Ill Communication

Pedro Almodovar’s 2006 film Volver is held in high regard as one of his most celebrated works in a long history of beloved films. It tells the story of a woman Raimunda as she struggles to protect and make a life for her and her daughter, all meanwhile being visited by her thought to be dead mother. It is a meditation on death, violence, and the shared bonds of women, specifically mother and daughter, but also sisters, aunts, friends. It is notable for it’s unique subject matter and character focus, as well as it’s loving and understanding portrayal of women from a male director. Almodovar is known for his transgressive and boundary pushing art, and Volver is one of the handful of films he’s made that saw success with a wider English-speaking market. 

The film, as most of Almodovar’s films do, uses color as it’s main source of visual symbolism, and this bleeds into every shot and frame. His color choices are not necessarily consistent, as one color can stand in for many things, but there is no denying that these choices are made with intention and purpose. In this film, the color red seems to be the most important to the storyline. Raimunda often dresses in red, and red colors stand out in many of the shots. There is a sequence of her cleaning her dead husband’s blood off the kitchen floor. In this scene, the blood represents many things that all coalesce and heighten the themes of the film. The husband was violently attempting to rape Raimunda’s daughter Paula, and so the blood represents his violence and twisted sexuality, it also represents death itself and the violence performed on him by Raimunda, it also stands for love and the passion Raimunda has for her daughter, it also stands in for femininity in a lot of ways. 

The films use of red is most applicable to its theme of death, which carries over into its other theme of generational love. The mothers try to protect and teach their daughters, the daughters learn from their mothers and grow up to teach their daughters. This is especially true for the less developed Spanish locales of the movie, where gender roles have not progressed as far as in America. Red (as well as black) have always been used to represent death, but here Almodovar blends death in with all the love and fire of life. It is one’s passion and love and hate all combined into one symbol, which is a single color. 

I think a really important theme of this film that has made it culturally significant for over a decade is the idea of women protecting women. In this film, the men aren’t trustworthy. Many of them are abusive, or liars, or cheaters. While this isn’t applicable across the boards in real life, it’s an idea that many women are unfortunately familiar with. Even as a man myself, I cannot argue that the film’s portrayals are inaccurate to the behaviors I see being perpetuated by men in the real world. This film contains a strong spirit of women looking out for and protecting one another, and I think since it has come out, that message has become especially important and relatable. 

Typography is an integral part of graphic design, and plays a role in many of the most iconic and memorable pieces of marketing. All ads (aside from perhaps hyper minimalist ones) use typography, but meaningful or creative use of text design can elevate a promotional poster to the status of art and pop culture. For our purposes today, I am going to be examining instances from film in specific, but it should be noted that examples of this kind of artistic typography can be seen in any kind of media. The specific examples I have chosen for this exercise are movie posters or title cards that I think help communicate the tone and style of the movie they’re promoting through creative uses of typography. 

The first piece of media I will be looking at is this promotional poster for the 2008 film The Dark Knight. This movie is known for its grim and comparatively mature tone compared to other superhero films. It is also known for the historic inclusion of the insane and unhinged portrayal of the villain The Joker, played with perfect intensity by Heath Ledger. This poster draws attention to both of these important aspects of the film through typography alone. The movie title is in a bold, dramatic impact font, symbolizing the seriousness of the tone and subject matter. The stark white text casts a shadow and it is laid over a shattered version of the iconic bat symbol. The audience can expect darkness and some kind of fracturing as Batman as a person or as a figure. The more interesting use of typography is in the “Why So Serious?” written across the top of the poster. The phrase itself is one of the standout lines from the film, which is said by the Joker in a pivotal scene. What makes the type interesting though, is that it appears to be written in fresh blood. Not only that, but the Joker’s foggy figure can be seen through what seems to be some kind of murky glass. The red of the blood clues us into the violence, passion and rage of the film, and the fact that it is in fact blood does that as well. What is really excellent about this poster is that it is almost interactive. The tagline for the movie isn’t being printed on the poster by the studio, the character from the film is painting the words in blood himself, giving us a foreboding preview of the deranged clown that would stick in America’s minds for decades. 

Next, and on a less intense note, I would like to examine the title card for Wes Anderson’s 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel. The text floats above the titular hotel, it’s golden yellow hues paired beautifully with the pink of the building, the blue of the snowy mountains, and the dark browns of the snowless cliffs. What I find marvelous about the use of typography in this frame is the handcrafted appearance of the letters. They appear to be cut pieces of paper, or wood carved, and the uneven coloring throughout emphasizes this aesthetic decision. Wes Anderson is known for his lovingly handcrafted and composed sets and shots in his films, he is also known for his indie ethos. The Grand Budapest Hotel is almost an encapsulation of all of his endeavors up to the point it was made and features stunningly handcrafted miniature sets for establishing shots. The text design reflects this crafted approach, and the regal font paired with the decorative arch for the word Budapest reflect the film’s high society, elegant setting. It also clues viewers into the frilly and whimsy filled world that Anderson’s films inhabit. 

Last I would like to take a look at the promotional poster for the 2008 rom com 27 Dresses starring Katherine Heigl. The typography in this film poster is very clever, as it manages to take all of the required text for the poster and cram it into a shape to complete the image of the poster. This makes it unique, but it also adds into the theme of the film. The main character has been a bridesmaid 27 times, hence the title, so the text forms a dress for the character in the image, with the title standing out in pink as if it is a bow or embellishment, which helps emphasize the title while adding some style to the “dress”. The words are typed in a playful, hand-written sort of font, which clues you into the lighthearted nature of the film. The combination of white and pink also adds to the sugary sort of appeal of a film of this nature, and the dated use of pink to implicate a female audience is also employed here. 

Gillette: We Believe- The Best a Man Can Be

This advertisement came out at the height of the Me Too movement’s rise in the public conscious. During this time sexual harassment from powerful men was being exposed left and right in the media. In an attempt to jump on the bandwagon, and make an ad that showed some self awareness about how Gillette was advertised in the past. It starts off with men looking in the mirror, while news audio about sexual misconduct plays in the background. It then briefly uses old Gillette footage to call attention to their catch phrase “The best a man can get”. Viewers understand this slogan has been used in the past to propagate harmful gender norms, and the company is showing that they acknowledge this. We are then treated to a barrage of examples of how toxic masculinity is harmful by showing all kinds of stereotypical depictions of “boys being boys”. They have a young boy being cyber-bullied for being a “sissy”, men whistling at an over sexualized Betty Boop style character in a cartoon, rap videos with rampant voyeurism of the female body, sitcoms (which have historically played into gender norms in dangerous ways), a business exec mansplaining what a female employee was saying. If one was part of the public discourse during the time this ad came out, one would understand how relevant all these subjects and issues were. We even get a line of dads at grills saying “boys will be boys” over and over again, which has become sort of a catchphrase of the defense of toxic masculinity. Many men were not a fan of this ad, though, as they thought it’s depictions of men as savage, sexed up douchebags was inaccurate, oversimplified and dramatic. It paints this stereotype of seemingly all or most men as football playing/watching, grill master, daddy-o alpha males. Men who didn’t fit into these stereotypes, which is most men, felt talked down to and insulted, even though they may agree that the traits displayed in the ad are harmful. 

This hideous ad by Nivea depicts a black man holding a version of his head complete with afro and beard, ready to chuck it off the roof of a parking garage or something. In the past, afros were considered almost a universal symbol for white people depicting black people, especially after their massive popularity in the 70s and 80s disco scenes. In the past, and perhaps to some people even today, black people were seen by many white racists as uncivilized “savage” people. They were portrayed often as unintelligent and barbaric in the media of the distant past. However, this ad is not from the distant past which makes it exceedingly unacceptable (not that it ever would be). However, this ad plays on even subtler stereotypes, such as black men being incredibly athletic and good at sports. Thus, he is set up as if he were about to throw a discus or something in some kind of herculean stance. 

This one plays off a few stereotypes. The first being Native American people as headdress wearing Pocahontases (many of them do wear headdresses nowadays but only ceremonially). It depicts the native woman as beautiful but still uncivilized. Then we have the stereotype of Natives gambling and owning casinos, which is a somewhat accurate stereotype since Natives are granted liberties with casinos and gambling that most Americans do not have, and thus have become known for such things. However, I’m sure many Native Americans do not appreciate being stereotyped this way, as they certainly don’t all gamble. Despite it’s obvious racism, I don’t think this one is quite as insidious as the Nivea ad, but it’s still an ugly use of stereotypes to advertise a product. 

This first ad shows us Joe Camel of Camel cigarettes undergoing cancer treatment. This spoof ad works because viewers should recognize Joe Camel not only as a mascot for Camel cigarettes, but as an advocate for how cool and laid back smoking makes you seem. His characteristic black sunglasses, which emphasize Joe’s suave, cool persona, are off his face, and he is now staring at them as if he recognizes the emptiness of the lie they stand for. Viewers unfamiliar with the Joe Camel ads would still be familiar with the concept of black sunglasses as a symbolic representation of chillness, and the idea of cool, as this is persistent in American culture all the way back to the 60′s. Viewers also know that chemo therapy makes you lose your hair, so they emphasize the baldness of Joe’s head and ad veins to it to make him look extra sick. Additionally, most viewers know about the surgeon general’s warning/symbol on packs of cigarettes which inform you of the dangers of smoking. The artists use this warning to play on the dangers of smoking by using something non medical like “wasted potential” as an adverse effect. 

The symbol of the golden arches represents McDonald’s while the French fry crown represents one of the most popular menu items at McDonald’s. McDonald’s has been a symbol of poor health, and malicious marketing to children for many years, and so the idea of putting this symbol and this food on a baby is a commentary on how McDonald’s continued targeting of youths has contributed to a youth obesity an health crisis in America, and is now doing so the world over.  

Viewers will recognize the Absolut bottle, and if they don’t they will likely notice it is a vodka bottle from the text. Viewers know that liquor bottles usually stand upright, so they will recognize that this one is deflated or not erect. Savvy onlookers will understand the concept of whiskey-dick or men being unable to get off or maintain erections when they drink too much, and long term alcohol abuse can permanently impact a man’s potency. Viewer’s shouls also know that Absolut ads usually say Absolut _____ usually with something exciting and awesome filling the blank as in Absolut Adventure, to highlight the wild and fun time that the user of the product will have. Here, the artists use the Absolut tagline to highlight one of the negative consequences of heavy drinking, to contrast the fun careless side of it that absolut chooses to present in it’s ads.