Rosie Hickman: Lecture 3

In last week’s lecture, Tuesday 2nd October, Richard introduced the idea of structuralism and film. We began by sharing our thoughts and ideas on structuralist analysis and the ways in which visual texts convey meaning through the use of visual codes and conventions. We also discussed how these visual codes and conventions have become the ‘grammar’ of cinema; a set of structural rules that have to be adhered to in order for meaning to be created and understood. An example of a visual convention that has become fixed within this set of rules, and extremely common within the structure and development of meaning within visual texts, is that of binary oppositions, such as ‘good and bad’, ‘weak and strong’. In particular we made reference to binary oppositions when considering the common issue of gender within film. A female character is often portrayed as a weak, vulnerable individual while the male is strong and often a hero to the female. We also touched upon the work of Laura Mulvey, whom invented the theory of ‘male gaze’ to explain the exploitative way in which women are portrayed within film, a theory that we will consider in more depth next week when studying the ways in which meaning is created in the film ‘Bend it like Beckham. Overall, we learnt to consider the theory of structural analysis when understanding the meanings within visual text. Therefore building the foundations for our discussion on the implications of structuralism in ‘Bend it Like Beckham’.