Othering, or the other, is a term used to describe a specific individual or group that is identified as the opposite from the perceived norm or the “preferred ideal”. More specifically, othering is often classified with a negative connotation as it can inherently promote individuals to dismiss and neglect other differences wether it be ethical, societal, and onward. The end result of othering can lead to the isolation and segregation of a specific group through actions such as a disproportionate treatment of respect, and the exclusion due to perceived identification and dissimilarity. In the film industry, othering is frequently portrayed, whether it be directly or indirectly, or in a positive and negative light. As outlined in the Media Studies Reader, authors Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer state, “The whole word is passed through the filter of the culture industry. The familiar experience of the moviegoer, who perceives the street outside as a continuation of the film he has just left, because the film seeks tricky to reproduce the world of everyday perception, has become the guidance of production (page 16).” As quite …show more content…
As he walks around the plantation, Django baffles the slaves and slaver owner, who views their “kind” as different. He is able to illustrate to the people that he is a free person, an exception from the typical views classified under the othering, and one capable to express and act freely. Doing so, he whips a slave overseer to further distinguish himself from the definition of the other, which would be the slaves who stare in astonishment. The character of Django as portrayed in the film is essentially a reverse representation of the other as typically viewed in cultural and societal interpretation in film concerning with the sensitive topic of slavery. Quentin Tarantino is able to masterfully craft, represent, and even ridicule the othering of slavery in the
Miller, J. and Schamess, G. (2000). The discourse of denigration and creation of ‘other.’ Journal of sociology and social welfare. 27, 3, 39-62.
He displays a character with a clear mindset that is driven on what he believes to be correct. For example, Django has no issue whatsoever in killing his former masters. The film tries to present the African male image positively by displaying that the stereotype of submissiveness was indeed not followed by the main character Django. However upon a further analysis into the film it becomes apparent that Django, who was the films attempt at portraying a positive African male was actually the exception to every other black character role that is played in the film. The other African characters in the film were indeed portrayed as extremely submissive and loyal individuals. In one scene a servant named Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson), who was a slave for Master Candie, proves the stereotype of submissiveness placed upon Africans. Towards the end of the film when Mr.Candie gets shot and killed, Stephen was the first to react instantly by crying over his master’s body and morning over his death. The fact that Stephen who proves the stereotype of loyalty and submissiveness was so loyal to his master who disrespected and mistreated him his whole life really goes against the positive image portrayed by Django. Also, throughout the film all African characters other than Django are displayed as being super submissive towards their masters. Many Scenes showed Mr. Candie 's slaves complying with all of his demands. Overall the films attempt to show Django as a positive lead due to the fact that he breaks the stereotypes placed on the Africans in the film fails due to the fact that all the black characters surrounding Django were indeed compliant and loyal, and that Django was an exception to all of these other Africans in the
Classic narrative cinema is what Bordwell, Staiger and Thompson (The classic Hollywood Cinema, Columbia University press 1985) 1, calls “an excessively obvious cinema”1 in which cinematic style serves to explain and not to obscure the narrative. In this way it is made up of motivated events that lead the spectator to its inevitable conclusion. It causes the spectator to have an emotional investment in this conclusion coming to pass which in turn makes the predictable the most desirable outcome. The films are structured to create an atmosphere of verisimilitude, which is to give a perception of reality. On closer inspection it they are often far from realistic in a social sense but possibly portray a realism desired by the patriarchal and family value orientated society of the time. I feel that it is often the black and white representation of good and evil that creates such an atmosphere of predic...
Django Unchained, directed by Quentin Tarantino’s is what you would call a spaghetti western. The name ‘spaghetti western’ originally was a term used to reduce the value of something. American westerns were considered to be on a higher scale than spaghetti westerns. Django Unchained is set in the American South, two years before the civil war, telling the story of the freed slave Django who goes on a killing spree in the name of revenge to rescue his wife Brunhilda from the cruel plantation master that owns her. I thought it was interesting how this movie made the freed slave one of the protagonist seeking revenge. The character, who allows Django to take revenge, is Dr. King Schultz a German-American dentist/bounty hunter. Through Django’s heroism and portrayal of masculinity, we are reminded of the traditional hero traits from the western movies of past. The movie Django Unchained conforms to these traditional standards of masculinity and heroism.
In the first scene of Paul Morrissey’s 1968 film Flesh, the viewer is taken on a brief journey through the streets of New York City. The perspective taken is that from a passive observer looking into the life of the main character. The camera does not tamper with the images nor try to impose new meaning on them – we see the sequence of events as it actually unfolds. Throughout the film clip, a main theme is centered on the banality of the protagonist’s existence, and his restless state is reflected within both technical and organic aspects of the clip.
Gallagher, T. 2002. Senses of Cinema – Max Ophuls: A New Art – But Who Notices?. [online] Available at: http://sensesofcinema.com/2002/feature-articles/ophuls/ [Accessed: 8 Apr 2014].
Run Lola Run, is a German film about a twenty-something woman (Lola) who has 20 minutes to find $100,000 or her love (Manni) will be killed. The search for the money is played through once with a fatal ending and one would think the movie was over but then it is shown again as if it had happened ten seconds later and changed everything. It is then played out one last time. After the first and second sequence, there is a red hued, narrative bridge. There are several purposes of those bridges that affect the movie as a whole. The film Run Lola Run can be analyzed by using the four elements of mise-en scene. Mise-en-scene refers to the aspects of film that overlap with the art of the theater. Mise-en-scene pertains to setting, lighting, costume, and acting style. For the purpose of this paper, I plan on comparing the setting, costume, lighting, and acting style in the first red hued, bridge to that of the robbery scene. Through this analysis, I plan to prove that the purpose of the narrative bridge in the film was not only to provide a segue from the first sequence to the second, but also to show a different side of personality within the main characters.
“of exhibitionist confrontation rather than absorption,” (Gunning, Tom 2000 p 232) as Gunning suggests the spectator is asking for an escape that is censored and delivered with a controlled element of movement and audiovisual. Gunning believes that the audience had a different relationship with film before 1906. (Gunning, Tom 2000 p 229)
Through most of the characters’ passion for filmmaking, this movie teaches the audience the great significance of film history. Many people in modern day tend to take film and its history for granted, but they do not realize the depth and effort that mankind has put into such a development. In Hugo, the theme of film history revolves around the entire production, and the audience sees flashbacks of Georges Méliès’ past that reveal his vital role in movie-making. By investing a deep meaning to the tale, viewers start to understand the great emotional and intellectual characteristics of movies. Additionally, Hugo himself delivers a message to his counterpart characters, which also serves as a lesson for the onlookers. He shows the audience that everyone has a part and purpose in this world. Protagonist Hugo Cabret says that “everything has a purpose, even machines. Clocks tell the time, trains take you places. They do what they’re meant to do.” Voicing through Hugo, the filmmakers illustrate how every individual has a reason to live and discover their calling. With a statement about the forgotten grandeur of film history and a valuable message to the crowd regarding one’s purpose, Hugo inspires and presents itself as a noteworthy and unforgettable
middle of paper ... ... In final analysis, the motion picture is the one that goes deeper inside the spectator’s mind. Other mediums such as still picture and theatrical play also provide the visual and aural elements for the spectator, yet they seem to be inferior to the motion picture in that they lack the reality, affinity, and creativity in terms of use of time and space. The levels of emotions such as attention, memory, imagination, emotion, and unity, which were introduced by Munsterberg, indicates how the spectator perceives the elements of the film and ends up with it.
In an instant, Alice stops, hugging a street pole and we hear the low growl of something inhuman off-screen, and at that moment, the prospect of danger becomes inherently unified with the threat of bodily harm, and a painful death. Suddenly a screeching bus charges into frame between Alice and the camera, and the animalistic growl is subsumed into the screeching breaks of the bus providing an instant cathartic relief from the tension. For the film viewer, our aesthetic distance from the film, that is knowing the perception is fiction, has provided albeit, short-lived but undeniably palpable feeling of the sublime. While safety arriving in the form of the bus brings us relief from the building tension, the sublime, arising only for a few moments, is felt as the danger and threat of death through bodily harm was all but too
Slavery is a topic that the majority of Americans have a hard time talking, or dealing with, yet Tarantino is able to bring mainstream audiences into the world of the South before the Civil War and have us talking about it. Django is the type of character that you instantly root for, regardless of his outcome you just know that you want Django to have his revenge. (1) Cobb from the New Yorker said “The theme of revenge permeates
It was not that long ago when films consisted of black and white images, silently dancing in double time to an accompanist tinkling away in the shadow of the stage. The experience of cinema has changed a lot, adding sound, colour and different dimensions. All these affects are aimed at once thing. To create the ultimate immersive experience, a film so real the images not only leap from the screen but embody the multi-sensory dimensions through movement and smell. While these enhancements are meant to increase the sensory response to the film, it is common knowledge amongst film phenomenology theorists that even the simplest films can cause a reaction without the gimmicks.
“Entertainment has to come hand in hand with a little bit of medicine, some people go to the movies to be reminded that everything’s okay. I don’t make those kinds of movies. That, to me, is a lie. Everything’s not okay.” - David Fincher. David Fincher is the director that I am choosing to homage for a number of reasons. I personally find his movies to be some of the deepest, most well made, and beautiful films in recent memory. However it is Fincher’s take on story telling and filmmaking in general that causes me to admire his films so much. This quote exemplifies that, and is something that I whole-heartedly agree with. I am and have always been extremely opinionated and open about my views on the world and I believe that artists have a responsibility to do what they can with their art to help improve the culture that they are helping to create. In this paper I will try to outline exactly how Fincher creates the masterpieces that he does and what I can take from that and apply to my films.
Movies take us inside the skin of people quite different from ourselves and to places different from our routine surroundings. As humans, we always seek enlargement of our being and wanted to be more than ourselves. Each one of us, by nature, sees the world with a perspective and selectivity different from others. But, we want to see the world through other’s eyes; imagine with other’s imaginations; feel with other’s hearts, at a same time as with our own. Movies offer us a window onto the wider world, broadening our perspective and opening our eyes to new wonders.