Applying Levi Strauss's Theory

Step Up (2006)


1. What is the genre of the film? How are the genre signifiers introduced?
The genre of this film is dance. This is shown straight at the beginning, with loud music with strong beats, and cross cutting between two dance scenes: one showing a ballet class at the Maryland School of Arts, and the other showing streetdance at a party. The two dances are in time with the beat of the music, and although they are two completely different dances, they are made to look slightly similar so we can compare them, e.g. at the beginning, we see medium close ups of their feet, and in both scenes, they are jumping. This is done so that we can see the different ways of jumping in different dances, so by doing the same move, they are highlighting the opposites and differences. The ballet scene is also tinted a light pink (conveying a brightness and the female gender) and the party scene is dark and navy blue (conveying the male gender), so again highlight the opposites.


2. Who are the main characters and how are they opposed?
The main two characters are Tyler Gage and Nora Clark, and there are also other important characters, such as Mac Carter, and his younger brother, Skinny Carter.
Tyler Gage is the male protagonist in the film, and is a streetdancer and trouble maker. His best friend is Mac Carter, and he is mostly always with his younger brother Skinny, who also gets into a lot of trouble, especially at parties and at the beginning of the film. This is shown when they throw bottles and cans at cars and houses, and then break in to the school. They are all from a poorer part of town, so when they break into the school and see the grand stage and building, we hear them saying 'This looks like a museum', 'Looks like stuck up rich folks' and 'Man, these rich kids get everything.'
The other main character is Nora Clark, who is the female protagonist, but isn't shown in the opening sequence. (She is in fact only shown at about 15 minutes into the film, after we see Tyler work and do community service for the Maryland School of Arts, which can be seen in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quGqAN60YJ0&feature=related) Nora is a beautiful and talented ballet dancer, and goes to the Maryland School of Arts. She doesn't get into trouble and is one of the top students there.
So already, we can see that the two main characters are completely different and opposite, from their personality and preffered type of dance. And as she goes to the school, we can also guess that she is quite well off, to be able to afford school fees.
However, although they are completely different, they end up falling in love. We can see this when we first meet Nora, as while she is having a lesson, Tyler is on the side working, and he stops and stares at her. When she looks over her shoulder and smiles at him, we can see and feel their chemistry, and they almost have a love at first sight moment (him more than her - she then goes off with her boyfriend.)


3. What are the main themes of the film and how are they introduced?
Within all the dancing, the main themes of this film are romance and love, and also crime.
In the opening sequence, the camera keeps cross cutting between ballet - a 'girls dance' - and streetdance - a more 'manly dance' - so we can start to guess the romance theme, as we can guess that although they come from different worlds, they may meet up and fall in love.
This is reinforced with the entrance of Nora (shown in part 2, see link above), where they see eachother, and we as viewers can see the connection, and guess that they will fall in love later on in the film.
Finally, the film also has a theme of crime and fighting, and this is shown by the fight at the party, and the three boys breaking in to the school.


4. How is the narrative organised to show conflict?
At the beginning when we see the cross cutting between the two types of dance, it shows a little bit of conflict, as they are totally opposite, and this is reinforced with the colourings/brightnesses of both scenes - one is light/pink and the other is dark/navy.
There is also conflict between Tyler and one of the people at the party, as when Tyler is dancing with that man's girlfriend, they end up in a fight, and the other man produces a gun from his pocket.
Finally, we also see conflict between the boys and the police officer when they get arrested for breaking into the school. But we see more of a conflict between Tyler and the officer, as he instructs Mac to leave, so that only he gets in trouble, instead of all three of them.