Semiotic Criticism: "Now You See Me 2"

 Semiotic Criticism

Semiotic Criticism: "Now You See Me 2"

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMYqjAfFiMU

1. Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic Relationships

• I am going to look at the syntagmatic relationships in this particular scene rather than the whole film, so I am going to examine how the scene progresses and how characters may shift.
• At the beginning of the scene, most of the characters are calmly going through a metal detector, but one character, Jack (Dave Franco), puts off the alarm of the metal detector. He realizes it was his wallet that put it out and asks another character, J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), how they will be able to bring a stick that is in the building out of the building if it is metal. This means that they did not plan for the metal detector for this mission of deception.
• As the man in a suit begins to explain what this large black box of technology in front of them is, Merritt (Woody Harrelson) sneezes. The audience understands that this is a form of distraction as it allows for him to gain the attention of the suited man and the security guards so that Lula is able to give Jack a comb (Lizzy Caplan). Jack then is able to go under the black box and use the comb to retrieve a chip that he connects to a playing card. This produces a relationship between all of the preceding events in the beginning of the scene and this event in the middle of the scene. In particular, the distraction was necessary in order for him to retrieve the chip and place it on the card.
• Yet, since the suited man realizes that Jack was away for a while and looks suspiciously concentrated, he demands all of the officers to search them. As the guard is searching Jack, he is able to use his skills as a magician to hide the card behind his hand. This ultimately suggests that the card is something that should be hidden from the officers, which further implies that the chip he took is something that should be protected and not seen from the guards. This part of the scene where the guards are searching each of the magicians takes up a majority of the scene, which suggests a crucial part of the earlier point where Jack was under the black box. If he had attached the card and gotten out of the box sooner to stand next to Lula, this all may have not happened. This is a significant syntagmatic relationship
• Jack is then able to use his skills to throw the card to J. Daniel Atlas, who then slips it through his clothes. It then falls through his pants and Lula steps on it so that it sticks to her shoe. She then falls so the guard can catch her so that she can reach for the card. He then reaches for her and she states "I can do that myself". This allows her to have control over the card while she takes her bra off under her dress for the guard. As the guards walking away assuming that she does not have anything, she spanks the guard which allows for the card to stick to his pants. Merritt is then able to take the card from behind him and carefully attach a string to it so that J. Daniel Atlas can pull it and take the card. This sequence of events all connects to each other, and as they pass the card, they rely on each other in hope that no one is caught. The effort that has been put into protecting the card demonstrates the importance of what Jack did in the beginning of the scene when he retrieved the chip and connected it to the card.
• The loudness of when Jack pulled the card is heard by a guard which causes some alert and several guards begin checking J. Daniel Atlas. All of the other characters begin to be worried as they look at the ensuing situation. This suggests that if they are able to find the card, the sequence of events in the middle of the scene would be meaningless. After the guards assume J. Daniel Atlas does not have anything, a basic repeat of the middle of the scene where the characters toss and protect the card from the gaze of the guards ensues again. As they walk up to the metal detector on their way out, they realize that the chip may be detected. Thus, Jack asks for his wallet and Merritt throws the wallet at the exact same time as Jack puts the wallet through the metal detector, allowing it to go through since the wallet would set off the detector anyways. J. Daniel Atlas bangs a gong farther in the building once he passed the metal detector at the same time as Merritt throws the card through. This ensures that he can distract the focus and misdirect their gaze to focus on the sound instead of the card. This sequence of simultaneous events suggests that all are necessary in order for them to succeed.
• This also suggests a connection between the beginning of the scene and the end of the scene. As they entered the building, they were unaware of the metal detector being there when planning for this. Thus, this suggests that once they realized that in the beginning of the scene, they were able to think of a plan at the end. Yet, they did not verbally communicate about this throughout the scene, which suggests that they either had a second plan, or they have deep connections with each other and were able to improvise by trusting and depending on each person to play a role in their success.
• One paradigmatic relationship relates to the tone of high security and its connection to advanced technology. The metal detector and array of security guards all produce a tone of high security. The importance of the metal detector and the inclusion of many guards suggests that the main characters who are magicians are entering a tense or possibly dangerous situation.
• The large black box is a technological processor that can wipe the information of any computing system in the world. This demonstrates a relationship between the theme of high security and this theme of advanced technology. The high security is necessary for protecting the advanced technology. 
• A playing card is an arbitrary image by itself, as it can have an array of connotations and associations, such as its connection to games, or money, or places like a casino. Yet, the way in which Jack and the other magicians are able to skillfully handle the card suggests its association to magicians and illusionists. This scene communicates a playing card as visual symbol that is emblematic of magic and deception. 
• It is interesting that both literally and figuratively, the card is connected to the chip in this scene. The card is used as a way to hide the chip. Thematically, the magic and illusionist skills of these characters are used as a way to hide the power of the technology that they are stealing. This demonstrates a tangible connection between the theme of deception and the theme of advanced technology. 

2. Discourse

• I think that the cinematography and filming of the scene is the most significant way in which this scene communicates to the audience. For example, the way in which the camera follows the card on its journey to each of the magicians demonstrates a connection and collaboration between these characters. It also demonstrates the power of collective deception rather than solitary deception.
• Its close ups on the card and the slo-motion shots of the card, as well as its high-speed shots of the card demonstrates the skills necessary to handle it, the speed in which it is traveling in the scene, and the intensity in the scene (a blow of air could take it off its course and lead to the guards catching the magicians' "act".
• The word choice and dialogue within the scene is another way in which the scene communicates to the audience. For example, the only verbal communication is between the magicians and the soldiers, or between the soldiers and the suited man. There is no verbal communication between the magicians themselves. This connects how deep their connection is, the planning that went into this mission, and the reliance that each magician has on each other. They only communicate with their eyes; through body language.
• The word choice in the scene also communicates to the audience the film's particular stance on deception, as deception and stealing of objects often has negative connotations. Although, since the dialogue includes the suited man proudly stating that the processor could wipe the data of any computing system in the world into the hands of this processor's owner like a "broomstick", then what the magicians are doing in disabling this machine is a moral thing. It also places the elite owners of this machine in a negative light because it suggests their abuse of technology for their own benefit and power. This is an interesting framing of the scene that allows for the audience to make certain associations and "choose the team that they are rooting for", which is the magicians.

3. My Perspective on Semiotic Criticism

• I think that Semiotic Criticism is an important form of rhetorical criticism because it examines how signs and symbols within rhetoric can lead to deeper meanings. I think this is valuable because it doesn't just focus on the surface level interpretation of the rhetoric, but the deeper meanings.
• Through this form of rhetorical criticism, I went into deep details and was able to find connections between different events in the scene and different themes within scene. This is valuable because it functions as a deep dissection of the rhetoric and all of its details.
• I think that this form of deeply diving into the rhetoric and finding symbolic relationships between elements of the rhetoric can be done in other forms of rhetorical criticism by simply using this technique. Thus, I think that this form of rhetorical criticism is also applicable to nearly all other forms of rhetorical criticism, which means that it is a useful method.