Nikitah Harvey- Williams

Film Studies
Ms Bundy

How are males represented in crime films The Purge: Anarchy 2014 and
Down Terrace 2009?
In this essay, I will be exploring the themes of how males are represented
in crime films and how micro techniques represent males. I have chosen
The Purge: Anarchy 2014 and Down Terrace 2009 to focus my textual
analysis on and show how these male characters are represented in the
films. I will also be analysing how all the micro elements were used to
show the editing of the film and how Todorovs narrative theory and Stuart
Halls theory was supported.
The Purge: Anarchy (2014) has a BBFC certificate of 15. It was produced
in Los Angeles, California and is an American action, horror, thriller and
crime film directed by James Demonaco. The producers are by Michael
Bay, Jason Blum and Sebastien Lemercier. The main stars in this film were
Frank Grillo, Carmen Ejogo, Zach Gilford, Kiele Sanchez, Zoe Soul, Justina
Machado, John Beasley and Jack Conley, These people played the
members of the gang and the other five main characters passionately
wanted to survive the annual purge.
The Purge: Anarchy
shows males how males
are represented clearly
through the micro
techniques. At the
beginning of the film, it
is clear to the audience
that the young couple
are struggling as they
are trying to survive the annual purge. The couple become victims of a
gang that are participating in the purge, this represents males as scary
and manipulating. This shows that because the couple looked vulnerable
and scared, the gang thought it would be easier to intimidate them. The
group of boys are shown in a wide shot, which captures the leader of the
gang at the front and in the centre of the shot. In wide shot, the audience
see the gang of boys standing in front of a burning vehicle. This shows
that the boys are living in a low status in society and have positioned
themselves in front of the burning vehicle, as they want to be seen as
more intimidating. This is seen as more intimidating because of their body
positioning and the background. During the scene, a close up shot shows
the gangs face being straight faced and revealing more of the graffiti
background. There is low key lighting creates more suspense to the

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Nikitah Harvey- Williams
Film Studies
Ms Bundy
appearance of the character for the audience; this is typical for a thriller,
horror and crime genre. The lighting is also dark because it blends in with
the costumes colours and the background. The costume the gang is
wearing is dark colours like black and dark grey as it builds more suspense
for the audience and to blend in with the dark colours of the night. The
costumes

that the characters were wearing were tracksuits, jeans, t-shirts and
jumpers. The costumes were black to increase a sense of fear and
suspense from the couple that they are targeting. The costumes also
represent suspicious and
dangerous behaviour. The bright
colours of the masks represent
immaturity as the faces looked
clown like and evil. The masks
were white which didnt conceal
with the rest of the costume
colours, however the amount of
fear and unapproachable
presence of the gang fades. The fear and suspense was through their
facial expressions on the masks which was unpleasant and their
movement was slow and scary. The movement of the victims is shown to
be quick as they are scared and running away as fast as they can. Director
James Demonaco has chosen to make representation very clear as he
makes it obvious the gang are threatening and are going to cause
destruction to the neighbourhood. This can be told within this scene that
males are represented as mysterious troublemakers that are taking
advantage of the night by committing crimes, knowing they wouldnt get
arrested.
Demonaco changes
scenes so more of the
gang is in the shot
reverse shot as the gang and the couple they have
targeted are both watching
each other to either
scare the audience or exit the
scene. There is a
tracking shot when we
see the gang on their
skateboards into their first position. There was slow motion used for the
tracking shot, creating more of a dramatic effect that is typical for the

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Nikitah Harvey- Williams
Film Studies
Ms Bundy
horror, thriller, and crime genre. This is typical for this genre of film as a
slow motion tracking shot makes the audience feel apprehensive.

Males are represented as

unapproachable in The
Purge: Anarchy as of the
way they have been
presented by James Demonaco in the
scene I have chosen to study.
Throughout the film, the
atmosphere of this scene was
placed in a dark area and
dark clothing. This portrayed the films predictable narrative due to the
colours and background settings. This suggests to the audience that the
colours and background settings are commonly used in other crime films.
This represents males as being mysterious due to the scared effect it has
towards the audience.
The Purge: Anarchy shows the gang along with other men to be
intimidating and to take advantage that they have the opportunity to
commit any crime within the time limit. This is supported by Todorovs
narrative theory as this theory is based around destruction and
equilibrium.
The second film I have chosen to analyse is Down Terrace (2009), BBFC
certificate of 18. It was produced in Brighton, England and is a British
comedy and crime film directed by Ben Wheatley, produced by Andrew
Starke. The stars of the film are Robin Hill, Robert Hill, Julia Deakin, David
Schall, Tony Way, Kerry Peacock, Michael Smiley, Mark Kempner and Kitty
Blue.
Down Terrace explores how males are represented is evident through all
the micro elements in the scene when the family are sitting at the dining
table. At the beginning, what the audience can see in Down Terrace is a
father and son after serving
time in prison for a mystery
crime. Bill and Karl want to
discover who it was that told
the police about their family
business.
During the dining room
scene, the shots used
were: close ups and wide
shot. These shots suggest to the audience that there is tension at the

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Nikitah Harvey- Williams
Film Studies
Ms Bundy
table and gives the audience the feeling of being powerless. This shot
also captures everyone in it and shows what is going on. The close up shot
of Bill is when he is talking to Valda to show the seriousness in his facial
expressions. The wide shot is used to show the family together. The
costumes that the characters wore were bright and casual wear as the
lighting area of mise-en-scene was bright. This suggested that it is a
normal day for this family.

I have analysed the high key lighting for this film and the lighting is bright
which indicates that the atmosphere is calm. This has an effect on the
family because I analysed the how the characters have positioned
themselves, their eye contact; how they are communicating with each
other. This also suggests that the family have a good relationship because
of their eye contact and how they are communicating. During this scene,
the mood quickly changes when Valda expresses how she feels Bill treats
his son. Her feelings are she thinks Bill doesnt give Karl enough credit.
This area of the scene is shown in a close up shot. This reveals Valdas
facial expressions as well as Bills, Karls and Maggies. Bills character is
represented as intimidating, powerful, strong minded and confident. Bill is
represented like this because he feels to be inferior. Bill is also shown as
patronising because of his remark towards Karls girlfriend Valda. For the
audience, it is clear that males are represented as manipulative, strong
minded people because of Bills comments and tone of voice towards
Valda.
Ben Wheatley represented Bill and Karl as fearless and patronising
characters that passionately want to save their business. The mentality
the males have could also lead up to them going back into prison. Bill and
Karls body language; tone of voice also represents them as being
patronising because of their tone of voice and body structure when they
talk to the women in this film.
The director of Down Terrace supports Todorovs theory by represents Bill
as having an uncomfortable presence towards Valda and aggressive. Bills
tone of voice is loud and low pitched meaning that he feels he has to be in
control and to make himself seem superior.
In The Purge: Anarchy, the leader of the gang is represented as the brave,
confident individual in the group. The leader received little dialogue
because it makes the narrative more effective and intrigues the audience
more.
In Down Terrace, Bill is represented as a strong minded character, which is
also verbally abusive. In the scene I have been analysing, you see him
being cruel to his son and aggressive towards Valda by his angry and

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Nikitah Harvey- Williams
Film Studies
Ms Bundy
frustrated facial expressions that were
shown in the close up shot. The setting of
the neighbourhood shows that they are in a
high status in society because of their
surroundings. The dialogue in this
particular scene was equal. The dialogue shows that
Bill was verbally aggressive towards Valda
by his tone of voice and the way his face was positioned. By analysing the
micro elements of sound, it is clear that Bill is intimidating by his use of
words and his tone of voice. Bills tone was deep and muttered. This
represented anger and frustration.

The Purge: Anarchy and Down Terrace are linked to Stuart Halls theory of
how race and class are often blurred because we often generalise groups
by assuming they fit in a stereotype, which is a message by Joe Cornish to
make us think about prejudice. Both
the films also support Todorovs
narrative theory because there is
disruption and equilibrium. From
analysing the micro elements we
immediately know that the leader of
the gang is the leader because of
his body positioning in the wide
shot, where he is placed in the centre of the boys and in front so he is
closer to the camera.
Both of the films The Purge: Anarchy and Down Terrace use similar micro
elements to represent male characters as intimidating, powerful,
confident men. This is shown through their character positioning and
cinematography which presents them from other characters in each of the
frames making them the subject in both films, there are reoccurring ways
of how males are intimidating, fearful and unapproachable. The narratives
in both films reflect the males growth from the beginning of the film to
the end. There are also messages and values and representation such as;
males get labelled with aggressive, controlling behaviour in both the films.
For example, in The Purge: Anarchy, the gang were controlling the couple
by making them run in certain directions for them to follow. In Down
Terrace, Bill is represented as aggressive, by his comment to Valda.
Both directors find ways to emphasis their males importance, using
dialogue. I also believe that both films show men seeking respect from
people who are lower in authority than them and demand their respect by
being unapproachable.

Nikitah Harvey- Williams

Film Studies
Ms Bundy
Word count -1852