Narrative

• How is the narrative organised and structured?
• How is the audience positioned in relation to the narrative?
• How are characters delineated? What is their narrative function? How are heroes and villains created?
• What techniques of identification and alienation are employed?
• What is the role of such features as sound, music, iconography, genre, mise-en-scene, editing etc within the narrative?
• What are the major themes of the narrative? What values/ideologies does it embody?

The narrative follows the old brother’s grim version of the story Rupunzel to a certain extent. It is used as a guide line to shape the film. However the film itself has taken the narrative and changed it to please the audiences need. It had been changed to make the film more recognisable by its institution. As it is already a story the audience will be familiar with the narrative and would have certain expectations. The narrative is set in three sections. Beginning, middle and end. It is a linear narrative meaning it is a nonstop narrative that has one story line throughout it. The film “Tangled” can be said to be using both Tvzetan Todorov and Claude Levi-Strauss narratives theories. Todorov’s theory is used through the fact the narrative of the film is simply an equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium. The equilibrium that it starts off with is the journey that Rupunzel and Flynn embark on to get to the floating lights. It is disturbed by the disequilibrium which is the set up that Gothel creates and Flynn’s death. However it is saved by the new equilibrium when Rupunzel is reunited with her real parents and eventually marries Flynn Ryder. The film also follows the narrative theory of Levi-Strauss as the narrative ends with a resolution of conflict. It also has a lot of Binary oppositions. For example the good and evil within the narrative.

Media Languages and Forms

• What are the denotative and connotative levels of meaning?
• What is the significance of the text’s connotations?
• What are the non-verbal structures of meaning in the text (e.g. gesture, facial expression, positional communication, clothing, props etc)?
• What is the significance of mise-en-scene/sets/settings?
• What work is being done by the sound track/commentary/language of the text?
• What are the dominant images and iconography, and what is their relevance to the major themes of the text?
• What sound and visual techniques are used to convey meaning (e.g. camera positioning, editing; the ways that images and sounds are combined to convey meaning)?

In the film the characters and situations are easily noticeable. The audience are able to tell the difference between characters and the future events. This is through the mise-en-scene/sets/settings. For example the villain Gothel is always shown in low key lighting and in dark black clothing. Also get appearance itself is frightening to an extent. From this we can tell as an audience that she is a villain and evil character. She is also nearly most of the time when entering a scene, she is shown in low angle shot connoting her power. However Rupunzel and Flynn are wearing light coloured clothing and their appearance are more attractive to the audience. Rupunzel wears the colour pink throughout the film which connotes innocence and romance. Also the colour pink is always associated with a girl. Whereas Flynn Ryder wears blue throughout. This connotes peace, and adventure. Also when the colour blue is always associated with the male gender. Both these characters are good within the film and are mostly shown in high key lighting with straight cut camera angles and shots like long, short, close up. An iconic image within the film is Rupunzel’s hair. Her hair connotes her innocence as it had never been cut and is long from the very beginning which can connotes that she has never been infected by the outside and is still sweet and innocent. Another iconic image is the tower that she lives in. It represents her isolation from the world but also can be shown as something ironic. The connotations of the tower could be a phallic symbol which is the irony in the film because she meets her love within the tower and does at the end finally kiss Flynn in it. It is also irony as Rupunzel is meant to be pure and innocent. The fact that the film is set in mainly a forest and a magical kingdom connotes to the theme of the film. Fantasy. It helps emphases the magic and those fairy tales and fantasy theme stories are always set within forest and kingdoms. The animals within the film do not speak, which is unusual for a film of the genre of fantasy. However from their facial expressions and actions the audience are able to understand them. For example  Maximus the horse always has a smoke coming out of his nostrils and a frown on his face whenever chasing Flynn Ryder or there is a mention of him.  However at the end when he teams up with Flynn to save Rupunzel he is grinning and smiling. Pascal the chameleon however is different his colour changing skills tell the audience how he is feeling and whenever he has something to say he is always with Rupunzel and only looks at her. Through he replies to Pascal we are able to understand what he was saying with him actually talking. The music within the film is a big indicator of how characters are feeling and the situations they are in. For example when Rupunzel finally gets to see the lights at the end a song is played where both Rupunzel and Flynn sing and the song is a sweet melody with lyrics that suggest that they are in love with each other. Each character has their own song which makes the overall soundtrack to the film.

Genre

• To which genre does the text belong?
• What are the major generic conventions within the text?
• What are the major iconographic features of the text?
• What are the major generic themes?
• To what extent are the characters generically determined?
• To what extent are the audience’s generic expectations of the text fulfilled or cheated by the text? Does the text conform to the characteristics of the genre, or does it treat them playfully or ironically?
• Does the text feature a star, a director, a writer etc who is strongly associated with the genre? What meanings and associations do they have?

The film “Tangled” is a hybrid of genres including: Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, and Musical. Within the film there are several musical numbers which the characters sing at dramatic times. This is main convention of the musical genre.  The film is all animated and done via computers and new technology therefore fits into the Animation genre.  The film also follows the genre of comedy this is through the use of silly remarks or actions throughout the film. For example a high comical is the tension between Flynn Ryder and Maximus the horse. In a comedy genre film one convention is that the genre always holds a funny character. In the film “Tangled” that character is Maximus. The main genre of the film is fantasy. This is connoted though the magical essence of the film. For example Rupunzel’s magical hair. The film is from the institution Walt Disney, which is highly associated with the fantasy and comedy genre. So it is typical that it would have these two main genres within them.

Media Institutions

Media Institutions

• What is the institutional source of the text?
• In what ways has the text been influenced or shaped by the institution which produced it?
• Is the source a public service or commercial institution? What difference does this make to the text?
• Who owns and controls the institution concerned and does this matter?
• How has the text been distributed?

 The institution that created the film “Tangled” is Walt Disney Studios Animations and was realised on November 24, 2010. It was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. “Tangled” started off as a film being shown in box office cinemas in America and Canada. It then became a success there and was distributed worldwide to different countries throughout Europe and Asia. It was shown in the cinema in those countries and on March 29, 2011 it was realised onto Blue-ray and DVD. The institution also realised a soundtrack on November 16 2010, containing all the song featured in the film.
The film itself has typical codes and conventions that would be expected of a “Classic” Disney film. The film itself was said to be  “a regular ol' straight laced Disney flick.”  One of the typical convention the film holds is the use of music. Throughout the film the main characters each sing a song or two. They also have their own song which is sort of a theme song to that character. Another convention of a Disney produce film is the use of Vladimir Propp Theory. There is a use of a hero, princess in need of help, a villain, and the helper. The Disney institutions have always followed Propp’s narrative theory within their films and have again used it in the film Tangled.  This allows the audience to easily recognise and relate to the film and institution.