Unit 1 Essay

How do narrative theories relate to a media product you have studied?

At the start of the film we can see Mise En Scene elements such as lighting when Hawkeye is with his family, the colour contrast is bright and the lighting is also bright, suggesting a warm and happy family environment. When we see Ronin later on in the film however, there is a very dark and gloomy atmosphere with darker lighting and blurrier colours. The opening scene of Avengers: Endgame shows Hawkeye's family being taken in the universe-wide tragedy named 'The Blip.' We see Hawkeye break down with distraught and anguish as his most loved ones are taken from him. This is set up to be a sad origin story for the character as later on in the middle of the film, we return to back to Hawkeye, but not as we know him. He know goes by the name 'Ronin' and has taken up being a worldwide assassin. We see the emotional damage that has occurred over the years of his family's death and how this has developed his character. He is found by the Avengers and convinced to help them on they're mission to reverse the blip, with hopes to get his family back. As Ronin spends more time with the Avengers, we see him acting more like how he used to before his loss, showing more character development. When the avengers reverse the blip towards the end of the film, Ronin receives a call from his family causing him to show happy emotions for the first time in 5 years. This character arc relates to Tzvetan Todorov theory as we see a clear beginning, middle and end. In the beginning of the film everything Hawkeye cares about is taken from him, in the middle we see the damage this has had on him and finally in the end we see how he recovers from this with the return of his loved ones.

Avengers: Endgame can be linked to Strauss's theory as there are clear protagonists and antagonists made obvious to the audience throughout. The protagonists being the Avengers and antagonists being Thanos's Black Order and his army. The two different sides are constantly going at each other throughout the film providing both action and narrative development. There are several occasions where these two sides meet, for example on the Avengers Campus grounds at the end of the film. Having a protagonist and antagonist allows for an interesting narrative and relationships between the different characters. We can see that the location is quite dark and destroyed and in a wasteland showing the lighting and location elements.