Recognition, Alignment, and Allegiance
In Murray Smiths reading, he divides the way the audience identify the characters up into three different parts which are recognition, alignment, and allegiance. On the recognition level, the audience construct a perception on the character and match them to their own traits in the everyday world. On the alignment level, this allows the audience to take in the information that the film is feeding them and where they are placed in terms of the plot of the film, this could be aligned to a single character or multiple. Finally allegiance, the 'moral and ideological evaluations the audience make with characters within the film.' So throughout the film, the audience evaluate the characters ideas and goals. Then they make a judgement on if they agree with the characters/plot or not.
The film I have decided to analyse is the thriller 'It Follows' this is because when the main character is introduced, she is a young, insecure teenage girl. The audience get the chance to analyse the girl and her traits and relate them to their own. The alignment is when the audience realise she is being followed by this unrealistic creature with all the POV shots that are used. Lastly towards the end the girl and her friends try to defeat the creature however we as the audience don't know if they have completely defeated it, which allows the audience to make the judgement for themselves.