This document provides an in-depth analysis of three musical films - Dreamgirls, Grease, and Hairspray. It discusses how each film adheres to or breaks conventions of the musical genre. It also applies reception theory to analyze the author's own readings of the films, which range from preferred to negotiated depending on how well the films' messages align with the author's own beliefs and experiences. Finally, it briefly discusses another recent musical, Pitch Perfect 2, and how the author learned about and was attracted to seeing that film.

1. Reece Mechan GWL 7 – Me & My Movies
Genresare importantbecause theyhelpthe audience getageneral idea of what the film is going to
be about also it makes it easier for the audience to decide what film they should go to see. Media
Literacy is the ability to access, analyse, evaluate and create media in a variety of forms.
Intertextualityiswhenapiece of textor a piece of mediarefersdirectlytoeachother;an example of
thisiswhena TV showreferencesthe pieceof media tosociety,thisisusually seeninshowslikeThe
Simpsons.
The genre of filmIam going to write about is musicals and the three films I have chosen to analyse
are; Dreamgirls (Bill Condon, 2006), Grease (Randal Kleiser, 1978), and Hairspray (Adam Shankman,
2007). For thisassignmentIam goingto be lookingatthese three filmsin depth and applying Stuart
Halls’ Reception theory and Lacey’s Repertoire of Elements to them. Lacey’s Repertoire of Events
definesgenre elementsinto5keyareas.These areas are; Setting,Characters,Narrative,Iconography
and Style. StuartHallsReceptionTheoryisbasicallywhatyour reading of the film is. The audience’s
reading of the film is different for everyone because people have different views and have
experienced things differently from somebody else. The three readings are;
 Preferred Reading – this is where the audience agree with the meaning or message the
produce has put in the film.
 NegotiatedReading – this is where the audience agrees with most/some of the film but in
some areas they may have different opinions on.
 Oppositional Reading – this is where the audiences reject the meaning or message the
producer has encoding into the film and they make their own meaning or message up.
Another theory I am going to look at is the Uses and Gratifications theory. Uses and Gratifications
theorybasicallytellsusthatpeople lookformediatextsto fulfil their personal needs. The personal
needs of the audience is broken down into four different activities; Diversion, Pe rsonal
Relationships, Personal Identity, and finally Surveillance. Diversion is where an audience escapes
from their everyday stresses and watch something that brings them a form of emotional release.
Personal Relationshipsis when a person is lonely they will look for a film that brings them comfort
and makesthemfeel liketheyare withcompany.PersonalIdentityiswhenthe person’spersonallife
affects their interpretations of films.
Dreamgirls was produced by DreamWorks Studios and Paramount Pictures. The film is about a
soulful girl groupwhichconsistsof Effie White (Jennifer Hudson), Deena Jones (Beyoncé Knowles)
and Lorrell Robinson (Anika Noni Rose). The group is struggling to make a name for themselves so
they take the opportunity to be backup singers for Jimmy Early (Eddie Murphy). When the girls
eventuallymake itasa trio the group’s manager,Curtis(Jamie Foxx) getshimself starts dating Effie.
Withthe relationshipbeingexclusive CurtisTaylorJr.seemsto think it’s a good idea to make Deena
singleadjustbecause she’sskinnierandtherefore canbringina biggeraudience.Withrelationships
gettingtornEffie decidesitsbest to leave the band and her brother behind and venture out on her
own.WhenEffie makes it for herself Curtis realises that he’s made a big mistake making her leave
the group as a result of him feeling wrong he then makes sure her solo career is short lived. The
themes within the film include; greed, love, heartbreak and betrayal.
If I was to apply Stuart Halls Reception Theory I would say that I have a preferred reading towards
Dreamgirls because personally I have faced hate because of my weight like Effie does throughout
the film. For this reason I could relate to Effie this helped me become more invested in the film
because ina way I feltlike Ihave beenthroughorwitnessed something similar to Effie’s emotional
growththroughoutthe filmas a result of this I felt angry at characters like Deena and Curtis. I think
my readingof the film can appear strange because I am a white male and the character I relate too
in the film is a black female. Another reason why I had a preferred reading is because Dreamgirls

2. Reece Mechan GWL 7 – Me & My Movies
didn’thave thismessage the message that isportrayed in other musicals, throughout the film has a
more revenge and independent vibe from it which more suits my personality and preference.
The film Dreamgirls adheres to a lot of the codes and conventions from the musical genre. An
example of this is that characters have to be uninhibited and outwardly expressing emotions
through song and dance. This is seen within the film when Effie sings “And I Am Telling You” I
personally feel like this was the stand out song for the film because up until this point we hadn’t
really seen Effie convey any emotion and it seemed like she had walls put up to protect. This song
adheres to the characteristic of a musical because you can feel the emotion Jennifer Hudson is
puttingacrossin the performance.Another code and convention the film adheres to with the song
“And I Am Telling You”, this code and convention is that singing originates from the mind and
emotion of the characters – the songs are used as a way to express the thoughts and feelings
towards the audience. Another song that makes the film adheres to this code and convention is
“Listen” which is sung by Deena Jones about her relationship with Curtis Taylor Jr.
Throughout Dreamgirls the audience gets the feeling that they are watching it on a theatre stage.
Thistendsto happenwitha lotof musicalsbecause theyare doingitinhomage to Broadwaytheatre
musical productions.There are three sceneswhere youreallygetthe feeling like you’re watching it
on stage. These scenes are when Effie sings “Love You I Do”, when the cast sing “It’s Over” and
“Family”,the lastscene that feelslike you’re watchingastage productioniswhenEffie gets told she
isn’t going to sing lead.
The film roughly follows the same character. The villains in musicals are stereotypically an adult
male. Dreamgirls adheres to this because Curtis Taylor Jr. is the villain. He shows villainous traits
because he triestostop Effie from makingitas a solosinger,andhe cheatson Effie withDeena. One
way the film breaks conventions is that it doesn’t really have a male protagonist. Typically in
musicals the female protagonist is the love interest towards the male protagonist, Dreamgirls
doesn’t follow this because it only has one protagonist and that is Effie.
Grease wasproducedby ParamountPictures.The filmisbasedaroundthe stereotypical love storyof
the bad boyfallingforthe goodinnocentgirl.Danny(JohnTravolta) andSandy(OliviaNewton-John)
meetonholidayandhave a holidayromance, thinking that’s all it is Danny is shocked to find Sandy
at hisschool. It alsocomesas a shock to Sandythat Dannyhas a differentpersonalitywithhisfriends
than he didon holiday,he seems tothinkthathow he isin front of his friends makes him cool but it
doesn’titmakeshimpatheticandactuallymakes her reconsider her love for him. After they spend
time together he comes to realise that acting like somebody he isn’t in front of his friends could
actuallymake himthe girl he claims to love. Danny’s image in front of his friends also makes Sandy
consider losing her “Sandra Dee” image which is the real her. Through doing this she is setting the
relationshipup for a fail because if you’re dating someone they should like you for you and if they
don’ttheySandyshouldreallyreconsiderherlove forDanny. Also it’s not even love she’s just liked
himfor a longtime.Sandyalsodoesthe thingthat she hates about Danny which is changing to fit in
withhergroup of friends,the iconic Pink Ladies. I chose to use this film in this assignment because
it’sthe most relatable tomosthighschool & college experiences –minusall the singing and dancing
of course but I must say high school & college would be a lot more exciting and memorable if this
was a major part to it. I feel like people’s ages could easily affect the reading because if you’re
roughly the same age as the characters then you will experience the film differently than to
somebody who is maybe in their 30s or 40s.
I had a negotiatedreadingtothe filmbecause eventhough I thoroughly enjoy the film and it has to
be one of my favourite musicalsIdon’tlike the message that its portraying about changing yourself
justfor somebodytolove you.Ifeel like my reading of the film is heavily influenced from what my

3. Reece Mechan GWL 7 – Me & My Movies
beliefsare because eventhoughmytwofavourite genresare Disneyfilmsand Musicals I don’t think
love isthe be all and end all in life. Personally I prefer the character of Rizzo because she’s just her
you can either love her or hate her but she isn’t going to change, plus I feel like she’s the only
character inthe filmwhere we cansee growthandbothsidesto theirpersonality.Somaybe I would
have had a preferredreadingtothe filmif itwas centered on Rizzo but then that would completely
change the story and then it might not be one of my favourite musicals.
The filmadherestomanycodesand conventionsof the musical genre,the firstcode andconvention
the film follows is that it has some songs to push the narrative forward. This convention could be
seeninthe reprise versionof “Look at Me I’m Sandra Dee”. There is a few lines in the song that say
“Sandy you must start a new, don’t you know what you must do, take a deep breath and sigh
goodbye to Sandra Dee”. This pushes the narrative forward because it shows that she wants to
change her character as a wayto grow and she can’t be all innocentandpreppylike she was before.
Hairspray (Adam Shankman, 2007) was produced by New Line Cinema and Ingenious Media. The
filmtellsthe storyof poor,unfortunate TracyTurnblad(Nikki Blonsky) and her quest to make it into
the heart of America through appearing on the Corny Collins Show. Through the film Tracy faces
discriminationbecause she’sabiggirl and VelmaVonTussle (Michelle Pfeiffer) and daughter Amber
VonTussle (BritneySnow) don’tlike the factthat a big girl from a working class background is ready
to take themon and winthe heartof the biggestpiece of eye candy on the show Mr Link Larkin (Zac
Efron). With Amber being a spoilt brat she doesn’t like losing and not only is she going to lose the
shows competition she’s going to lose the hottest, sweetest man she’s ever going to get. So to
protect her daughter Velma ends up splitting Tracy’s parents, Edna Turnblad (John Travolta) and
Wilbur Turnblad (Christopher Walken), up. Also Velma thinks this is setting a good example to
Amber which it isn’t because really she’s raising a weak minded, vain home wrecker! Other than
highlighting the constant discrimination and hate that is set against the fuller woman the film also
highlightsthe racial segregationthatoccurredin1962’s Baltimore.The filmshowsthisby having the
TV showhosta Negroday,whichishostedbyMotormouthMaybelle (Queen Latifah). This is where
things get interesting Motormouth’s son, Seaweed (Elijah Kelley), is courting Tracy’s best friend
PennyPingleton(AmandaBynes).Withthe courtshipbeingof interracialbackgroundsitisforbidden
by Prudy (Allison Janney) who happens to be Penny’s mother. So with Tracy’s rebellious soul
intertwiningwithMotormouth’sfiery spirit you have the famous protest scene where the amazing
song “I Know Where I’ve Been” occurs. Even though this song isn’t the most famous from the hit
musical itisin fact the mostreal because of the protestsandracial acts thathave happenedrecently
and is sadly still going on in America and more importantly Baltimore.
PersonallyIthinkthe readingof the filmcanbe heavilyinfluencedbythe audiences ethnicity, this is
because the films narrative is heavily centred on racism and segregation in the 1960s. I have a
preferred reading to Hairspray and I feel like that comes heavily from my childhood memories. I
have put my reading down to my childhood because I know people that are exactly like the
characters.A fewexamplesof thiswouldbe mymajorityof the womenin my family are exactly like
Motormouth Maybelle inthe sense theyare all aboutbodyconfidence andself-worthalsotheyhave
the fire inside of themtofightforwhat theythinkisright.My mum’slike EdnaTurnbladbecause she
justwantsthe bestforher childrenanddoesn’twantthemtoface the same discrimination she has.
Finally me and my best friend are exactly like Penny and Tracy so it’s good to watch a film that
portrays different characters that remind me of people I know. Another reason I had a preferred
readingisbecause the filmaddressessomanyimportantissuesthat I support for example the films
addresses inequality and gaining self-love.

4. Reece Mechan GWL 7 – Me & My Movies
A musical I saw recently was Pitch Perfect 2 (Elizabeth Banks, 2015) I
found out about the film through trailers, posters, and through social
media. The film released 2 posters; one of the posters had all the main
characters with a slogan written above them which says “We’re Back
Pitches”.The posterattractedme to watch the film because it made me
laugh abit. The trailer made me more interested because it showed
variousperformancesthatfeature withinthe film it also made me laugh
and lookedverysimilartothe firstfilmwhichisgoodbecause Iloved the
first film. I ended up gaining media literacy from IMDB which gave me
the synopsis of the film. On various forms of social media the film has
official pages this can increase interactivity between fans because they
can commenton the page and speak to other fans about the film. There
are also fandom pages on Instagram which brings the fans into a
community. Belowisascreenshotof the official Facebookpage for the films the good thing about a
film having a Facebook page is because they can give fans exclusive information about the film, it
also is a way for the film to have some interactivity with its fans, and the fans can speak to each
other underneath each post which makes the fandom feel more like a community. The film didn’t
really remind me of other films other than School of Rock (Richard Linklater, 2003) Pitch Perfect 2
reminded me of this film because they are both hilarious and are also musicals.
Link to Pitch Perfect 2 trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqCYlxcq84c