Julie & Julia Magazine Film Review Analysis

Genre Conventions Research: Julie and Julia Review


Image:

The review of the film Julie & Julia is dominated by a single main image of what looks to be the protagonist in a kitchen setting making food. The image connotes that the film may address the themes of family, cooking, friendship and the roles of mothers. The scenery consists of her wearing an apron cloth, in addition to having cooking apparatus such as plates and bowls again suggesting that the film may be largely based around the home or kitchen while also creating a very realistic situation that an audience can relate with. Again in terms of the image, we see a cheerful and happy smile on the centrally positioned character, suggesting a bit about her personality being warming, lighthearted with nothing to hide. This is also suggestive of the tone of the film being humorous and witty, as well as effectively easing the viewer in.

Language:
The tone of much of the review is quite humorous befitting the film's storyline and star actors; however it still contains elements of seriousness. Humour is self- evident in the use of such words like 'teeny kitchen' making the review very lighthearted. As a form of appeal to its audience, the reviewer uses terms such as 'us' involving the reader and making them more inclined to view the film. In addition to praising the credentials of the actors involved in the film like Meryl Streep, boasting 'Streep is to die for, so funny, touching so brilliant' which is effective because its engages the audience, which also makes them more inclined to watch the film. The review uses persuasive techniques in that they analysis the historical background and its relation to the film, for example,  'around the same time Kennedy brought culture and couture to the White House' which places the reviewer on a higher intellectual level and thereby making the reader more inclined to believe and trust them due to that fact that the reader themselves may not know about the historical background.

Layout:
In terms of the layout, the title is presented through the use of bold and black font immediately attracting the reader to the name of the film. The use of black and bold font is commonly used by Empire magazine as its acts as a motif for the whole magazine, this again makes them more recognisable to the reader as Empire are associating themselves with this colour and font.
The caption 'The cook, the wife, the star and her blogger' is used as a indication into the themes of the film, the use of such short words makes the reader want to view the film to find out the meaning of the collocation of these words, which is again effective in making them more inclined to view the film.