Gravity case study

Narrative:• Dr. Ryan Stone is a medical engineer on her first

shuttle mission. Her commander is veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky, helming his last flight before retirement. Then, during a routine space walk by the pair, disaster strikes: The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Ryan and Matt stranded in deep space with no link to Earth and no hope of rescue. As fear turns to panic, they realize that the only way home may be to venture further into space. When venturing into space the sweltering heat and her lack of oxygen is causing a lot of issues.

Representation/Audience:• In this film the main character is a woman, Dr Ryan Stone, and she is the person who ‘saves the day’

this is a unusual representation of women as usually they aren’t the heroes. However she wouldn’t have been able to save the day without the help of her commander Matt Kowalsky and he died for her. At some stages Dr Ryan Stone was really vulnerable which is a more typical representation of woman.

• The audience for this film would be typically a male as it is a science fiction film, set in space with people on a mission. This kind of story line appeals to males as they enjoy seeing the different possibilities of space and asking the what if? However due to the man character being a woman more women would watch the film as they like seeing women being heroic and having power.

Institution:• Company: Warner Bros• $55,785,112 (USA) (6 October 2013) (3,575 Screens)• £6,238,375 (UK) (10 November 2013) (539 Screens)• George Clooney-Matt Kowalski • Sandra Bullock-Ryan Stone

Todorovs theory:• Equilibrium: When she is a medical engineer at the start before going

on the mission.• At the beginning Disequilibrium: When the debris from a Russian

missile strike on a satellite has caused a chain reaction, destroying other satellites, and a huge debris field is heading right at them causing their space shuttle to get destroyed.• There isn’t really a new equilibrium, it ends with her managing to get

back to earth after her commander helping her before letting himself die so she can live.

Props theory:• The hero- Dr Ryan Stone.• The villain- The debris destroying the shuttle.• Donor/Dispatcher/Helper- Commander Matt Kowalsky.• Princess- Earth, they are trying to get home and the capsule they are

trying to save.