How Kick Ass relate to the 7 key areas of representations
And the 4 key areas of textual analysis
Kick relates to every to every key area of representation. One of the biggest things in Kick Ass that goes against 2 different representation stereo types is the character Hit Girl. Hit girl goes against the stereotypes of Age and Gender, as the stereotypical portrayal of a girl is often a ‘Damsel in distress’, especially in Superhero like films, such as Kick Ass, Spiderman and Blade. Girls are stereotyped as weaker, both physically and emotionally, not into fighting other people and less able than a man is. However, in Kick Ass, Hit Girl is the most dangerous hero in the film, killing most of the people in the film. Hit Girl always has to save Kick Ass from danger, which is the complete opposite to how most films work, and is more physically able than him when it comes to fighting. Hit Girls age also makes these things stand out more as she is only around 10 years old, whereas Kick Ass is about 17 or 18, but she seems a lot more grown up and knows just about everything about every weapon, and is not into typical 10 year old girly things such as dolls and ponies.
When it comes to the representation of disability, Kick Ass follows the stereotype of a superhero film, where the hero has some sort of different disability that makes them a hero. In Blade, the hero is half vampire and half human, making him stronger and faster, but human part allows him to walk in daylight, and in Spiderman the hero is bitten by a genetically engineered spider, altering his DNA giving him spider abilities, such as wall climbing and web slinging. Kick Ass was beaten and stabbed whilst trying to stop a crime and this in turn damaged his nervous system enabling him to take harder hits without feeling any pain from it. This gives Kick Ass an advantage making it possible for him to do a better job at being a superhero.
Kick Ass also relates to the representation of sexuality, as the girl of his dreams believes that he is gay, and befriends him as her gay best friend. Kick Ass, wanting to be closer to her, plays along, and the starts doing what a stereotypical gay best friend does, by going shopping with her, discussing her problems, and helping her do a self tan.
The two criminals that mug Kick Ass at the start relate to ethnicity, social class and regional identity. One of the thugs is black, and people believe black people to be more criminal like than white people. Both of the thugs appear to be lower class, or ‘Trailer Trash’, due to their scruffy and torn clothing that is normally worn by lower class teenagers. They both also speak with black American accents, similar to the way most rap artists like, Eminem and 50 Cent, speak like. This is normally due to where about they were brought up. Both Eminem and 50 Cent grew up in rundown, poor areas of America.
The camera work in Kick Ass is very much similar to the way marvel shoots their films, with use of a lot of short fast scenes during battles and chase scenes, as well as close-ups in really emotional parts, such as when Kick Ass is rushed to the hospital or when Big Daddy dies. But they also use another type of camera shot. They use a first person scene, similar to the one that is used in DOOM (see YouTube clips on blog). This technique is uncommon in films and is more popular amongst games, such as Halo or COD. In my opinion, this makes the audience feel more involved in the film during this part, like they do when playing a first person game, and makes them more aware of what’s happening in the scene.
Kick Ass uses music very cleverly in the film. During Kick Ass’s fight with the gang, The Prodigy’s Omen is playing, making the scene seem faster and more aggressive. The word Omen also seems to foreshadow dark things happening further on in the film, namely Red Mist’s deception to lure Kick Ass and Hit Girl to his father’s bodyguards. Also when Kick Ass and Hit Girl infiltrate the main bad guy’s penthouse, spaghetti western music is being played, symbolising, in my opinion, the final showdown between the god guys and the bad guys, much like in a western film.
So in conclusion, Kick Ass relates to a variety of different representations, whether they follow the stereotype or not, as well as the key areas of textual analysis to make this film much more enjoyable for the audience to watch.
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