Anaylse "The Thing"

The text is their to show the positive light and to persuade the reader to watch/buy the film. The producers of the film do this because their ultimate aim is to make profit.

On both covers there are facts and opinion. Old Cover- “A government station near the North Pole detects the crash of an un-identifies object and asks the air force to investigate. Captain Hendry locates a strange spaceship and a mysterious figure is frozen in the ice” This is a fact as it tells the reader what is going to occur in the film.

“Howards Hawks superb sic fi thriller” this is an opinion not everyone will think the same.

On the new cover, “Horror meister John Carpenter (Halloween Escape from New York) teams Kurt Russels outstanding performance with incredible visuals to build the chilling version of the whole classic thing”~ This is a positive opinion of the film, this again is their to persuade the reader to purchase the film. This opinion also promotes the actor (Kurt Russels) and this in turn will make his fans wanting to watch the film. They use hyperbolic language when describing his acting as “outstanding”. John Carpenters name is frequently repeated and his high-quality horror making skills are re-emphasized frequently.  “In the winter of 1982 a twelve man research at remote Antarctica research team at a remote Antarctic research Station discovers an alien buries in the snow for over 1,000,000 years”.~ This is a fact, it tells you what will occur in the film, and it makes it sound as appealing and alluring as possible. The use of the word “remote” makes you sympathize with them as they are alone and isolation with a terrifying monster/alien on the loose.

There are various number of people quoted in the covers of the film.

In the New cover ”John Carpenter” is described as a “horror meister”. Film-fans who have viewed any of his previous films before and are a fan of his work also want to view this one. In the old cover Howard Hawk is described as producing a “superb sci fi thriller” and his previous films are used to his credit (they appear to be quite successful) so that is another favourable impression of the film.

The writer is very pleasant, carefree and blithesome. His writing tone is very spirited and refreshing this is probably because they are not talking about a serious issue, they are promoting a film. They are bias because they are only focusing on the positive things about the film. I am sure the film is not flawless. What about the film critics what about the negative comments that they have made about the film? Kurt Russels outstanding performance” - not everyone will agree.

The actors are illustrated on the both of the covers rather than the brains behind it all. On the new cover the illustration of a strange man with a beard on engages the viewer. This image is right next to the blurb. The slogan is “Man is the warmest place to hide”. There is mysterious image of someone (alien or human?) on the front cover with  this person is faceless, and this again engages and captivates the viewer.

The new cover has blue and white on it, perhaps this is a connotation for ice and arctic weather as it is freezing in the Antarctic.

The title of the film (The Thing) is in very large bold print and it’s in upper case letters. The old cover is mainly black and white and the text and title of the film is in red print. Red as colour is very bright and stands out especially when the background is back and white. Perhaps the colour red is a connotation for blood and danger. The alien is portrayed as being colossal compared to them and it’s made to look very intimidating and threatening with very razor-sharp lengthy fingernails.

For forty years ago the old cover would have almost certainly have been the finest for the time period. The fact that they wouldn’t be as much competition as there is now than forty years ago would also help conspicuously.

The cover of the new film is very extremely attractive and I would unquestionably be interested viewing it. The old cover perhaps the older generation would like to view. I prefer modern movies but then again this is a matter of personal opinion.