2 September 2013

Poster Analysis: THOR: THE DARK WORLD (2013)



The main theatrical poster for 'Thor: The Dark World', while heavily reminiscent of the poster Marvel's latest release 'Iron Man 3', is a strikingly beautiful piece of art. With a blend of modern and fantasy settings, 'Thor' has always had the upper hand regarding visual imagery and there is no waste of it here. The poster is a overwhelmingly epic yet simultaneously somewhat understated design with the film's lead character and the huge cast of supporting actors depicted in heroic poses in a largely desaturated blue colour scheme with traces of gold and red. Despite the use of photo editing software, the image is composed and completed in such a way as to emulate a painting, much like those of famed film poster designer Drew Struzan, while unfortunately no longer in demand, drew photo-realistic depictions of film's characters and settings and arranged them in a memorable and visually stunning way as to enforce the 'epicness' of the film upon the viewer. A layer of what can only be assumed of snow has been digitally added over the top of the image to add to the artistic effect, falling in line with the general icy cold atmosphere of the poster (suitable considering its Winter release date).

Thor is depicted in traditional hero pose, with hammer in hand, looking off to the left side of the poster, as are Loki and Sif, however the characters of Jane, Odin, and the villain Malekith are facing the viewer. For the first two of these characters this is presumably done as they are the most sympathetic - Jane as the only human character, as well as being the lead's romantic interest, and Odin as caring father of Thor - and so relatable to some extent. With the latter, who is depicted as a giant head in the clouds looming over the other characters, this is to emphasise his villainy through his fierce eye expression and intense face. A number of other characters as well as spacecrafts and the architecture of Asgard fill the rest of the image while the names of the four key players - well at least the most famous here in the established Marvel Cinematic Canon - 'Chris Hemsworth', 'Natalie Portman', 'Tom Hiddleston' and 'Anthony Hopkins as Odin' are aligned along the very top of the poster in traditional fashion with the same serif font used in most Marvel releases, while the usual selection of credits appear at the bottom. There is a distinct lack of a tagline, however this is not something Marvel have tended to include as they probably think its takes away from the power of the imagery rather than adds to it.