Textual Analysis- Falling Down.
Falling Down was directed by Joel Schumacher and Michael Douglas Starred in the film. The film was released on the 26th February 1993 and is of the crime-drama genre.
Falling Down, like majority of films follows Todorov’s Narrative structure. For example:
· Equilibrium- Everything is balanced.
· Disruption- Something disrupts the state of normality and balance, therefore changing the lives of the characters involved.
· New Equilibrium- Balance is restored, however with changes.
The film starts with the character William sitting in his car, stuck what it seems in a long line of traffic in LA. This is clearly represented as the equilibrium of the film. However, we can tell that the equilibrium is seemingly a platform towards a disruption with a variety of shots focused on William growing more and more inpatient with the traffic and finally snaps and leaves his car and begins the journey to Central L.A.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYcKvq81-1I&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYcKvq81-1I&feature=related
As the film begins to progress we start to see a side to William that is quite dangerous to say the least. Firstly, we see a Korean shop keeper’s shop get smashed all due to William stating that the shop prices are too high. The string of events that follow is more similar behaviour by William, letting his gun go off in a burger place all because they are no longer serving breakfast. All these incidents that occur are arguably because William wants to go see his daughter, Adele, for her birthday but is not allowed due to his ex wife having a restraining order against him. However, it is clear that William is unstable due to him calling his wife and stating he is coming home when he really isn’t allowed as she has a restraining order against him.
Moreover, the film has a story running in parallel about a desk-bound cop, Martin Prendergast who is about to retire. He's retiring for his wife's sake, and obviously isn't happy about it. The final scene of the film see’s Prendergast attempts to reason with Foster, who refuses to give himself up, saying he would not want his daughter to grow up with her father in prison, and if he dies, his daughter will get his life insurance policy. Foster then pulls a water gun on Prendergast, committing suicide by cop by forcing Prendergast to shoot him. Seeing a water stain on Prendergast's shirt, Foster laughs and says, "I would've gotcha," before falling dead into the ocean, which concludes the new Equilibrium of the film.
Falling Down is told in a linear, chronological order as the story is told in the order in which events occur. For instance, William gets out of his car in the middle of traffic and his first stop is at a local sweet shop where he smashes the place due to him stating the shop is overpriced. This irrational behaviour continues and seemingly William gets more violent until he gets to his ex wife and daughter. William then has a confrontation with Martin Prendergast (a cop) and then William shoots himself. This clear conclusion clearly illustrates that this is a closed narrative. The narrative is also a multi strand narrative, although William’s unstable and violent destruction of the city is the main storyline, Martin Prendergast retiring and looking after his ill wife is the second storyline that develops in sequential time.
Falling Down is a crime drama film. The genre conventions are typical of the crime drama, due to the plot being based around conflict, death and violence. The main character William is not a typical character that is associated with the crime drama genre. William is shown as an unstable figure, which has no regard for anyone in society, such as the police, residents or even the law. Michael Douglas as the character William challenges the conventions of a crime drama as he doesn’t focus on one particular aspect of the law enforcement. He behaves in a way that is not stereotypical of an individual that is trying to make a difference within the law enforcement; rather he is focused on causing mayhem on people and their businesses in the community. The film cleverly conveys the change in Williams’s personality, such as from only wrecking the Korean shop keepers shop to getting more and more violent as he ends up killing someone.
Martin Prendergast’s character is a man who is on his last day of work as he is retiring early to look after his ill wife, which portrays the kind and pleasantness of his character. Martin Prendergast’s character is very typical of the crime drama genre as he wants to resolve the mystery of finding the figure that is destructing the city and this makes the plot more emotional as we see an individual in the cop that wants to carry on his job for a long time, but personal circumstances are holding him back and he sees resolving this crime as the perfect send off.
The young teenagers, the Mexican gang, are typical of the drama genre though the conventions of violence, realism and the difficult phase from going through the transition of childhood to adulthood which is associated with the Mexican gang members. These conventions can be identified with dramas such as Zero Day, Elephant and Basketball Diaries. The stereotypical and negative representation of teenagers is portrayed through the use of Mise en Scene. Props used were guns and knife and costume worn by the Mexican gang members were shorts, vest top and shirt. The scene with the Mexican gang is set in an area that is covered in graffiti and is shot outside. This is clearly an exaggerated representation of teenagers and gang members as not all gang members do such things, however this is seen as normal as the media portray gangs in a violent and ruthless way. Also the male members of the Mexican gang are portrayed as having traits of a traditional masculinity taking leadership and telling the only girl member to stay back and watch them sort William out.
The exaggerated, negative representation of teenagers, as mostly gang members is portrayed through the use of Mise en scene. Such props included: gun and knife. Moreover though the Costume worn by the Mexican gang members which were shorts, vest top and shirt. The scene with the Mexican gang is set in an area that is covered in graffiti and is shot outside. This is clearly an exaggerated representation of teenagers and gang members as not all gang members do such things, however this is seen as normal as the media portray gangs in a violent and ruthless way.
The older characters, such as Martin Prendergast is also represented in a negative way. Such as when Martin Prendergast wants to get involved in the crime case he is quickly shut down by the other younger police. This was quite unrealistic due to the fact that in society the older police are looked up too due to their decades of experience.
The storyline is typical of the crime drama genre as the themes of violence, death and class divisions are all conventions of this genre and are represented in the film. A convention of the Crime genre that is presented throughout the film is conflict. We see this through William, who has a conflict not only with his ex wife and the residents of the city but conflict within himself. Moreover, the storyline of “Falling Down” is essentially about a middle aged man going through what seems to be a mid- life crisis and this dramatic story line is typical to the crime-drama genre as the purpose of a crime genre is to move or touch the audience in some emotional way.
The representation of Social class is clearly stereotypical and represented negatively as the characters are either working or lower/ under class. For example, the Mexican gang members are represented as lower/ under class because of the on screen digetic sound (dialogue) that is used. For example, “That’s not fucking graffiti” This Vulgar language used is stereotypical of the working or lower/under class as this language represents an uneducated individual who has to express themselves using such words in a negative manner. Also, Falling Down represents people, mostly teenagers, that are working/ lower class as only being based around violence and power of territory, i.e. who the graffiti filled area belonged to. This can be said that the representation of age is also negatively represented due to teenagers being represented as vile, poorly mannered individuals. This is also a negative representation of the working class as the male members of the Mexican gang took a traditional hegemonic masculinity attitude towards the confrontation with William, the main character, and ushered the only girl in the gang to stay behind and not get involved, conveying this negative and somewhat outdated view of the working class women to be inferior to working class males.
Looking at sound, we can identify the different types of sounds used are associated more with the drama genre. For example the use of digetic sounds in terms of dialogue adds the affect of drama and makes this particular scene even more dramatic, due to the quotes of, “What you trying to do kill me with a golf ball.” “Golf course should have families having picnics.” This quote is vital because this represents what William craves and once had with his family and altogether there is clearly a struggle going on that is wrought with hardships, difficulty, and pain which is very typical of the drama genre as drama’s tend to deal with real life issues and divorce has become more common in society and Falling Down through the drama genre is trying to portray the real life emotions of a man not just going through a mid life crisis but through a divorce.
Also, in the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8b3963VRW4 we hear non digetic off screen sound such as the weapon going off and the sound of the explosion which relate to the crime genre being based around violence, death and suffering. . We also her on screen digetic sound of police sirens at the end of the film racing to the scene where William is confronting his ex wife which relates to the storyline of William wanting to see his daughter but he isn’t allowed due to him not dealing with the divorce with his wife and the theme struggle is a drama convention.
Editing used in the film is typical of the crime drama genre. Such editing included straight cuts which help build continuity and the use of cross cutting conveys the two storylines developing at the same time but in one or more locations. Cross cutting also helps form parallels and links issues developing in different places. This can be seen in this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy4uo4s-p4I&feature=related at around four minutes the girl from the Mexican gang describes William to the police after the incident and shooting between the Mexican gang and William and around 7 minutes into the link we see William entering the fast food place wearing the exact same clothes and carrying the same bag as the Mexican girl described. Slow motion was used in this link to illustrate the dramatic moment of William setting off his weapon. Falling Down - Whats wrong to the street? - YouTube Slow motion is typical of the drama genre as this technique is used before something dramatic and shocking happens such as a killing. Falling Down follows this convention of the drama genre as after the slow motion in the link William shoots the builder who told him not to walk on the pavement as there is road works going on.
Camera used in Falling down is very typical of the genre. For example, from the pictures below we can see extreme close ups was used to illustrate Williams reactions after the mayhem he causes at each scene, medium close ups and big close ups was also used to illustrate this. Pans, tracking shots and tilts are all used in the Korean shopkeepers shop to portray the chaos, mess and showcase the fast paced crime that is occurring which can be identified in this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2YRMixW9u8&feature=related Furthermore Camera techniques used are shallow focuses and focus-pulls on close ups on the characters faces to emphasise their facial expressions.
Altogether, the film uses elements of the genre crime to illustrate and shape the plot and to progress on William’s character. The Mise en scene is essential as it helps portray the drama element of the film, such as the dialogue is vital in portraying the drama element of the film and William’s personality.
Altogether, the film uses elements of the genre crime to illustrate and shape the plot and to progress on William’s character. The Mise en scene is essential as it helps portray the drama element of the film, such as the dialogue is vital in portraying the drama element of the film and William’s personality.
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