Revision: Kiss of The Vampire
Serif font with 'wooden steak' like details and blood, representing vampires/ vampire hunters.
representation of women reinforcing patriarchal hegemony - mise en scene of the dressed in night clothes, very little fabric and skin toned, appeals to the male gaze and are a stereotypical, conventional (judith butler) representation of women - presented at weak (fainted woman)
though unconventional, the male characters seem vulnerable, scared. e.g man on his knees, exposed neck and the other man bracing against something
representation of place - a castle, middle of no where? set right in the background of the poster so not the main event, or potentially something ever present in the distance. perhaps representing castles as scary, haunted places, typical of horror vampire genre. though the inclusion of this means it is important.
text anchored to the top of the page with a slight tilt,
How are representations constructed in the theatrical poster for Kiss of The Vampire?
The gesture code of the woman on the left is of a stereotypical, passive victim. Her body is limp, relaxed and unconscious. Her head is leant back in a gesture that exposes her neck, a genre convention of the vampire genre.
Additionally, even though unconscious, she is thrusting her exposed cleavage forward, a clear example of sexualisation. Women are often sexualised in media products for financial purposes, as this allows the product to target heterosexual male audiences.
Victim woman is draped unconscious in the arms of the antagonist which constructs him as both stronger and more masculine, which reinforces a stereotypical 1960s stereotype of the roles of men and women,
The target audience for this film is male, younger, and heterosexual
The vampire woman is a subversive representation of women. Her aggressive facial expression is further anchored through her assertive grappling of the recumbent man. By depicting a woman attacking a man is an example of challenging patriarchal hegemonic values
Serif font of the title is in the style of a wooden stake, a paradigmatic convention of the vampire genre. Additionally, the MES of the stake functions as a proairetic code, expecting a fight or someone to be killed
Dark colour pallette symbolises dark themes and depressing ideas
Mise en scene of hair colour : Victim's blonde hair. Hammer Horror films make heavy use of type casting, casting the same kinds of hegemonically attractive women over and over again. Blonde hair here is symbolic of hegemonic attractiveness and reinforces certain stereotypes about the value of women.
There is a binary opposition between the blonde hair of the victim and the dark hair of the antagonist constructs a symbolic binary between good and evil, and light and dark. This assumption is potentially racist, or at least highly postcolonial attitudes
Paul Gilroy argued that we still have systemic racism in the UK today, which are based on stereotypical and repeated assumptions about certain groups of people
Male vampire has a terrified expression, which is a clear subversion of genre conventions and subverts the stereotype that men are strong, powerful and active.
Symbolic code highly suggestive of sec in the gesture of the victim woman pressing her breasts in to the body of the man. At this stage it was absolutely illegal to depict anything approaching explicit sex, so British films in particular had to rely on symbolic codes, so things like cleavage, fade outs
British board of film censorship (bbfc in the 60s)
There is also a vulnerable, sexualised image of a man being attacked by a sexy women, which is clearly subversive of the expectations of the roles of men and women?
this sexy vampire film has evolved into far more explicit erotic and romantic films of the present day - generic fluidity.
checkov's gun - if you see a gun in a narrative, we expect it to be fired
representation of women reinforcing patriarchal hegemony - mise en scene of the dressed in night clothes, very little fabric and skin toned, appeals to the male gaze and are a stereotypical, conventional (judith butler) representation of women - presented at weak (fainted woman)
though unconventional, the male characters seem vulnerable, scared. e.g man on his knees, exposed neck and the other man bracing against something
representation of place - a castle, middle of no where? set right in the background of the poster so not the main event, or potentially something ever present in the distance. perhaps representing castles as scary, haunted places, typical of horror vampire genre. though the inclusion of this means it is important.
text anchored to the top of the page with a slight tilt,
How are representations constructed in the theatrical poster for Kiss of The Vampire?
The gesture code of the woman on the left is of a stereotypical, passive victim. Her body is limp, relaxed and unconscious. Her head is leant back in a gesture that exposes her neck, a genre convention of the vampire genre.
Additionally, even though unconscious, she is thrusting her exposed cleavage forward, a clear example of sexualisation. Women are often sexualised in media products for financial purposes, as this allows the product to target heterosexual male audiences.
Victim woman is draped unconscious in the arms of the antagonist which constructs him as both stronger and more masculine, which reinforces a stereotypical 1960s stereotype of the roles of men and women,
The target audience for this film is male, younger, and heterosexual
The vampire woman is a subversive representation of women. Her aggressive facial expression is further anchored through her assertive grappling of the recumbent man. By depicting a woman attacking a man is an example of challenging patriarchal hegemonic values
Serif font of the title is in the style of a wooden stake, a paradigmatic convention of the vampire genre. Additionally, the MES of the stake functions as a proairetic code, expecting a fight or someone to be killed
Dark colour pallette symbolises dark themes and depressing ideas
Mise en scene of hair colour : Victim's blonde hair. Hammer Horror films make heavy use of type casting, casting the same kinds of hegemonically attractive women over and over again. Blonde hair here is symbolic of hegemonic attractiveness and reinforces certain stereotypes about the value of women.
There is a binary opposition between the blonde hair of the victim and the dark hair of the antagonist constructs a symbolic binary between good and evil, and light and dark. This assumption is potentially racist, or at least highly postcolonial attitudes
Paul Gilroy argued that we still have systemic racism in the UK today, which are based on stereotypical and repeated assumptions about certain groups of people
Male vampire has a terrified expression, which is a clear subversion of genre conventions and subverts the stereotype that men are strong, powerful and active.
Symbolic code highly suggestive of sec in the gesture of the victim woman pressing her breasts in to the body of the man. At this stage it was absolutely illegal to depict anything approaching explicit sex, so British films in particular had to rely on symbolic codes, so things like cleavage, fade outs
British board of film censorship (bbfc in the 60s)
There is also a vulnerable, sexualised image of a man being attacked by a sexy women, which is clearly subversive of the expectations of the roles of men and women?
this sexy vampire film has evolved into far more explicit erotic and romantic films of the present day - generic fluidity.
checkov's gun - if you see a gun in a narrative, we expect it to be fired
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