Abstract

The paper is about the visual critical discourse analysis of the selected scenes from the Avengers (2012) movie. The current paper analyses the female character "Natasha" from different perspectives. The researchers have selected feminist theory (second wave of feminism) while the model of Philosopher Charles S. Peirce (1931-58) has been taken for analyzing the selected scenes of the movie. Peirce's model consists of compositional analysis, semiotic analysis, and visual critical discourse analysis. Different signs and discourses have been used in the movie, which has been clarified by the model that what messages have been delivered by the film producer. It has resulted in the paper that different roles have been played by the female character Natasha in the movie. She fought bravely against the Sphinx forces and equally participated with men in every field of life.

Key Words

Visual Analysis, VCDA, The Avengers, Charles S. Peirce

Introduction

The current paper deals with the visual analysis of the movie "The Avengers" (2012) in the light of feminist theory (second waves of feminism). Traditionally, a woman is considered inferior in Western culture on different grounds. The current paper analyzes the film "The Avengers" (2012) to give the equal representation of women as men are represented. The movie is a mixture of technological empowerment and the presence of superheroes. Some heroes do not fall in the superhero category, but the technology makes them superheroes and fight against the Phoenix force. The Phoenix forces are animated to attack Earth and employ mass destruction, and the infrastructure is ruined. The movie shows a very beautiful girl as a protagonist. Her name is Natasha, and she is a powerful woman with feminine beauty. She fights against the Phoenix forces very bravely and proactively. She is seen in the movie while performing different roles. She is kidnapped when she appears first time on the screen. She evacuates herself and beats three men who kidnapped her. Next, she is seen in India kidnaping a scientist from there to work for America.

Further, we see her in the coming scene of the movie as a pilot, investigator, and fighter, and she fights equally with men against the phoenix force and remains unharmed throughout the movie. The film represents superheroes, but Natasha's character is not less than a superhero but more appropriate to be called a powerful woman. Her physical appearance is feminine, but she is powerful.

This paper gives a visual analysis of the scene from frame [11: 49] to frame [13:25]. The purpose and objective of the selected frames have to highlight the role of a beautiful and powerful woman as she is tied to the chair, but suddenly, she beats the three men. The visual analysis can be divided into three sections: compositional analysis, semiotic analysis, and visual critical discourse analysis. Further, the paper addresses the question of how feminist theory is appropriate for analyzing postmodern movies. And the second question is how the producer Kevin Feige empowers the women in The Avengers (2012).




Compositional Analysis

Compositional analysis focuses on the cinematography of the Hollywood movie "The Avengers" (2012). Since birth, we have been told that a time will come when technology will rule. However, we are already familiar with superheroes, and their stories have been heard for long. Both technologies and superheroes change the power structures, and the movie "The Avengers" (2012) contemplates and relies on superheroes and technologies. The story is about superheroes who are rationally and physically strong. They save Earth from the "phoenix force" with the help of advanced technologies. To create something with such techniques, the impression is given to believe in what has been presented, and meaning is provided to life with these techniques. The artistic creation of the movie with various techniques and methods is employed in chronological order with prior sequence. The images shown are simple but have changing shapes and motions, and they are not an easy task but a laborious and hardworking activity to encode.  

Undoubtedly, we are in dire need of technology, and it has made our lives easier. The postmodern man has access to all required facilities, and even the modes of luxuries have been placed. Still, instead of technological advancement and its needs, a shift from simple to complex and sophisticated devices, which are 3D and 4D animation, has been seen. As we have already stated about superheroes and men with immense power due to the technological revolution, it is true that technology has made the untrue and realized what has not been learned. The purpose is to maintain and serve the communication as the message passes from one place to another. The modes of communication are newspaper, magazine, TV, cinema, internet, advertisement, TV advertisement, videos, games, pedagogical activities, learning games, and so on. 

The story of "The Avengers" (2012) is based on several Marvel comic superheroes characters like Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk. They are fighting against The Phoenix Force to protect the Earth from destruction. The production of The Avengers (2012) results from technological efforts with the emergence of superheroes. Previously, fantasy movies were of great importance, but as time passed, a shift has resulted in believing in what the people identify the reality. The trilogy of The Avengers (2012) is more believable than other movies, which transmute fantasies into realities as the outcome of the sublime creation of the creator. 

The animation of the phoenix force is also the result of the excellent expertise of the creator on the part to put them into war against the man and overrule them. The appearance of the phoenix force on the screen takes the audience by surprise, and superheroes fight with them to save the Earth from destruction. 

Women in the movie are given very influential roles, equal to men. Natasha, the film's protagonist, equally fights against the phoenix force. She has feminine beauty and power, distinguishing her from other women. However, her character raises the women's consciousness; though she is still not equal to superheroes, her presence with them at the forefront makes her similar to men. In Natasha's first appearance, we are reported that the Russian Army has kidnapped her, but still, she fights bravely and evacuates herself from there. The present paper is delimited to analyze the scene of Natasha's kidnapping, while other sets of Natasha and other women are not undertaken. 

To start with the compositional analysis of the scene, this section moves with the images, which are the foremost step for critical inquiry. Monaco (2000) extricates from a film's "spatial organization, which is termed as its mise-en-scene", and a film's "temporal organization, or its montage" (p. 179). He further writes, "mise-en-scene is a result of decision about what to shoot and how to shoot it, while montage is how the shots are presented" (p. 179). The temporal organization of the selected movie is the chronological distribution of segments. The frames are multiple but taken from one video, which helps the audience understand what is happening. 




Frame 1: (11:50) 

The train appears on the screen at a railway track somewhere in Russia because the words on the lighting board are written in Russian. The train is an electric train where light can be seen in some buildings while others are darkened. It indicates that it is midnight. The last boggy on the screen suggests that the train is not a passenger train but takes some goods. The position of the camera is still and moving from right to left. The shot is extended in this frame, and no man is seen on the screen. A rough building is seen where some broken windows are shown. The shabby condition suggests that the place is no man-land. 




Angle of Camera

The angle of shots is important and needs to be taken into consideration. The angle is square, and the elevation is straight, where the camera takes the shots from close, stretches back, and moves towards a place where some action will be taken. 




Focus

Focus is not given to the location in the frame. The shots of the camera are turning towards the action. 

Frame 2: (12: 04) 

The camera moves from bottom to top. Four figures appear on the screen who are not clear from the distance. The scene is altogether darker and shadowed; the place can be identified as a warehouse. Different raw objects can be seen on the screen, and the ceiling is metal without light. However, some light can be observed in the surroundings. 




Angle of Camer

The angle of the camera is from bottom to top, moving slowly. Four figures are explicit in the scene but not clear from the distance.  




Frame 3: (12:07)

The camera suddenly comes upon a woman slapped harshly, and it seems she has been kidnapped. The shot is taken from very close, where nothing is prominent. However, when the camera is starched back, the face of the woman is clear to us. She has fair colour and curly hair. She has a sleeveless black dress tied with a chair. The scene is clear and decorated with modern lighting instead of shabby shapes. Shadows of bodies are explicit in the shots. The chain can be seen hanging from the ceiling, and other materials are seen but not explicit due to darkness. 




Frame 4: (12:13)

The camera suddenly moves from front to back of the woman. Now, the three persons are apparent in the shot. The person in the army uniform is the General of the Russian Army, who investigates the woman in Russia. The two persons have jackets and seem to be General's thugs. The ceiling is now clear, and three industrial lights are explicit. The raw materials can be seen, and the place is a warehouse probably used for investigating by the Russian Army. The angle of the camera is coming to the front and back simultaneously. 




Frame 5 (12:24) 

One of the men standing left to General is moving towards the woman, holding her hand. The camera angles are from right to left, and the top comes close to a woman. The next move of the camera is closing down to the warehouse's ground. The man is pretending to throw the girl, and she is terrifying now. The shot comes off the General asking the girl in Russian while the girl also responds in Russian. The woman seems to be Russian and has been charged for spying. 




Angles

The camera in the frame has taken shots from different angles: front to back, back to front, from top to bottom, and right to left.




Frame 6 (12:39)

All characters are seen from a distance in the hole where guns, pictures, and other equipment have been placed at the back of them. The camera is coming close continuously to the faces of Natasha and General. The scene demands both close shots and long shots. The General appreciates the woman's beauty and asks about some tanks they need. The tall person is closely shot in the camera while in the scene, mainly the general and the woman have been shown. The General picks up the pliers and orders the thugs to open her mouth. The camera closes up Natasha, and the Tall man opens her mouth to evacuate her teeth.




Frame 7 (13:25)

The phone rings, and the Thug answers and hands the phone to General. Agent Pail Coulson tells to general, "You're at 114 Solenski Plaza, 3rd floor. We have an F22 exactly 8 miles out. Put the woman on the phone, or I will blow up the block before you can make the lobby" (The Avengers, 2012). The General gives the phone to the woman, and Pail asks if they are on their way to help her, but she denies it and says that she is interrogating the General. She starts beating thugs and the General.  




Angle 

The camera angle takes shots from a square, and the elevation is overhead. The scene gives shots from agent Pail Coulson, who seems to be An American agent of fair colour, talking from an unknown place. 

Composition

The composition focuses on what has been included and what has been excluded deliberately by the creator from the film. In this movie scene, the female character is seen and slapped on the face because her representation is distorted and inferior. The audience notices the female character's presence with such representation and feels empathy for her that she is weaker than males. The background suggests the night scene is full of shadow, which signifies the horror and mysteries of the night, creating terror. The creation indeed horrifies the female and pretends that the character has to accept what has been intended by the General to extract from her, but when a call is received by the Thug of the General and handed over to the General. The General gives the phone to the girl, and she acknowledges that she is interrogating the General and starts beating them. This position in the film shows us that she is a powerful woman.




Color and Tone and Sound

The sound of the train in the night produces a mysterious environment for the audience, sometimes frightening them. Further, the conversation starts between General and Natasha, and the background sound creates a thrill and identifies that something will happen seriously. The background colour is dark and shadowed, whereas Natasha's facial expression is intensified. Her image is fair, wearing a black sleeveless shirt with bare shoulders and back. Her hair is short, curly, and fine and porcelain skin. The shots are taken from front and back angles as the camera moves triangularly. 




Contrasts

The General is shown in contrast to Natasha, who is against her. General's thugs are beating her for spying. It shows how a female is oppressed and exploited by patriarchy. She is inquired about spying and slapped on the innocent face. She is through pain, but she tolerates it and goes to discussion. It shows how the female character is shown stronger in the movie instead of her exploitation and suffering.  




Positioning

Every aspect of the movie is important and signifies a different context. The positioning of characters and various objects shown on the screen has a very significant role in conveying the meaning. It is shown in the scene that Natasha has been tied to the chair and placed in front of General. There is lower ground at the back of Natasha to use for dropping her if she is not exposed. The position of the General shows that he is an influential person. The chain hangs from the ceiling and is used to turn the people, while the guns at the back hint that it is the place used by the Army for interrogating people. The position of different articles on the table is used to frighten them. The site is wide enough but not less than a torture cell. 




Salience 

Salience is used in the part of the frame where the viewer's attention is drawn, or we can say the viewer's eyes. How do they perceive the scene? For example, the back of Natasha is removed from the long distance where guns and objects are shown. Then, the background tells us that the place is a torture cell, which is identified through salience.  




Vectors

Vectors guide the audience to read, view, and understand different objects and subjects; i.e., the building is shabby and located near a railway road. The lower portion does not hold larger objects, and the first floor is taller than how viewers read and view through their eyes when they follow the straight vector. When the back of Natasha is seen, and other characters are visible, the building and the characters appear upright, and the audience's eyes are drawn in the same direction. Different frames of the scenes draw the audience's attention to read the direction in the same line. 




Transitions 

Transitions are used to show shifts from one shot to another shot. The types of transitions vary according to requirement, i.e., dissolve, fade out, fade in, cut, and wipe. The usage of these transitions has very prominent effects, which are applied and used to get the required outcomes. The selected video reflects the impact of transitions.  




Cut

Cut is the part of transitions between two shots to show a chronological visual break in the stream of the scene. A cut occurs between two different images used to cause a temporal visual discontinuity in the flow of the stage—the video results in various cuts. 




Fade in/ Out 

Fade-in and Fade-out are part of transitions as they are used for visual effects to emerge the scene or use it to ascend on the screen. The purpose is to screen out of a unicolour image, which is called fade in, and the scene descends, which is called fade out.   In the selected video, transitions' fade-in and fade-out parts are dominant. 




Scc Effect (Short Color Change)

SSC effects are used especially in animated movies intended to be used briefly to modify the colour. In the video, moving from the train to the warehouse scene and closing up the characters on the screen, the modification in the colour can be seen. When the fade-out and fade-in transitions are used, we see the transformation of colour on the screen. Regarding Natasha's face, the camera shows her anger with a flash of light, resulting from the short colour change effect. 

Semiotic Analysis

To analyze cinematography or cope with visual critical analysis, it is important to deal with the second section, semiotic analysis, which is the study of signs, codes, and conventions, and the purpose is to give meaning. The purpose of semiotic analysis is to overcome those flaws which are produced in the compositional analysis. Semiotics is the scientific study of different symbols, signs, conventions, and sometimes written text in a movie. The process is not easy and simple but a time-consuming and challenging task to analyze the sign and symbol. Therefore, the viewers and readers carefully read and observe the signs and characters in the text.  

Semiotics has been defined as; "we say that semiotics is the study of signs and signifying practices. A sign can be defined as any entity (words, images, objects, etc.) that refers to something else. Semiotics studies how this reference results from established social conventions (Eco 1976, 16)". Every sign and symbol has different meanings encoded and decoded by the audience, readers, viewers, and listeners. In this process of meaning extraction, the meaning is taken from the minimal unit found in the sign. When conducting semiotic analysis of signs and symbols, we consider two types of meaning: connotative meaning and denotative meaning. Connotative meaning deals with dictionary and literal meanings, while denotative purpose deals with contextual meaning. The denotative meaning makes sense when they occur in the context. When we talk about a particular context where different signs are used, we call them codes because they are posited or situated, and we extract meaning from the context. Codes are defined as; "signifying practices simply refers to how, rather than what, meaning is produced and, finally, the social convention which links signs with meanings is called a code (Potts, 1996, 21)".

Signs can be categorized into three types which are iconic, indexical, and symbolic. Charles Peirce has defined the category as he focused on the theory of signs, which explains semiosis. The purpose of the Peirce category is to show how sense is made of the world, and whereas Language plays a pivotal role, not only Language itself is the centre for sense to extract meaning. Signs for Peirce under his categories are painting, photography, sound, music, road signs, colours, and traffic signals. Further, Ferdinand De Saussure is a well-known linguist who thought that Language is arbitrary. According to Saussure, one-tone correspondence between objects and words is impossible. Signs have two parts: signifier and signified; the first has the Form of a thing, which can be anything like a word or sound, and the second one is that idea and the concept are signified by the signifier. 

In this movie, the producer displays different layers of multiple meanings. The meanings can be extracted mainly at two levels: implicit and explicit. The clip I have selected is analyzed in this section under Pierce's three categories of sign, indexical, and symbolic for semiotic analysis. 




Iconic Signs

In The Avengers (2012), icon signs have been used and employed. For example, when the train appears at the station, different signs and boards are seen; the Language is Russian, intimating the audience that it is placed somewhere in Russia, while some lights are explicit while darkness is seen. It indicates that it is the mid of the night when people are sleeping, but the act of the movie is in progress. The place is not in proper order as the camera comes on the four figures. Different objects in dispersed forms suggest that it is a useless place, but some of the equipment, like pliers, guns, different pictures, and the woman tied to a chair in front of the uniform person. These iconic signs suggest that the place is no more than a warehouse used for interrogation by the Russian Army while the woman was kidnapped for the same purpose. The pliers, the chain, and the ditch are used as torture cells for those who are brought for interrogation. The guns which are shown in the scene are Russian-made. In this scene, Russia is highlighted, which has a strong antagonism with America, as the General asks the girl about tanks. Further, the American Agent calls to Russian General and tells him about their location, the technological empowerment of America, and how they observe the people. 




Indexical Signs

Indexical sign deals with the sensory features and help the audience to get the meanings. This is the process in which the signifier causes the signified. In this video, the indexical signs are prevalent. The presence of the train refers to connectivity. Further, cell phone also reflects the same connectivity in the movie, which connects a Russian General with an American agent.

Furthermore, the Russian Language written on different boards signifies a context. On the wall, a signboard is seen where other pages have been posted, indicating that instructions have been written for the officers. These instructions indicate that it is an interrogation cell used by the Russian Army. The American agent has identified that the Russian General's presence signifies that America has been watching its opponents. The General and the kidnapped girl can be signified that both are rivals; one represents America while the male represents Russia.




Symbolic Signs

Symbolic signs are arbitrary in highlighting the relationship between signifier and signified, which is conventional and purely culturally specific. Literary and creative writers use these signs and symbols to extract and convey the desired meanings. The movie has different symbols that can be identified with different characters, music, colours, objects, etc. 




Objects

As we see in the movie, different objects, including cell phones and trains, are options to connect people from one place to another. The train is physically feasible to take people from one place to another, while the cell phone is used for communication, conveying messages from one place to another. Further, objects like pliers and chains are used for different purposes, which play a vital role in man's life, while the presence of these objects in the warehouse is purposed to torture the kidnapped. Furthermore, the presence of the guns identified that the place is the Army's property, which they use for interrogation. The call from the American agent informs him that you are being watched; conventionally, American usually follows and watch their enemies.




Colours

The dress and shoes of Natasha are black, while the colours of the train, the colour of railway track, colour of men's dresses are black and silver, which resemble the night's darkness. The characters' dresses and the whole objects look similar in colour. The colour black itself stands for death and fear. Therefore, things, characters, and time are expectant, with the darkness signifying fear, evil, and danger in the movie. Further, the colours of guns, mobile phones, pliers, ditch and pictures, iron metal, and chains are black and silver, increasing the danger. However, Natasha's fair colour and curly hair are the hope for existence. Furthermore, the colour of Natasha's lips is red, which has different proportions. 




Music

The video has no music overall; only the horn sound and the train can be heard, as I have already discussed in the sub-heading, colour and sound.

The signs and symbols as mentioned, convey their meaning and create an aesthetic pleasure in audiences. These symbols and resources are meaning-making, and the purpose is to create a fabric of the story. We must pay careful attention to these signs and symbols, which are important for a visual and literary text.

Visual Critical Discourse Analysis

In this section, VCDA tells us how different discourses have been shaped by the compositional, sign, and symbol systems. People talk about the meaning extraction from literary text, but movies create meaning at different levels such as signs, symbols, words, and sounds. The application of these different levels conveys meaning through various compositional techniques. Form and content create more complex meanings when put into the social context. Discourse is shaped in the social context through complex resources that help make meaning. Semiosis, as discussed in detail in the semiotics section, largely covered these discourses that shape the social context. CDA has been placed to analyze the discourse, a system of social practices. CDA can be defined as; 

CDA sees discourse – language use in speech and writing – as a form of 'social practice'. Describing discourse as social practice implies a dialectical relationship between a particular discursive event and the situation(s), institution(s) and social structure(s), that frame it: The discursive event is shaped by them, but it also shapes them. That is, discourse is socially constitutive as well as socially conditioned – it constitutes situations, objects of knowledge, and the social identities of and relationships between people and groups of people. It is constitutive both in the sense that it helps to sustain and reproduce the social status quo and in the sense that it contributes to transforming it. Since discourse is so socially consequential, it gives rise to important issues of power. Discursive practices may have major ideological effects – that is, they can help produce and reproduce unequal power relations between (for instance) social classes, women and men, and ethnic/cultural majorities and minorities through the ways in which they represent things and positions people. (Fairclough and Wodak, 1997: 258)

Discourse in "The Avenger" (2012) is constitutive and shaped by the society. The film's producer has reflected on situations in which other signs and dialogues become meaningful. Further, the given objects in the movie are carefully hewed. Therefore, the audience easily grasps what has been represented in the film. Furthermore, the essential element in the movie is the construction of social identities and relations between different characters and how they form their social groups.  

The VCDA of the video is not easy; it needs to analyze a minor aspect and object of the movie. Frames selected are selected from the screen, usually comprised of camera shots that show how the camera is shot with different angles according to the requirement. Here frame of the screen includes camera shots from different angles as required to be presented. In the movie, the close-up is seen when the facial expressions and actions of the female character Nathasha are captured following the camera's point of view. There are different close-ups with multitudes when the camera draws upon Nathasha's mouth when she is kidnapped and sees on screen, and the facial expression is disconsolate and very close to the camera. 

Figure 1



When the character of Nathasha appears on the screen (frame: 0:12:06), she is seen on the chair tied; the background is dark, full of shadows. The usage of chiaroscuro lighting has been seen in the shot. When the camera abruptly comes on Nathasha's face, she is slapped. The scene is from a railway road in a building still under construction. The Russian General, along with his thugs, is inquiring as she is spying. Dialogues between the characters are in Russia, informing us that Natasha is a Russian girl working for America or maybe she has learned the Russian Language. However, it is clear from her physical features that the image of a woman is an Eastern European woman, seemingly Russian. Further, her blue eyes suggest her exotic other. She has been foregrounded in the scene. 

The scene shows the exterior from the dark, slowly moving towards Natasha and General. The interior of the building is shown when the entrance in the scene opens up. The camera shot is tilted up from the front of the railway station, closing towards Natasha. The face of Natasha is closed on the screen. The camera is drawn back, moving front to back. The angle of the camera is presented in the triangle. Shots are directed at what we see and what we perceive. The angles of the camera show the dominance of the characters. The stir and freeze figure of the General is the high-level angle, portraying him as superior, while the frightened and strong Natasha is shown as weaker because of the low-level angle. The level of the camera is placed according to the position of the characters. 

Image 2

In this image, the shot is placed on Natasha's face from her shoulder angle, telling the audience that her expression of Natasha is fearful; however, such an image is often posed by the protagonist in the movie to enhance the beauty of the screen

Image 3



Next, the shot is taken from the back of Natasha; the scene is seen from her point of view. The image represents the same angle and shot as the previous image. Natasha has the same short, red hair, but it is now apparent in the image that she has been tied up with the chair. If we talk about the scene, it is the same as seen in the first image: dark and shadowed. Instead of darkness, Natasha is very prominent in the image; red hair and fair skin are clear, and the shot provides light. The lighting of the shot highlights her essential figure. However, she is surrounded by the Russian Army General and his thugs, showing that Natasha has been a good character and has been surrounded by evil. The camera takes a shot of Natasha from off-centre to the right. The background shown in the image is darker and shadowed, and the place is a railway station, which seems to be a warehouse where the metal beams and other goods are seen. The industrial lights from the high ceiling can be seen. Two men from the sides wearing leather Jackets are thugs of the General, while the General is in charge of inquiring about Natasha. 

All the frames show that the woman on the screen is the film's protagonist, who displays feminine beauty and power. The scene is dark and shadowy, but the light focuses on her beauty, showing the audience that she is beautiful enough, having red hair and fair skin. The frames show feminine attributes of Natasha as she is shown on the screen with a tight black dress, high heels, and a curvy figure. The elements of her beauty are coupled with her power and intellect. Her feminine attributes, she accepts when the General appreciates her beauty, while we see that she is scared when she is pretended to be thrown in the dyke. Instead, she is tied, and her expression shows us that she has acknowledged what is demanded of her, but suddenly, she starts beating the general and thugs and relieves herself independently. She, without any effort, cuts the rope. It has been shown in the last frame that she represents the modern-day woman. The modern woman is called a beautiful and feminine woman who also possesses power, agency, freedom, and independence from man's clutches. Natasha promotes in the scene the mythology of how an empowered woman fights against the opponents as she is beautiful in looks and smart in her acts. Natasha highlights a new and unfamiliar trend from a woman's perspective to be introduced with both feminine beauty and power like a powerful man, which is surprising to the audience. 

Conclusion

To give conclusive words to the paper, it has resulted that visual analysis provides the analysis of the films at three levels, which convey meaning from different angles. In the movie "The Avengers (2012)" the selected scene tells us that a woman is decisive instead of her feminine beauty. Though she is tied with chairs in the night, the place is somewhere in Russia; later, we come to know the place's name from an American agent who calls General. The darkness and shadow show the fear in the movie, where the producer uses a unique element as he uses the black and the silver black. From railway tracks to small objects like pliers, everything is dark. The writer uses the technique to frighten the girl and employ the fear. Dialogues between the two characters are in Russia because the producer prefers to use the native Language of the Russian General instead of the Language (English) of the producer. The overall scene displays the impression that the woman is a weak character, but instead of employing danger through different signs and symbols, the woman appears brave and powerful. She brutally beats the three men and leaves the place without any fear. The film tells us that modern woman is equal to man and can be placed where men are positioned.  

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