Boogie Night Questions

How does the narrative engage the audience?

The narrative engages the audience through theories such as Todorovs, which plays with the audiences expectations of equilibrium and disequilibrium, in the opening scene we are shown a relaxed and fun club and from the basic outline of the film we know that something big is going to happen due to the nature of the film plot. The use of the enigma code is shown through the opening scene when the “roller girl” speaks to another women about “whether she rang that women” and that soon “she’ll never be able to see her”, this gives the audience a teaser into some of the situations that may arise. According to Propp’s theory we can see that the woman out with her partner appears to be a bit of a villain, her nature is quite strong and she holds a lot of power, whether this is good or bad we don’t know yet, the princess has not been shown explicitly yet and the Hero is most likely going to be the young boy shown at the end who has a friendly and underappreciated quality. Also the music tells us that it’s a 70s movie mainly because it’s used in the clubs at that time and the camera angles are going to engage the audience because the opening scene has been filmed in one take with the camera moving fluidly around the people so this may indicate the level of skill to the film but also that is a different approach to a lot of other films so people will believe this is going to be unusual.

How are women represented in the opening of Boogie Nights?

Women who are of a higher class and are married to rich or successful men are represented to be able to have slightly more independence and be able to go out with them to clubs and parties, however a higher percentage of women in middle or working class are represented to not have this ability and are working at such clubs. Most women at this time did not have equality to men because of this they were often seen as possessions and associated with sex, men are shown to touch the women who work in the club and many of them do not have a problem with this as it was the norm at this time. Also many women in the lower classes were still inferior to women in the higher classes despite equality between men and women, women are represented to take advantage of any influence and power that they may have over men or women, this is shown by the woman at the start when a man gives her a compliment she appears to not feel affected by this, almost as if she’s too good for needing the compliment, she understands where she stands in society and uses it to her advantage.