A Level Media Studies: How global is the appeal of your three main texts? 30 mark essay

 Write ‘How global is the appeal of your three main texts? [30]’ for Film.

If a text has global appeal, it has qualities that make audiences from different worldwide cultures like it. Each of the three films have varying degrees of global appeal however their respective box offices figures are a telling sign of the extent of this. Gravity was the most successful in this field, followed by The World’s End and finally The Machine.

Gravity achieves great global appeal in a number of ways, and an example is use of star theory. The film boasts Sandra Bullock who is a successful actress who has won a number of awards and an Oscar. It can therefore be argued that she gives the film a sense of global appeal because she is one of the world’s most famous actresses and has been in a number of films that have been successful at the box office, both domestically and internationally. Gravity also has a narrative which is centred around a theme that is universal: the fascination of space. The film uses special effects to create a truly unique and places the audience in a scene that feels realistic, for example, the use of a special light box to mimic that of the sun. Space is not unique to a single culture or country so it has universal appeal which furthers Gravity’s reach. Films of the sci-fi genre are popular with audiences because they satisfy the audience’s need for diversion and escapism (Blumler and Katz uses and gratifications).  Gravity also has heavy marketing across the globe which increased awareness of the film to different parts of the world. Whether it be through their Facebook and Twitter pages or through having the main stars (Sandra Bullock and George Clooney) take part in interviews, or even through the attendance and premiering of the film at film festivals. Events like these raise the profile of the film and allow for it to branch outwards to wider communities past the target audience and demographic. Ultimately, Gravity is a film that is for a mass audience which goes hand in hand with having global appeal as its job is to target the largest collective of people. Therefore the appeal of Gravity is very global because of all these factors coming together to heighten the world’s awareness of the film’s release and also highlight the themes that attract a mass audience due to their universal appeal.

The World’s End perhaps has more limited global appeal compared to Gravity. It does use star theory in a similar way through Simon Pegg – a star who is widely known both in the UK and across the pond in the USA, however his recognition probably stops there. This makes the film more global in the sense that it appeals to audiences beyond a British one, however it is not global in the way that it appeals to countries beyond those in the West. This is because the film focuses largely on uniquely British concerns: pub and lad culture, British nightlife, loss of British identity and the high street and the influence of the US. It is global in the way it explores the theme of growing old and the disappointment of that as the concept isn’t restrained by references to a certain culture which requires in-knowledge. The World’s End is a mass market product nationally but a niche product globally because of this. In terms of marketing, the film was only really promoted in the UK and USA through TV spots and talk show slots. The way it was promoted changed in these locations which reflects the film company trying to tailor the product to attract a wider audience however the success is limited, and therefore global appeal is too. The US saw mainly clips which emphasised the comedy genre which is more global than the British aspects of the film. Overall, The World’s End is global because it was successfully exported abroad from the UK, however it is very limited because the film hinges on British culture and knowledge which means it can only truly appeal to a British audience.

The Machine has very little global appeal. Whilst it does have an American celebrity (Caity Lotz) as the main character, she is only known to a niche audience through her work in Arrow. This does attract an audience however because both texts are sci-fi. The Machine also gains international traction through the use of social media where posters and images were posted which can be shared by the 12,000+ followers on Facebook. This creates a wider reach than the film initially could get and effectively promotes the film to a more mass market. However, The Machine is an independent film with a low budget which means it cannot spend as much money on branching out across the world to raise awareness of the film. It does have certain aspects which have global appeal, like the sci-fi genre and the film conforms to a lot of the conventions associated with the genre which makes it easily recognisable and easy for the audience to enjoy. Despite this, it is difficult to push aside the fact it was barely a success nationally and had little to no place on the global stage.

To conclude, the text with the most global appeal is Gravity. Space is universal above all, and though the Westernised references in the film may alienate audiences from the East, the global appeal is indicated in the languages the DVD can be translated into (which is many). The World’s End recognises itself as a niche to the global market because of how reliant it is on British culture and comedy which reduces the appeal drastically. The Machine limits itself in the sense it is an independent film with a small budget meaning it would always struggle to compete and successfully attract global interest, however it used the tools available to create a national awareness of the film. Films can use a range of techniques to grow the appeal to a more global level and this depends on the budget ultimately, which explains why Gravity had the biggest global appeal and The Machine had the least.