Brick Class Analysis

Brick - Class analysis

In today's lesson we analyse Brick as a class, splitting it into different sections and focusing on each of them in turn.

We looked at Todorov's narrative theory and applied it to Brick. The narrative theory states that a narrative starts off in a state of equilibrium which then gets disrupted, turns into disequilibrium, gets resolved and returns to equilibrium. In Brick, the narrative goes from Emily being alive and still being connected to Brendon, to Emily going missing and calling Brendon causing him to become involved, then the disequilibrium of Emily getting killed, Brendon constantly being beaten up and getting involved with The Pin and his gang, and then the resolution of the bad guys getting punished and Brendon getting away.

We also looked at how Propp's character theory could apply to Brick. The hero would be Brendon as he puts it on himself to find out what happened to Emily and why it happened. The villain in Brick could be one of many people. It could be seen as being The Pin who starts the gang in the first place, or Laura who sets everyone up for a downfall or Tug who kills Emily and Dode. The helper in Brick is The Brain who gives Brendon all the information he needs to help him find where Emily could be.  The dispatcher could be Emily as she phones Brendon and gets him involved and motivated. The princess in Brick is Emily as she is seen as the innocent girl, which is shown through her blonde hair and white clothing.

The enigma code is questions that the narrative answers later on. It can also be used to keep the audience interested and intrigued. Brick uses enigma at the start to make us ask who the body is and why they're dead. It immediately makes the audience want to find out what happened and why. Brick constantly uses enigma through disturbing flashbacks, quick jump cuts (particularly during violence) and creates suspense to make the audience want to keep watching and asking questions that the film will later answer. 

Brick uses stereotypes of both people and film noir. The Brain wears glasses and is usually seen on his own and in the library, the stereotypical view of smart people. The Pin has a cloak and walking stick which can be seen as being stereotypical of people in power. The film uses specific lighting, stereotypical of film noir and also includes death, yet another stereotype.

Brick uses different ideology such as good versus bad, with the bad people getting punished, the idea of an underdog - Brendon - being able to solve such a big mystery on his own, intellect being valuable yet taken for granted with the use of The Brain and teenage pregnancy/drugs/popularity/love triangles.

Brick uses many different examples of conforming to but also subverting the genre of film noir. Brick conforms to the genre by using flashbacks, having a complex plot with both an anti-hero and a femme fatale, and the use of flashbacks. However, it also subverts the genre by being set in a school and mostly being set during the day rather than the night. It also doesn't use the common convention of the genre of pathetic fallacy/rain with the weather mostly being sunny.

Brick constantly uses semiotics throughout the film. Femme fatale Laura is first seen wearing red - the semiotic for danger, in contrast to the good female, Emily who is wearing white - the semiotic for innocence. Tug is wearing white, once again the semiotic for innocence and purity, which is ironic as he is the murderer. Tug's gang also wears white in juxtaposition to Pin's gang who wear black - the semiotic for death.

Finally, Brick uses many different binary oppositions. There is the stereotypical binary opposite of good versus bad but also the opposite of selfish and selfless with half the characters aiming to do good within the film and the other half creating destruction. There's also contrast in colour with good people wearing white and bad people wearing black, total opposites.