Films can do many things from making money to even persuading us. There are quite a few examples of films that persuade us, and one of these examples show that these types of films have been around for a fairly long time. This example is propaganda films of the war years. A more recent example is The Constant Gardener, a film which tried to persuade people to act against the pharmaceutical companies for the way they were treating people in third world countries.
There are a lot of people involved in making a film but the most important person is the director. At the end of the film making process he is the one who has decided what the film looks like and how the film has turned out. The director makes all the big decisions and the end product is largely the result of the director’s skills. The director is in some ways like an author.
This film, My Best Friend’s Wedding, is in the romantic comedy genre. Each genre has its own conventions and the genre creates expectations for the audience on what the film will be like and what it will be likely to include. In this genre of romantic comedy there will be certain expectations set by the genre that will have to be fulfilled. Normally there is a love story, humour, kisses, weddings, embraces, twists and turns and a happy ending.
As the 20th century progressed women gradually claimed better education, more opportunities in the workplace, more independence legally, financially and socially. Gender roles were switching and this was not always seen as a good thing. In this film we see the many differences between the two main women. One of the main differences his how feminine Kimmy is and how masculine Julianne is. We see this in a number of ways but one of the main ways in which we see it is in the way they dress. Throughout most of the film Julianne is wearing trousers and very rarely, if at all, a dress or skirt. However throughout the film we only ever see Kimmy wearing dresses and occasionally a skirt, but never trousers. This is one way used to show the differences between the two women.
Another way you can see the differences between the two women is in what other people think of them. We see quite a lot of what Michael thinks of Julianne through what Kimmy says. An example is when they are in the car after Kimmy and Julianne have first met. Kimmy says to Julianne, ‘It is time to force yourself to get personal.’ This suggests that Michael has told Kimmy that Julianne doesn’t like to get too personal with people. Also in the dressmaking scene Kimmy says to Julianne, ‘you wouldn’t be comfortable unless you were distinctive.’ This again suggests what Michael thinks of Julianne.
Other things can also show their differences, like what they do and say. Throughout the film Julianne tries to break up Kimmy and Michael and this makes her come across as malicious and nasty. The director wants her to seem this way as he wants Kimmy to seem sweet and innocent, although we do sometimes think that Kimmy has a nasty side to her when she says some things. An example is when she’s describing her cousins, who are the bridesmaids, as ‘vengeful sluts.’ This makes her seem like she’s not very nice, just for a short time.
The first scene in the film really helps to illustrate the presentation of Julianne. In this scene we see lots going on and the atmosphere is generally very chaotic and jumpy. We are made to feel this way by many different things. First of all there are a lot of inter cutting close ups.
