The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Analysis

The seven key elements of characterization, crucial in analyzing this piece are as follows:

• Archetype 
• Stereotype 
• Antagonist 
• Protagonist 
• Binary opposition 
• Spectator opposition 
• Femininity
• Masculinity 

 The intial shot that reveals a women is in some ways stereotypical and feminine. we can see the female character is wearing make-up, enforcing the feminine stereotype. she is attractive and has feminine characteristics; long hair and baring skin in the frame. however we can only observe her face as there is no more than her neck up, zooming out from a big close up (BCU) to a close-up (CU).

(This is a screen shot in relation to the analysis above.) As the sequence progresses we are introduced to a hooded figure. The character introduced is female, however her costume and appearance doesn't comply with the stereotypical female. Her costume is so convincing that it is hard to affirm it is a female character. The camera angles stay behind the character throughout the duration of the observation, this holds a dark element to the character as her face hasn't been revealed. Which further raises unanswered questions about the character and role either as a protagonist or antagonist.
In the opening scene we are introduced to elder male character, to his surprise he receives an unexpected package. the contents hold no value to the audience as its importance is unknown. however the man is disturbed by the contents and it has upset him. it then cuts image above, displaying the title also, from the image above we then cut to the hooded figure. this link of locations and characters connotes association between them, however this isn't proven, making the sequence more thought-provoking and intriguing.

(This is a screen shot from the analysis above.) by being able to visualise the character it is much more apparent that the character displayed cannot be labelled either has a protagonist, antagonist or a female. Exacerbating anonymity.