Inception and Captain Fantastic -Spectatorship

Spectatorship 

 Spectatorship -  is the active response of someone when viewing a film by engaging with it and forming a response whereas an audience of a film is just viewing it passively without engaging or responding.

The factors which affect how spectators respond to the film is ;
- their age, gender, ethnicity
- how the film is consumed whether it is alone or in company, at home or in a cinema
- their personal experiences
- their social, political, cultural beliefs.




1) One element in Inception that might affect the different responses that spectators have is Ariadne's character in the film, because she is represented as one of the most dominant characters this may evoke different responses for spectators. For example, spectators who are older may have a negotiated response to her character as they may believe that stronger females wasn't the norm in a society when they were growing up but they may accept that in today's society there is more equality and freedom for women and are gaining to dominance, because of this the older generation of spectators may still disagree the representation of her character but accept that this is what todays society is like. Also Ariadne's character might evoke a different response if the spectators are feminists, because of this they might have a dominant response when responding to this film because her character is portrayed as the stronger character in comparison to Cobb's character, they would completely agree with the way her character is presented because this reflects today's society.

Another element in Inception that might affect the different responses that spectators have is the theme of Capitalism. This is portrayed negatively in the film because the storyline is the destruction of capitalism by corporate espionage, because of this people from working class backgrounds or people who have no knowledge of what capitalism entails they may not respond in the same way that someone from a more privileged background would because those who understand capitalism or are a capitalist themselves would have an oppositional response when watching this film because they would completely disagree with what Cobb's jobs is and what the film is about. Whereas those who aren't capitalists or aren't aware of the capitalistic society may have a dominant response when watching Inception because they believe that the portrayal of capitalism in the film is bad and so may agree with Cobb's views.


2) One element in Captain Fantastic that might affect the different responses the spectators have is the portrayal of Ben's character. Ben is represented as the stronger character in Captain Fantastic as he is the decision-maker in the film because he controls the lives of his children. Some spectators when watching this film may dislike Ben's character and may have a oppositional response if they are maybe from a younger generation disagree with the way he is bringing up his children. The younger generation of spectators may dislike Ben because he is a father trying to control his children lives by making them grow up isolated, away from society. Also people who perhaps don't have any children may have a negotiated response when responding to Ben's character because although they might disagree with the way he is bringing up his children the spectators won't be able to empathise with Ben because of this factor.

Another element in Captain Fantastic that might affect the different responses that spectators have is how the theme of capitalism is reflected throughout the film. Spectators may have an oppositional when responding to the film if they hold capitalists beliefs, because of Ben's negative portrayal of Capitalism and the effect of a capitalistic society people who are themselves capitalists will perhaps dislike his character because of this. Whereas those who share Ben's beliefs may have a dominant response when responding to this film if they agree with the way he was bringing up his children and also agree with his views of capitalism.