Conner Mullen

Professor Gregory McClure

Writing 39B

12 March 2017

Distant: An Analysis of the RIP

For the RIP, we decided to create a film to display our understanding of the horror genre,

specifically a rhetorical analysis with a deep understanding of its expectations. Most people

relate a film to being the outlet in which horror stories are told, with books being closely

followed. It has always been a difficulty in making these films, as some can desperately fail as

not even being scary. Every film has a purpose, and it should be clear for the RIP film. In relation

to our film, the audience of the film is targeting UCI students, or more broadly all college

students, who understand the fear that comes when you feel you are being followed or stalked by

someone. The students who will be specifically watching this is our class, and every student in

our class has a deep understanding of analyzing films intentions. The text is centralized around

the idea of knowing someone at a university, when in reality, they could be a follower or stalker

who pretends to be a good friend. The genre is, as defined, a horror film due to the scenes of the

stalker following Diana and the eventual resolution. Horror means creating a protagonist who is

being attacked by a monster, where the audience is supposed to feel that protagonists emotions.

The monster has to be something greater than just scary, but threatening and impure; this

definition of a monster is written by philosopher Nol Carroll's The Nature of Horror (54-55).

This defines art-horror, a more specific definition of horror. Our films monster clearly satisfies

this as Conner is threatening to Diana due to killing her in the end, but is also impure due to

being categorically contradicting. Conner is categorically contradicting since he is Dianas

friend, who is supposed to defend her, but also the exact opposite and wants to kill her. The

purpose of this film, specifically the monster, is to demonstrate how college students become

friends with others, only to realize they could be a killer or follower. They cant know their

lifestyle outside of school yet still develop close relationships, partially due to both struggling in

college and relying on others to help them. As a result, our monster is a human, which is

extremely common in horror films today (Magistrale & Morrison). We use a mask in order to

conceal the monster, specifically a plain mask which helps center on the anonymity of the mask

(TV Tropes). The cultural context of the film is at UCI in Southern California, with most scenes

happening in the dorms with other students there or on the paths late at night. The historical

context is early 2017, where we are becoming more and more accepting of other cultures and

core values that people have at UCI, which could potentially lead to an event similar to this film.

The script in the film is completely focused on building a relationship between Conner

and Diana, then slowly revealing another side to Conner. Conner is actually the stalker she sees

throughout the film and their dialogue is meant to represent Conners true lifestyle very faintly.

For example, when Diana and Conner are ready to leave the library, Diana asks, Do you want

me to go with you? Conner replies with, No dont bother, Ill be fine. The word choice here,

such as bother and fine are used to display the social side of Conner that doesnt necessarily

make sense to what most would say, as most people prefer to be in a group when walking at

night. It already creates some tension between them and sets up the following scenes. We decide

to slowly reveal Conners lifestyle instead of just explicitly stating it to build the audiences

suspicion.