The relationship between the audience
and the film is created when they are watching the film and are either trying
to understand what information is the film trying to pass on or just finding
pleasure in watching the movie. In this example I wanted to talk about the film
Inception as it clearly shows the relationship between the audience and the
film as not only the viewer is able to analyse what they see but also they
might find pleasure in watching that movie.
In this movie the viewer is
able to use active spectatorship when watching as they can try to reconstruct
the deeply complex meaning of this movie. Although it might be hard for them to
do so, as there isn’t really a way to use the knowledge from similar genres as
this film is unique and the meaning is only revealed to the audience when the
director wants it to be revealed. Looking at patterns might help in
reconstructing the meaning but that might be complex as well as there are many
unexpected turns of events and it is really hard for the viewer to predict what
might happen next in the movie or what the meaning of scenes that were shown is.
Pleasure is another aspect
which might strengthen the relationship between the audience and this film.
This is because the audience might feel strong emotions towards the life story
of the main character. They might feel empathy towards him as not only he lost
his wife which he loved a lot, but she made sure that he would not be able to
see his kids and he blames himself for it as he created inception inside her
head. So as the viewer knows that they might relate to this kind of situation,
which of course would look a bit different and more realistic but they can
relate as something similar might have happened to them. This can also, be
dragged under the frameworks of interpretation where the audience might look
for meanings which relate to their own experiences. So as I have said before
they might relate this kind of situation to themselves as they might have lost
someone that was really close to them or someone that they loved. And by knowing
this they might be able to try to understand how the character will develop
throughout the movie and how will he behave.
In this film effects are a crucial
part of the narrative as they show the audience how the world looks in a dream,
that practically anything is possible. This might allow the relationship to strengthen
as the effects in this movie are used to professional standards and they add
flow and context to the movie which would be lost without them. Anyway the
audience are used to effects and they seem to expect to see visual effects
used, so if there isn’t really any effects used then they might feel disappointed
unless it is a movie which a deep narrative and just doesn’t need any special
effects.
If the relationship between the
audience and the film is really strong and they appreciate the film, they there
are many fan websites on which they are able to leave their comments or meaning
of the movie, which in case of inception is practically vital as different
people might have completely different interpretations of what has happened in
the movie. This is usually called fandom and audience can show their appreciation
through official fan websites, fan made websites or even different events that
take place around the world. The same happens with social networking sites
where the audience can share their experience with the movie with their friends
and even recommend it if they really liked it.
The conditions of reception
with this movie is really vital as well, as it cannot be watched with any
disruptions as there is so much action in it that the viewer would quickly get
lost is a complex narrative and would not fully understand the movie which
might weaken the relationship which would be built stronger if the movie would
be watched in a quiet room or even cinema. This is because this allows the
audience to concentrate fully on the narrative and the action that is happening
in the movie and then to understand every little bit that is shown in there. This
would make the audience be satisfied as they would have at least tried to
interpret the movie themselves and at the same time strengthen the
relationship.
