POSTER ANALYSIS
- Joy Jiao
I choose the film poster of ‘Aladdin’, it is on in 2019. It is produced by Guy Ritchie. In the film poster, it has six main parts: the title, the Villain, the Protagonist, the treasure ,a man who seems like a good person, and the only female which is maybe the love interest. The title is at the bottom of the poster, it shows that name of the film and the production company – ‘Disney’. The title only takes a little space, most of the space is reserved for the characters, allowing us to better focus on the unknown story. But at the same time it also provided us with enough information, including the show time and so on. It is in gold which conveys a mysterious, luxurious and magical feeling.
The main tone of the colour is red and blue which creates a contrast. So for the man in central position, the colour is bright red. This gives a brave, passionate feeling which suggests he is the good and kind people. He might be a very important man who change the ending, this is a stereotype of the man characters in the film. The little man under him is presented by dark red and black. These colour gives a strong evil and bad felling, we can know that he might be the evilest people in the film. The girl on the top is in warm yellow light. This shows a kind, warm, honourable personality. On the right, the large man is in blue, blue has a connotation of mysterious and intelligent. The different feelings given by different colours can let us have a brief guess about the characteristics. In addition, the costume and the facial expressions can also tell us more about the characters. From the clothes, we can know their different social class. The protagonist is wearing a normal shirt and simple cardigans, so he might be in middle class or lower class. His facial expression is quiet serious and solemnly. He is looking at the treasure that he is holding. He looks righteous. In contrast, Villain under him is wearing a red cloak and staff, these shows his honourable status and he is from upper class. The facial expression shows he is desperate for the throne and power. He wants to be powerful. The snake and the fire beside he conveys a very evil and dangerous atmosphere. The girl and the old man under her seems very luxurious, we can know that they are from upper class. The jewellery, the gorgeous hat and also the fabric looks very expensive. The girl looks like she is waiting for someone with worried and upset. However, the old man’s action is like he is celebrating something. I think he looks very kind and solemn. The last man on the right doesn’t show his cloth but his facial expression is very happy and optimistic. He might also be a funny and clever person. Furthermore, the animal elements in the poster is also really important. The monkey is beside the main character, the monkey is always very clever and flexible. The parrot may represent the talkative, clever and always has some evil ideas. The tiger beside the girl and the old man is steady, rare and precious, it is much more noble compared to other animals. I think they might also represent their owners’ characteristics. So base on all of these elements, we can already know many things about them.
In the poster, it has female and male. I think from her costume and her facial expression, she is a clever and courageous woman. She doesn’t use a veil to cover her face. I think she subverted the stereotype of women – soft and coward. But still, there is only one female main character on the poster and her position is at the back. For the man in the front, I think he is the stereotype of masculine – brave, strong and ambitious. Moreover, it represent the different ethnicity in the poster. The black man has the biggest face on the poster, its typography is not discriminated against because of different races and skin colors. This is the equality that Disney has always advocated. From this poster, I think the main audience they expected are the teenagers and adults. I don’t think the older people will be very interested of it. Its typography and colors are very rich and magical which will be more attractive to young people. In addition, many people will watch it because of Disney’s reputation.
Last but not least, I think the background and position in it can tell us about the story line. By looking at the different position of the characters, we can assume that the man in the central position is the main character. The treasure he is holding is surrounded by golden light, which shows that it is very important and may have mysterious power. The people in the upper half of the poster all seem to be kind and just. However, the man in the lower half should be a very bad and evil person. Judging from the overall position, I think the evil person was defeated in the end, and it should be a happy ending in the end. Because the protagonist is right above him and is much bigger than him, it looks like he completely suppresses the bad guy. In the background, there is lots of small details. It tells us the setting of different scene and hints some of the story line. The left side is the castle where the upper class characters lived. And under the castle there is lots of money and golds which present the wealth and power. This might reflect human desire and darkness. On the right side, it gives a completely different feeling. The foggy, dark island is very dangerous and mysterious. We can see that the man is trying to get the treasure. This might be a hint to the opening of the film. So base on these analysis, I think in this movie it contain action, love and revenge.
