Active and Passive
When audience theories first began in the 1930's, Theodore Adorno developed the "hypodermic syringe" theory by stating that media has a negative impact. This meant he thought the mass audience believed everything they saw or heard, and this theory assumes that the audience is passive. This means the audience in terms of media, don't think for themselves, and are very heavily influenced by the media without having their own opinions about it.
This brought up many questions like the issues of violence, sexual content and representation. If audiences were being fully influenced by the content in media, wouldn't the ideas presented in media products instantly start appearing in audiences?
Later into the 20th century, people realised the audience isn't completely influenced by the media they see. They don't believe everything they see or hear, and are able to develop their own opinion about what is portrayed in the media. This is called an active audience, and is generally the idea we use with audiences today. However, there are still ideas of the audience being influenced by media because of cases like the Jamie Bulger case, in which two young boys murder a toddler. Afterwards they stated the reason they did it was because they saw it on a film. This is an example of copycat violence, in which the media portrays violence that an audience is heavily influenced by and copies it. The copycat theory can be applied to other ideas such as body image and ethnicity.
This applies to HTTYD 2 as there are scenes of violence, where people are fighting, dragons are attacking, one kills another and there is even an on-screen death. However, no blood is shown to keep the film within the PG rating.
The BBFC regulations for HTTYD 2 state that there are moments of threat and violence.
This means that the film is rated PG - Parental Guidance - as there may be some scenes which might be upsetting for young children.
The poster, advertising a family film, obviously is appropriate for everyone. There is no violence, reference to drinking or drugs or any show of threat. It simply connotes the idea of adventure and displays the characters as exciting in their colourful, interesting setting.
HTTYD 2's effect on audiences
As it's a family film, it doesn't have any extreme graphic violence, bad morals or mature content. However, representation is still an issue in all films.
The problem with representation is mainly stereotypes. Not all stereotypes are bad, but most go on the dominant ideology of the mass audience. A dominant ideology is an idea that everyone shares.
One of the most common stereotypes is with women and their body shapes. In the majority of films, women are always represented as thin beautiful women, and any women who are overweight or not so pretty are considered gag characters like Pitch Perfect's "Fat Amy". In httyd 2, body image is also an issue, as all of the main featured women have thin waists and none are overweight or overly different in any way.
However, their face designs go against what is conventionally pretty, with unusual features and lots of variation. This goes against the stereotype which most films, and animated ones too, comply to, using overly attractive women with perfect bodies and faces.
One way httyd 2 is daring in terms of family films is how they reveal a character is gay. This came as a shock to many people, and how I see it, this is a good thing. That's because no one had any idea that he would be gay, because he isn't represented with the stereotypical characteristics of a gay person.
Another way httyd 2 represents social minorities is by portraying a disabled main character. This character isn't pitied or idolized, he is just seen how everyone else is seen, as an equal. This goes against media and society's ideologies of how disabled people should always be treated differently. Even though he's not idolized for this reason, he is still a good role model for audiences as he is the main character, with good morals and realistic, likeable qualities.
One issue httyd 2 has with representation is the lack of variations in race. All the characters are white and voiced by white people... Apart from the villain.
There are still many issues with race in today's films. Part of the reason most of the characters are white is because the film is set in the north, where it would be unlikely for there to be people of many different races. Another reason could be the fact that it is set hundreds of years ago, when there wasn't as much variation, race-wise, in any given country.
These reasons still don't target the fact that it's only the villain that's voiced by a man of a different race. This representation could influence audience ideas of ethnicity and race, especially in children, in a negative way.
No comments:
Post a Comment