Genre Analysis

The Devil Wears Prada


The title sequence of 'The Devil Wear Prada' is about 4 minutes long, with no narrative over voice, or any dialogue from the characters. The techniques of the continuity editing however allow us to follow the early morning routine of four different women. All dressing differently yet having a very strong fashion orientated link, all except for one therefore the narrative theories are revealed mostly through the different female characters. It is interesting however that the clothing the film shows is very sexy looking lingerie very 

residual ideology that woman are sexual objects. Contrasting again with Anne Hathaway's character is portrayed to be the 'ugly duckling' because she doesn't take such pride time and care about her appearance. This is a typical convention of a girl 'chick flick' film.

The contrasting mise-en-scene shows three high fashion New York women preparing for a day at work, compared to that of the more armature role of Anne Hathaway. It makes you wonder why she is involved in such an industry yet is so different, as she would be considered to be in the same ‘high class’ occupation. This creates an enigma just as Bart uses in his narrative theory. to the story because you wonder why she is involved in such an industry yet is so different, as she would be considered to be in the same ‘high class’ occupation. The opening sequence is filmed in New York city using apartments of rich women with walk in wardrobes and thousands of shoes, all aspects which are a little over the top however would appeal to the target audience.

Close ups of the face emphasise the application of makeup, this not only relates to the target audience but contrasts against the ‘none caring’ more grungy looking character of Anne Hathaway who quickly grabs her chap stick before she exits the house. 

The shots are very close up of the woman getting dressed; in a way for a girly film it sexualises women in a large way. Even when the make-up shots are used it shows extreme close ups of a characters lips quite a sexual more intimate part of the face. Even thought this film is a chick flick therefore its target audience are predominately females, they have almost adapted to the 'male-gaze' showing off very sexual parts of the female body. This is a very residual ideology, showing women as objects, without them looking 'perfect' they have nothing else to offer. And the audience watching this film are almost condoning this view male view of women. On the other hand other audiences could see this as a very emergent idea. Woman enjoy wearing nice clothes, spending time and effort on their appearance, leaving all males out of it because this is very much a female orientated film something that males don't have anything to do with. Taking males out if it shows women still like to dress up and take a keen interest in fashion without just doing it for men. It could be seen as a very strong independent view of the modern day woman.

There is no narrative over voice in the opening sequence instead very upbeat happy is ongoing throughout. The music artist is a woman called KT Tunstall and the song is called ‘Suddenly I See’. In some way this gives some  relation to the story line itself, even though one character of the characters we is certainly very different in her attitudes towards fashion and appearance she realises working in the fashion world is ‘where she wants to be’ ( a line from the song). This is a typical convention of a chick flick film, a woman singer of very 'girly' music. This once again deters males from the film because none are involved even music choice is that of a strong independent female artist.

 The overall mood of the opening sequence is very fresh upbeat typical of a chick flick. I don’t think there is a lot of intrigue in the opening titles yet chick flicks are normally relaxed quite ‘simple to follow’ story lines. The credits of the actresses appear on screen when the character does, in sophisticated easy to read font. Longer credits have been written in italics keeping up with the high level of fashion and beauty that the opening sequence has conjured up for the audience.

 Sex and The City

The second film i have chosen to anaylise the genre of, is the TV show turned film ‘Sex and The City’. Typically the show is known  for being being female orrianted following the lives of four women living in New York City.

The opening sequence starts of up in the clouds,

 a very girly angel start to the film typical of this type of genre.  The credit are all written with a sparkly diamond efect which would appeal to that of the target audience.  It the drops down into a birds eye view of New York starting off in a really georgrapghical view of the island, then it become washed in diamonds. This could symoblise the emergant role of women in modern days. The indepence of women spreading accross the world. It also prevents any male dominance within the film and the deimanonds represent making the world revolve around women.

There are many shots of buildings which follows the theme because we understand it is very much about New York City, considering its even in the title. It is all made to look very light and beautiful every piece of light sparkling like diamonds. In every aspect of a shot it makes the sequence look very female dominated. However some may see this a quite a residual idea, the fact that women are focused on fashion and beauty and looking good and dont really have much else to them. Seen as very blinkered uninterlectual people. 

There is  shot of a flock of birds flying up into the sky, this could represent the increase in women role within today’s society, the film is empowering women and focusing on their needs and expectations to try and please all areas of the female audience. 

All the while there is ‘Carrie’ who was the over voice narrator throughout the hit TV shows and so it is only logical that she narrates the opening sequence of this film. She describes the history of the city, that is when we have all the shots of the buildings and once the camera pans down it she is introducing that past and present situation of each of the character which are we discover are ‘her best friends’ the opening sequence does this to make sure an audience who didn’t watch the TV series still understand who the characters are and how they came to be here. 

Once again typical aspects of a chick flick are shown in this open sequence, fashion is one of its main attributes and we see how the characters have developed through years to become the glamorous, strong women that we now see. A close up shot of very over the top gold glittery shoes are shown of Carrie once again a strong conversion of the types of things you aspect to see within a chick flick, because it appeal to the target audience.

The music in the open sequence co insides with the on screen shots. The original song is 'Empire State of Mind by Jay Z and Alicia Keys. Alicia keys the went on to make a cover version with her vocals replacing the verses that Jay Z originally raps. This once again is anouther typical example of female dominace within the film by excluding all male power.