Main Task- Similar Products (Task 11)

My thriller character is named Farah. She is in her mid twenties and works as an assassin; this is how she is introduced to the audience. She is a dark yet likable character, poetic in her speech and very strong willed. She was trained as an assassin by her former boyfriend; Nate- little did Farah know that one day she would be forced to kill him due to a mistake and him working as an agent for a large corporation. Farah is a beautiful, intelligent young girl with a lot of potential and a wealthy future in the black market. She tends to remain emotionally unattached to those she loves; she knows it makes her less vulnerable. She is often considered heartless and cold to those who know her least, keeping herself to herself and remaining a closed book. She met Nate when she was 16; she liked the danger and excitement and knew he was different from all the boys in her High School. She ran away from an unhappy home life to live with him and soon started training as a female assassin.

She is shown in the film talking to a man who never gets properly introduced to the audience, she tells him how she got into the situation she is in and in this way we learn a lot about her. I chose to do this because I feel this is how you learn the most about someone, what they have done, how they have gotten there, the chain of decisions they make to get to a certain point, not by what a character is doing then and there. However there are key aspects of the characters presentation that show the audience what she is like, for example, she has been stabbed but doesn’t mention the injury once and doesn’t show pain.

The plot and the character of Farah rely on the success of Barthes enigma code. Farah makes the audience ask questions such as; ‘why has she been stabbed?’ ‘Who has stabbed her?’ ‘Why is she there?’ ‘Who is she speaking to?’ ‘Why is her former boyfriend relevant to the plot?’ Farah could also fit into many of Propp’s character types in his theory of Seven Spheres of Action, for example she shows traits of a hero- she could be restoring a natural equilibrium, and may be aiming to defeat the villain. However she could also be regarded as a false hero or even the villain as she is shown to have been in a fight, this isn’t made clear-, which relates back to the enigma code. The audience may choose to consume this media for entertainment as well as escape- Blumler and Katz; Uses and gratifications theory.

Farah could be compared to a number of female characters:

Jane Smith (Mr. & Mrs. Smith)

They are common in the sense that they are both assassins, keep secrets and are strong, independent women. Jane tends to ignore pain when engaged in a violent fight with John- like Farah even after she has been stabbed. They are both prepared to kill the ones they love, and even if they don’t initially show it are deeply upset by what they have done.

Mia (Pulp Fiction)

Mia is an intellectual, laid back and sophisticated character, much like Farah. Her words sound practiced and engaging, like the dialogue Farah uses. Mia is attracted to powerful and dangerous men, she is married to the leader of a criminal group and lives a very wealthy life because of it, and she celebrates this lifestyle as a heavy user of cocaine. Farah is also attracted to dangerous men, however she is not yet wealthy and she enjoys working in a black market rather than just enjoying the benefits of being married to someone who is in the black market.