Captain Fantastic - spectator responses

• Captain Fantastic and Inception, both employ techniques to try and create emotional responses. In Captain Fantastic some spectators will be emotionally affected by this film because of who they are, how the film is consumed - in a cinema or at home - or whether they are alone or have company. In the opening scene some spectators could feel anger and disapproval towards the eldest son (Bo) when he brutally kills the stag, this could be due to spectators life choices such as being a vegetarian and so killing any animal to them is seen as inhumane, which would create anger. The use of no sound in this scene creates a more realistic picture of how they hunt for food and how they live isolated from society, which could make the spectators feel more strongly about their emotion. Also in Captain Fantastic some spectators could feel agreement when the children are cremating their mother, spectators could feel this because they are obeying her wishes of being cremated, also the use of diegetic music, which the children are creating could create joy for the spectators because although she has died the children are all happy and optimistic, but some other spectators may feel sympathy for them because of this, or empathy if the spectator has experienced a loss. In Inception some spectators might feel shock and sympathy in the scene when Mal commits suicide by jumping off the window ledge. The spectators could feel this by the mise-en-scene, which includes the performance of Cobb when she does jump as he gives a realistic reaction of what losing someone would be like, because of the realistic depiction this could heighten the spectators emotions. Also the placement of Cobb and Mal creates enough space between them so that Cobb can't save her which could make the spectator feel more sympathetic towards him because he couldn't save her in time. Also the end scene of Inception is left open-ended, this is when Cobb returns back home and sees his children and his totem is still spinning, which could mean that he is still in a dream but the spectators are unaware because the close up of the totem doesn't show whether it stops or not before it cuts to a black screen. This could make the spectators feel joy because he is back with his children but also anger because it may be a dream and they are unaware of the ending

• The factors that affect how different spectators might respond to certain elements of the films are; their age - this could affect them because a younger spectator might not understand the aspect of mental illness shown in Captain Fantastic but also may be uneducated about suicide as well which is shown in both films. Gender may also affect their response because both Inception and Captain fantastic show flawed masculinity, which to spectators who aren't female, might not relate to and so possibly won't have a stronger response than male spectators. Other factors that can affect the way spectators respond is how the film is consumed - whether it is at home, where you are comfortable and possibly be distracted by other things surrounding you so could be disconnected from the film whereas in a cinema the surround sound and big screen makes you more fixated on the screen because you can't be distracted by other things so may have a stronger connection when watching the film leading to a differed emotional response than watching it at home. Also whether you watch a film alone or in company can affect the spectators response because when in company they can be easily distracted and so aren't concentrating but when watching the film alone they may feel more tension because they aren't distracted by others. In Captain fantastic the spectators social and cultural beliefs might affect their response because if the spectators disagree with capitalists views within society they may relate more to Ben and the way he is bringing up his children away from today's society whereas those who agree with capitalists views may reject Ben's ideas of being isolated from society. In Inception the spectators social and cultural beliefs might also affect their response when watching this film dependent on whether they agree with the capitalist views or not if they themselves are a capitalist or hold capitalist views then they would disagree with the idea of ruining someones business purely to benefit those who aren't whereas non-capitalists would agree with Cobb and his job to take apart Fischer's business. The spectators personal experiences may affect the way the respond to both films, in Captain Fantastic the spectators who have maybe lost a family member to suicide or a mental illness or suffers from this themselves might have a stronger response to this film whereas the spectators who haven't will not be able to have a stronger response when watching the film, also in Inception the spectators who have may have a stronger response of sympathy when Mal dies if they have lost someone themselves whereas someone who hasn't experienced this won't have a stronger connection.