kiss of the vampire

Question 1

product context

Answer 1

• produced by hammer film productions in 1963
• distributed by Universal
• was intended to be sequal to 1958’s Dracula

Question 2

1960s social/ historical context

Answer 2

• beatlemania
• ‘swinging sixties’
• JFK assasination
• soviet union launching first women into space
• 2nd wave of feminism
• new divorce/ abortion laws, contraceptive pill - women less restricted to being wives/ mothers - were increasingly sexualised

Question 3

female character on left

Answer 3

• floppy body language and closed eyes
• makes her seem weak, vulnerable
• high heels - traditional presentation
• ‘damsel in distress’
• tight dress, bare neck, exposed upper chest - sexualised - 1960s a time when women were starting to get more objectified in the media
• could appeal to a male target audience

Question 4

female character on right

Answer 4

• aggressive and powerful due to body positioning over the man kneeling, And her bared teeth and raised arm
• potential killer
• this would have been unconventional prior to 1960s, but in the 1960s, reflects shift in society

Question 5

feminism context in 1960s

Answer 5

• 2nd wave of feminism
• new divorce/ abortion laws, contraceptive pill - women less restricted to being wives/ mothers - were increasingly sexualised

Question 6

reasons for trad representation of women

Answer 6

• KOTV produced by mainstream company (Hammer) , more likely to represent women in a mainstream way
• feminism seen as new and ‘alternative’

Question 7

man on left

Answer 7

• powerful - carrying the woman
• teeth make him seem dangerous and aggressive, as well as black and red colours
• reflects historical ideas that men dominant and powerful
• wide eyes, defensive body language connote that he may be a victim

Question 8

man on right

Answer 8

• body language and positioning- submissive and vulnerable
• representations of men seeming weaker and victimised reflect shift in gender roles and expectations in 1960s

Question 9

liesbet van zoonen

Answer 9

• female vampire contributing to social change by representing women in non trad roles
• however passive victim reinforces trad genderroles

Question 10

David Gauntlett identity

Answer 10

• female vampire as role model for women struggling against male oppression or desperate to be seen as the equals of men

Question 11

claude levi strauss structuralism

Answer 11

• binary opposition applied to opposing represntations of the vampire s and their victims, and the two women being represented in opposing ways

Question 12

roland barthes semiotics

Answer 12

• ## engimas create suspense- connoted relationship between male and female vampires (emphasised by ‘kiss’ in title)

Question 13

conventions

Answer 13

• serif font connotes vampire genre with ‘wooden’ styling (vampire coffin or stake) and blood dripping from Vs ‘fang’
• painted- conventional of films of period, used in Chritopher Lee’s dracula
• ## in colour- anchored by text ‘in eastmen colour’ - differentiating from classical Universal horror films (Steve neale genre)

Question 14

visual signifiers of genre

Answer 14

• gloomy grey, black, brown colour palette reinforces dark, scary conventions
• red colour draws attention to attacking bats, vampire and blood- vampire genre signifiers