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Advertising: A kiss of the vampire - Coggle Diagram
Advertising: A kiss of the vampire
Industry
A kiss of the vampire was made by the Hammer horror production in 1963
J. Arthur Rank and Universal distributed the film
Historical context in 1963:
Early stages of 'Beatlemania' - can link to adult fears surrounding emerging youth cultures in early 1960s
The 'Swinging Sixties' - Female vampires are presented as alluring but dangerous - sexual freedom is threatening
The assassination of JFK - horror films can emphasise evil and a sense of paranoia and anxiety (setting mirrors danger)
The Soviet Union launching the first women into space - challenging traditional Western gender roles but KOTV conforms by mostly presenting women as victims or passive
Hammer had also produced Dracula, The mummy and Frankenstein which Universal saw as a successful 'monster' genre
The 1960s showed women's sexual liberation through:
The contraceptive pill introduced in 1960
More women paid in workforce
Sixties feminists campaigning for equal pay, an end to sexual harassment and more equality between men and women
Audience
Target audience: Young adults, particularly male cinema-goers, fans of Hammer
Hammer had an established audience for gothic horror following Dracula (1958)
Horror was popular with working-middle class British audiences looking for affordable escapism
Likely rated for more mature viewers due to themes of violence, fear and sexuality
Posters emphasises the word 'kiss', attractive women and gothic menace which would attract male audiences and thrill-seekers drawn to taboo
Blumer and Katz:
Escapism - Audiences use the film to escape everyday life (gothic settings offer a fantasy world removed from ordinary reality
Personal identity: Male audiences could identify with Professor Zimmer who reps rationality, intelligence and authority
Representation
The vampire seems uncharacteristically fearful with his arms thrown across his body in a defensive gesture, perhaps protecting himself from the female vampire
The gesture code of the women on the left shows she is a stereotypical passive victim of the 'monster', his power highlighted by the fact he is holding her by just one arm
Gesture code of the second women shows her baring her teeth and with her am raised fist-like as she's being bitten by the bat, they are more aggressive and the submissive pose of her male victim (including being on his knees with his head back and throat exposed) represent her in an atypical dominant way
Both the women wear pale dresses made of light materials reinforcing their femininity by highlighting their curves of their upper bodies and revealing the flesh part of their upper arms and chest
Van Zoonen:
By assuming this 'coantagonist' role, the female vampire is perhaps contributing to social change by representing women in a non traditional role though the passive female victim does reinforce these
Hall:
The images of the castles, bats, vampires cape and dripping blood form part of the 'shared conceptual map' that give meaning to the 'world' of the poster
Gauntlett:
The female vampire acts as a role model for women struggling against male oppression or desperate to be seen as the equal of men, whatever the narrative or environment
Media language
The painted image in the poster is conventional of films of the period and links to the poster for Christopher Lee's Dracula
It is in colour (anchored by text 'In Eastman colour') connotes this is a modern telling of an older story
The stars are listed with the more highly paid male actors first then in order of fame - Clifford Evans having starred in Hammer's 1961 hit 'Curse of the Werewolf'
The colour palette is gloomy grey, brown and black reinforcing the film's dark, scary conventions
The red colour draws attention to the attacking bats, vampire and the blood - key signifiers for the genre (Steve Neale)
The capitalised serif font connotes the vampire film genre with the 'wooden styling' (referencing the vampire's coffin or the stake needed to kill him) and the blood dripping from the letter V's fang
Hermeneutic code - suspense created through the enigmas surrounding the connoted relationship between the male and female vampires (emphasised by the 'kiss') and the fate of the two victims
Semantic code could be applied to images of the bats and their conventional association with vampires and horror
Symbolic code of horror, darkness and fear are widely reinforced through signifiers such as the moon and the male victims 'submissive sacrifice' gesture code
Levi Strauss - binary opposition between opposing reps of the vampires and their victims
The romantic connotations of 'kiss' opposed in the film's title are in binary opposition with the stereotypical 'vampire' monster