Textual Analysis - Ecstasy

Title: “Ecstasy”
Bate of the release: 2011 (USA)
Name of the director: Lux
The genre: drama. Sub genre: thriller
Part One: Narrative structure
Todorov came up with an equilibrium model for narrative. He suggested that most stories follow the equilibrium model with equilibrium, distribution and a new equilibrium. Most of the films go along with this convention; so does “Ecstasy”. The equilibrium in this film is the children running around with their mum, and their mum being at work in the hospital, young people partying and taking drugs. The distribution comes in when the main characters take ecstasy and their bodies react to it in an uncertain way. The new equilibrium in this film is when the main character is standing at the cliff talking to her mother.

Levi-Strauss came with a theory for binary oppositions where he suggested that the meanings are created from the oppositions. “Ecstasy” contains a lot of binary oppositions. The first binary opposition is dark and bright. We see two young girls running around a dark forest wearing bright colours. This binary opposition suggests to us that while they are still young they are innocent and are not aware of what is going on in the dark world around them.

The next very important binary opposition that we come across is the fact that the film has two different views on the situation. One is of the

average young person's view which considers drinking and taking drugs as normal, and the other one is the Christian Church view

on this which sees those things as unacceptable. This contributes to the social drama

genre as there are always more than just one side to judge a particular behaviour. Another very i
mportant binary opposition in this film is the opposition of life and death. In this film a young girl gets pregnant, as she's brought up the Christian family it would be unacceptable for her to have a baby while she is still in high school, this girl later on commits a suicide. This suggests that through a mistake of one person; two lives can be taken away, often innocent lives like the unborn child who didn't even get a chance to live in this world but already died.

On the other hand the

way in which young people speak towards each other does not vary from the rest of community. They speak in a non-slang posh English. This is going against the genre conventions because we would expect to find people who waste their lives on drugs speak in slang or improper English.The film is shown in a chronological order however, at the beginning there is a large gap in time. The film starts off with two eight year olds running around the forest and when we see them next they are already aged around 16-19.

The narrative of this film is omniscient as we are aware of everything that is going on in the film, at one point we know even more than some of the characters in the film. The narrative is also a close type of narrative as by the end of the film we know that the girl jumped off the cliff, thus there is a great sense of conclusion.

Part Two: Genre codes and conventions and representation

The genre conventions of social realism drama are very simple. The plot is usually serious and genuine. It also represents realistic characters, locations, realistic life situations in which the characters would be involved. Social realism drama doesn’t usually focus on special effects, humour or action due to representing reality. The music used in drama films is slow and dramatic; it’s rare for the music to be up-beat unless there’s an action which is rare.

The characters in this film are particularly typical of the genre through their behaviour. A social drama film would want to portray young peoples behaviour in as realistic manner as possible, and due to the times that we live in the way in which the characters are represe

nted are very true. The characters act in an aggressive manner towards their peers as well as people younger than them. They are also very disrespectful and ignorant towards their parents and teachers. They also tend to go out a lot with their friends or live somewhere else sharing a flat with their peers. They go clubbing although they are allowed there also under age children who attend the club and also drink and take drugs. There is also a lot of sex scenes involved in this film. All those features of behaviour contribute to certain representation of young people within

their community. Although there is one character who is nothing like the other characters mentioned above. He is very focused on his studies and his Christian beliefs. He tends to do revision or go Bible studies when others are partying. This is to show that in real life not all young people have bad habits. On the other hand the way in which young people speak towards each other does not vary from the rest of community. They speak in Standard English. This goes along with the genre conventions of a social realism drama film, as in modern times the drug use is not necessarily associated with lower social classes as might be thought at first. Drug problems are common in middle/high class people where there’s a lot of pressure on being seen well as a social figure

Their body language and facial expressions are typical of the genre conventions. The characters tend to move around in slowed movements, because they are most of the times in a state of alter conscious their movements are more careful and precise although they also experience loss of balance at some points.

Also their facial expressions are true to the genre conventions, we would expect in this type of genre for people to look confused, anxious, ashamed, guilty and suspicious. This is also all due to the alter conscious.

The costumes of the characters also are typical of the genre as we would associate people of the lower social class not wearing Gucci or LV. They are wearing revealing clothes. Usually this is a short skirt, long socks and a top to go with that if they go to high school. Also girls are found to wear clothes that expose their parts of the body. Their hair is usually messy and they wear heavy make up which then gets smudgy.

All those parts of genre conventions are representing a certain age group. This age group are young people aged between 16 to 21.

The storyline of this film is very typical of the social drama genre as we are introduced to characters who perform anti-social behaviours like under age drinking and taking drugs. We also have a single mother who works all the time. And to contradict with that we have a very religious person who ends up trying to help the characters with issues. This is typical of the genre as these are the type of things we would usually see in social drama films.

The film “Ecstasy” contains a very small amount of non-diegetic sound. This is because this film is meant to represent every day life where we don't hear non-diegetic sounds coming out of nowhere. The only significant type of non-diegetic in this film is at the beginning where we hear background piano music. This type of music is calm and relaxed but its also the type of music that makes us as audience feel insecure about the peace. There is a lot of diegetic sounds in the film like dialogue, loud music in the clubs and cars passing by on the road. However the last two at some times are considered as diegetic- off screen music because we do not always see where the music is coming from or we don't see the card although we can hear them.

Also a part of cinematography used in this film is very typical of the genre. In most of the films the movement of the camera would be on a fixed position. However when it comes to social drama the movement is usually hand held. This is to make the film look realistic and make the audience involved in with the story line. The film also contains a large amount of close ups to show the person's facial expressions. This is also typical of the genre convention because the audience needs to see how the characters express their emotions.

The film however does not contain a various editing techniques. This is because showing "real life" we do not see fancy editing on every day life. However there are a few techniques that are associated with social drama, those are montage and straight cuts. Straight cuts give the film it's sense of realism. Montage is usually used when we have a point of view shot of from the perspective of a character under the influence of alcohol or drugs. This is to show their confusion of real world around them.

The elements of mise-en-scene in this film are also typical of the genre. For example the locations which are mostly clubs and university lecture rooms and campuses, this is realistic because that is where most young people spend their time.

The props used in this film are most representative of the genre of this film as they are mostly are drugs, cigarettes and alcohol. These are the types of props that would be used in a social drama film where the aim is to show the negative stereotypes.