Three very different films that all have to be compared in one response. All three films are arguably straightforward when analysed individually, with all three films have clear and well defined ideologies and themes of conflict. Yet the question will demand a comparison of all three films in a comparatively short space of time (45 minutes!). This means that this unit is challenging in completely new ways.
Ideology - ideas and beliefs. Examples of ideologies include religious, gender based, social, human rights, race and ethnicity, political, education, control and the state…
For film studies, ideology refers to the belief and values of the director, as encoded through the micro elements of a film
Conflict - Refers to two or more opposing values or viewpoints
Aristotle: “all narrative is conflict”
Narrative refers to how a story is told. The specific devices and techniques which construct them.
All narrative is based around conflict: opposing ideologies. A problem must be introduced and usually solved in order to construct an interesting narrative. It’s ubiquity suggests that conflict is a fundamental aspect of human nature.
Let's take a look at how conflict and ideology are fundamental to two very different and very famous films for children.
Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
- The opposing colours of the lightsabres, blue and red were introduced in later films to enhance themes of conflict
- Villains are typically dressed in black, and use leading elements of MES such as masks, which encode themes of deception and hiding identity
- The heavy breathing of the main villain marks him as disabled and physically different, reinforcing an ableist ideology
- The heroes, by and large are human and hegemonically attractive
- The narrative seems to be completely fixated on combat and fighting. The rapid fire editing emphasises the focus on combat and conflict
- The angry British accent of many of the villains marks them as being foreign, strange and different from the American primary target audience
- References to real life conflict, such as the Vietnam war help us understand the protagonists as Americans, and the villains as a foreign threat. Additionally, Nazi symbolism, encoded through the stark black uniforms, and the Death Star could represent nuclear annihilation
- A simple and straightforward ideology that conflict can lead to freedom
Cars (2006)
- A representation of working class cars (!!) living in small town America.
- The soundtrack is bluesy rock and roll, with connotations of Working class southern American values
- Mater, the stereotype of the southern American hick, and the antithesis/binary opposition of Lightning Macqueen
- The ideology that small town simple living is the true America, the authentic America
- Clearly targeting conservative, working class audiences, who will feel flattered and important form the representation. And when working class audiences are told that their lifestyle is adequate and superior, they potentially will look on their situation more favourably