This document discusses genre analysis and auteur theory in film. It analyzes the 2008 action film Quantum of Solace and how it adheres to genre conventions through props, editing, and portrayals of gender and wealth. In contrast, Leon breaks conventions by featuring an unconventional male protagonist and a 12-year-old female lead. The document argues the director of Leon, Luc Besson, is an auteur for giving the film a unique style. It also discusses Quentin Tarantino as an auteur for films like Pulp Fiction that break conventions through nonlinear storytelling while still including some genre codes and conventions.

1. There are many different ways that you can analyse a film, different techniques work better
for different people. The different techniques I have chosen to talk about in this essay are
Genre Analysis and Auteur Theory. Genre analysis situates texts within textual and social
contexts, underlining the social nature of the production and reading of texts and Auteur
Theory is when a director of a film also writes the film with one specific idea in mind, these
films tend to break conventions of normal films. There are seven key areas when it comes to
Genre Analysis; they are codes and conventions, setting, character, themes, narrative,
iconography and the ideological message.
There are a large number of genres and a film that I have looked at is the 2008 action film
Quantum of Solace, a direct sequel to Casino Royale. This film sticks to the code and
conventions of actions films with the props, things such as guns, fast cars and also the way
that characters are portrayed. The men in these films are mostly dressed in branded suits
and are seen to be rich and successful, in this film, like many other action films, women are
objectified and seen wearing very little clothing and used as sex objects. Women are often
portrayed as victims in action movies.
The genre can also be guessed from the way that the film has been edited, as in all action
films the editing is all fast paced and a lot of wide angled establishing shots have been used
so that you can see where the film is set and also all the action that is going on in the scene.
You are always fully aware on what is going on in each scene.
Lots of iconography from the UK can be seen in this film, and example is the cars, Aston
Martins feature a lot in this film as the main car that the characters in this film use and they
are iconic of British Dominance. Characters clothes and drinks in this film are always
branded; this is to show off their wealth, this again emphasises the power of males in action
movies in contrast to the negative portrayal of women.
However, another action film that I have looked at that breaks the usual codes and
conventions of this genre is the film Leon. This film tells the story of a young girl whose
whole family is killed by the man who her father was storing drugs for. The loss of her little
brother nearly makes Mathilda fall apart, until she finds out about her neighbours unusual
job, killing. She seeks his help in getting revenge on the man who took her brother’s life
away from her. Leon and the 12 year old girl now go up against a corrupt police officer, who
will do anything to get rid of that last living eye witness to his crimes, hopefully without
losing each other.
The first thing about this film that breaks the codes and conventions displayed in James
Bond in Quantum of Solace is the main protagonist, for example his clothes are a big
comparison, the main character in James bond is seen to be an attractive male who wears a
branded suit where as in Leon the main character isn’t what you would call attractive and
wears baggy clothes and glasses that cover his face. Also the females in action movies are

2. usually seen to be beautiful and wanted by all men but the main female in Leon is a 12 year
old girl, this would defiantly not be seen in a James Bond film. I think that this is what makes
Luc Besson, the director of Leon, an auteur. I think this based on the fact that his film is very
different and has its own unique style; this makes it stand out from other actions movies.
Luc Besson was the main creator of the film as he wrote the screenplay; this also makes him
an auteur. A technique used by auteur directors is to keep some of the themes used in films
of the same genre and although there is a lot of noticeable differences in Quantum of Solace
and Leon there are also some similarities such as; the use of guns in the film and how the
film is edited using wide angle shots and how it is all fast paced.
Another example of an auteur director that I quite like is Quentin Tarantino, he specialises
more in Crime, Action and War based films. Quentin Tarantino is an American film director,
screen writer, producer and actor, his films are characterised by non-linear narratives. One
film that he has done is Pulp Fiction, a Crime/Thriller produced in 1994. The story is of two
hit men Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L Jackson), a femme fetale
Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman), a boxer who goes by the name of butch (Bruce Willis) and two
diner bandits Ringo and Yolanda, played by Tim Roth and Amanda Pulmer, whose lives all
cross paths within the film. I believe that Quentin Tarantino and the others that wrote Pulp
Fiction wanted the media to criticise the film, I think this because all the criticised aspects of
the film are exaggerated, for instance how the scenes constantly jump from one to another
with no explanation why, also the fact that they have mixed up different genres comedy,
tragedy, crime and action for instance. This is another technique that makes Tarantino an
Auteur director. All of his films hold an unique style and regularly break the codes and
conventions of films of the same genre, but they do share some of the stereotypical codes
and conventions such as; the two main characters in Pulp Fiction both wear back suits, the
type of clothes that gangstas are seen to wear in films of the action genre. The props
included are also similar, drugs and guns are typically used in films from this genre. The
settings in the film are also similar, the outdoors is all urban land and houses used are big
and stylish suggesting that they are rich.