Edge of Tomorrow is about an officer called Cage (Cruise) who is
brought into combat. But is killed within 5 minutes of landing. He is then
stuck in a time loop forcing him to relive the same day over again. Cage then
finds Rita (Blunt) who is also stuck in a time loop and is willing to train
Cage to be a better soldier. With each repeated encounter, it gets them closer
to defeating the enemy.
Representation
In this short amount of time, we see men to be represented as the
soldiers and the ones who are fighting this war against the enemy. They are
represented this way because it is stereotypical and reinforcing their genders.
Men are the strong, active and competitive gender therefore they should be the
soldiers. The leading man is also represented as a strong, handsome and smart
character and this completes the stereotypical hero role. This also links to
patriarchal because at first he is not powerful but he gains power throughout
and he also looks after her, which gives him immediate power.
On the other hand, there are hardly any women presented in this
trailer. When we see the character of Rita, she goes against the stereotypical
female gender of being weak. This could suggest that they want female viewers
to see this and be interested in the film. She is represented as a
strong-minded fighter who is really powerful and this is very different to the
normal action genre because women are portrayed as damsels in distress. I think
the reason we see her portrayed this way is to show the differences and to make
this particular film stick out because the woman is in power. It links to the
feminist ideology of going against women as a housewife; she’s a soldier in the
army!
The way that the army, soldiers and conflict is very different from
original action films. In this media text, we see different armour on them that
is the metal structure and they have also introduced aliens to the scenes.
Adding aliens/creatures from out of this world is not stereotypical because
normally it is people fighting other people, by adding another species it
creates a new creative sub-genre of sci-fi therefore creating a science fiction
action. Also by creating this mixture of genres it allows a bigger audience.
Media language and forms
Surviving means to exist in spite of danger, however they’re
continuously dying in order to survive. The moral of this text is to persevere
no matter how many times you’ll get knocked down because you’ll just become
stronger each time. It gives a deeper meaning to the audience, giving them a
life lesson.
Throughout this video we see either determination or fear in their
facial expressions. The first real detailed expression we are shown is of Rita
before the conflict. She is portrayed to be vulnerable and confused at how such
a man could know something about her. Instantly we as an audience are pulled in
by the knowledge and confusion. Another facial expression seen is when Cage has
just landed on the beach and he suddenly sees Rita. His expression is blank,
probably because he is lost I the action and/or he is surprised to see her and
this always matches the audiences reactions because the thought she was so
innocent.
From the beginning, he is at both sides of the camera showing that
he doesn’t belong in the location or the situation. On the other hand, she is
almost always dead center of the camera showing that she is in power and is
also in control. The time where he is most vulnerable s where he is shown to be
center and this shows that even in his situation he belongs in the
situation. Even in his state, he’s a
soldier and a weapon and is strong and determined enough to be in combat with
her and the other soldiers.
This film seems to have a futuristic taste and his is shown in their
clothing and props. During combat they’re wearing a metal outcast of armour and
to the younger audience it looks like they are part of a video game and that
could be what draws them in and become the target audience. Rita’s armour has
some red colour to it showing either power or death or even foreshadowing her
own many deaths. The biggest iconography shown is the weapons they have, these
guns represent the action genre because they cause damage and start the action
most of the time. The weapons also imply that there is going to be death, not
just of the aliens and other soldiers but the death of them.
At the beginning Cruises’ character starts narrating, he starts with
“let me tell you a story” as if it’s going to be a book. It shows that there is
a storyline to his life. As he is continuing to tell the story the background
noise is low and sounds like wind, it makes him feels isolated and alone. The reason he is shown to be alone is because
he always dies and respawns by himself and he has no one to turn to for
guidance. When he reaches the beach and begins to interact with the combat the
music is very quiet however when the action carries on the music quickly builds
up-tempo creating a lot of action and building up the tension. The music slightly
becomes techno after this, relating to their armour and the futuristic setting
and the words “this is not the end” is repeated three times. This particular
phrase is spoken and it could relate to his time looping and how he never ends
but only repeats himself. After this
there is hardly any dialogue is spoken in this trailer however what Rita says
sticks out to the audience viewer because they are distinguished and what she
says important phrases. The first phrase heard by her is “Come find me when you
wake up” and this gives meaning because it is shouted out and will be
remembered easily. The background music
sounds like pop, it is played loud but not loud enough that it’ll take your
attention off the trailer itself. When quick cuts are used in a short amount of
time, the music plays a beat in time with you to build it up and make it more
interesting yet frightening. At the end where she says she should just reset,
she picks up a gun and cocks it, the music then dies down completely and the
screen fades to black creating mystery.
Narrative
This media text is only a short amount of time so the audience might
not know everything they need to about the film. The trailer uses narrative
snapshots to leave the audience to make guesses. Yu may not get the full effect
of the narrative but you can understand that Todorov’s equilibrium is being
seen and used. The equilibrium is where Cage and Rita are together without any
violence; the disequilibrium is his time loop/deaths and the new equilibrium is
when they are together again but it is different because this time they are
weak and damaged. However, we cannot use Propp’s 8 character types because
throughout we only witness two characters. This could be shown because they’re
trying to hide other characters and trying to make the audience guess as to
what their roles are. There are Levi-Strauss’ binary opposition shown and some
are visual whereas others are conceptual. For example,
·
Life/death,
·
Past/future,
·
Human/alien
·
Man/woman
Considering the film is based on fighting, it is shown that conflict
is needed to propel a storyline/narrative. There are various enigma codes added
throughout the trailer such as what is going on? And what are they trying to
change? Enigma codes are added to present the audience with a puzzle that will
intrigue them to watch more. Looking at binary opposition creates heroes and
villains. For example, humans vs. aliens show that humans are trying to save
the world therefore they are the implied heroes whereas the creatures are the
ones fighting back so they are the definite enemies.
The role of many features including sound, music, iconography,
mise-en scene and editing is very important because they manage to push the
narrative along to create a magnificent story.
Genre
This particular film is a genre of action, and the sub-genre it
includes is science fiction. The generic conventions for science fiction are
the aliens that are from out of this world and time travel. The generic conventions
for action are the weapons used, the war, their armour and the continuous
explosions. When thinking about iconography of action and science fiction,
particular objects come to mind that are featured in this trailer. For example,
there are explosions, guns are other weapons, death, high/low angle shots and
the man is chasing the girl. The generic conventions and iconography are used
to draw the attention of the primary audience. A variety of people will view
the trailer and by what they are being shown, only a particular group would
watch further.
The audience’s generic expectations are being fulfilled because
there are strong characters fighting against the world together. The characters
conform to the characteristics, however the roles are being portrayed
differently so this could be playing with the audiences opinions. The audience
would expect the man to save the woman because it is stereotypical but this
trailer goes against that. It could go against this because different is better
and to an audience it will attract more women because it goes against this
particular convention.
The main male actor, Tom Cruise, has a past of action movies
(Mission Impossible) because he suits a strong male lead character. Tom Cruise
is also a good actor therefore he could promote the film and it could be an
interest to women, meaning more of an audience and more money they will make.
Similarly the direction, Doug Liman, has directed many action films (Mr. and
Mrs. Smith) and these films has become a big success and because of his
reputation you could expect Edge of Tomorrow to be just as good as the
rest.
The institutional source behind this text is Warner Bros Pictures.
Audiences
The target audience of Edge of Tomorrow is young male adults (12-25)
because the film is portrayed as an evolved video game. This is the target
audience because males are known to grow up playing video games. Their social
economics group is E-C2. The audiences’ characteristics would be video game
lovers because of the way the film is viewed and the fact the main characters
are able to respawn when he dies, comparing it to a video game.
The audiences background will make them view the film differently.
Depending on their gender, religion, sexuality, intelligence, location and more
they will all view it differently.
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