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The Shawshank Redemption: Audience4 key areas to cover for audience:Target audienceWho the text is aimed at – companies and filmmakers will include factors (i.e. representations, narrative structures, genre conventions etc. etc.) to appeal, please and satisfy the TA.Preferred readingThis is the meaning which the filmmakers WANT the audience to accept, how the filmmakers want us to see the film/characters etc.Differential decodingSegments of the audience will watch the film and read it in a different manner to what was intended i.e. Some female audience members will watch TSR and feel that women are poorly represented.Mode of addressThe mode in which the story is “given” to youDirect – voiceoverIndirect – Passive observer Target AudienceSeems to be aimed at older film-goers e.g. 40-plus who don’t generally like action blockbusters – use of 1940s-1960s music and movie stars backs this upInkspots song – creates nostalgiaPosters of screen sirens like Rita Hayworth (icon of the 40s)All-male film suggests a stronger appeal to malesWhy then is movie popular with all ages and genders?The film has universal appeal (i.e. 15+)A theme we can all identify with (being in an oppressive situation and wanting to escape)A tried and tested narrative structureAn emotionally satisfying and clearly resolved endingWarm, believable charactersAlso appeals to:ChristiansOddly not put off by the fact that the antagonist (the Warden!) is a ChristianThey enjoy the themes of redemption and hope (central to the Bible)Audience: Preferred Reading The film has a clear message for its viewers:By believing, you can succeed, no matter how great the obstacles in front of you. Have hope, and all things are possible.Darabont has said that he believes you make your own luck by determination and effort; you must believe in yourself no matter how bleak things seem. This is why he liked Stephen King’s original novella.Andy: ‘Get busy living or get busy dying’Video cover tagline: ‘Fear can hold you prisoner; hope can set you free.’Audience: Differential DecodingAudiences decode texts in different ways:Dominant decoding: some people will simply agree with the preferred meaning, e.g. the film’s target audience will enjoy the film without asking questions.Negotiated decoding: partial agreement with preferred meaning e.g. accepting the meaning but resisting the Christian interpretation of the film as a story of redemptionOppositional decoding: some audience groups will dislike the film for a number of reasons:the film has been criticised for its sentimentality (i.e. it pretends to be realistic about prison life but really shows us a very untruthful and unlikely story)African-American critics have criticised Freeman’s casting as being typical of Hollywood – e.g. he is a wise old black man whose only real role is to serve the purposes of Andy, the white heroFilm-goers whose taste is for art movies with more experimental style and plotting find TSR dullWomen could be offended by the lack of strong female characters and the depiction of women as treacherous and/or objects of desireAudience: Mode of AddressThe film has a direct mode of address, through Red’s voiceover. He speaks directly to the audience, letting them know what characters are feeling, pointing out key moments in the story, and guiding them through the narrative.The warmth of his voiceover is one of the film’s most appealing points (imagine the film without it …) and it is clearly one reason why audiences have responded so positively to the film.NotesWrite down codes and analysis from the film that support the different areas of Audience.Remember:Code (e.g. lighting)Description of when and how that code is used (e.g. when Red is sitting in his cell, believing Andy may try to kill himself, the lighting is very low key, lots of shadows, with Red’s face only illuminated by the odd flash of lightning)Analysis of what this suggests to us (e.g. the low key lighting reflects how worried Red is, and his fears that Andy has reached his “breaking point”; it also heightens the drama for the audience, emphasising the tension in this very sombre scene, once again helping us identify with the characters and emphasising the serious, adult themes explored in the film such as hopelessness and suicide)Target AudiencePreferred ReadingDifferential Decoding ................
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