By Dwayne Fitzpatrick
“Compare the dominant readings of the films LA Confidential and Animal Kingdom by examining and analysing the language of each and the audience positioning through the privileging of particular social and cultural values” The studied films LA confidential and Animal kingdom are both texts based on the genre crime fiction, but have very different sub-genre; LA Confidential has a hard boiled theme, and Animal Kingdom uses criminal protagonist genre. However both films present to the audience a position of justifiable homicide, this meaning that, to achieve a human justice homicide is accepted by the audience. This essay will compare the similarities and differences, gender roles, characterization of gender, and attitudes towards violence and how the producer uses language to position the audience in the above topics. Gender roles are prominently represented in the film LA confidential, with the male showed to be dominant over the female, this is show by bud white obsession with protecting a woman in harm by excessive force, this shows that he is the “alpha male” and protects the less dominant female. On the other hand a female is presented as a high class escort (Lynn Bracken) that gets in to trouble and needs a dominant male to help her out. in terms of the love triangle between Bud White, Ed Exley and Lynn Bracken both Ed and Bud treat Lynn as though she is very fragile, almost breakable, showing that the male is dominant. Lynn is the stereotypical women; physically weaker, smaller in size, irresistibly beautiful, she plays this role throughout the entire film. An example of Bud White showing his male dominance and masculinity in the film is on the Christmas scene were Bud white sees a domestic violence between a male and a female, then the male strikes the female. Bud White then knocks on the door to get the wife beaters attention “Who the hell are you” yells the man
To which Bud white