Kiss of the Vampire Flashcards
1
Q
Monster Movies
A
- ‘Monster Movie’ franchises such as ‘The mummy’ and ‘Frankenstein’ saw early successes in this film genre
- Early stages of ‘Beatlemania’ and ‘swinging sixties’, assassination of JFK and Soviet Union launching first woman into space
2
Q
Cultural Context
A
- 1960s audience assumed to be familiar with codes and conventions of ‘monster movie’ film posters
- compositions, fonts, and representations of ‘the monster’ and (usually female) victims
3
Q
Media language: title
A
- Capitalised serif font of the title: links to its film genre with ‘wooden’ styling and blood dripping from letter V’s ‘fang’
4
Q
Media language influencing meaning: colour palette
A
- Colour palette: gloomy, grey, black and brown colour reinforces film’s dark, scary conventions
- red highlight colour draws attention to the attacking bats, vampire and the blood
- It’s in colour so connotes a modern telling of an older story
5
Q
Semiotics, Ronald Barthes
A
- Suspense is created through enigmas surrounding the connoted relationship between male and female vampires
- Could be applied to images of the bats and their conventional association with vampirism and horror
- The symbolic codes of horror, darkness and fear are more widely reinforced through signifiers such as the moon
6
Q
Structuralism, Claude Levi-Strauss
A
- The idea that texts are constructed through the use of binary oppositions
- Could be applied to the opposing representations of the vampires and their victims
- The romantic connotations of ‘kiss’ opposed in the film’s title to the stereotypical ‘vampire’ monster
7
Q
Political and social contexts
A
- 1960s seen as the start of women’s sexual liberation (i.e., intro of contraceptive pill)
- More women entering the paid workforce
- Campaigning for equal pay and to end sexual harassment
-Equal pay legislation passed in 1963
8
Q
How representations are constructed: Gesture codes
A
- Gesture code of the woman on the left: stereotypical passive victim, vampire holding her in one arm highlighting how powerful he is
- Second woman’s gesture codes are more aggressive, and the submissive pose of her male victim represents her in a non-stereotypically dominant way
- The vampire himself seems fearful in his gesture code with his arm thrown across his body in defensive gestures
9
Q
How representations are constructed
A
- Both women wear revealing pale dresses made of light materials, reinforces their femininity by highlighting the curves in their body
10
Q
Theory of representation, Stuart Hall
A
- Images of a castle, bats, the vampire’s cape and dripping blood form part of the ‘shared conceptual road map’ that give meaning to the poster
- The audience is actively encouraged to decode this familiar generic iconography
11
Q
Theory of identity - David Gauntlett
A
- Perhaps the female vampire acts as a role model for women struggling against male oppression or desperate to be seen as the equals of men, whatever the narrative or environment
12
Q
Feminist theory - Lisebet Van Zoonen
A
- By assuming this ‘co-antagonist’ role, the female vampire is perhaps contributing to social change by representing women in non traditional roles though the passive female victim does reinforce this
13
Q
When was it made?
A
- 1963
14
Q
Who was it produced by?
A
- Produced by Hammer Film Productions
15
Q
Who was it distributed by?
A
- Distributed by J.Arthur Rank and Universal
