Media Theories 4: Narratology

Theorist: Tzvetan Todorov

Theory: Narratology

Year of Publish: 1969

The basic Theory: the idea that all narratives share the same basic structure: starting from a period of equilibrium, broken by an event that causes a period of disequilibrium, and then resolved - often through an event which has some form of ideological significance (a moral to the story so to speak) - back equilibrium.

How is this relevant to film trailers:

Obviously a trailer is not going to be able to tell its audience the full narrative to the film that is being advertised as this would give away too much about the film. What we do see, however, will hint at the narrative structure to the film. In giving the basic outline of the film and what the film will be about we as the audience will likely get a glimpse of the equilibrium that the film opens with, the event that leads to the film's period of disequilibrium and the resulting effects of this particular event, as well as likely getting an idea of the desired equilibrium that the protagonist characters want to get back to as well as potentially a hint of how exactly they want to go about trying to get back there. Therefore, although Todorov's narrative theory is not in of itself seen within the film trailer the audience does get given hints of the different stages of this narrative structure in order to whet their appetites and make them want to go an see the film.

We see an example of this in the trailers for Deadpool. The trailer initially gives the audience hints of a stage of equilibrium in which Wade Wilson is in a normal relationship with his woman Vanessa. We get told at the beginning of the trailer that this stage of equilibrium will at some point get broken when Wade gets diagnosed with Cancer that has infected his entire body. It then moves on to hint that their may be a solution to this when Wade is offered a potential cure to his cancer. Although it would appear as though this happens, it would also appear (as revealed by the lab in which he gets treated being blown up in an explosion) as though this is not entirely successful, and Wade is transformed as a result into Deadpool:

The desired equilibrium to get back to therefore would be for Wade, now transformed, to find a way back to what he was before. Naturally of course, as hinted by the trailer, this process will be more complicated meaning that Deadpool is going to have some work to do in order to get himself back to normal or face a life as this new crime-fighting character.

Media Theories 3: Representation theories

Theorist: Stuart Hall

Theory: Representation theories

Year of Publish: 1997

The basic theory: Media Language (the way that the media is shown to the audience) is used to create representations.

How is this relevant to film trailers?:

When the various film companies present their audience with the film trailer, they want the audience to form pre-designed conclusions about each character. They create characters to be liked and rooted for, characters to pity and feel sorry for, characters to laugh at and find funny, and characters to fear. In order for these characters to be created in such a way the company will use different techniques: camerawork, mise-en-scene, sound and editing to present the various characters and locations in such a way as to make the audience believe what they want them to believe.

One example of this would be the way in which the Xenomorph Alien is represented in the trailers for Alien Covenant. As the Alien is going to be the film's primary monster, in order for Alien Covenant to be an effective Science-Fiction/Horror movie, it needs to be presented in a way that makes it appear to be terrifying. In actual fact, the Xenomorph Alien is just another predator hunting its prey, just like a Lion, Shark or Eagle. The way that its presented, however, would suggest otherwise to the audience and thus the audience is led to fearing this fictional species. At its most basic, the way that the Alien is designed: its quick acting second mouth, long limbs, sharp edges and black skin all go to make the Xenomorph Alien appear terrifying. The way that the creature operates also serves to make it appear more menacing: the fact that it often strikes from the shadows or inseminates victims through the facehugger subspecies in order to reproduce (okay, so few if any known predators actually do that one). And lastly, the fact that the Alien's primary source of food happens to be human, that naturally goes to make this creature appear to be more terrifying, who wouldn't be afraid of something whose primary goal would be to hunt down others like him/her. 

These elements that already go to make the Alien appear to be more terrifying are exemplified by the way in which it was portrayed during the advertising campaign for Alien Covenant. The best example   of this would be in the poster campaign the Alien had a tendency to be either the primary image or presented in a way that made it appear to be superior to the humans that it was hunting - and a superior threat is definitely something that should be feared.

Another example of the way in which Media Language is used to create representations is the advertising campaign for the Hobbit. In this instance the representation being created is the idea that a dangerous and potentially life threatening adventure is in actual fact an exciting prospect. We see in the trailer that Gandalf is trying to persuade Bilbo that a life of adventure outside of the safety and comfort of Bilbo's own home would be good for him and then introduces Bilbo to the dwarves with whom he will be travelling. In other words, Gandalf is more or less asking Bilbo to put his life in danger, forces Bilbo into a corner by giving him 13 dwarves to feed and then reprimands Bilbo who initially wants to say no. However, the trailer presents this in such a way that makes Gandalf's offer sound intriguing and Bilbo in the wrong for initially wanting to say no to the Grey wizard. Ordinarily, as human beings who like to defend our right to free will, we would be rooting for Bilbo in this situation as it is his free will that is effectively being violated, but through the power of Media Language which serves to put an altered representation on this given situation the audience will find itself rooting for Gandalf instead.

Media Theories 2: Binary opposites

Theorist: Claude Levi-Strauss

Theory: Binary opposites

Year of publish: 1958

The basic theory: Conflict between binary opposite forces drives the narrative. In order to know what something/someone really is we need to see what happens when they encounter their opposite.

How is this relevant to film trailers?:

In life everything is defined by relativism. We can only know if a person is truly good until we see what bad looks like in a person. We can only truly appreciate a person’s kindness once we have experienced another person’s cruelty. In a film we can only truly appreciate the evil and moral corruption of the antagonistic characters when we see how they treat the morally straight characters and the purity of the protagonist characters. Likewise, we can only see the moral purity and heroism of the protagonist unless they are pitted against morally corrupt characters and challenged with morally questionable ideas and decisions.

In Alien Covenant we see both the humans and the Alien Xenomorph creatures. In order for the audience to fully appreciate the danger and murderous intent of the Xenomorph Alien we need to see how it reacts in the presence of the human binary opposites. Without the contrast between the two species we as the audience would not appreciate just how potentially lethal the Xenomorph Alien can be. We can see examples of this within the trailer for Alien Covenant - if we forget that a significant percentage of the audience will have already seen previous Alien films so will already know what the Aliens are and what their different subspecies do.

One such example is when we first see the facehugger eggs. On their own we could assume that these were just eggs, nothing more nothing less. The true definition of what the eggs mean is shown to us when we see how they react to their binary opposite (in this case how the predator reacts when presented with potential prey): we see a facehugger eject itself out of the egg into the face of one of the humans and thus know that the Alien is dangerous. Without this contrast, we would not have known the monstrous intent of the Alien or the victim role of the humans.

Media Theories 1: Theories of identity

Theorist: David Gauntlett

Theory: Theories of Identity

Year of publish: 2002

The basic theory: People use the Internet and the Media to construct their own identities

How is this relevant to film trailers?:

People like having characters that they feel that they can relate to, identify with, and endeavour to be like. By having characters that the audience feels like they can relate to and aspire to be they will have people that they want to use help create their identities.

In the Hobbit we meet Bilbo Baggins, a person considered to be ordinary – like the rest of us in a way – who is lifted out of the peaceful, quiet, and even safe environment that he enjoys in Bag-End and the Shire and then thrust into an extraordinary and oftentimes dangerous world. Again and again he is presented with a vast variety of different challenges that test his physical abilities as well as his willpower to carry on going. As the audience, we want to see how he deals with the danger that this presents to him, whether he will be able to carry on going, and if he is somehow, despite all the odds stacked against him, able to survive.

In the Lego Movie we meet an ordinary and upstanding citizen, Emmet, who is used to following a daily cycle of rules. He doesn’t stand out, he doesn’t deviate from any rules, he is effectively (as the tagline calls him) a nobody. Similar to the Hobbit in a way, he is thrust into an adventure of his own in which this ordinary person is suddenly told he’s the most important and the only person capable of saving the Lego universe from certain doom. Again, as the audience we want to know what becomes of him and whether he will be capable of fulfilling the destiny given to him.

In both of these characters, and many more examples across the media, we as the audience are surrounded by a plethora of ordinary fictional characters capable of successfully achieving extraordinary things and as such we want to aspire to be these people. And by aspiring to be these characters we are using them to help us construct our own identities.