Analysis on Hancock poster

As you can see from this poster, 'Hancock' (Will Smith) is a laid back character, as he is the main protagonist some sense of strain and pressure shows be seen through actions however he feels none of this, portraying himself as a un-stereotypical representation of how a superhero should be.

Further with the caption underneath "NOT YOUR AVERAGE SUPERHERO" underneath him lying down on his is name, it further suggests that he is not this as he is just relaxing which strengthens my opinion of him not having a care in the world.

The ragged clothing contrasts with the slick silver typography as it clearly displays the term 'from rags to riches' therefore enhancing the optical sense of laziness and manic disarray.

Assessment Objectives

AOi = Key Concepts (M.I.G.R.A.I.N)

AOii= Wider Context (historical, social, economic and political). Must offer both analysis and contextualisation of the text.

AOiii.1 = Issues, debates and theories

AOiii.2= To be able to analyse critically and comparatively two texts in order to account for their similarties and differences.

AO5= The ability to use appropriate investigative and research techniques.

The ones I feel are the hardest listed 1-5, 1 being

the easiest 5 being the hardest and targets on how to improve:

1) AO5 - Get outside knowledge not only about my main text but other texts (look at media guardian website at least once a week).

2) AOi - Look at loads of trailers and clips and just practise MIGRAIN.

3) AOiii.2 - Watch texts and just practise comparing the texts together showing the similarities as well as differences, also do it in time conditions to prepare myself for the exam.

4) AOiii.1 - Research about all the theorist and try to find ways into how I could use them in media, as well as my essay.

5) AOii - Same as AO5 but this is harder because it asks for social, political, economic and historical, so again further outside reading like library books and not just using the internet.

Review

If you can remember the seismic upheaval in the superhero order that was ‘Superman III’, during which the square-jawed one grew stubble, hit the whisky bottle and flicked peanuts at barmen, you may get flashbacks when watching Will Smith’s Hancock. But the big difference between Christopher Reeve’s trade hero and this latest lazy, drunken member of the caped fraternity is that Hancock was never a Samaritan in the first place.

He looks like a tramp, he kips on benches, and he leaves behind him a trail of destruction wherever he tries to lend a hand. He doesn’t even own a cape.He’s a selfish lay about in need of some old-fashioned movie redemption. Which is exactly what we get. Oddly, it takes a suburban PR executive called Ray – played with charm by Jason Bateman – to correct Hancock’s behavior, even if Ray’s wife Mary (Charlize Theron) is strangely wary of their friendship. As Ray gets to work on Hancock’s image, the film offers some comedy and Smith, as ever, is fairly charismatic.

For the first half, there’s a laid back, knowing vibe to the script and Smith has some fun with the whole bizarre idea while director Peter Ber swings his camera about as he did for ‘The Kingdom’. It’s a very modern conceit: that behind every successful man lays an even better publicist. And it’s no coincidence that Hollywood, with its reliance on a well-oiled PR machine, has come up with a fictional publicist who’s more angel than Svengali. But then the rest of the film – after an hour – flops spectacularly.

The big problem is that the script tries to have its cake and eat it, first ribbing us with nods and winks emanating from this sideways view of a superhero and then abandoning this detachment in favour of a traditional comic-book showdown that feels out of place, rushed and squeezed into the film’s remaining minutes. Put simply, the filmmakers bottle it.

Hancock’s reinvention as a good guy coincides with the emergence of a super-criminal played by Brit actor Eddie Marsan, who in the facial hair department looks like he’s stepped off the set of ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’. He’s a lame villain. There’s an unexpected twist that throws some weird, distracting logic into the mix, followed by a crisis, a fight, a spurt of apocalyptic digital larks – and it’s over. The film bows out not as a wink-wink pastiche but as a straightforward superhero movie – and a bad one at that.

From:

http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/85048/Hancock.html

Genre

The genre of 'Hancock' is hybrid genre as it is a mix of action adventure and comedy.

Generic conventions: The frequent CGI effects used when destroying or when he saves people; this is recognisable and repeated in the film which helps to identify the genre.

Iconographic features: At the beginning we know it is an action because of the opening scene, the crashing and damage caused is pictorial as it illustrates the film.

The genre in my opinion mocks all superhero movies as 'Hancock' does not conform to what a superhero should be, further this film comes across as a spoof so therefore involving another genre, however they do not mock other superhero movies; unlike the film 'Superhero Movie'.

Furthermore the star of the film Will Smith is multi successful, and has had great experience playing both comedy and action for e.g. 'Bad Boys 1 & 2' this film was funny and it was still full of action, like 'Hancock' this thus defines the genre of the film, as it has an actor who conforms to it.

Values and Ideologies

'Hancock' is not really a typical representation of how a superhero is meant to be, as he is not the stereotyped macho exterior such as Superman. The ideologies drawn from this is that firstly this is the first superhero movie with a black man as a superhero, therefore breaking away from stereotypical roles.

More so the character is seen as a tramp, and later on he ('Hancock') changes himself and his personality, this brings in the value factor as it has a hidden agenda and that is everyone can change. This film is mainly about finding yourself and fitting in these ideologies are displayed throughout the whole film but can only be really seen if you read in between the lines.

Media Audience

The target audience of 'Hancock' would be males and females as there is a girl in the movie therefore suggesting a relationship, the age will be a broad one from 12 (the certificate) to about 21, however there are a lot of people out there who are older that enjoy superhero movies. Further they would come under the social class as C as most people who would watch this would be blue collar workers, and maybe even C1 and C2 white collar workers.

Since this film was shot by one of the biggest movie companies in the world, huge amounts of money was poured in, therefore showing that they were trying to reach a much wider audience as this film was releast not only in the States but in England, and some other countries like France.

The uses and gratifications for this movie is predominately escapism this is so that the audience can just sit back and relax and just allow the viewers to escape from reality. But furthermore it was made to entertain; since this film is based on fiction.

Narrative

The narrative within 'Hancock' is a straight forward linear narrative, as the film is organised in a linear sequence. This film's linear narrative proceeds from the beginning through the middle to the end without deviations, usually tracing relationships of cause and effect, therefore showing that it is in a chronological order and has only one type of narrative. We follow 'Hancock' as he goes through his own day to day life, and the narrative shows his progression and urge to change who he is. However there is no sudden changes to the narrative such as flashbacks (e.g. 'Kill Bill'), we see one mans mission to be better person, this also raises enigmas such as can he really change?