Introduction
Hi it's Maddie again, and
this time I've been asked to do a video talking about the relationship between
Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium and it's target audience. Ien Ang and John
Hartley said that before making a media product it was necessary to know who
your audience was so the film could be catered to them- invisible fiction and
imaginary entities should be created before the film. The target audience of my
film is family orientated as it is majorly for young children but the parents
taking them have been kept in mind throughout the development. It should
be a relatively even spread of female and male viewers but I created an
audience profile of a 5 year old girl called Alicia that the film would be
targeting.
I decided that there would
be a relatively even spread of genders watching the film, although there may be
slightly more females (54% girls, 46% boys). I created an imaginary entity to represent this age and gender: Alicia
is a 5 year old girl still under the firm belief that a giant rabbit
visits every Easter and Santa zips down their chimney every Christmas. She
has what she considers the world’s largest collection of action figures and
Bratz dolls (in reality she's just the only one with more than 10 on her
street), of which her favourite is a miniature replica of Arnold Schwarzenegger
from the Terminator franchise. Her and her brother have a tendency to argue
over what belongs to whom in their collection, but when she pulls out the
waterworks her parents are suddenly in no doubt of who is the
true proprietor. Together, the four of them live in a homely bungalow in
Yorkshire.
My first
clip introduces us to Molly; the stories protagonist. She may be
considered a 'star persona' (Richard Dyer 1972) as the children watching
probably will have seen her before in the later Star Wars trilogy. Portman may
also appeal to girls watching as she is denoted as being a strong female
character and could be considered an 'ideal self' to them (Carl Rogers
1980) when they are at such an
impressionable age. By being influential she challenges Berger's concept of
men acting and women appearing. This scene connotes a fairy
tale 'once upon a time' beginning to the story as it is shown in chapters
with Eric the child monologuing over the top, showing a fluency in the
progression of children's books which the audience will be familiar with.
In this scene children are
denoted playing with numerous toys around the emporium. This connects with the
target audience as the majority of girls this age love toys- lots of
girls are denoted throughout the scene playing games. Their playful
attitude connotes the magic that children see upon entering a toy store,
stereotypically females enjoy playing dress up and this is denoted by a blonde
child within the scene, thus appealing to their hobbies. There is comedic value
in the binary opposition of the young and the old denoted in the clip, even if
Mr Magorium is actually the one representing the younger generation as he is a
child at heart.
The female viewers will
once again find a kindred spirit in Molly's friendly attitude denoted on
screen- she is not a stereotypical girl in her sense of dress and wears
'tomboyish', un-sexualized clothing which young girls will be able to
relate to more than the provocative women that are often depicted. This is the
scene in which the audience first meets Mr Magorium and he is denoted as being
spectacularly bizarre with an apartment to match his personality. Carl Rogers
(1980) believed that within films there were characters that the audience would
see as an 'ideal self' and characters they would see as an 'ideal partner’. Mr
Magorium would probably be viewed as an ideal self for the audience, because
what kid doesn't want to grow up to be a toy store owner?
There's a stigma that
stereotypically girls are interested in shoes which is why this scene may
appeal to them as it focuses on the discussion of shoes- but this
stereotype is challenged as Mr Magorium is the one talking about the importance
of them. There are more men in this film than females predominantly (there
are four main characters and three of these are men), these characters
will influence the boys watching to act or speak a certain way as
children are impressionable and these characters have jobs that they would
ideally strive for at such a young age. Dustin Hoffman played Hook in the
Peter Pan sequel, acting as a 'star persona' as these children may recognise
him.
Stereotypically there are
different toys for each gender, although these stereotypes overlap multiple
times throughout the trailer, showing children of different genders playing
with the same toys. The music in the trailer will probably appeal to the target
audience as it is likely they will have heard the songs before. As well as this
they will know the famous actors/actresses from Star Wars (Natalie Portman) and
Hook (Dustin Hoffman), both films
suitable for their age group in which they would’ve appealed to the characters they
play before.
Age
Eric and most of the side
cast are children which will mean the young audience will connect more to the
characters as they have similar attitudes and hobbies. The struggles he
faces throughout the film will be similar to the kind the viewers struggle
with; he is an outcast and viewers may either see themselves or their past
selves in him. Molly is introduced in this scene, she is more relatable to the
parents watching the movie as she is an adult that has stopped believing
in herself- binary opposition is shown between the age groups here as Eric
cannot understand why she has lost this faith. Her loss of faith may connote
that this is how most adults end up growing up and the way life changes.
There's a lot of silly
humour throughout the film that will appeal to that of young people. Mr
Magorium dialogue at the end of the clip (bouncy ball room scene) is a joke
that will mirror the sense of humour of the watching children, connoting his
childish nature and making them like his character. The scene in which Henry and
Eric play-pretend will be very amusing to the watching children-
stereotypically they enjoy watching adults do silly things (Denoted is Henry
pretending to be a Jester whilst putting on a silly voice). Children have all
played pretend so they will see pieces of their own imagination reflected in
the discussion of 'what to do about the dragon'. This scene bridges the chasm
between the young and the adult as usually there would be some binary
opposition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVTPetDiJ-c
It's essentially a fact
that children love toys as they allow
them the freedom to express themselves and create their own worlds- Mr
Magorium’s Wonder Emporium is devoted to toys. In this scene hundreds of kids the
ages of the target audience are denoted running around the emporium trying out
different games. The scene denotes a puppet moving by itself and a 'fresh fish
mobile', connoting that they are magical as there is no other explanation in
the children's eyes. Kids are taught to believe in magic from a young age
as they are impressionable, to the ones watching this film the emporium will be
a wonderland they desire to exist. Realistically, their should be some binary
opposition of genders appearing in this scene as children are shoe-horned into
stereotypes of what toys they should play with to fit their gender, but
multiple genders are denoted playing with toys in the scene. This may influence the children watching to
believe that it is acceptable to play with any toys they chose and not to judge
others for stepping out their stereotypes and have an affect on their maturity.
Mr Magorium and Molly
present ideal selves (Carl Rogers 1980) to the children: Mr Magorium
is an ideal self because he runs a toy store and Molly is an ideal self because
she is a strong female character. The scene in which Molly and Mr Magorium
go to a bed store and jump on the beds is something most of the viewers either
will have done or will still want to do (child or adult). This film is made up
of children desires and this scene is no exception. Denoted is them jumping
against a backdrop of blue wallpaper with clouds along it, connoting the sense
of freedom in what they are doing in having such a childish abandon in the
consequences of their actions. The watchers (old and young) will begin to view
these characters as ideal selves for their future as they are doing what they
like and not being held back by their ages, thus influencing the adults to allow themselves times to have fun in
their lives and act as children do.
The film is broken up into
chapters that convey the current narrative stage (Todorov 1977). The
manner Eric begins the story is denoted being very 'once upon a time' styled
which will appeal to the viewers as this is something they're familiar with.
This keeps the audience well informed of what is going on, as children cannot
be expected to follow a complicated story line.
Lifestyle
The NRS (National
readership survey) are an organisation that specialise in demographic
information by doing audience research for institutions. They create a
demographic by doing surveys/questionnaires and analysing the results.
My audience fit into the lifestyle category of 'settled suburban's, meaning
they are settled with a family so would be going to see this film together with
their children.
A suburban family would
relate to this film for multiple reasons. For instance there are toys in
the film, being a suburban family they will buy a lot of toys for
their children and the younger members of the family will be able to relate to
playing the games seen on screen- they will buy a lot of the latest toys and also may have a console for video games. To be able to buy these toys they would have to live in fairly nice accommodation such as a semi-detached house where the kids would be liable to play with other children that lived close to them. Settled suburbans would go on holiday to locations like Disney Land to entertain their kids as well as paying for adventurous weekend activities for them in order to keep them busy e.g. scouts and brownies.
Secondly, the ages of the characters in the film reflect the personalities of viewers- Molly and Henry are the adults whereas Eric is the child. Molly and Henry are shown having struggled after growing up and either no longer believing in themselves or stuck trying to be mature constantly. The adults in the audience may relate to their problems and learn a valuable moral lesson from the film, the type of family I imagine seeing this film would be one that has little time to do anything else outside work except occasionally watch TV, because of this they could understand the struggle Molly and Henry are facing. Eric does not understand why the adults are facing these problems which provokes binary opposition between the ages. Whilst its a light-hearted and family friendly film it does touch on mature themes as well like death and the loss of childhood. Children will probably be oblivious to a lot of the darker themes, as they are too young to understand; instead it's like an extra addition to the film that will resonate with parents. There are also multiple star personas in the film (Natalie Portman and Dustin Hoffman), that each viewer will recognise for different reasons- children will recognise Hoffman because of Hook and adults will recognise him because of films such as Rain man. Adults will know Portman from V for Vendetta whereas children will know her because of Star wars- seeing these actors in the adverts will influence them to see the film as they are familiar with them.
Secondly, the ages of the characters in the film reflect the personalities of viewers- Molly and Henry are the adults whereas Eric is the child. Molly and Henry are shown having struggled after growing up and either no longer believing in themselves or stuck trying to be mature constantly. The adults in the audience may relate to their problems and learn a valuable moral lesson from the film, the type of family I imagine seeing this film would be one that has little time to do anything else outside work except occasionally watch TV, because of this they could understand the struggle Molly and Henry are facing. Eric does not understand why the adults are facing these problems which provokes binary opposition between the ages. Whilst its a light-hearted and family friendly film it does touch on mature themes as well like death and the loss of childhood. Children will probably be oblivious to a lot of the darker themes, as they are too young to understand; instead it's like an extra addition to the film that will resonate with parents. There are also multiple star personas in the film (Natalie Portman and Dustin Hoffman), that each viewer will recognise for different reasons- children will recognise Hoffman because of Hook and adults will recognise him because of films such as Rain man. Adults will know Portman from V for Vendetta whereas children will know her because of Star wars- seeing these actors in the adverts will influence them to see the film as they are familiar with them.
Spending power
The spending power of an
audience is often called their 'social grade' definition and is both well
established and widely used. ABC1 is common when it comes to targeting an
audience as they have a lot of disposable income (lots of money to spend/throw
away). I believe that the people watching my movie will be middle class/lower
middle class. This is for reasons such as the fact that this class will likely have a
family and a relatively good income; going to the cinema to see a film would be
a regular outing to keep their children content at a younger age. Both parents would likely have ordinary middle class jobs to support their lifestyle, e.g. the mother might be a nurse and the father a builder. There will be
a lot of merchandise from the film such as posters the parents can afford to
put in the children's rooms or the purchasing the DVD when it comes out to
rewatch- as they are of a higher band they can buy more for their children. A
lot of toys are also advertised in the film which the younger viewers will
probably want to buy afterwards as this is stereotypically a child's main
hobby. The film itself uses a lot of CGI (children are now digital natives as they are growing up in a world with so many
devices) which will appeal to the ABC1 band as it creates spectacle for the
viewers and improves the quality of the film so it is worth spending more money
on and creating escapism. It is likely the children will be influenced by the
characters in the film and may see some of them as an ideal self, for instance
Molly as she is a strong female character, because of this they will buy into
her personality and try to become more like her. They may do this by dressing
more like her in tomboyish clothes and their parents will be the ones funding
their new clothes.
Uses and
gratifications
Denis McQuail (1972)
believed there were four reasons that people consumed media products-
surveillance, escapism, building personal identity and building personal
relationships. Mr Magorium's wonder emporium incorporates escapism and building
personal relationships. Escapism is used in the film as the audience becomes
submerged in the fictional diegesis and momentarily forget their daily lives. A
fantastical world of magic within the emporium is created which children will
appeal to because of its fantastical nature and become lost in as they desire
for it to be real. The film also follows a relatively simple story line so
anyone can easily understand the plot and be lost in it for a little while
(it's just about the toy store being upset because Mr Magorium has left and
losing it's magic). The film can also be used to build personal relationships
as it leaves a lot to be discussed by viewers. Most of the movie is made up of
CGI as that is the only way to make it appear as though there is actually magic
happening in the emporium; the effects create spectacle for the audience which
can be discussed after the film. Mr Magorium's wonder emporium also makes
interesting moral points for adults to derive from the film, lessons such as you
are never too old to be a child or you should never stop believing in yourself
the way you do as a kid. These plot points leave discussions to be had on the
effect these morals may have had on the viewer.
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