Ideological underpinnings of a movie

p Ideological underpinnings of a movie

Ideology in the Movie 300 An expectation has arisen among film-critics and audiences , that movie-makers will deal with the serious issues , such as racism and violence , at a serious level . In other words , it is expected by critics and film-goers alike that films will have meaning . However , if meaning is expected -- what precisely creates and communicates meaning in a film ? As Louis Giannetti points out in his book , Understanding Movies (2008 , the presence of ideology in a film impacts the film in its entirety , from

tone to theme . In Giannetti 's estimation "ideology is another language system in film " and this language is largely conveyed through "code (Giannetti , 453 . In to help illustrate the way that ideology influences films , Giannetti offers a series of categories into which the influence of ideology in film can be functionally divided . The following discussion of the film 300 (2007 ) will use Giannetti 's ideas as a support-structure to show how meaning in film is ultimately determined by the film 's prevailing ideology

In any discussion of meaning in film , it will be important to distinguish between what might be considered "overt " or even propagandistic meaning and thematic or expressive meaning . Of course this distinction is quite artificial and the two hypothetically divided types of meaning are often one and the same . That said , there is often a conspicuous difference between a film which has an explicit propagandistic agenda than a film which is based on generating...