Mean Streets (Poster)

Genre Conventions Research: Mean Streets Poster

The poster is presented to us purely by way of graphics. The poster boasts an illustrated skyline, with uses of grey and black, to possibly highlight a lowdown and grim feel about the film. Various locales all over an unnamed city, such as rooftops, apartment windows and alleyways, are all depicted in solid grey.

Toward the top right hand side of the poster is a gun, possibly acting as a building, with smoke floating out of the muzzle, possibly trying to act as the building’s chimney. The use of the gun being presented to us as a stand-in for a building perhaps infers that violence is integrated into the everyday lives of the people and the places in and around these 'Mean Streets' connoting that this film is a very violent and confrontational one.

The use of solid black for the gun helps to make it stand out and catch our eye, and it could be argued that the gun, despite all of the other graphics shown, is the primary focus of the poster. Furthermore, in regard to the gun, it could be argued that it has been used to connote phallic imagery, reinforcing that this is very much a male-orientated film and story, and which features masculine and violent characters, “men’s men,” in a way.

The red of the title is the only strong use of bright colour featured in the poster. The way the title is presented, to the far right, toward the bottom of the poster, is very stylistic and flashy, almost giving the impression that the letters are bleeding into one another, which is a very eye-catching way of presenting the film’s title. The poster is presented to us as a sort of framed photo or painting, which is indicated via frame borders on all four corners of the poster. This may imply that the film, as well as the poster, is a picturesque, and also very personal, portrayal of urban gangster life.

The poster, whilst being very ambiguous (evident in that next to nothing about the actual content is revealed through use of photographs), is also extremely intriguing. By withholding each frame of film and letting nothing certain slip from the film, this draws us in, persuading us and making us want to watch the film just to see if it is just as effective, fierce and aggressive as the poster makes it out to be.

I very much liked the poster, as it drew my attention to the film almost immediately. It is very much characteristic of several film posters seen throughout the late sixties, early seventies, which gave as much information as it withheld. It is extremely well-made, thought-provoking and interesting.