Research

Intertextuality

Intertextuality refers to the similarities between films. While watching a movie audiences may recognise certain aspects from another movie. This is because films borrow certain things from each other such as;

• Certain camera shot/angles
• aspects from the mise en scene from a film
• certain recognisable sounds/music
• or the method of editing could be similar

In class we watched the classical shower scene from Psycho and then watched four other clips and took down all the different things that had been borrowed from it.

The first movie we had to watch and take notes for was a scene from 'What lies beneath'

In this scene the man has drugged his wife with a paralysing drug and is planning on setting up/framing her suicide by drowning her in the bath tub.

Some of the aspects that was taken from Psycho;

• The shower head was the same
• The white slightly cloudy shower curtain was the same
• The bath tub was the same
• The fact that their was a female victim in the bath tub was the same
• The sound of the shower running was the same

We then watched 'Fatal attraction' and took down the similarities

The husband is downstairs making a tea while the wife is in the bathroom setting herself a bath. The mistress comes in and tries to kill the wife however is unsuccessful because the husband eventually hears and comes to her rescue and holds off the mistress. The wife eventually comes back on scene and shoots the mistress where the scene comes to an end.

Some of the aspects taken from Psycho are;

• The knife is the same as the one used by the killer in Psycho
• The white tile background of the bathroom was the same
• The white slightly cloudy shower curtain was the same
• The all white bathrobe was the same
• The shot of the female victim sliding down the white tiles was the same
• The close up shot of just the arm was similar

The third movie we watched was 'The stepfather' 8.27mins-9.28mins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omb4ZLdfReA&feature=related

This scene was about a serial killer called David chasing his wife up the stairs in an attempt to kill her. They reach the bathroom where the wife shuts and locks the door locking David out. David is attempting to kick down the door to get to the wife and is over heard by her son who is downstairs attending to his wounded girlfriend. Eventually he breaks his way in to the bathroom and approaches his wife with the knife however the wife gets their first and stabs him in the neck with the broken piece of mirror.

Some of the aspects taken from Psycho are;

• The white tile walls are the same
• The bath is the same
• The shot of the curtain being pulled down is the same
• The white cloudy curtain is the same