Textual Analysis - Enemy of the State (Hassan Mudhir)

Textual Analysis of a Similar Media Product

Title of film: Enemy of the State

Date of release: 26 December 1998 (UK)

Director: Tony Scott

Genre: Action

Sub-genre: Drama, Thriller

Trailer:

The film is about a lawyer who becomes targeted by a corrupt politician and his NSA goons; he then accidentally receives key evidence to a serious politically motivated crime. The equilibrium is started when a politician named Thomas Reynolds is negotiating with Congressman Phillip Hamersley about a new surveillance system with satellites. But, Hamersley declines, that is when Reynolds had Hamersley killed, but this murder was caught on tape, and this person was being chased by Reynolds' team of NSA agents. The equilibrium is then disrupted when the guy has to get rid of the tape, so he plants it on Dean, who is the innocent lawyer. That is when Dean's life began to fall apart all around him, with his wife and job both gone. The new equilibrium is set when he meets a man named "Brill" who tells him that Dean has something that the government wants. That is when Dean and Brill formulate a plan to get Dean's life back and turn the tables on Reynolds. The new equilibrium is the revolutin at the end of the film.

I am going to relate Levi Strauss’ theory of binary oppositions to this film. Binary oppositions is the principle of contrast between two mutually exclusive terms e.g. villain/hero and is an important concept of structuralism. One example of binary oppositions in the film is that of Dean (Will Smith) whose occupation is of a lawyer. In reality, a lawyer is a professional person authorised to practice law; conducts lawsuits or gives legal advice. However, he is the one who is caught up in several problems and then need someone else to help him out. Enemy of the State is a classical tale of good versus evil, complete with tortured hero and powerful villain.

The film is in chronological order because the plot is clearly set for the audience to understand. The basis of the plot revolves around Robert Dean, an average family man who suddenly finds his life in a complete mess when an old acquaintance slips a top secret video tape into his shopping bag. (This plot is very similar to the plot of the film we are going to make). When agents understand that Dean is in possession of the tape, they proceed to ruin his career, family and life, then leading to Dean’s fight back. Therefore, the storyline is evidently set out in a sequential order and there are no jumps in the storyline.

The narrative structure of the film is closed narrative. This is because the audience can judge from the characters who are the villains and who the heroes are and it has a clear resolution. Whereas, if it was open narrative, (for example) today’s villain may be next weeks helper and it has no clear resolution. Another aspect which makes the film closed narrative is the fact that the audience feel gripped and constrained when they are watching the film. An example of a scene in the film where the audience feel gripped is when Dean is being chased by the villains on the motorway.

The extent to which the characters are typical of the genre of the film which is predominantly action in terms of behaviour is quite evident. This can be said for one of the villains, ‘Barry Pepper’ who is one of the guys who try to capture Dean and is quite aggressive in his behaviour and the props that he uses which is a gun. Also, the way in which ‘Barry Pepper’ and the other villain are dressed is also typical of an action/thriller film with black, disguised clothing and gloves.  The facial expressions of Dean are also quite typical of an action film especially in relation to the hero of a film. This is because Dean is seen with many worried facial expressions and scared of being hunted down by the criminals.

The extent to which the storyline is typical of the genre of the film (action) is clear to be seen. There are many typical conventions that are usually seen in an action film which is what makes the storyline is intriguing to the viewer. After finding Dean's business card on Zavitz's body, the agents visit Dean posing as detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia. Unaware that Zavitz gave him the video, Dean tells them he has no knowledge of their allegations that he was passed "sensitive materials," denying them access to his bags without a warrant. Dean then tries to find these materials, but unbeknownst to him, his son had already removed the device from his shopping bags. These materials, but unbeknownst to him, his son had already removed the device from his shopping bags.

The extent to which sound is typical of the genre the way in which sound is used in the film is quite typical of an action film to a certain extent. Diegetic sound is used in the film many times and one example is through the use of guns which can be heard during many occasions. You would expect to hear this in an action film and it helps the audience to recognise what sort of film it is. Non diegetic sound is also used in the film through the use of speech. A quotation from the film which shows that it is an action film is used by Dean who says “I'm sick of this; you either shoot me, or tell me what the fuck is going on!” This illustrates that it is an action film because he is talking about being shot and this is something you would usually associate with an action film.

The cinematography is typical of an action film to a certain extent. There are many long shots used within the film to show what is happening within the film and what is happening. There are also many close ups used to portray the facial expressions that the characters use (especially Dean) as he seems confused and worried most of the time. There are also many high angle shots used. This is done to show that Dean is being followed and observed as he possess an important government tape, it is an affective way of showing that he is being followed constantly. The editing that is used is very fast-paced and this is stereotypical of an action film and to show that many things are taking place at once and many straight cuts are used.