40 Year Old Virgin Jude Apatow
40 Year Old Virgin is a comedy romance starring Steve Carrel, Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd made in 2005. It includes themes of sexuality and relationship. The film is about a man who is found out by his work friends to be a virgin at the age of forty. He then goes on this long journey to lose his virginity and in the process find love. The film is not entirely meant to be deep and emotional. The real aim of this film is to provide the audience with entertainment. The film focuses on circumstances which do happen in the real world but are not heard of.  The emotion which is associated with the protagonist, Andy, is sadness but the filmmakers have used this sadness and made it comical at the same time.

Such as in the scene where Andy is remembering his past experiences with past girlfriends nearly having sex. Commonly , in a Hollywood film, the scene might be dragged out, to dramatize it, but this scene is very short, with Andy's ex girlfriend kissing down him and then goes to suck his toe. This makes the audience realise that Andy isn't just a nerdy guy who is inept at getting a girlfriend and having sex he has just instead had a very unfortunate sexual life when it comes to finding the right girl who he can connect with romantically and sexually.

This scene makes the audience empathise with Andy because we have all had struggles with relationships in the past. The film has a universal theme which a lot of people can relate to thus making it very popular with mainstream audiences. The performance from Steve Carrel is realistic but still has aspects of comedy such as the scene where Andy and his work friends are all playing cards and Andy is says how the boobs he has felt felt like sand bags. The friends reaction from around him display what the audience are probably thinking as well. The friends look surprised to what he said. Later after the poker scene Andy is seen riding his bike and repeating the line "they felt like sand bags" and realising how weird that must have sounded. Through this scene we feel sorry for the character because he is so embarrassed about his absence of sex.

Weekly News- Demolition

Demolition is a romance drama film directed by Jean-Marc Vallee staring Jake Gyllenhaal. The film is about successful banker who's wife dies in a car crash. He finds help within a customer service rep and her son and starts to re-discover him self through the demolition of his past life. The films construct the themes of death, love and life. 

The protagonist Davis, tries to combat the loss of his wife by deconstructing anything he feels is faulty. It starts from his fridge to a cappuccino machine, a light fixture and eventually his entire house. The reason to why he does this is because he is told by his wife's farther that a heart, in times of sadness, must be pulled apart and put back together again. Davis takes this in to consideration but in a literal sense. Anything he finds faulty or flawed he deconstructs down to its very fundamental pieces. Yet he never puts anything he deconstructs back together after. In my opinion this is a metaphor that the director is trying to construct and convey to the audience. Davis needs to build a new life thus to do that he needs to deconstruct his old life. He does this through dissembling machines and other items that had a personal relation to him and his wife. But unlike the advice he receives from his father in-law he does not put them together again. This is a metaphor for how Davis is struggling to move on from his wife's death. He can't quite put the things back together because he is struggling to miss his wife. Davis is still in shock from the accident. 

This is where Davis comes across the customer service rep. Karen is the person who helps him find sadness in order to overcome his wife's death. She helps him find sadness through reading his letters and listening and talking to him. Karen's son, Chris, enables Davis escapism. Davis finds it gratifying to listen to someone else's problems and not his own. For example when when Chris is drumming and Davis is dancing around. It is evident that Davis is having the most amount of fun in ages. Davis also finds it amusing to destroy, such as the building sight he visits to demolish. Davis even offers the builder ,in charge of the demolition, $200 to help him destroy the building. 

Towards the end you find out that Davis's wife was pregnant with another man's baby. Again this does not send Davis in to distress or sadness. Davis eventually discovers how to overcome his wife's death and the death of an unborn child but only after he witness the love from Karen to Chris when Chris nearly dies from a sex offender. This deep emotional love from Karen is what makes Davis realise how important life is. 

Exam Question 2013 June
Section A
Urban Stories- Poverty Power and Conflict
‘To find an international audience, films about local and particular problems need to use mainstream techniques such as those associated with Hollywood cinema.’ How far do you agree with this statement in relation to the films you have studied for this topic?

Mainstream techniques- linear narrative, realistic character development, love development with other character to refind them self. commonly holly wood uses straight couple- stereotypical simple easy for audience. Single or double narrative line, confrontation to achieve goal follow men typically

Plan- Rust and Bone is about a woman's life after a horrible accident where her legs get chopped off from a whale attck.- Love development, straight couple, confrontation to achieve goal. (FOLLOWS)

COG- multi protagonist- multi and flexi narrative, little love development yet all men linear narrative strands, confrontation through conflict such as with guns ( IN THE MIDDLE)

ANSWER

Over the films I have studied for this topic there have been unique problems to which the characters within the films have had to face. Directors use mainstream techniques such as used in Hollywood, so that a global audience is reached easier yet some directors use different techniques, uncommon to Hollywood, because they want to challenge film norms. 

One such film which uses its own techniques but does not stray away to far from Hollywood conventions is the action social realism film, City of God (Fernando Mierelles, 2003). The film follows a young boy, named Rocket, who grows up in the fevella of City of God and it is about his struggles with power, poverty and conflict within the fevella. The film uses multiple protagonists to convey the plot. Such as Rocket, Carrot, Lil Ze, Knock Out Ned and Benny. This contrasts to Hollywood block busters such as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (David Yates 2016). Yet City of God also uses usual techniques used in Hollywood such as character development is shown predominantly through men and confrontation is shown through action scenes. For example the final scene where Rocket is stood in between the police and Lil Ze's gang and they both start to shoot at each other. In my opinion City of God film applies common Hollywood techniques to find an international audience to a slight extent. It uses these because of the multi protagonists and flexi narrative which they are all included in. Thus City of God needs some mainstream techniques because without them the audience will not understand the main themes of power, poverty and conflict. 

However the social realism romance film Rust and Bone (Jacques Audiard, 2012) follows mainstream conventions to a vast extent to find an international audience. The film entails a woman who loses her legs to an accident involving a whale and a man who's trying to look after his child. Although, to some, having your legs amputated from a whale accident is rare, it is a common technique used in mainstream film; for the character to lose a part of their body, which makes them them, and thus them having to battle with the repercussions. Similar to the film of "Me Before You"(2016 Thea Sharrock). Just like Me Before You The character re-discovers them self from the love of another character. For example in Rust and Bone one of the protagonists, Stephanie, finds love with the other , Alain, and thus re-discovers her passion for sex. Other techniques are implemented such as a linear narrative and the protagonists being straight and white. In my opinion this film follows the mainstream techniques to an immense degree so that it can find an international audience with ease. 

In conclusion we have two films which slightly contrast with each other. Rust and Bone which follows mainstream techniques to a great scale so that it can find an international audience with simplicity to portray the particular problem of disability. On the other hand there is City of God which encompasses techniques used in Hollywood as well as using unconventional methods to find an international audience to show the local problems of living in the fevellas.

Weekly Film-
Hunt for the Wilder People (Taika Waititi 2016) is a comedy thriller which entails a young rebellious child, named Ricky, who runs away from his home and is soon discovered by his foster uncle, named Hec, to which the uncle suddenly discover he is being hunted by the child protection agency for kidnapping  the young boy. The film involves themes of family and relationships. It displays the themes simply. The family theme is exhibited through the uncle loosing his wife and thus befriending the young boy eventually after finding him in the forest and having to rely on him to get back home. This consequently leads to construction of the relation theme between Ricky and Hec. At first Hec doesn't like Ricky because he thinks he is an annoying attention seeking child, thus having lack of a relationship, but with further time spent with Ricky, Hec discovers that he isn't all those things he thought he was initially.

The director evidently had a lot of inspiration from Wes Anderson. Taika constantly uses square framing and commonly associated musical scores which can be heard in MoonRise Kingdom. Key scenes include the opening scene where Ricky is introduced. It introduces him as a disobedient lost cause. This creates a contrast to the developed character that Ricky becomes at the end. Other key scenes include will be the chase scene in the car and the scene where Ricky discovers they are being chased by the child protection agency.

In conclusion the film portrays its themes successfully through the development of the relationship and family between the main protagonists.

Exam Question
Foreign Film

Q.
To what extent can the films you have studied for this topic be accused of reinforcing rather than challenging stereotypes?
CCCEO
rust and bone- men- reinforcing, big strong family provider fights sex primal
women- weak dependent, damsel in distress  sex symbol
disability- challenges- sex power love
COG- poverty stereotype- lil ze- gangsta, violent, black, greedy
Rocket- subverts- black, poor , not aggresive, honest
La Haine- Hubert- reinforcing hubert, poverty, black sells weed,

The films I have studied for this topic have challenged stereotypes as well as reinforced them. Filmmakers use stereotypes to create a concrete character or setting for which the audience can easily interpret and undertsand . But other filmmakers try to subvert stereotypes to create unique narratives and unusual character which both drive the film in a unconventional way.

An unconventional stereotype can be viewed in the social realism ,Rust and Bone directed by Jacques Audiard released in 2012, The Film follows to characters Alain and Stephanie. Alain is fighting poverty to feed his young son and Stephanie is fighting an injury with stained by an accident at her job in sea world where she consequently loses her legs. By Stephanie loosing her legs she challenges the stereotype of disability. Stephanie more than anything misses her ability to dance and be sexually desired. There is a scene where Alian takes Stephanie to a club. She is seen ,through a close up shot on her face, looking upon the other people dancing in sadness. There are numerous shots of the short skirts and dresses which people are wearing. She doesn't just miss dancing she misses the sexuality of dancing. Sexuality is an aspect which is very uncommon to disability thus for them to be mixed together is challenging the stereotype of disability to far extent.

However for the film City of God, directed by Fernando Mierelles in 2003, the stereotype of poverty is reinforced.  The film follows a young boy, called Rocket, and his journey through the fevellas of the city of god. On his journey a gangsta, named Lil Ze is met, and it is thanks to him why Rocket's journey becomes so successful. The character of Lil Ze is a violent, greedy, black gangsta who wants to dominate and take control of the fevella. Such as Lil Ze is seen tormenting little kids into shooting there friends foot. When the little kid can't do Lil Ze tells him to do he pushes him to the side and shoots the young boy on the floor. This is reinforcing the stereotype of the lower class to be violent criminals. Additionally it does not help the stereotype of black males being seen as a crazed criminal. In my opinion this reinforces the negative stereotype of the lower class and reinforces the negative stereotype of black males to a very far extent even being arguably the paradigm stereotype for lower class.

In conclusion The films I have studied have each challenged yet also reinforced stereotypes. City of God reinforces the negative lower class stereotype to an extreme extent But Rust and Bone challenges the stereotype of disability with it being mixed strongly with sexuality.