In the short film "High Maintenance" there are two plot twists. The first twist occurs when the wife gets up from eating her food and turns her husband off through a switch on the back of his neck. This plot twist is unexpected as there are no prior hints to firmly say he was a robot. Even though he acts slightly robotic, little eye contact, no facial emotions, we don't actually believe that he is a robot, just an annoyed husband. The film's title also gives us no hint to its genre, leaving the audience surprised when we realise it's a robot themed film.
The narrative of Wallace and Gromit short 'The Wrong Trousers", according to Todorov's theory, starts with an equilibrium. This means everything is going as planned, as Wallace and Gromit went about every day life. However this equilibrium is then disrupted when a penguin comes to stay in Wallace and Gromit's house. The penguin starts to take power in the house and uses a pair of robotic trousers to control Wallace and use him to steal diamonds. Gromit then moves out and a quest to restore the equilibrium begins as he follows the penguin around and realises what his master plan is. The narrative then continues until to a climax when Wallace and Gromit realise what the Penguin is doing and a chase ensues around their house to try and get the diamond back. Equilibrium is then restored when Wallace and Gromit catch the Penguin and turn him in for his crimes. Life goes back to normal. The evil is the penguin vs the good which is Gromit The penguin is dishonest v Gromit w...
A good start, Rufus.
ReplyDeleteCan you expand upon this with more reference to mise-en-scene, such as the use of music/dialogue/camera angles lighting etc?
Julian