'Spy Kids' again because i didn't do the exam.

Q3) Discuss the representations in the extract.
       Refer to stereotypes in your answer.
       Use examples from the extract.

You might consider the representation of:

• gender
• race and nationality
• spies
• family, love and marriage

Ingrid is presumably a cisgendered female. For the first part, she plays a counter-stereotypical role, as a highly-skilled spy. This is counter-stereotype because most women aren't spies. For the second part, she is a stereotypical female, because she is a mother and a wife, and falls in love with a man, as women in fiction typically do (example: Jane Eyre). 

Gregorio is of Latin descent because of the thin moustache, his name, and his skin tone. The fact that he is Mexican is relatively downplayed, as in the director doesn't make a big deal about it. When he is first closely introduced to the audience, an Americana-esque guitar riff is played to establish his nationality. At the wedding, the furnishings and decorations are Mexican, such as the skull faces on the wedding cake statuette.

In many films, spies are represented as rigorous and emotionless but also very socially suave when need be, and Spy Kids is no exception. Ingrid, before meeting Gregorio, showed little if no emotion. Even Gregorio was represented as a faceless target, referred to as 'Hombre' by the taxi cab driver (translating to 'man' in Spanish). After the fell in love, they dated in secret, with Ingrid and Gregorio sitting on opposite side of a restaurant. They can have normal dinner dates but accentuate their incognito abilities in doing so. 

Ingrid tells a story to her daughter. This represents family because he daughter is a member of her family. Gregorio and Ingrid go on dates. This represents love because they are in love. Ingrid and Gregorio get married. This represents marriage because they are getting married. 10 marks, please. 


 

'Spy Kids' redo because we're bad at exams.

In what ways do the narrative (characters and events) in the extract fit the AA genre?

Spy Kids (also known as Špijunaža Djeca in Bosnia and Herzegovina) is a typical spy comedy. It includes action adventure genre conventions such as combat and conflict. This is evidenced by the initial conflict between Ingrid and Gregorio, who is totally Mexican because he has a mustache and stuff. Ingrid is positioned as the main character because she is in the opening shot and is narrating the story. Gregorio is positioned as the bad guy because he is being chased after and tracked down by the good guy. He is then not the bad guy because the good guy marries him and is then not a bad guy (Media terminology: a bad guy can also be referred to as an 'Antagonist'!). The conflict is not embodied in the overused form of spectacle, but is instead represented by the conflict of interests: Ingrid wants Gregorio dead, and presumably Gregorio does not want to die.

There is also a bit of speed and motion represented in the extract. Speed is represented by the rate of motion expressed via distance travelled per units of time, but in the extract Ingrid and Gregorio are shown to be jumping off a steep, potentially lethal cliff, which is conveniently placed to the side of a wedding for just such an occasion. This creates suspense and jeopardy because a 100ft drop has a habit of killing people, and the suspense lies in what they will do to rectify their cliff-jumping situation (perhaps by using a drag-creating, nylon-based apparatus that would slow the motion of their bodies as the descend through an atmosphere; the suspense is killing me). There is also motion because objects on screen are moving.

Done.