Genre in 'This Is Me'

This short film is mainly comedy, but with a subtle dark side. Using Rick Altman's theory, we can identify the semantic and syntactic codes that defines this film's genre.

Semantic	Syntactic	Sound
Titling – rounded letters, known for comedic purposes, doesn't quite fit with imagery	Breathing and hospital ward – could suggest illness/death	Breathing – harrowing
Mise en scene – hospital bed, motionless body, dark lighting, daunting	Sarcasm – talking about something that has already happened, building up to something	Voice over – humorous accent, sarcastic undertone
Change of lighting – changes mood	Close ups on writing – all link to something, pinpointing, leading up to an event	Music – slow but not monotonous, almost comedic, changes to upbeat cheerful music, positive atmosphere
Amusing graphics – bright colours, entertaining animation	Model plane - words 'the end' engraved, end of his life? Darker undertone	Music cuts off – back to dull atmosphere, sudden stop (shocking?)

Applying Steve Neal's theory to this short film, reveals that the director may have wanted the audience to see the darker side to the comedy. Clearly, through the amusing visuals and music, the darker undertone of illness and death leads the audience to feel uneasy about it. This has been done before, but it still keeps the audience on edge and therefore they won't be bored. A comedy plus something more sinister definitely catches the audience's attention because it's an interesting genre choice.

There isn't a lot in this short film to apply to David Buckingham's theory, but there are still some aspects of it that can. The man is seen in his back garden and it's not very big or luxurious. This suggests that they don't have a lot of money but they can do what they can with what they have. When he's in the hospital, he mentions they now have £10 million in compensation, and the wife spends a lot of it.

This could be classified as new luxury, but the man is in a coma, so it's luxury for the wife. As shown, she doesn't really mind that he's in a coma as she can do what she likes with the money. It also shows that she doesn't think much of spending time with him whilst he's in hospital, when she sets the timer for ten minutes of just sitting next to him and reading a holiday magazine.

This could stereotype the modern woman, but since the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act (SDA), women have been viewed more equally. This is just a common stereotype to make it more amusing.