage The UK in the 1960s had extremely strict censorship laws.
- The costume of the woman is fairly formal and stagey, which plays on the theatrical element of the film. The film looks old fashioned, even in the 1960s, and resembles a stage play, A conservative ideology, and a conservative outlook on female sexuality
- The text appears wooden, like a coffin, which anchors genre tropes/conventions
- MES of male victim features a prone man with an unbuttoned shirt, which is an an example of sexualisation . Van Zoonen would argue that this sexualisation of men is highly atypical and challenges stereotypical assumptions of the patriarchy
- Producers may typically subvert genre expectations to widen their target audience
- The setting of the image uses low key colours, and the MES of the women's costumes contrasts highly with this, presenting a pleasing binary opposition to the target audience.
- The dominant gesture of the female vampire places her in a position of hierarchical power over the male victim, which is highly subversive
- her expression codes her as being a monstrous, violent, dangerous woman, which subverts the idea of the male gaze
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- Eastmancolor is a colour film processing technique. More expensive than black and white, yet cheaper than Technicolor, it suggests that this is a mid-budget film
- Representation of women is at least partially constructed through the inclusion of costume. For example, the high heels of the female victim. High heels are symbolically representative of class, money, status, and sexuality. This is a highly stereotypical representation of women, and reinforces the notion that women are present in media products to appease heterosexual male audiences
- Frequent use of the colour red, which functions as a symbolic code for blood, death, and, polysemic, love, romance, and sex
- The positioning of the male victim under the female vampire is a highly atypical subversion of the representation of men. This is a subversive representation as it subverts the expectation that men are typically represented as dominant and superior. The producer may have challenged this representation to create a more interesting, challenging representation of gender, which will encourage audiences to buy tickets to see this film
- MES of revealing costumes. Nightdresses are connotative of sex and sexuality. In particular, these nightdresses emphasise cleavage and the breasts of the female characters
- Film in the UK is regulated by the BBFC, and the regulation of films in the 60s was even more strict than it is today. Explicit representations of sexuality were not only not allowed, but would potentially shock audiences. However, the producers of these films would typically focus on women's cleavage in order to step around regulations regarding sexuality.
- The costumes are modest by todays standards, but clearly sexualise the female characters
- Painted poster is highly conventional of the time it was made, and allows the whole cast to stand next to each other, and hides the films mid budget
- Use of serif font, in particular the pointy end of V is symbolic of vampires and death, and this is further anchored through the MES of blood dripping from the point
- The genre of this film is extremely clear! This is in order to target a pre-existing audience of horror film fans
- The facial expression of the female vampire is aggressive, which suggests she is in power. Additionally, her facial expression is particularly unflattering, and subverts hegemonic expectations of female attractiveness. This is a subversive representation!
- Typical film poster conventions include the names of actors, which also helps to target a pre-sold audience
- The full moon is connotative of horror, mythical creatures, and the supernatural, which suggests the subgenre of horror
- MES of castle in background suggests power and the threat of the vampire antagonists. Additionally, pointy top is symbolic of violence and vampires
- Gesture of male vampire (hand clasping waist) could be symbolic of sexual assault. Ye the male vampire's face is scared and confused, constructing a powerful hermeneutic code for the target audience
- Vampire films often symbolically are fixated on rape and sexual assault