Monday, October 17, 2011

Seven - Working towards A Textual Analysis

Review:
  • Discuss with a partner the key things you have learnt so far about Seven in terms of film language (eg. use of camera, lighting, sound, editing, set design), genre and representation of characters.
  • Create a brief list and be prepared to feedback.
Today
Before you begin planning your paired oral presentations on an extract from Seven, we need to consider more important elements of the whole film in greater detail. You will respond to a series of questions today which will help you to do that, posting all answers on your blog.

1) Genre
"The film is a mix of taut thriller, engaging mystery, and gruesome horror show, and it’s so howlingly bleak that the evil deviance at the center never gets any easier to stomach. At its blackened heart, it’s a cop drama, a thriller about a pair of mismatched detectives developing a mutual respect as they pursue a ruthless serial killer, but it’s so far beyond the boilerplate dramas you expect from the genre that it ceases to be just another cat-and-mouse game and becomes instead a haunting walk through a cruel world feeding on its on waste." taken from Pajiba


Reading the above, and using your own knowledge of genre, what genre(s) does Seven belong to? You will need to provide evidence for your choices. You can use filmsite.org to help.

2) Sociocultural and Historical Factors
Find out all you can about the term "Fin de Siecle". What does it mean? How can this term help us to understand the film Seven, and the choice of content? (You may want to look at the following:
http://www.oldandsold.com/articles30/french-painting-18.shtml to help).

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