5. Gazed upset
Gripping look, shows she's
slogan, dra is not content
ws in the with her current
audience situation.
and grabs
their
interest.
Men are seen behind
the woman, we can
see that the amount
of men highly out
weighs the amount of
women.
6. Film choice and reasoning.
• We chose this film because it covers
many great and recognisable aspects of
drama movies. The cover picture
automatically shows you that the
movie is going to be of a hard hitting
nature and has probably been
designed for a more niche audience.
• The movie poster doesn’t reveal to
much of the movies general plot,
however it does show us that the
woman doesn’t look happy or content
in the sea of men surrounding her.
7. What main Genre does the film fall
under?
• The main film falls under the Drama genre
because of the way in which it makes the
audience relate and sympathise with the
characters.
• This is done through a mixture of a well written
script, a build up of tension and good use of
editing.
• it is shown through the presence of more hard
hitting topics such as rape, teen pregnancy and
domestic abuse.
8. List the many types of
subgenres/genre:
• Romantic Drama - Romance between the main
character Josey and her lawyer. Furthermore, the
type of relationship she once had between her
and Shark as a teenager who later becomes one
of the co-workers who sexually harassed.
• Drama - This is a Drama film because of the way it
makes the audience relate and sympathise with
the characters as it starts to unfold before our
eyes, in relation to the film such as the scene
where she admits to the court and the judge that
she was raped at the age 16.
9. Subgenres.
Some of the subgenres presented in North
Country are..
Romance.
we are shown the relationship the two young teenagers had, kissing and
hugging and taking a genuine liking to each other whilst bunking lessons
together.
Teen-drama.
We are shown flashbacks of the young girls struggles, we are shown aspects of
rape, teen pregnancy and family disappointment due to religion and era of time.
10. Teen drama- the
shot just before We are shown by
the young girls the girls
teacher raped resistance and
her resulting in stiff body
her under age language that she
pregnancy and is scared, she also
tarnished name proceeds in the
within her family. movie to beg her
teacher to stop.
We can see
that the
teacher is
pushing
himself
onto the
girl.
11. Stam’s theory.
• Stam’s theory says that genre is not easily
defined under the ‘main genres’ but can be
classified in other ways such as
budget, ethnicity focus or performer based.
• In relation to the film we have chosen this film was originally based
on a book which was inspired by the 2002 book Class Action: The
Story of Lois Jenson and the Landmark Case That Changed Sexual
Harassment Law by Clara Bingham.
• The movie was awarded a budget of $30million dollars.
• The movie is based around a dead south mining district in America
in the early 1980’s.
12. Mittel theory.
Mittel’s theory is that genre is used to sell
products.
• In relation to Mittel’s theory the Drama genre can attract a mass audience.
However, the film can also be considered to be a hard-hitting film which
attracts a niche audience in relation to Chomsky's theory because of the
more serious issues such as rape, which brings the audience to realisation
that in the past women were treated unfairly in the work place especially
in a male dominated industry.
we are told that North Country is based upon a true story, we are also
informed that it is a book, this would attract people to go out and purchase
the book to get a more full on understanding of the movie and the topics
involved.
13. Semantics.
SEMANTICS How these are evident in your film (in relation to its genre/sub-
genre/hybrid)?
Characters The main character is a female who returns back home after a failed Marriage.
Josey’s mother shows sympathy towards her daughter, her father on the other hand does not.
This is evident in the beginning when she returns home and the first thing he say’s to her ‘did
he catch you sleeping with another man?’.
Locations (Home town) Northern Minnesota, the iron mines, the court room,, the bar etc
Story traits When Josey Aimes returns to her home town after a failed marriage with her two kids. She
seeks employment in the Iron mines which is mostly dominated by males and receives sexual
harassment on a day to day basis, which then results in a sexual harassment lawsuit in the US.
Syntax Stand up for what is right even though you stand alone. An example of this from the film is
when she takes the iron mining industry in her home town to court for allowing women to be
sexually harassed by the male co-workers.
Costumes Helmets, Overalls, Goggles, safety boots, safety suit, helmet.
Props Spade/Shovel,
14. Syntax.
• The Overall message or meaning of the film 'North Country' is
that no matter what, You should be the person who stands up
for what you think is right and you feel needs to be justified
even if it means you stand alone, This is not for the sake of
the individual but for others in general.
• The message shows us that if you want something badly
enough you will fight to the death to make this happen, Josey
is shown as a strong determined woman, she is an inspiration
to women everywhere not only in her era and the women
facing what she was fighting for but in modern day society
also.
15. Tone: a) Look at one scene and analyse
the lighting, what mood does it
create? How? Why?
• The lighting of this
scene creates a serious
mood, the lighting is
not of warm colours but
more of a serious tone
to match with the close-
up shot of her facial
expression.
16. Conventions lists of that genre/sub-genre/hybrid.
Conventions of genre/sub /hybrid Examples from a range of real films?
Sexual harassment. Disclosure.
The women are denied of basic human A woman casts a law suit
rights such as an available toilet. against her boss after being
sexually harassed within her
place of employment.
Teen Pregnancy. For keeps.
The girl finds herself pregnant at the age of A young teenage girl finds
16. Herself pregnant and then pursues
to try and gain her dream after
having the baby.
Domestic Abuse. Sleeping with the enemy.
The woman is beaten by her husband. A woman fakes her own death
in a bid to escape
from her abusive husband.
17. Convention of genre/subgenre/ hybrid Examples from a range of real films?
Single parent –
In the film ‘North Country’, Josey is a single
parent with two kids who moves back home with
her parents escaping from an Abusive husband.
Promiscuity –
People in her home town assume that Josey is
promiscuous because she fell pregnant at the age
of 16 out of wedlock. This is shown in the film
when she’s watching her son play ice hockey and
one of the wife’s of the mine workers confront
her about it in front of the townspeople.
Portraying realistic characters –
The main character ‘Josey’ is in conflict with the
townspeople and mine workers, who believe that
she should back down with her case for Sexual
harassment against the mining industry which is
their source of income.
18. Dominant Ideology.
Dominant Ideology. Example/evidence from film?
1) Single parent family (not Living alone with Sammy and
seen as ideal) Karen.
2) Vitim of an abusive We are shown at the start of the
relationship (not seen as movie the woman seems to be
acceptable within westernised scared on her partners arrival
society) home, we are then shown her
bruised and bleeding on the floor.
3) Rape (extremely degrading We are shown that the young girl
criminal act) was subjected to rape by her
teacher.
4) Religion (many people the family in which the woman
follow some kind of religion or comes from seems to be very
have a belief of some kind of religious, they talk about her
God) teenaged unwed locked marriage
and how it brought shame upon
the family.
19. Audience.
The movie ‘North Country’ is for more of a niche audience, it doesn’t have great appeal for a mass audience. This is due to many factors
such as the 15 age ratting, the hard hitting nature of the movie and the situations the movie covers such as rape and teen pregnancy.
This is a hard hitting drama therefore not many people will be attracted to it and what to watch it.
The niche audience is seen as the audience whereas a more mass audience is seen as the secondary audience.
Details of audience Target audience Secondary audience Explanation of why
they would be
attracted to the film
Age Adults Teenagers 15+ Educational purposes to
see how times have
changed
Gender Mostly a female audience Male To see how the hierarchy
works and has developed
over time.
Ethnicity Westernised members of People from more The countries they live in
society eg from the developing countries. still view woman as second
USA/UK class citizens
Social class/social group Working class Upper class To see how the lower class
work
Sexual orientation Any - -
Profession/role Lower class jobs, especially Higher paid professions, eg To see the way in which
more associated with men, teachers and lawyers lawyers and teachers have
eg the fire force, the police been presented in past
force and mining. times
20. Audience Theory.
Reason why people watch the film Explanation
Information • At the start of the movie we are given
statistics surrounding the mining district
‘men out weigh woman by 30 to 1’ during the 80s, the time period in which this
movie was based.
We are then at the end of the movie shown
more statistics on how the mining district has
evolved.
21. Reason why people watch the movie Explanation
Personal identity • We are shown the woman struggling
though the legal system trying to gain
justice.
• We are shown the woman's journey from
a school girl to where she is today.
22. Reason why people watch the movie Explanation
Integration and social interaction. People will be more likely to talk about more
hard hitting scenes within the movie., for
example the scene where she woman is
lying on the floor bleeding. This could cause
person to person debate or a debate though
social media such as twitter.