Term Paper On Television Versus Movie

Analyzing NCIS and AVATAR

Analyzing NCIS versus AVATAR
Introduction
Television shows and movies enjoy a special relationship. They both convey stories through their medium. The advancement in technology has led to increasing similarities between television shows and movies. TVs shows are becoming more similar to movies in terms of structure, look and feel. Despite the differences, the similarities between the two cannot be understated. People tend to think of television shows and movies as rival media. However, there exists an intertwined history (Beece, 2012). For example, Hollywood created more hours of films that were used for television series compared to how they were used in movie theatres in the 1950s. The pattern has hitherto been consistently repeated. Both television shows and films convey similar genres, themes and formats. This paper is developed against this backdrop. It explores the structure and composition of NCIS vis-à-vis the structure and composition of Avatar. In particular, the paper explores the relationship between the two in relation to the contemporary issues in the society.

Movies and television shows

Since the 1960s, there has been a consistent pattern in the development of films. Films are created with the ultimate goal of featuring them in television screens. This has made it possible for people to watch films in the comfort of their homes. Even though films stay in studio vaults, they are majorly shown in televisions. Despite the various forms in which film scan be represented such as cable channels or DVDs, they appear on various screens after being released from the theatre. This relationship between film and television complicates the idea that the two exist separately (Kaloeti, 2012). When televisions first appeared on the screens, there were already films in the form of cinemas. The existence of cinemas became a tradition. Films were major defined as independent media in which they were majorly compared with precedents in theatre and fiction. There are various ambiguities in the ways television work compared to films. Television offers a platform upon which four different aspects of medium can be conveyed. These aspects include technology, industry, content as well as consumer electronics.

NCIS

The NCIS is a drama television series based in America. The show explores a fictional team of special agents. These agents are drawn from the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service. The purpose of the NCIS is to carry out criminal investigations that revolve around the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. NCIS was formally called Navy NCIS during the initial season. The television series was voted as America’s most favorite show in 2011. NCIS is a fictional show that follows special agents at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service Major Case Response Team (MCRT). This team is based in Washington D.C. However, the office is based at the Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in real life (Beece, 2012). The NCIS is the main agency that is responsible for enforcing the law and counter intelligence in the U.S. department of the Navy. This department includes the Marine Corps. The primary responsibilities of NCIS are to investigate criminal offences such as felonies and all crimes that are punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. MCRT are usually assigned to high profile cases which include investigating the deaths of U.S. president’s military personnel or situations such as bomb blasts or the deaths of celebrities. Other crimes that the NCIS investigates include kidnappings, threats of terror.
In the show, Jethro Gibbs is a supervisory special agent that leads the MCRT. Gibbs has a team that comprises Anthony DiNozzo as field agent and Timothy McGee as special agent. The team also includes Eleanor Bishop that serves as probationary special agent. The team has assistance drawn the investigations department led by chief medical examiner Donald Ducky, Jimmy Palmer and Abigail Abby.
Analyzing the episode in relation to contemporary issues on the society reveals themes of race and gender. For example, the episode, “Two Faced” reveals a long a waited meeting that ought to occur between the team and Ziva’s boyfriend. The episode discovers unethical relationship between Tony and the new agent, Barrett. In the process of investigating a series of murders that carried out by port to port killer, a romance between Tony and Barrett reveals. The killer is said to be responsible for the killing of five men at the NAVY ports and has left crimes scenes that is difficult to trace (Kaloeti, 2012). However, he leaves calling cards behind him. The investigating team is seen struggling against Barrett that has been left to take charge of the case. The struggle for power ensues as Gibbs protests. The episode ends without the killer being found out. The killer makes a move towards DiNozzo and Ziva by sneaking an ice cube.
All the women in the show are represented as sexy. These women are not given higher positions except the roles they serve as team leaders. This means that the episode reflects as society that is yet to come to terms with the possibility of women leadership. The episode tends to ostracize women from higher positions. The overriding theme in the episode is the struggle for power that occurs between Gibbs and Barrett. Barrett is seen leading a new team to take over from case that Gibbs initially was leading. Despite Barrett’s new role, Gibbs protests in a bid to usurp the powers that have been accorded to Barrett. This is manifested in the interrogation scene. The responsibility accorded to Barrett demands that she takes over the questioning of the suspect. However, Gibbs entry into the room initiates doubts about the power that Barrett is supposed to command as the leader of the new team (Beece, 2012). Gibbs informs Barrett that the seat she is sitting on is his. The power play that takes place inside this room leaves a lot be asked about the position of women in this movie.
Barrett decides to move away from the chair without question. Apparently, Gibbs acts in barbaric manner because he has been in power before and has consequently established a positive working relationship with the bureau. In this case, his protests at the seemingly taken power make him to fight back at Barrett. The struggle for power seems to favor Gibbs than Barrett because Barrett is new in position. During questioning, Gibbs tends to overpower Barrett by ignoring her questions (Beece, 2012). The suspect responds to the questions by Gibbs and ignores the questions that Barrett asks him. Barrett decides to seduce answers out of the suspect due to his perceived allegiance to Gibbs. This act by Barrett is deemed as immoral by viewers since she uses her sexuality to find answers during the questioning process. Gibbs method of interrogation yields the most answers compared to the methods that Barrett employs. This drama points out to the challenges that women go through in pursuit of higher positions.
AVATAR (2009)
Avatar is science fiction based in the United States. The film was written and produced by James Cameron. It features Sam Worthington, Stephen Lang and Zoe Saldana. The setting of the fiction is in mid-22nd century (Nowak & Rau, 2005). It yields a foresight into the events that will most likely occur in the mid 22nd century. The film depicts a scenario in which human beings would have exhausted all the Earth’s natural resources. This would result into energy crisis. The shortage of natural resources on the earth would lead human beings to explore resource development administration (RDA) mines in search for unobtanium on Pandora (Garau et al., 2003). Pandora’s atmosphere is poisonous for human existence and is inhabited by sapient humanoids. Exploring Pandora would involve the use of avatars (Na’vi human hybrids). They will be operated by genetically matched human beings. Jake Sully is the operator of Dr. Grace Augustine. A thanator attacks Jake’s avatar and flees into the forest.

References

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Garau, M., Slater, M., Vinayagamoorthy, V., Brogni, A., Steed, A., & Sasse, M. A. (2003, April). The impact of avatar realism and eye gaze control on perceived quality of communication in a shared immersive virtual environment. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems (pp. 529-536). ACM.
Kaloeti, A. K. (2012). PARTICULARIZED CONVERSATIONAL IMPLICATURE IN TV SERIES “NCIS: SEASON 2”. LANTERN (Journal on English Language, Culture and Literature), 1(2).
Nowak, K. L., & Rauh, C. (2005). The influence of the avatar on online perceptions of anthropomorphism, androgyny, credibility, homophily, and attraction. Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication, 11(1), 153-178.