There are certain stereotypes of different types of ethnicity, which are not necessarily true. For example, these might be that:
Mexicans eat nachos a lot, wear bigs hats and ponchos;
Irish people are often red-headed and are associated with leprechauns;
French people wear stripey tops and berets and only eat frogs;
English people would be seen as boring, rude, like tea and have dry humour. English people also tend to be very self deprecating and are seen to be either 'posh' or a 'chav';
Indian people eat curry and have an arranged marriage;
Catholic people are closed minded and snobby.
Ethnicity is represented in Prison Break with the character Norman "Lechero" St. John who is a Panamanian. The character of Lechero is the drug 'King' and leader of the prison, Sona, which is a maximum security prison, very poorly built. Violent riots in Sona caused the guards to pull out of the prison and leave them to their own ways, whilst keeping guard outside. This builds the representation of Panamanians being ruthless and violent, as their vicious ways led the guards to do something that they never usually would do and Lechero was in charge of this all.
Clip from Girl, Interrupted.
` Girl, Interrupted is a film based on a the true accounts of Susanna Kaysen's 18-month stay at a mental hospital in the 1960s. In this clip, they are all shown going on an outing to an ice cream parlour. In this particular scene, the people with mental 'disorders' are represented to be out of control and acting in an irrational, rampant way. The mental disorders are all severe in this film. Examples of the mental 'disabilities' shown are sociopath, borderline personality disorder, anorexia nervosa and pseudologia fantastica, which is essentially a pathological liar. Because Girl, Interrupted is a film where they are all in the mental institution, rather than a film just including someone with a disability of some sort, they all have a strong case of the disability which they have. In this clip, the roles have been switched; the people standing out being the 'normal' or 'sane' ones.
Vladimir Propp Vladimir Propp believed that some narratives have certain character roles and functions. He studied the 1920's Russian folk tales and decided that the same events kept being repeated in each of them, which created a consistent framework. His main theories were that there were the following characters:
The villain;
The donor;
The helper;
The 'Princess';
A sought-for person (and/or their father), who exists as another character's goal;
False hero.
Tzvetan Torodov Tzvetan's theory was that stories always start with an equilibrium where potentially opposing forces are balanced. This 'balance' is interrupted by a large, important event. There is a new equilibrium after the event.
Claude Levi-Strauss His theory was that of binary opposites and Claude Levi-Strauss argued that things were easily understood when thought of as binary opposites. For example:
British music- punk supposedly originated from Britain. Example: Sex Pistols.
Cultural British experience. (1960's, 1980's, Pop.)
Private schools.
Self deprecating.
Bad teeth- no free dentistry used to be available.
Irony.
One of the ways in which Britishness in Hot Fuzz is displayed is through sound, such as whistles and ringing bells in the background- this is an old-fashioned link to Policing. There are also British Police sirens which can be heard in the background, which differ depending on the country. Adam and the Ants were playing at the beginning of the film, who were a very British rock band from the late 70's to early 80's.
The opening montage serves to create a sense of Britishness by including many stereotypical settings and elements of iconography. A clear example of this is the inclusion of the Royal Crest behind Nicolas when he is receiving his commendation from the Police. Whilst helping to establish Nicolas' character it also serves to act as a 'sign' to a global audience. There are the typical very British Adidas-wearing, hooded, binge drinking "chavs" with awful attitude and of course, chavs are incredibly UK originated.
An obvious factor contributing to the Britishness of Hot Fuzz is the accent. While there are some speaking in standard English- for example, the main character- there are also others such as the "chavs" who speak in non-standard English. British people can also be very polite. Instead of Nicholas saying "what?" he says "I beg your pardon?" which is an incredibly British, standard English thing to say.
There are other discreet factors of Britishness in Hot Fuzz. For example, there is a suite titled "Castle Suite" and there are many around England which still remain- they were a European thing. Another discreet thing is Chess, which is a very old European board game requiring tactic and strategy- which a lot of people do not have, nor do they have the patience for Chess.
Lastly, there are a lot of run down places and graffiti which you see a lot particularly around England, so it is recognised to be British. There are also a lot of factories which are of course, everywhere but add to the overall Britishness of the film.
Universal Studios, Working Title, Studio Canal and Big Talk Productions were all involved in the production of Hot Fuzz.
Universal Studios is one of the longest running American studio which is still in continuous production. As well as having produced an extremely sizeable collection of movies, Universal Studios also own some television programmes. The founder of Universal Studios is Carl Laemmle, a German- Jewish immigrant. In 1912, he merged his own co-owned company, Independent Moving Pictures Company, with eight other companies to form the 'Universal Film Manufacturing Company.' The company later became mostly owned by America. Examples of films they have produced are: Public Enemies, Knocked Up and Hot Fuzz.
Working Title is a production company which is based in London, England. It was founded in 1983 by Sarah Radclyffe and Tim Bevan. Working Title produces television programmes as well as feature films and is known for having a limited number of employees. Eric Fellner replaced Sarah Radcliffe as co-owner of the company. Examples of films they have produced are: The Boat That Rocked, Hot Fuzz and Thirteen.
Studio Canal is a French-based production company founded by Pierre Lescure in 1988. The main focus was originally European films, but they have since made deals with American production companies. Examples of films they have produced are: Hot Fuzz, Judgement Day and Highlander.
Big Talk Productions is an English production company founded by Nira Park in 1995. There are many actors which have risen in fame due to being in films produced by Big Talk such as Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Examples of films which have been produced by Big Talk Productions are: Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead.
