Kiss of the Vampire (Component 1)

Question 1

What year was Kiss of the Vampire released?

Answer 1

1963

Question 2

What studio produced kiss of the vampire?

Answer 2

universal

Question 3

What was the hays code?

Answer 3

a set of moral guidelines and rules that were meant to make Hollywood pictures “presentable” and “safe” for the public at large, which meant not covering or featuring certain controversial topics, themes, or actions.

Question 4

What semiotic takes place between the woman and the man kneeling on the poster?

Answer 4

action code

Question 5

What is chiaroscuro lighting?

Answer 5

very deep, low key lighting with contrasting high key lighting

Question 6

What is a macabre tone?

Answer 6

a sense of foreboding

Question 7

How are binary oppositions created in the kiss of the vampire poster?

Answer 7

one of the women could be seen as “empowering” and the other can be seen as a “victim”, opposite ends of the scale

Question 8

What is the significance of the universal logo on the poster?

Answer 8

it shows how the movie is now aimed towards a global audience

Question 9

What context of the time affects the poster?

Answer 9

the fear of women taking men’s jobs after WW2 by use of a female villain

Question 10

What conventions of the horror genre are shown in the poster?

Answer 10

visual codes of the full moon in the background, blood dripping, fangs

Question 11

How can we apply Van Zoomen’s theory to Kiss of the Vampire?

Answer 11

women were objectified for voyeuristic pleasure, men’s bodies were seen as a spectacle

Question 12

Name 2 key theorists linked to Kiss of the Vampire

Answer 12

Stuart Hall

David Gauntlett

Lisbet Van Zoonen

Bell Hooks

Question 13

How did Kiss of the Vampre help film posters to evolve for the future

Answer 13

the fact there are only antagonists and victims in the poster , no heros

Question 14

What was the women’s liberation movement?

Answer 14

the women’s liberation movement was a feminist movement created to eliminate forms of oppression based on gender

Question 15

How do representations of gender reflect the fear of men had regarding their authority in society?

Answer 15

the male vampire’s fear reflects how men felt as if they were losing their authority in society

Question 16

Which 2 major historical events may have influenced Kiss of the vampire in 1963?

Answer 16

assassination of JFK

soviet union launched the first woman into spacw

Question 17

What does the typography represent?

Answer 17

wooden texture to represent coffin

spikes on words represent both fangs, and wooden stakes

Question 18

How did Hammer studios ‘reinvent’ the horror genre?

Answer 18

they pushed the limit of censorship and classification

Question 19

Which pill was freely available to all women in the UK from 1961?

Answer 19

contraceptive pill

Question 20

Where is Hammer studios from?

Answer 20

Great Britain

Question 21

Why was Kiss of the Vampire and society becoming more liberal in its ideologies?

Answer 21

Hays code was becoming less prominent in Hollywood

Question 22

What legislation was passed in 1963?

Answer 22

equal pay legislation

Question 23

In relation to the ‘why Kiss of the Vampire becoming more liberal in its ideologies’ question 1) what theories can be applied?

Answer 23

Van Zoonen

Question 24

Why was ‘Eastman Color’ the promoted in advertising?

Answer 24

most films were in black and white at the time so this gave Kiss of the Vampire a unique selling point

Question 25

What organisation did Betty Friedan establish in 1966 and what did they try to carry out?

Answer 25

National Organization for Women, which campaigned for legal rights and female antonomy

Question 26

Linking to Van Zoonen, are any of the men in the poster represented as ‘spectacles’?

Answer 26

no, they are victimized and fearful

Question 27

What’s the significance of the women’s tight and revealing costumes?

Answer 27

although women were getting a more complex representation, film companies didn’t want to completely change and steer away their male target audience

Question 28

Who was the target audience of Kiss of the Vampire? (consider class, age, gender, ethnicity, hobbies)

Answer 28

C2DE, 18-25, Male, Western, Hammer Studios fans, Vampire movie fans

Question 29

What kind of character does the iconography of the bat represent the female vampire as?

Answer 29

conflict character/antagonist

Question 30

How are stereotypes created / challenged?

Answer 30

The woman ‘damsel in distress’ role conforms to stereotypes of women in the 60’s being ‘weaker’, whilst the woman holding the man on the other side challenge stereotypes as it shows a woman in a dominant role and a man in a more submissive role.

Question 31

How can Gauntlett be linked to KOTV?

Answer 31

It can be suggested that the subversion of female stereotypes act as tools for woman to construct a more liberated identity.