Genre representations

Genre representations

1. Guardians of the Galaxy

   • Conventional Sci-Fi
     • iconography: space setting & futuristic costumes/equipment
     • narrative: serious tone & threat to civilisation becomes happy ending becomes restored equilibrium & conventional titles
     • characters: villain is feared and hated & hero has superpowers and is respected and idolised & aliens
     • codes: futuristic costumes and technology
   • Unconventional
     • hero isn't respected or typically mysterious and professional > clumsy, comical, half human, etc
       • mocked, pushed around, arrested, thief etc
     • B.G.M is upbeat 70's pop songs rather than intense dramatic music
     • serious narrative/scene overshadowed by humorous unconventional dialogue
     • some use of real technology, Sony Tape player, in the film rather than everything being fake and futuristic
     • female lead fights for herself and isn't vulnerable or weak like most female characters in sci-fi films & doesn't want to fall in love or have anybody save her
       • the female protagonist can fight for herself, defend herself, fight twice as many people as herself, can fly ships, handle weapons, and isn't depicted to be the male protagonist's prize.
         • in fact, the female protagonist's mission is to steal something from the male protagonist and initiates a fight between the two
           • this film completely reinvents the role and representations of female characters and challenged the genre conventions of sci-fi by giving the female protagonists a role that could be considered more of a male lead to portray women in a better light/image
     • aliens that abducted him had leader that cared for him rather than killing him or experimenting on him- acts as a father figure who constantly use Star Lords life as a threat to make him do what he wants: typical father figure

2. Conventional

   • traumatic experience for main character to give audience background story and show they've struggled
   • main character , hero, kidnapped by aliens
   • intense and dramatic music to add suspense and feeling to the scene
   • futuristic/robotic costumes
     • women are dressed in revealing/tight clothing to accentuate their figures and show their bodies more compared to the male leads
       • this remains apparent in Guardians of the Galaxy since the female characters are dressed in skin tight suits despite their strong, independent, and powerful personalities
   • futuristic/space setting and technology
   • stealing/capturing a valuable object that is feared/wanted by many and getting caught by bad guys
   • fighting, stunts, explosions, guns, fire, etc
   • hugely fear bad guy(s) that the hero fights against and kills to save the general public/world