Spectatorship in Film Theory

Passive Spectatorship

• Definition: A passive spectator reacts like a mass audience, accepting the director's intended meaning without questioning. They enjoy the immersive experience but don't engage beyond a preferred level.
• Encoding: Filmmakers use techniques like music, lighting, and cinematography to clearly communicate the intended message, aiming for audience agreement.
• Examples: Blockbusters, linear narratives, continuity editing. In Titanic, the director's choices evoke a shared emotional reaction to Jack's death.
• Key characteristics: Mass audience, acceptance of director's intent, 'constructed reading', immersive experience, superficial narrative.
• Underlying theory: Stuart Hall's Encoding/Decoding Theory.

Active Spectatorship

• Definition: Independent films often encourage active spectatorship, prompting audience members to create their own meaning and respond individually. Active spectators analyse the film, considering personal experiences, and may react differently.
• Examples: Pulp Fiction, films targeting niche/highbrow audiences.
• Key characteristics: Independent films, unique interpretation, analysis, individual meanings, varied reactions based on personal experiences.
• Underlying theory: Active audience engagement, open to multiple interpretations, diverse audience reactions are encouraged.

Uses and Gratifications

• Information and Education: Learning and gaining knowledge (e.g., news, documentaries).
• Entertainment: Enjoying the film.
• Personal Identification: Recognizing/mimicking oneself or finding similarities in values.
• Social Interaction: Creating conversation and discussion around the film's content.
• Escapism: Immersing oneself in a different reality.

Multiple Spectating Selves

• Social Self: Shared feelings and responses with other spectators who have similar values.
• Cultural Self: Unconscious responses and meanings influenced by previous media experiences.
• Private Self: Personal, unique interpretations derived from individual memories and experiences.
• Desiring Self: Recognizing references and generating connections from prior media consumption.

Hall's Reception Theory

• Preferred: Audience accepts the director's intended message.
• Negotiated: Audience accepts some messages while questioning or rejecting others.
• Oppositional: Audience actively rejects the director's intended message.

Captain Fantastic (2016) - Funeral Scene Analysis

• Director's Ideology: The film presents an anti-religious ideology (lack of positive Christianity) and challenges traditional capitalist values through the Cash family's alternative lifestyle.
• Dialogue: Ben's speech aims to make the audience understand Lesley and the director's ideology.
• Costume: The family's costumes represent their challenge of capitalist norms.
• Performance: Ben's father's reactions (anger) contrast with Ben's performance, prompting audience conflict.
• Audience Implications: The audience's reaction depends on age, religious beliefs, or lifestyle.
• Spectator's Gaze (intra-diegetic): Focus on individual character reactions (e.g., grief, confusion) through close-ups and shot-reverse-shot. This encourages spectator empathy.
• Camera's Gaze: Long shots of the setting contrast with close-ups of characters, highlighting vulnerability. This establishes emotional connection.

Murray Smith's Identification

• Allegiance: Physical identification with a character's path and viewpoint.
• Recognition: Moral identification with a character supporting their values.
• Alignment: Understanding character roles within the narrative.

Daniel Chandler's Identification (Gaze)

• Spectator's Gaze: Character interaction with the spectator; threatening or humorous.
• Intra-Diegetic: Spectator as a character's "eyes"; voyeuristic pleasure.
• Extra-Diegetic: Filmmaking process visible (crew, edit suite).
• Camera's Gaze: The characters' actions are observed, or create a film; creating empathy within the character.
• Text-within-a-text: Character interaction with each other to see how they see themselves and each other.

Director's Intentions & Audience Response

• Active vs Passive: Mixed goals; possible active engagement with Ben's journey, while potentially generating sympathy and passive emotional responses.
• Forced Response?: The film potentially elicits a feeling through the director's choices, which could make some audiences feel forced to respond.

Film Form Techniques (Preferred Response)

• Music: Sad, non-diegetic music highlighting Ben's sadness; transferring audience feelings.
• Close-ups: Building intimacy and empathy.
• Dialogue: Creating a forced emotional response via dialogue.
• Performance: Affecting character emotions (sadness, grief).
• Gaze: Characters' looks toward and away from the camera aligning viewers' perspective.
• Camera Angles: High/low angles create emotional impact.
• Shot Composition: Shallow focus, POV shots, insert shots, aligning viewers with Ben's experiences and feelings.

Spectator Response Factors

• Age: Varying emotional responses based on age.
• Past Experiences: Past experience regarding loss, grief, or similar circumstances could shape spectator reaction.
• Parenting Status: Whether spectators are parents or not can impact their understanding and connection to the characters.