Hit Girl Essay (KICK-ASS)

Hit Girl - Postmoder Heroine or "morally reprehensible"?

I believe the way Hit Girl is portrayed in the hit movie 'Kick Ass' is complex, mystifying and blurring, all in all being confusing, i believe this because of the scenes within the movie such as when she is looking innocent in some scenes whether it be with a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows or even in the cold looking wrapped up, however Hit Girl can look innocent no matter what she is doing when she isn't killing, this is because our society today implies that anyone below the age of around sixteen is innocent because we don't expect them to know and do the stuff adults do. So in addition when we witness Hit girl killing people and using the word 'c*nt' we are shocked and yet intrigued as an audience, however it depends who you are on your reaction. We are shocked because we don't expect a young girl to be using such words, in addition we are intrigued because of the shockness, for example "she swore!? what else can she do or say?" it can leave the audience wanting to see how much of a 'bad ass' she is.

Hit Girl shares a hot chocolate with double marshmallows with her father.

 

In the image to the left, we are witnessing a young girl and her farther having a hot drink. Totally looking innocent, however the faces on their expression can lead to another discussion of "what are they looking at?"

In this image we as a audience stereotypically think this is fine and how it should be, and all she is missing is a cuddly toy.

Hit Girl in School uniform

In the image to the right we are shown a state of Hit Girl we are used to from the comic books with a weapon. However, with Hit Girl wearing a school uniform it makes a sort of disjunction because of the innocence of the uniform and the bad assness with the silenced pistol.

This poster for Empire would have gotten many complaints for the actress only being twelve years of age and posing like that holding a weapon, even if it was to promote a film.

However in these modern day's adults dress up as children at the weekend, whether it be in a school uniform or even in a giant nappy and adding their own 'touches' to the uniform whether it be with the short being tied up like a bow or the skirt being ridiculously short. So we have to ask ourselves "are we convincing the youth its fine to dress like this?"

Hit Girl in her superhero costume

In the image to the left, again Hit Girl is looking innocent yet mysterious. In comparison to the image above in the school uniform she is wearing more clothes and has less skin showing, yet again holding a weapon. in  this picture she is wearing a eye mask which adds to her mysterious identity, similar to such comic heroes as Robin from Batman, Cat woman etc.

From just looking at this image i get the feeling she is good and means well, possibly because their is light shining around her in a god like figure.

 

Hit Girl as portrayed in the comic. The text box reads "She was John Rambo crossed with Polly Pocket"

The image to the right is how Hit Girl is portrayed in the comic book.

Samurai to the neck and blood spurting out all over the picture and Hit Girl. This is where the disjuncture comes in, a 11 year old girl killing a man, stereotypically not meant to be.

In conclusion Hit Girl could be looked at as morally reprehensible because she is a 11-12 year old killing people and using words such as ''c*nt's", however, Hit Girl could also be portrayed as a postmodern heroine because it is different because she is a 11-12 year old killing people and calling people "c*nt's" which makes our human stereotypical mind think about the current situation. So if possible i believe the morally reprehensible backs up the postmodern heroine by being different and making our minds think "hold on, shes 12, killing people brutally and swearing..this isn't natural." I think to fully understand and be able to discuss and decide the viewer must watch the whole of kick-ass to be  able to make a fair judgment.

Evaluation Planning 3 & 4

3. What have you learned from your Audience feedback?

This is my audience profile. (who i aimed my products at)

These are some screen grabs, evidence of feedback.

 I thought about doing stop motion to start my music video. However i gave myself some thought and feedback on the idea and decided not to, i didn't think it fitted with the action within the music video. I also asked my family and friends whether i should include it or not and they agreed that it wouldn't go well. The friends feedback was reliable because they are at the ages between my target audience.

From receiving constructive feedback i chose to change the whole concept of my first music video idea. Reason for this is that the action and narrative storyline was not going along with the music and not working.

4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Blogger to post my posts online viewable by anyone with Internet access.
 Used YouTube to find inspiration of current real music videos.

TubeChop was used to cut down certain YouTube videos if i wanted to post a certain section or element onto my blog.

Facebook was used to advertise my music video and get feedback.

 I used microsoft word to produce word documents and then put them onto the blog.

Twitter was used to make a band profile and get the music video noticed online.

 Google allowed me to research current media.


Those above are the websites and social networks i have used.
I will also take photos of technology i have used to produce my 3 products.

Evaulation Planning 1 & 2

Evaluation 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and coventions of real media products?

Bloc party- so here we are (influence of camera angles and action)

I copied the camera angle throughout the bloc party video onto my music video, however they would have used professional equipment to keep the camera steady whereas I used a tripod and made each person hold it.

Example album cover influenced me to do the multiple pictures on the cover.

Change of plan -

My change of plan indicating the elements I wanted to use in my music video.

I chose this song because at the time I was listening to this song non-stop.  This worked against me because I did not think of too much of it at the time, however when into my research I would of changed the song and possibly the genre to match a video I would of liked to make.

Evaluation 2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

On my album cover i copied the convention of having many images of the main character (myself) reason for this is because in my music video i have many different faces appearing and i thought that the album on to the right would be a good fit because its similar in the way of one person but with the use of many props and clothing gives of the sense of many attributes/faces to a person.

Digipack & Posters (Ancillary Products)

Digipak analysis

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Important Notice

My Blog keeps failing and wont allow me to post. Just to notify in case it wont let me post again.

Digipak idea

This is my Front and back cover of my planned digipak.

I wanted to have many images of my chosen character/artist (me) at different angles and actions.

I got the idea from Examples' album (Won't Go Quietly)