Ben Mnushkin Paper #2 Professor Davis 2/27/18 Tracking the Motif of Roses Through Mendes’ American Beauty American Beauty is a masterpiece of a film that delves deep into a generic suburban home that slowly turns before your very eyes into a rebellion against normalcy orchestrated by none other than Lester Burnham. Not only did the film win a total of five Oscars including Best Picture and Best writing, but the complicated and interwoven repetition of symbols is what keeps film scholars squabbling over interpretations of the movie and its themes. From the very get-go, Mendes choose to present us with a rose being chopped from its stem, continuing the trend through the rest of the movie in forms that manifest themselves in a pleasant home garden, …show more content…
Tracking the dynamic nature of Lester as a character stands out when the first sentence he utters before walking into the gym is: “we can leave straight after this right?”, showing his uninterest in his own daughters’ half-time performance, unbeknownst to true infatuation that he will be exposed to just moments later. The first thing that is noticed during the dream sequence is the slow fade out of the routine-rehearsed music that the dance was choreographed to, replaced by a wide array of instruments that adds an encharming yet suggesting mood to the entire scene. A quick close up to Lester’s face immediately displays not only the fixation he has on Angela but the small droplets of sweat dripping from his face demonstrate the uneasiness and confusion he feels when first being enthralled by her supposed beauty. The director explicitly chose to remove the entire audience in the stands from the shot and leave Lester sitting alone in the bleachers, further emphasizing the “caught in the moment” potential of the scene, and additionally solidifying that: a) he is in a dream, and b) is so mesmerized by her appearance that he quite literally forgets about everything else that is going on around him. When she finally opens up her top to expose …show more content…
Unlike other dream sequences that the viewers follow Lester through, this is one of the only scenes where we aren’t fully aware he is dreaming until a few moments in, but through observations in the mise en scène a lot more is revealed about the what Lester is thinking in his mind. Like other dreams, a nondiegetic song begins to sneak in, ramping up in volume as he gets closer to the bathroom door, hinting at something mysterious and/or fascinating going on behind the door. For Lester, his new-found curiosity and ambition propel him to continue walking full-throttle, not holding himself back one bit. What’s interesting is that the camera doesn’t show his face as he walks towards the bathroom, but only reveals how truly mesmerized he is once he steps foot through the door; reflecting his internal desire to get to the room as quickly as possible. The odd placement of steam all over the room sets the mood for sexual tension as well as adding a partly spooky vibe because we can’t quite see as clearly as we would like due to the influx of steam in the room. A medium shot of Lester in his dream state is crucial to establishing his surroundings (including Angela in the bathtub) and differentiates the scene from the close-up shot dialogue between characters that dominates the rest of the film. The sound editing quickly cuts off the
Lewis, J. (2008). American Film: A History. New York, NY. W.W. Norton and Co. Inc. (p. 405,406,502).
Steel Magnolias is a paradigmatic example of movement to high sentimentality in the 1980s p. 42
Beginning the mid 1920s, Hollywood’s ostensibly all-powerful film studios controlled the American film industry, creating a period of film history now recognized as “Classical Hollywood”. Distinguished by a practical, workmanlike, “invisible” method of filmmaking- whose purpose was to demand as little attention to the camera as possible, Classical Hollywood cinema supported undeviating storylines (with the occasional flashback being an exception), an observance of a the three act structure, frontality, and visibly identified goals for the “hero” to work toward and well-defined conflict/story resolution, most commonly illustrated with the employment of the “happy ending”. Studios understood precisely what an audience desired, and accommodated their wants and needs, resulting in films that were generally all the same, starring similar (sometimes the same) actors, crafted in a similar manner. It became the principal style throughout the western world against which all other styles were judged. While there have been some deviations and experiments with the format in the past 50 plus ye...
In the classical Western and Noir films, narrative is driven by the action of a male protagonist towards a clearly defined, relatable goal. Any lack of motivation or action on the part of the protagonist problematizes the classical association between masculinity and action. Due to inherent genre expectations, this crisis of action is equivalent to a crisis of masculinity. Because these genres are structured around male action, the crises of action and masculinity impose a crisis of genre. In the absence of traditional narrative elements and character tropes, these films can only identify as members of their genres through saturation with otherwise empty genre symbols. The equivalency between the crises of genre and masculinity frames this symbol saturation as a sort of compensatory masculine posturing.
The Classical Hollywood style, according to David Bordwell remains “bound by rules that set stringent limits on individual innovation; that telling a story is the basic formal concern.” Every element of the film works in the service of the narrative, which should be ideally comprehensible and unambiguous to the audience. The typical Hollywood film revolves around a protagonist, whose struggle to achieve a specific goal or resolve a conflict becomes the foundation for the story. André Bazin, in his “On the politique des auteurs,” argues that this particular system of filmmaking, despite all its limitations and constrictions, represented a productive force creating commercial art. From the Hollywood film derived transnational and transcultural works of art that evoked spectatorial identification with its characters and emotional investment into its narrative. The Philadelphia Story, directed by George Cukor in 1940, is one of the many works of mass-produced art evolving out of the studio system. The film revolves around Tracy Lord who, on the eve of her second wedding, must confront the return of her ex-husband, two newspaper reporters entering into her home, and her own hubris. The opening sequence of The Philadelphia Story represents a microcosm of the dynamic between the two protagonists Tracy Lord and C.K. Dexter Haven, played by Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Through the use of costume and music, the opening sequence operates as a means to aesthetically reveal narrative themes and character traits, while simultaneously setting up the disturbance that must be resolved.
During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that, examining post classical at which time the relationship between them will become evident. It is my intention to reference films from both movements and also published texts relative to the subject matter. In order to illustrate the structures involved I will be writing about the subjects of genre and genre transformation, the representation of gender, postmodernism and the relationship between style, form and content.
Connelly, Marie. "The films of Martin Scorsese: A critical study." Diss. Case Western Reserve University, 1991. Web. 07 Apr 2014.
The forward-tracking movement as used in Ernie's restaurant suggests the forward-tracking shot that is used throughout the film to show Madeleine has an allure for Scottie. Ernie's scene evokes the backward-tracking shot used throughout the film to show how Scottie is bonded to his object of desire. Together they bring out the character that an individual plays in the film. The camera movement in Ernie’s Restaurant brings out forward and backward tracks that define the point-of-view structure, but here the camera movement does not straight forwardly articulate a point of view. Instead, the camera is self-consciously set up to show the relationship between the elements of the point-of-view structure that the rest of the film enacts.
In this essay the following will be discussed; the change from the age of classical Hollywood film making to the new Hollywood era, the influence of European film making in American films from Martin Scorsese and how the film Taxi Driver shows the innovative and fresh techniques of this ‘New Hollywood Cinema’.
Have you ever had one of those days that were so bad that you desperately needed a night at the ice cream or candy store? The 1970’s was that really bad day, while the night of self- indulgence was the 1980’s. Americans love to escape from our daily stress, and of all the products that allow us to do so, none is more popular than the movies. Movies are key cultural artifacts that offer a view of American culture and social history. They not only offer a snapshot of hair styles and fashions of the times but they also provide a host of insights into Americans’ ever-changing ideals. Like any cultural artifact, the movies can be approached in a number of ways. Cultural historians have treated movies as a document that records the look and mood of the time that promotes a particular political or moral value or highlights individual or social anxieties and tensions. These cultural documents present a particular image of gender, ethnicity, romance, and violence. Out of the political and economic unrest of the 1970’s that saw the mood and esteem of the country, as reflected in the artistry and messages in the movies, sink to a new low, came a new sense of pride in who we are, not seen since the post-World War II economic boom of the 1950’s. Of this need to change, Oscar Award winner Paul Newman stated,
Stanley, Robert H. The Movie Idiom: Film as a Popular Art Form. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. 2011. Print
In recent times, such stereotyped categorizations of films are becoming inapplicable. ‘Blockbusters’ with celebrity-studded casts may have plots in which characters explore the depths of the human psyche, or avant-garde film techniques. Titles like ‘American Beauty’ (1999), ‘Fight Club’ (1999) and ‘Kill Bill 2’ (2004) come readily into mind. Hollywood perhaps could be gradually losing its stigma as a money-hungry machine churning out predictable, unintelligent flicks for mass consumption. While whether this image of Hollywood is justified remains open to debate, earlier films in the 60’s and 70’s like ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ (1967) and ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976) already revealed signs of depth and avant-garde film techniques. These films were successful as not only did they appeal to the mass audience, but they managed to communicate alternate messages to select groups who understood subtleties within them.
The film Pulp Fiction was an immediate box office success when it was released in 1994 and it was also well received by the critics, and celebrated for the way it appeared to capture exactly a certain pre-millennial angst and dislocation in Western capitalist societies. The term post-modernist, often used to refer to art and architecture, was applied to this film. The pulp fiction refers to popular novels which are bought in large numbers by less well educated people and enjoyed for their entertainment value. The implication is that the film concerns topics of interest to this low culture, but as this essay will show, in fact, the title is ironic and the film is a very intellectual presentation of issues at the heart of contemporary western culture and philosophy.
Barsam, Richard. Looking at Movies An Introduction to Film, Second Edition (Set with DVD). New York: W. W. Norton, 2006. Print.
“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.