I have studied three different texts, UP (Pete Docter, 2009) Touching The Void (Kevin McDonald 2003) and The Departed (Martin Scorsese 2006). Each of these texts are distinct in the way that they engage their audience, however they do in part, use very similar macro features.
UP was in some ways a very typical Pixar film in its narrative, with the use of incredibly joyous moments, combined with very sad lows, inevitably ending with a happily ever after type conclusion. In this film the character of Ellie is used very unconventionally, as although she lives out her life and dies, through the use of a montage early on in the film, her significance is felt throughout the film, and the inspiration for the entire quest. This is shown most significantly in the scene where Russel finds the bird Kevin, and an argument insues, this is reflective of a very common argument with families everywhere. This relation to the audience that pixar frequently uses, is one of the key features to why this film is so engaging to its target audience, the family. In the scene Ellie is represented by a picture within the floating house, this positioning gives her an almost god like power, and it is clear that Carl has yet to move on from her death. This is directly mirrored at the end of the film, when it is clear that Carl has moved on. The house itself has been left in paradise falls, and Carl fulfilles the father role of Russell, a role that he could have never fulfilled in his life with Ellie, this mirroring is an often used feature of the narrative that clearly shows the characters progression. In proppian terms Ellie is the dispatcher, as it is her death that causes them to begin the adventure, however believe she also fulfils the role of the helper, as at numerous times the house, which is used as a physical representation of her after death throughout the film, saves Carl and Russels lives, most significantly when they are being chased by Dogs soon after meeting Charles Muntz,...