The first fifteen minutes of the film do show a certain narrative that you can apply some of Todorov theories to this. You first have equilibrium where you learn about Cole and then the is disequilibrium when the scientist send his on a mission (the quest) and he will and then end of the mission be promised a pardon and released from prison (the reward of the princess). But this film does not follow all the theories of todorov. The film jumps back in time and does not follow a chronological order. Also Cole is seen as the ‘hero’ because the film focuses on him. Even though he is a criminal the film makes you like him.
Cole is the main character. He is presented in a positive way which makes the audience like him. In the beginning you understand that he is the little boy in the dream, watching the man getting shot. This made me feel sorry for him as I know he had to watch something traumatic like that. His clothes when you first see him make you think that he a prisoner because the man in the cage next to him is wearing the exact same thing. His clothes look futuristic which reinforces Also he is caged which represents that he is trapped in this world. There is also a feeling that he is has a low status in society because there is a ‘higher power’ which says he has to be ‘volunteered’. This makes me feel as a viewer more sympathy for Cole. The scientists have cause disequilibrium for Cole because they set him on a quest. The scientists are presented in a way which makes the audience not like them. Firstly their appearances make the audience not like them. They are all wearing white coats which are a symbol for authority. When they speak to Cole they speak down as if he was inferior, which makes me as viewer not like the scientists. When Cole walks into the room, all the scientists are all watching him. The viewer is put in this position of Cole, which has a feeling of awkwardness as well. But when the viewer meets Dr Kathryn Railly you could argue that she is the protagonist and Cole is the antagonists in her life because later on in the film he completely changes her view on him and then she joins him on his quest. Kathryn is presented as a clever woman because first you see her and an art exhibition. She is dressed smart and she is an attractive woman. This makes the viewer appeal her as she is a clever and pretty woman. She is a criminal psychologist and this is how she comes to meet Cole. Where Cole is sent back in time he is mistaken for a mad man and is arrested. Kathryn is trying to help him. In this sequence there are no elements of a science fiction genre. So I would put this crime thriller at this part of the film because the mise en scene tells me this by the police and the scene is in a police station.
The world in the future is represented as a Dystopia. It seems that everyone who survived the virus lives underground. When Cole goes up to the surface even though he is free from the prison he is not free from the air. There is always an element that he is trapped. There is a theme that the world is never a nice place to live. When Cole is sent back in time still the world is full of bad people. In other science fiction film, some of them do have a dystopia future.
After the dream you can almost tell what the genre is by the mise en scene as soon as you see Cole’s clothes or the high angle shots of the prison you know it a science fiction genre. When Cole is getting ready to go out side he puts on a space suit and around the room there is lot of futuristic things for example the space suit the other clothes and objects around the room. When Cole walks though the tunnel there’s smoke that shoots up which indicates he is being sterilised and when he opens the door and the smoke blows out this to me looks futuristic. When Cole is walking though what looks like the sewers its looks like it raining. This give a feeling like the world is a miserable place. When Cole comes from the under ground it is snowing and there is no one about. This creates a feeling of loneliness in the world. The case that Cole is holding has got lots of gadgets that look futuristic which sets up the genre as a sci-fi. When Cole goes into the abandoned shopping centre, every thing looks old, with all the cobwebs on everything, and if nothing has been touched for years. This creates a sense that this film is set in the future.
There is a sense of entrapment for Cole because you can see that he is prison and underground because of the virus and he is still trapped and lonely even when he is out side because he is trapped by the space suit and the virus in the air in preventing him to be free.
When Cole goes back underground he has to be cleaned and made sure he does not have the virus. All the equipment that they use, when Cole is being walked though the prison, and when he is in the room with the scientists show all the clothes and buildings which looks futuristic which suggest indications of the genre.
When Cole is sent back in time, he is sent to 1990, in this sequence there in no convention of a sci-fi genre.
