1. Snatch
Paige Woolf

2. What/who/how is being represented?
Cousin Avi- a smug character who is represents most of the power because he's the first
character we get shown his name.
Sol- is the rich yet careless man because he throws a stack of money away as if he's got more
money than sense.
Mickey- Mickey represents violence as he goes to bite someone and back hand them
Franky Four Fingers- shoes a man who loves a gamble. He bets away his riches with a hand of
cards. He lives life on the basis of luck.
Turkish-has an element of power as he shouts at G.G when punching the bag
Gorgeous George- he is the muscle behind Turkish as he takes order from him
Tommy- shows a more weaker character as he gets knocked over by a punch through a bag from
G.G
Bullet tooth Tony- the high end gansta. Wearing a suit and putting someone is a car boot really
juxtaposes themselves.
Boris 'The Blade‘- pulls out hard gunnery. Shows he isn’t physically strong yet he has the best
gadgets out them all
Doug 'The Head' - the old man who looks more like the has-been. Looks like a wheeler dealer…
anything to get some money
Brick Top Polford- the old man who would rather do his own dirty work. Smashing some ones
teeth in shows that he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty

3. How is the representation made to seem
'true', 'commonsense' or 'natural'?
• Using Roland Barthes theory within the clip Snatch, the
connotations of significant props are.. The diamond symbolises
power, wealth and significance. The gambling of cards shown
with Franky Four Fingers shows the connotations of it being dirty
money. The money they all deal with is money they got by doing
unlawful things, or collected their riches in an unpraisworthy
way.
• The denotations of the features within this clip are the hammer
represents the violence within the film, gun shows death and
shootings and finally the money shows the wealth.
• Looking at where the scene is set you see that the
violence, gangs and money is more natural that anything else.
The environment the characters are in shows that it’s a mans
world and violence is part of day to day life.

4. Is Dyer or Baudrillard’s theory more
appropriate in relation to the opening?
Justify, using detailed examples.
Dyer and Baudrillard Examples within clip
• Dyer’s theory does agree with the • Dyers theory is shown as
characters within snap. The idea there are no women within
that the masculine stereotype has
been a way of life so that men the opening of snatch and
should handle the money and be the men are al handling the
the breadwinner. money.
• Although these stereotypes used • Baudrillard theory is shown
to exist Baudrillard’s theory as 7 out of 11 characters all
explains he stereotype is dated
and there is a sense of was shown with money or
hyperrealism. Not every male riches and not 7 out of 11
handles all the money and deals men will have that much
with gun crime on a daily basis. money

5. What is foregrounded and what is
backgrounded? Are there any notable absences?
• In the foreground you see violence and
destruction through fighting and the gambling.
• The background, which is representation that has
been pushed backwards in order for the main
representations to be more noticeable. However,
the representations of the men dressing up as
Jewish people, showing prejudice. The different
ethnicity’s of people shows diversities of cultures,
within you have ethnicity cultures but also social
diversities, for examples the travelers within the
clips.

6. Whose representation is it? Whose interests
does it reflect? How do you know?
The characters
being represented The representation
are stereotypical make the characters
masculine look negative as the
characters. For foreground
example, Gorgeous representations show
George is a typical violence and hurt.
Representation
man when looking
at the cultural
context.
The clip does represent
the interests of the
characters, which they
all have the same
interest... money

7. How do people make sense of the representation? According to
what codes? (Consider Barthes concept of myth – make
reference).
• People make sense of the clip due to Barthes idea of Enigma.
This is the questions we ask when watching the opening. For
example, asking why they all have nicknames, is this because
they don’t want people to know the real them, for make
lawful reasons.
People also make sense the representations because of Barthes
idea of culture. We understand why the men are all violent
because where they live they have to be violent as its a
violent culture they live in.

8. Apply the theory of semiotics to the sequence: i.e. what are the
signs and their associated meanings? And what has the
audience learnt about the overall direction of the film’s
representation?
• Semiotics= the caravan in the clip would indicate that the men
never stay in one place for a long periods of time.
Vinny clutching the gold could symbolise the greed of all the men for
money and wealth.
The safe would symbolise the secrecy and that the men are not trust
worthy or reliable. The safe shows privacy and lack of openness.
Overall, the audience understands that from the music it could be a
mocking film about a serious subject, the guns and hammers show
that these men live in a really rough area and the people they live
with would be willing to kill for money. But the mixture of
music, the big name actors and the funny nicknames would indicate
that the men take it on the chin and don’t take serious things to
serious. Its a hard film with very violent films yet the directors has
made the film to be light and easy to watch.

9. What way do you believe you have ‘received’ the meaning of the
film: through preferred, negotiated or oppositional reading?
(Hall’s theory) Explain in detail, using supporting textual
reference.
Preferred reading- the viewer does so the
characters how the director wants them to
Negotiated reading- relating
see them at first as we instantly believe its
back to gender, as that the
a mans film with violent.
producer encodes the
However, depending on gender, I believe
characters representations in a
that the men would enjoy watching this
certain way, however, the
film and wouldn’t mind watching it and see
viewer will decode it and
the characters as a mans man. Where as
interpret the representations
women may not enjoy watching it and
differently.
don’t see the stereotype like that any
more.
Oppositional reading- the idea that the director wants the
viewer to look at it a certain way however, the viewer will
interpret the representations all differently. In Snatch the viewer
could see real destruction, and the downfall in sociality where
as, the director could see it as a light hearted masculine film.