Task 2.5 (Comparison of Sequences)

Comparison


In this assignment im going to choose two films with very different Genres or hybrids of genre. I am also going to make a comparison of the different generic elements that you can expect from these different genres. Identify the generic expectations in each case, and whether those conventions are typical of other genres.

The 2 films I am going to compare are Saw (2004) and Bad Boys (1995), after watching many Horror movies you would expect Saw to have a main antagonist, that is in some way addicted to killing or that has some sort of mental issue. There would always normally be a protagonist that may take the appearance of a person in authority i.e. a policeman or special agent. The story would normally piece together as a manhunt, the antagonist in this case Jigsaw would make a string of violent and malicious murders, while the protagonist in this case Detective David Tapp would normally play catch up trying to catch the antagonist in his act and convict him. Normally the end of a horror film will have some amount of resolve, unless in this case it is a sequel to which point the pain and storyline of the murders may carry on.
Again after watching many Action films the original story line is mostly the same, the main protagonist/protagonist's are normally some sort of authority figure i.e. cop, federal agent etc. Normally there will be a lot of special effects like explosions or high speed chases, throughout the film you may see that if there is a personal link between the protagonist and the antagonist, the protagonist may take the law into his/her own hands and therefore may find themselves not conforming and inadvertently become an Anti-Hero. In many cases the antagonist would normally hold something at ransom to the protagonist which may be in the form of hostage taking of civilians, children or even their own family. Conflict in many forms is a necessity for an Action film as it creates tension and a build up generally ending the film with a expected finale.

Nearly the whole way through Saw you get a sense of a grim, dark and mysterious atmosphere which is a prime example of many horrors , the antagonist Jigsaw seems to be untouchable with a flawless scheme of making people fight for their life in the most horrific ways possible. This differs greatly with Bad Boys, the two protagonist's Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey start off in a sunny American city with an almost comedy start. The two films content couldn't be much different, throughout Saw there are tasks given to individuals to prove their survival skills, with much gore and violence involved which is typical of the Horror genre, Saw tho is one of few Horror films that seems to adopt the view of mindless uncontrolled violence. Bad Boys is also a good template of the typical action film, with special affects, explosions and the protagonist – antagonist conflict, what Bad Boys does very well tho is they add many small comedy sketches which isn't typical of a normal Action film.

There are a couple of similarities between the two films, the use of authority figures as protagonist's is used and is evident in both films. Where the films differ tho is in the use of the antagonist, in Bad Boys the antagonist is a major drug baron that is after personal gain in the crimes that he does, whereas in Saw the antagonist is shown as a sadistic individual that is purely out to teach people lessons and is after no gain whatsoever. One main difference between the films tho is that in Bad Boys the antagonist is evident and is frequently positioned close to the protagonist's where as in Saw the Antagonist is mysterious and is shrouded by a veil which makes the job of the protagonist hard to figure out who the Antagonist is, and Jigsaws seemingly untouchable attitude makes the task even harder. And because of this the antagonist in Bad Boys is subsequently caught and brought to justice whereas Jigsaw still continues to reek havoc in the sequel to this film, this could be an indicator by the way he seems to evade justice throughout the first second and third films.

Saw
Bad Boys