Hot Fuzz- Independant Study

For my independent study I will be looking at the blockbuster film ‘Hot Fuzz’. It was released on the 14th February 2007 and in the first weekend made over £5 million. The film is about a big city cop Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) that has been promoted to Sergeant, but to his disappointment, in the sleepy town of Sandford were no crime has been recorded in over the last 10 years. He then meets the overeager police officer Danny Butterman (Nick Frost) Danny is a huge action movie fan and brings with him lots of intertextual references to action movies.

Then a series of horrible accidents start to happen to the villagers but Angel is sure that the ‘accidents’ are in fact a series of cold blooded murders. As Angels intrigue deepens about the little town of Sandford Danny’s dream of gun fights and high speed chases become more of a reality. Then its time to take action and reveal who the Sandford murderer is and all is revealed when the neighbourhood watch is not as innocent as it seems.

I have chosen this film because I find hybrid genres very enjoyable and don’t think that I will get bored of it quickly. This key concept of a hybrid genre is a huge audience pleasure as the audience can see lots of genres in one film. ‘Hot Fuzz’ incorporates many genres such as comedy, horror and action being the main three. I think the enjoyment of the text is very important for an independent study text because if you do not find the subject interesting then you are not likely to write a lot of in depth information on the subject. I think this film will be interesting to analyse because it uses lots of intertextual references to other action films such as ‘Bad Boys 2’ and ‘Point Break’. These intertextual references are also an audience pleasure as an audience likes to see other movies referenced within the movie that they are watching to identify with.

The audience for this film would be mainly teenagers to young adults aged 16-25. This audience would be attracted to this sort of film because today’s youth enjoy hybrid genres and like to see things happen that out of the ordinary. I also think that adults aged 30-40 may like this film as they can refer to the older action films referenced in the film.

Another key concept that I have focused on is narrative. The narrative theory that this film has focused on is Todorov’s theory of equilibrium, disruption, disequilibrium, resolution and new equilibrium. In this film the equilibrium is disrupted by Angel moving to the country. Another disruption to the equilibrium is the murders starting to happen in the village by the mystery hooded villain. Disequilibrium begins but only for Angel as all the other villagers find it quite normal that there are a lot of accidents in Sandford, he then starts to become curious about the village and its residents. The resolution comes in the end action sequence by arresting all of the neighbourhood watch for the murders as they committed them because they wanted to keep the village perfect for the village of the year competition. Then equilibrium is restored as life returns to normal.

‘Hot Fuzz’ also deals with a lot of wider issues. Throughout the film political correctness is referenced. It is seen when Angel corrects Danny in the pub when he says policeman and is corrected with police officer. Another wider issue is gun crime when Detective Andy says that ‘Everyone and their mums is packing around here’ then Angel goes up to a farmers house and finds millions of guns stashed in his shed. These wider issues make the audience think about the issues happening in the world.

Overall I think my final question will be based on either the audience pleasure of intertextuallity or a hybrid genre.