'What are the messages of post-apocalyptic/sci-fi films? Paying particular attention to Children of Men (2006)
‘No Children, No Future, No Hope’ [1], Does this idea reflect the unconscious mind thinking of the audience, and are the audiences morals/attitudes affected through the reflection of this in films?
Children Of Men directed by Alfonso Cuar
ón presents the fear of the population dying out through the idea that women no longer gain the ability to become pregnant. Cuarón has acted in the way of reflecting the zeitgeists of genetically modified pregnancies through science, whilst also reflecting the idea's of pollution and contamination, as well as poor international relations, ultimately reflecting the 'what if' situation, such as what if we didn't have science to counteract
[1]infertility. the term apocalypse is 'used to refer to the end of the world'.[2] Uses and Gratifications is the idea that people use the media to get specific gratifications, so audiences use media to fulfil their various needs. These needs serve as motivations for using media [3]. According to Steve Neale the 'typical repertoire of elements’ or ‘recurring themes/elements in an individual genre’. [4]
The fears of infertility, pollution and contamination, as well as poor international relations are reflected throughout Children Of Men (2006), Children Of Men is a dystopian (a creation of a nightmare world) sci-fi film, the film is set in the future (2027) of the united kingdom the film explores a grim world in which two decades of global human infertility have left humanity with less than a century to survive. In many ways this can be seen to be the zeitgeist, as we know see reflected in today’s media, 'Infertility affects at least one in six couples and currently success rates for IVF treatment are about one in four'[5]. Where as in The War of the Worlds (1953) Directed by Byron Haskin, the zeitgeist of being invaded by aliens was reflected. However in both texts the theme of Apocalypse is brought to the audience’s attention, on the one hand we have women no longer being able to give birth, so the population is dying out, whereas on the other hand we have beings from another planet attacking the human race, ultimately killing of most of the population.
‘Many critics argue science fiction…uses its tales of alien invasion, science and technology gone wrong, and visions of the future worlds to explore the issues of contemporary significance.’[6] The zeitgeist of pollution has been massively distributed around today’s media, with the threat of global warming ending the world, there has been a moral panic throughout the media altogether, as seen in the sci-fi drama on the BBC, Doctor Who, in which pollutant cars threaten the end of the world, along with invading aliens. The threat of pollution and global warming is also reflected in the film The Day after Tomorrow (2004), in which an outbreak of deadly storms threatens mankind’s existence. Schatz’s proposition that a ‘genre film...involves familiar, essentially one-dimensional characters acting out a predictable story pattern within a familiar setting’ (Schatz 1981:6). The narrative components of a non-genre film – the characters, setting, plot, techniques, etc. – assume their significance as elements as they are integrated into the individual film itself. In a genre film, however, these components have prior significance as elements of some generic formula’ (1981:10). This formula is established by repetition. [7]
However the sci-fi film that links to Children Of Men brought forth the idea that one being creating another being is an unnatural and tabooed process, this film being Frankenstein (1931) directed by James Whale. Social realism can be seen through the representation of the character Frankenstein himself, his birth is seen to have been a negative thing, reflecting how this has changed as we still are being presented with the argument that Genetically Modified births are wrong, however they are being carried out. This can in addition be linked with the film I am Legend (2007), in which a scientist that is immune to a virus tries to cure cancerous diseases with science, yet again reflecting the zeitgeist, through the unnatural overcoming of these natural processes, with science. The term social realism is the representation of characters and issues in film and television drama in such a way as to raise serious underlying social and political issues [8]. The films are usually shot in a naturalistic way, which is the case in Children For Men, for example in the opening sequence we see that the lighting is very dark, or low key, presenting the idea that the scener
[2]y or cinematography has not been altered, to give a realistic approach.
Children of Men grossed $69,612,678 worldwide, with $35,552,383 of the revenue generated in the United States. [9] Children of Men is nominated for 2007 Academy Awards for Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best Achievement in Editing, and Best Writing, Adapted screenplay. The film is distributed by Universal Pictures, Universal pictures are a subsidiary of
NBC Universal, is one of the six Worldwide major American film studios.
The cinèma vèritè style cinematography and lengthy single shot sequences, which Alfonso Cuaron is recognised for, linking the idea to Alfred Hitchcock’s career, ‘Macguffin’, this being a
plot device that motivates the characters or advances the story [10], the argument that can be derived from this is that Alfonso Cuaron uses typical generic conventions in order to keep the audience’s appealed and interested, whilst indirectly progressing the idea that he can influence the audiences beliefs/attitudes, even through the techniques that make the film what it is. Cuarón uses sound and music to bring the fictional world of social unrest and infertility to life, by using a creative yet restrained combination of rock, pop, hip-hop and classical music, as well as the mundane sounds of traffic, barking dogs, and advertisements. The film makes use of silence and sound effects such as the firing of automatic weapons, and loudspeakers directing the movement of "fugees". [11] Cuaron’s technique of using an anit-hero (Clive Owen), helps to alienate the audience, creating the connotation that everyone is effected, through the use of identity and not having one, however this can be contradicted to the lifestyles of the audience, as they can relate or identify themselves with the day-to-day working lives that they have to live out.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times - 'the film serves as a cautionary warning. The only thing we will have to fear in the future, we learn, is the past itself. Our past. Ourselves.'[12], this quote serves as reiterating the idea that most apocalyptic films work in the way as to make audiences dwell on the idea that they are destroying the world, this film therefore gives hope in the form of a warning. This can be linked with the theory of Reception, Reception theory argues that contextual factors, more than textual ones, influence the way the spectator views the film or television program. [13] So ultimately the audience are relating themselves with the text as a means of getting some form of relationship. In many ways this is the 'Preferred Reading' that the director has intended, the preferred reading being the meaning of a text as intended by the author, linked to the work of Stuart Hall and David Morley. [14]
Peter Bradshaw, the guardian said 'Cuarón has created the thinking person's action movie'[15], this gives the impression that the audience is therefore an active rather than passive audience, which can be linked with Uses and Gratifications theory, audiences were made up of individuals who actively consumed texts for different reasons and in different ways. In 1948 Lasswell suggested that media texts had the following functions for individuals and society [16], the theorists Bulmer and Katz theorised the idea that audiences watching different texts gain certain aspects from watching these texts, with relation to Children of Men the audience are acquiring the uses and gratifications of personal identification or rather surveillance. However the idea that apocalyptic/sci-fi films being entertaining through the idea that it targets your deepest fears comes into play as well, From the earliest studies of film audiences it is clear that the routine methods of social science could tell us a great deal. In these audience studies and in many others like them since the 1910s, what we have are deductions made from the collection of quantifiable information - information about, for example, frequence of visits to the cinema and genre preferences. [17] The Quotation simply repeats the idea that studiesdating back since 1910 have developed the idea on what audiences look for in a film and determine whether it is worth watching, as well as watching movies of the same genre.
Manohla Dargis in the New York Times observes (IMBD website)- that Cuarón's film "is a gratifying sign that big studios are still occasionally in the business of making ambitious, intelligent work that speaks to adults." [18] The idea that the ambiguity of the themes that are presented in the film have a purpose of interacting with the audience, in some ways this can be seen to be that the director has purposefully raised the level of ambiguity in order for a certain interaction to be made with
[3] the audience, this is also known as the preferred reading.
Alfonso Cuarón's mother didn't support that idea of cinema, he started to study philosophy in the morning and in the afternoon he went to the CUEC (Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos) [19], this can also be linked with the idea of deteriorating international relations within the film, as this is also reflected in today’s world, through the war in Iraq as well as the mass genocide in Zimbabwe, also the foreign negations with Russia. However in many ways Alfonso Cuarón is seen to be an auteur, Auteur Theory suggests that a director can use the commercial apparatus of film-making in the same way that a writer uses a pen or a painter uses paint and a paintbrush. It is a medium for the personal artistic expression of the director.[20] Some of his works include
Y tu mamá también,
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,
A Little Princess and
Children of Men. One of Alfonso's personal quotes is 'The only reason you make a movie is not to make or set out to do a good or a bad movie, it's just to see what you learn for the next one'. [21]
Alfonso Cuaron makes it clear from the outset of the film that the government across the world has collapsed, with Britain ‘Soldering’ on. With reference to a British audience this in many ways is similar to the times in which the British Empire was in rule. This can also be linked with the idea of colonialism. Ashis Nandy (1937) says ‘Colonialism transformed Britain culturally by suppressing and declaring tenderness, speculation and introspection as feminine and therefore unworthy of public culture, and by bringing the most brutish and masculine elements of british colonial life to the fore.’[22] Children of Men therefore adapts the idea that Britain has become the most powerful country altogether, giving them the power to mediate what culturally popular, so to speak.
Phillip French (the guardian website) - 'What the narrative demands, and what Cuaron provides, is moral ambiguity and a teasing hopefulness that suggests the possibility of redemption.' [23] This presents Alfonso as a man of great skill, however it also relates to the idea that the audience are able to identify with the text as the feel a need for redemption through the viewing of the movie, ultimately making them think twice before they carry out a normal life. Like reception study, a semantic/syntactic/pragmatic approach refuses determinacy to textual structures taken alone, but in addition it acknowledges the difficulty of extracting those textual structures from the institutions and social habits that frame them and lend the appearance of making meaning on their own. [24] This basically means that with zeitgeist in mind the audience’s attitudes and beliefs can be affected through the film. This can also be referred to as 'Value Judgement', value judgement is a subjective opinion based on an individual's attitudes, beliefs and values rather than on any objective criteria. [25]
The films tagline is 'No Children, No Future, No Hope' [26], this works in reinforcing the fear of apocalypse, however unlike many other taglines, it is repetitive of the word 'No' and uses a negative approach, reinforcing the films negativity which can also be linked with the idea that the purpose of the text is more to sway your attitudes and beliefs, rather than focusing on the entertainment side of this, even though the audience does get some form of entertainment through the action and suspense that build up to this dramatic events of apocalypse. My view is that Alfonso Cuaron has taken into perspective all the things that are wrong with today’s world and created a film out of it, however he uses as a means of communicating a warning within mass amounts of viewers, the message being that 'if we don’t fix up now then there will be no hope at all!' Referring back to Steve Neale's work, the ‘typical repertoire of elements’[26]brings forth the conclusion that most
[4] Apocalyptic/sci-fi films are successful at creating this too, which is achieved through a process of repetition, many films have reoccurring themes, which make them easier to classify into different genres. However with regards to theories such as reception and uses gratifications, I also believe that the film, Children Of Men allows the progression in change, the change in the audience, if they were to watch this film in a cinema, they would come out with a new perspective of life, they would be more willing to think about the things around them and not take things for granted, a way of redeeming the bad things that they have done to lead up to the bad events that have been predicted in the film.
So with regards to Peter Bradshaw’s review, Children of Men is ‘the thinking person’s movie’, the audience are an active minded audience, they therefore create their own perception of what the film means to them, however with context of the idea of social realism, the events that are effecting the economy will influence the way in which the perception of the film is derived from, backing up my idea that apocalyptic/sci-fi films effect the morals/attitudes of its audiences, regardless of whether this is the preferred or oppositional reading that the director was trying to get across.
Word Count: 2413
[5][1] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a0/Children_Of_Men_3.jpg - children of men poster
2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uses_and_gratifications - definitions of uses and gratifications
3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uses_and_gratifications - definitions of uses and gratifications
4 Neale, Steve (2002), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood
5
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/science_technology/ivf+breakthrough+could+help+couples/2906587 - news article on IVF treatmen for women
6. Unit 6 – Critical approaches to genre booklet
7. Neale, S. (2007). Genre and Hollywood. Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis.
8. Probert, D. (2005). As/A Level Media Studies Essential Word Dictionary (Essential Word Dictionaries). Unknown: Philip Allan Updates.
9.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_Of_Men10.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin11.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_Of_Men12. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071004/REVIEWS/710040307/-1/REVIEWS01 - review given by Chicago sun Times
13.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reception_theoryProbert, D. (2005). As/A Level Media Studies Essential Word Dictionary (Essential Word Dictionaries). Unknown: Philip Allan Updates.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2006/sep/22/juliannemoore.thriller - review by Peter Bradshaw
http://www.mediaknowall.com/alevkeyconcepts/audience.html - website giving defintions on media theories, with Uses and Gratifications used.
Nelmes, J. (1999). Introduction to Film Studies. London: Taylor & Francis, Inc..
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0206634/news?year=2006 - review by Manohla Dargis, new york times, by imdb website
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0190859/bio - a biography like/information page on the director Alfonso Cuaron
http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/staffhome/siryan/Screen/Auteur%20Theory.htm - a defintion for auteur theory
http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/staffhome/siryan/Screen/Auteur%20Theory.htm - a defintion for auteur theory
22. Booklet on representations, Ashis Nandy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/114077/children.of.men - Phillip French Review, the guardian website
Altman, R. (1999). Film/Genre. London: British Film Institute.
Probert, D. (2005). As/A Level Media Studies Essential Word Dictionary (Essential Word Dictionaries). Unknown: Philip Allan Updates.
Neale, S. (2002). Genre and Contemporary Hollywood. London: British Film Institute.
