J.B ESSAY

Advertising and Media (Jungle book)

Media Language means the way in which a text is constructed to create meaning for a reader or viewer of the text E.G. 'Mise En Scene', Sound, Editing, Camera work and etc.

4 aspects of the theoretical framework: Language Industry Audience Representation


Technology has impacted the way jungle book has been marketed from the 1967 version to 2016.

Poster was created by an artist this printing press. 

Title and artistry is simple and 2D 

•Based on Rudyard Kipling’s book THE JUNGLE BOOK (1894)

•Kipling’s narrative contained “darker themes” and content which were judged to be unsuitable for a Disney film.

•Walt wanted a film that was “light, fun, and entertaining with happy song - good stuff, fun stuff.

•The story was modified by Larry Clemmons, who was given, a copy of Rudyard Kipling’s novel but told him that ‘The first thing I want you to do is not to read it’. To turn the book into a successful film many of the original characters and situations were cut out, creating a clear storyline.

•At a superficial level the cartoon should not be offensive to anyone.

Poster created using CGI
Dark complex use of lighting and colour 

Describe the intertextual link associated with the Jon Favreau’s representation of King Louie.

In what way does this representation avoid any association with black identity.

King louie is represented as almost sinister in the jungle book 2016 movie. His character in the movie has a new york type accent which creates the notion of a gangster mafia boss which is relevant to the context of his role in the movie as he is seen a leader with power. 

In the 1964 film, his personality is 'larger than life' so in the movie this is adapted, this is compromised as he is a lot larger in scale than his predecessor.

ESSAY

The jungle book film released in 2016 is an adaptation of the popular film released in 1967. There are many changes from the source material to better suit the audience the film studio was trying to reach.

The 2016 film uses a lot of dark and complex uses of colour and lighting in there posters compared to it's 1967 counter part. This could be because the film in 2016 is trying to reach a much larger and diverse audience as oppose to the 1967 film as its poster is warm and saturated and the scene brightly lit. The artistry of the poster uses bright simple colours and lighting to appeal to kids whereas the 2016 appeals to adults as well as children by taking a more realistic artistry through use of CGI to create the animals while still maintaining the adventurous atmosphere that may appeal to kids. This is also evident as through out the 2016 trailer it states that the studio also created others films such as pirates of the Caribbean and Iron man as those are two critically acclaimed movies which might appeal to those audiences allowing the studio to reach out to a wider target audience.

The Jungle Book contains darker themes and content which can be judged to be unsuitable for a Disney film. Walt  originally envisioned a film that was “light, fun," and entertaining with happy songs and good stuff, fun stuff. The story was modified from the 1894 novel, the goal was to turn the book into a successful film many of the original characters and situations were cut out, creating a clear storyline. At a superficial level the cartoon is thought to not be offensive to anyone despite the heavy implications throughout the movie.

In the 1967 rendition of the jungle book Baluu (the bear) is represented as almost harmless and playful as he is smiling dancing in the poster, whereas in the 2016 version he is quite nullified and dull as he is just looking towards the camera with no type of humerous expression on his face. However in the movie his character is true to the source material for the most part as he still has a gentle voice and warm character voiced by Bill Murray in the 2016 version.

The character king louie was considered to be very controversial in the eyes of the public in 1964. Disney’s own politics were rather conservative, right-wing and undoubtedly this affected the representations constructed within the film. 

the character King Louie, who seems to some viewers to offer a racialized portrait of jazz culture that conflates 'wingers', presumably African American jazz musicians, with monkeys. Louie, the Monkey-People’s, orangutan ruler. wants to learn how to make fire so that he can be like a man. This could easily be interpreted through a racial lens; the monkeys could be depictions of Africans wanting to learn how to be more 'civilised' equals of the white man. The representation is further reinforced through the use of African American accents however the role was played by an Italian American. This could be due to America was a segregated society during the 1960’s where Black people were actively fighting for Civil rights which is equality in all states. 

Whereas in the 2016 film movie, king louie is represented as more of a villain with bad intentions. This is evident as in the trailer King Louie is immersed in darkness before his big reveal which connotes hostility do to the lighting. It is clear the film studio attempts to differentiate from the 1967's version of the character as they may have felt his 'slap stick' humour didn't belong in this film due to the shift in tone. Also the studio may have felt it would have been inappropriate to have King Louie represented the same way he was in the 1967 movie as today civil rights are a big part of society and history. In the 1967 movie, King Louie has a 'larger than life' personality, disney compromised this but changing the characters species to, this time, literally be larger than life. Orangutans are not really indigenous to India but the Gigantopithecus is a real thing apparently that died out, but lived there, so the choice was made if we're gonna make him (Louie) into something, let's make him something that's indigenous to the landscape and take a little bit of liberty because he is a larger-than-life character anyway. in the 2016 movie, even his voice was changed to be more of a New York mafia boss type of accent, this is more relevant possibly due to the popularity of old day movies such as 'God father' again appealing to more of a diverse audience.

Shere khan is also represented differently in both versions of the jungle book despite both incarnation being voiced by British actors. in the 1967 movie, he is voiced by Phil Harris. I believe this was done deliberately as it is an iconic stereotype that English people are predominantly villains in stories. However, in the 2016 movie version, the character is voiced by Idris Elba, who is also British but he is very different to the typical British villain he is represented as in the 1967 movie. In the cartoon he comes across as quite calm and cunning as well as smart and almost over confident as he taunts mowgli before attack him, whereas in the 2016 live action movie, he comes across as vicious, aggressive and violent. I believe this change in the characters personality was to appeal more to the older audience while still maintaining the same iconic feel as the 1967 movie character. His representation is further apparent as the first time we see him in the cartoon, the music is calm and mysterious as we witness him sneaking up on his prey, whereas when we first see him in the live action movie he is outspoken and extravegant amoungst the other animals.
Part B
The 2016 movie uses mass marketing techniques to branch out and reach an even wider range of audience as oppose to the 1967 movie. this is achieved as the studio used various marketing techniques such as, sponsoring celebrities to promote the film on social media, as well as using sporting networks, such as ESPN, to display there trailers during national events such as the super bowl. These uses of marketing are all attempts to reach an, otherwise, untapped market.

Jungle book 2016 marketing. The production company for 2016's jungle book held a fan event where sneak peeks were spread and some of the actors were introduced too, they also had many teaser trailers and trailers spreader throughout the course of 3 years until the movie was initially released, to get fans excited ready for the release of the film. The Disney parks also got involved in marketing the film as they had sand models of characters from the film in 'Animal Kingdom' which is one of the Disney Theme Parks. This then got people to share pictures of this on social media sites which resulted in word-of-mouth marketing. The film also had it's own snapchat filter and website for fans to get involved in.

The budget for this film was roughly $177 million, this could be due to the expensive price it would cost to have so many special effects in a feature film. But it still made a staggering $966.6 million in the world wide box office. This could be due to now that we are cab able of using various platforms to release a movie after it has been viewed in the cinema such as DVD, blue-ray or even digital methods like streaming services online. It has a 7.5 IMDb rating which is just under the original.

Jungle book 1967 marketing

In terms of marketing, the Jungle Book (1967) did not include much marketing other than movie posters and cinema signs due to the lack of internet and social media which we have nowadays. Yet as there was not much competition, especially in the animation industry, the film was very popular as it was for all the family to watch and Disney was already a very popular household name like it still is today.
The total budget for the film was $4,000,000. The film grossed $141,843,612 (USA). The film was shown in countries such as the USA, UK, Germany and Sweden. The film was most popular in the USA where the film was made. The film has a 7.6 IMDb rating. It is also estimated to be the 29th highest grossing film of all time in the United States.

In conclusion Disney's jungle book (2016) uses various technological techniques to immerse consumers resulting in an enchanted viewing experience. Overall the jungle book movie released in 1967 has made more money than the 2016 movie, mostly due to it's low budget and length at which it has been out, however to this day, disney is still making some money from the jungle book 2016 version so the future is yet to tell.