After watching Brian Taylor and Mark Neveldine’s Crank (2006) and reading Lorrie Palmer’s “Cranked Masculinity: Hypermediation in Digital Action Cinema,” I thought it would be interesting to further explore the idea of hypermediation in cinema. In her journal article, Palmer connects hypermediation to hypermasculinity. Action films, video games, and technology in general are all typically male-coded. In Taylor and Neveldine’s film, this combination of media and fast-paced filmmaking tehcniques paired with an androcentric narrative gives the film a hypermasculine quality. However, this style of filmmaking does not always solely cater to men. Hypermasculinity is not necessarily a product of hypermediation, it is the content and treatment of women in Crank that make it so male-oriented.
Other films like Run Lola Run (Tom Twyker, 1999) and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Edgar Wright, 2010) both favour this video-game style, multimedia filmmaking format, yet they are still appealing to a female audience. Run Lola Run (also known as Lola Rennt) is very comparable to Crank for its same ticking clock and video game do-over plot devices and its hypermediated style of filmmaking. Tom Twyker blends animated sequences into the film adding to this video-game aesthetic. He also integrates a sort of butterfly effect by showing different snapshots of random characters’ lives every time Lola interacts with them differently. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World favours a comic book/video game style since it is adapted from Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novels. Scott acknowledges his video game character status by getting rewarded for his actions throughout the film. When he completes a positive action, he unlocks a new power that adds to his combat strength. When he loses the final battle with Ramona’s ex-boyfriend Gideon, he gets a do-over by taking accountability for all of his negative actions and earning the “power of self-respect.”
What differentiates Crank from Run Lola Run and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, is its clear favouritism of a male audience. Run Lola Run has a female protagonist who is the only person that can save her boyfriend after he loses a big sum of money. She runs to every location, so her physical ability is most highlighted, as is usually done in action films with male main characters. In Wright’s film, Scott Pilgrim is an awkward, average-looking man in his 20s. He is not a typical muscular hero à la Jason Statham. All of the female characters are essential to the plot. Knives and Ramona specifically show just as much strength and combat ability as Scott in the final boss sequence. So, while hypermediation can be associated to hypermasculine filmmaking, it can also be used to attract a female audience.
Works Cited
Palmer, Lorrie. “‘Cranked’ Masculinity: Hypermediation in Digital Action Cinema.” Cinema Journal, vol. 51, no. 4, 2012, pp. 1–25. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23253574. Accessed 13 Mar. 2024.