Sarah Daniels

Kick Ass Representation Essay

Kick Ass (2010) is directed by Matthew Vaughn. It focuses mainly on young Americans and the comic book/superhero culture. The main characters are Dave Lizewski (Kick Ass), Damon and Mindy Macready (Big Daddy and Hit Girl), Chris D’Amico (Red Mist) and the D’Amico gang. Their interest in existing comics and the irony of how the stories differ from the characters experiences are referenced through out the film, with comments such as “with no power comes no responsibilities” from Dave, a Spiderman reference, and when Mindy says “You just contact the mayor's office. He has a special signal he shines in the sky; it's in the shape of a giant cock”, which relates to Batman. Big Daddy’s character also has a huge influence from Batman as the costume is very similar and he speaks like Adam West used to.

Using Levi-Strauss’ theory Dave is clearly the hero of the story. He is a young boy with a dream of being a superhero so he takes to the street trying to stop crime, which is a very selfless act. When he is first attacked and hit by a car we see that he still doesn’t give up which reflects that he is a dedicated character. After this attack he is left technically disabled, as he has ruined his nerve endings and cant feel pain. Instead of being treated differently because of this his injuries are accepted and thought cool. Even Dave thinks they are cool as he likens him self to Wolverine. As a young teenage boy we see many stereotypes in his character. At school he and his friends are outcasts and very uncool, however as they walk around the school Dave stands in the center almost leading them. Also he and his friends are obsession with girls. When in class he stares at his teacher’s breasts and then fantasizes about her, which shows that he has a good imagination so we understand why he fantasizes about being a superhero. However when he actually likes a girl at his school, Katie Dauxma, he pretends to be gay. When he does this he plays upon the stereotype of a gay person, so he acts as almost an agony aunt for her and she describes him a her ‘gay best friend. Katie, who is the princess in the story as Dave earns her love with his bravery, asks as though when Dave is gay he is just another girl and allows him to give her a tan and makes him watch things like Ugly Betty. This representation of gay people is used to add comic effect to Dave’s character as we see him crash and burn trying to get a girl. His family is working class and we can see this from their house. They live a small suburban street with lots of little house. In the rooms we see in his house it is furnished modestly and reflects the idea that they are not an exciting family just Dave has an exciting dream. Dave’s character is very trusting of the other superheroes especially the character Red Mist, and almost seems jealous because Kick Ass was the first superhero and now Red Mist has come along and done it better than him.

Damon and Mindy are binary opposite characters; they contrast their violence with the innocence of Mindy’s age. Her age is often played on as a joke in the film we first see her getting shot and after she insist on going bowling and to get ice cream, which is a very stereotypical think for a child to want. However when asked what she wants for her birthday she sarcastically says she wants a puppy and a doll, to he fathers disgust. Then she says that she actually wants knives, which is very inappropriate

Sarah Daniels

although we understand it more when we see their house. Through out the film Mindy uses words such as ‘fuck’ and ‘cunt’ which caused great outrage as it is unacceptable in society to use those words, especially if your 11. Damon’s character however is shown to be very boring. In real life he is almost like her sidekick as she is the one who seems most in control of their family. Although this does change when they become Big Daddy and Hit Girl, which we can clearly see when they go to help Kick Ass at a drug den and Big Daddy saves Hit Girl and then tells her off for exposing herself to danger by turning her back. But throughout the film we see that Damon and Mindy really love each other, even though he has corrupted her mind with his obsessive vengeance against the D’Amico family and his over the top form of vigilantly justice. The weapons Damon has are very excessive and displayed on the walls with extreme precision, which might suggest he has the mental disorder OCD. This can also be seen in his obsession and detailed planning into taking down the D’Amico’s. We do not see Damon working which suggests that they get all their money and guns from stealing. When Mindy avenges her father’s death we see how much she really loves him, as she risks her life to finish his plan to kill the D’Amico.

Chris D’Amico is the son of the gangster in town and we can tell he is the false hero in the story as he befriend Kick Ass but then double crosses him and shoots Hit Girl. He is very rich and he has every he wants given to him. When Dave approaches him in the comic book store his bodyguard protects him and gets rid of Dave. This shows that, as Dave and his friends observed, he is very lonely and obviously doesn’t have or want any friends. However we do see that all he wants is to be close to his dad, which we see when he goes to the cinema and is upset his dad made him wait. We also see that his dad is his idol and he aspires to be like him and work in the family business. In one scene he sits at his fathers desk with a gun and speaks as though he is instructing his men to do his work. When Chris is Red Mist he asks his dad for a list of things, which reflects that he uses his father’s money to better his life, like any stereotypical rich teen he is spoilt. This suggests to us that his father thinks it would be easier to buy his son loves than earn it like Chris wants.

Frank D’Amico, Chris’s father, is a drug boron and sells cocaine although they hide it with a timber yard business. The D’Amico gang is a very stereotypical Italian-American gangsters. They have expendable men in their command who are all smart, wearing suits and they are very violent, each one with at least one gin. They are clearly upper class as their home is very extravagant. They have marble floors, a doorman, wood panel walls and a library. This shows how much money they have and how they want to live in luxury like other gang films show. There is a binary opposite gang, Rasul’s, who are involved in the D’Amico cocaine business. Kick Ass visits them to stand up for Katie. They are a less traditional stereotype of a gang. They are very rich and have money lying around and even though they have a horrible little apartment they have extravagant things like huge TVs. This shows that they are more interested in have items that being posh and extravagant like the D’Amico’s. They are a typical drug dealers in their drug den, with stoners and whores. However they do share similarities with the D’Amico’s, Rasul is very confrontation and they have a large amount of weapons.

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The music used is mainly non-diergetic. At the beginning Dave narrates the scene and music is playing, this music is a very stereotypical song for a superhero film as it is very triumphant. This is then repeated throughout the film at pinnacle moments. In actions moments modern music is used, such as the Prodigy, which builds tension as the song is very fast passed and has a lot of beats. This music being used relates the film to what socially cool and will be understood by the films target audience. Also relating to what is socially cool there are many references to things such as YouTube and MySpace, which will also appeal to the young target audience.