Johnny English Clip Analysis

Johnny English is a 2003 comedy film about a incompetent secret agent played by Rowan Atkinson.

Genre
The genre is mainly comedy but has crossovers into the action/adventure genre especially in the dream sequences. However I will focus mainly on the comedic elements.
The main character (Johnny) is shown as being incompetent while believing he is actually highly proffesional. Therefore he acts professionly while doing ridicolous things (such as throwing his coat out the window) which is funny, as people find his delusions funny. Most of the other characters around him are quite good agents and are proffesional which makes the main character seem even more ridicolous and makes the audience laugh at the other characters reactions to him.

The setting is in the fictional MI7. This would normally be an action adventure setting but the film defies conventions by setting a comedy there and making the office seem quite mundane and not top secret like its normally potrayed which also makes audiences laugh.

The Iconography is similar to the setting. The normal "cool car" "gadgets" and guns of spy films are there but all these things are useless in the hands of johnny shown when the gun falls apart when he tries to use it. This shows it is a mickey take of normal spy films.

The narrative is also comedic as Johnny makes various mistakes along his mission including failing to "get the girl" and mistaking ooffins containing dead bodies for coffins containing important items. The dialogue with Johnny saying things like "all I need is a slightly bigger brain then neccasary."

The narrative also follows Torodov's narrative rule. The equilibrium is when Johnny is merely Agent 1's secretary dreaming of becoming an agent. The disruption comes when all the agents in the country die and Johnny becomes Agent 1 himself. The restoration is when Johnny ends up solving the case and proving everyone who didn't believe him wrong.

The characters follows Propp's character rule as well. There is the hero (Johnny) who defies stereotypes by seeming incompetent for most of the film but earning the right of hero at the end where he saves Britain. There is the princess (Lorna) who also defies stereotypes by actually being a better agent then Johnny however also acting as the love interest. There is the Helper, Bob, who is Johnnys long suffering sidekick. The head agent is the wise "Princesses father" who also defies conventions by seeming wise but being wrong at the end. Finally the villian is Pascal Sauvage who tries to take over Britain and turn it into a giant prison.

comedy clip: johnny english
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GnuutlZaxk