Throughout many works by Terry Gilliam, there is a general feeling of confusion or disbelief. The audience usually feels lost, and it never realizes what is actually going on until the end of the film. In Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the audience experiences firsthand the hallucinations and troubles of a man high on any drug he can find. In The Holy Grail, The Life of Brian, and The Meaning of Life, the audience is exposed to gruesome or socially horrifying situations, but the characters react very nonchalantly, leaving the audience confused and concerned. In Twelve Monkeys, the entire plot is questionable, and the audience has trouble believing the story in the first place, let alone understanding it. Throughout these movies Gilliam puts the viewer in a surreal state, making him or her wonder if the events are truly reality.
In Gilliam’s Monty Python films (Holy Grail, Life of Brian, and Meaning of Life), he animates scenarios to move the plot forward that leave the audience saying “What!” In The Holy Grail, the first animation we see is of God’s face coming out of the sun and talking to Sir Lancelot. The face is warped and puffy – not a face that one would immediately look at and associate with a heavenly Father. Throughout the dialogue, the puffy God face talks with an accent and the vocabulary of your average peasant. Gilliam uses very dreamlike animation sequences to speed up the plot in Life of Brian as well. When Brian falls off a first century building during a chase scene, Gilliam animates a bizarre, futuristic spaceship that catches Brian before he falls to his death. By distracting the audience from the current chase scene, Gilliam is able to end the chase without the audience realizing it was never resolved. Durin...
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...g digressions that the viewers get completely lost. By the end of the film we forget what the purpose of going to Las Vegas was in the first place. Were they going solely to trip? Surely there must have been a reason. No, that reason was lost a long time ago. By the end of the movie, we sober viewers feel so drugged-out that we want nothing more than to go home and calm down.
Gilliam is talented in the sense that he can use the same dreamlike themes, but use them in different ways to make the audience feel a wide array of emotions. In the Monty Python films, he gets viewers to laugh at what would be scarring in real life. In Fear and Loathing and Twelve Monkeys, Gilliam uses the same trippy techniques to make the audience feel frustrated, lost, or anxious. Regardless of the emotion produced, Gilliam frequently uses the bizarre to achieve whatever effect he needs.
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” a quote that sums up humanity’s unchanged love for horror movies. Over the years, as millions of people have watched horror movies the graphics, special effects, and sounds have changed for the better. While scenes have intensified yet remained the same someone gets stabbed, butchered or killed violently. It’s hard to imagine how anyone in their right mind could choose to see such violent acts. Which is the reason why Stephen Kings say’s “I think we’re all mentally ill; those of us outside the asylums only hide it a little better-
The first article, “The Best Night $500,000 Can Buy,” portrays the perfect night out in Las Vegas. Devin chronologically takes the reader through a night in one of the famous clubs in Las Vegas, Marquee. He describes the fundamental marketing techniques that promoters use to lure women into the venue, the prices that high-rollers pay to get a VIP access and tables, and the “shitshow” atmosphere where people are dancing as if they are on Ecstasy (some people are actually on drugs). From personal experience, Las Vegas is definitely the Disney World for adults because people can openly consume alcoholic beverages on Fremont Street while enjoying their time at the arcades, night and day clubs, pools, gambling rooms, theme park rides, shopping centers, restaurants, strip clubs, and wedding chapels. Which ultimately le...
Surrealism started as a Cultural movement in the 1920’s. It began with writings as well as visual artworks and was a way to express dreams imagination. There was no control on Surrealism and left artist to create art how they feel. Surrealism had similarities to Dadaism such as its anti-rationalist view. Surrealism was founded by Andre Breton, in Paris, 1924 after he created a manifesto of the art movement, the manifesto describes surrealism as “Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express…absence of any control…exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern” which puts emphasis on the ‘dream’ aspect of the movement. The manifesto states the importance of inspiration based of dream. The manifesto includes many pieces
[2] Missing is a rather confusing film to follow at first. Admittedly, I had to view it a few times to understand what was happening. Perhaps the initial feeling after seeing this film is confusion. However, after having watched it a second, fourth, eighth time, what I really felt was anger. Each time I watched the film, the anger and disgust would grow, so much so that it pained me to watch it again. However, in identifying the cause of my anger, I began to realize many things.
Indisputably, Tim Burton has one of the world’s most distinct styles when regarding film directing. His tone, mood, diction, imagery, organization, syntax, and point of view within his films sets him apart from other renowned directors. Burton’s style can be easily depicted in two of his most highly esteemed and critically acclaimed films, Edward Scissorhands and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Burton ingeniously incorporates effective cinematic techniques to convey a poignant underlying message to the audience. Such cinematic techniques are in the lighting and editing technique categories. High key and low key relationships plus editing variations evinces the director’s elaborate style. He utilizes these cinematic techniques to establish tone mood, and imagery in the films.
Modernity held movements that paved the path for new ways of thinking and expression as a result of the industrial revolution. Two of these movements are: Surrealism, and the school of Bauhaus. Although these movements are quite different in appearance, they both wanted to challenge the traditional customs of the time. Whether it be eliminating conscious editing of thoughts by the Surrealists or producing a new sophisticated approach to design in Bauhaus, these movements created unique artworks that reflected the times of change they existed in.
One of the biggest surrealist was an artist known as Salvador Dali who brought surrealism from the many European cultures to the American culture. This was significant because the surrealist was spreading the idea of the surrealism, regardless of whether he was doing it for his own ‘fame’. Dali was one of the main surrealist who was looking to recreate his own dream world that he had dreamt in his own unconscious mind. Much of the art includes major contrasts of thoughts or objects. For example, in one of Dali’s pieces (created in 1936) named ’Lobster Telephone’ is an object displaying a lobster on top of a dial telephone [2] “I do not understand why, when I ask for grilled lobster in a restaurant, I’m never served a cooked telephone.” The surrealists unconscious thoughts are
In today’s generation, Surrealism isn’t looked at, to many, as works of art with valuable back stories. They are broadly judged by the complex drawings of imaginative objects of the artist’s subconscious because they don’t make sense to simple minded viewers. In the 1920’s, Surrealism was introduced to the world. The movement had a large amount of critics because of its unique techniques of making the viewer think outside of the box. What got Surrealism it’s more positive views was the era it blossomed. The *DADA time period, where art was released at every time of the day, expressing the artists’ harsh feelings of the war. Whether it was paintings, political cartoons, or graffiti.
Seeing something through a different perspective, even as something as frivolous about an alien spaceship crashing to Earth and the way the aliens and humans have to adapt, grow, and learn to live together in a buddy-cop movie setting, can change a person’s view on the subject. While it was intended to be a comedy with a deeper meaning perhaps the viewers went away laughing, but also realizing the depth in the
Douglas Light said that our imagination is better than any answer to a question. Light distinguished between two genres: fantasy from fiction. He described how fantasy stimulates one’s imagination, which is more appealing, but fiction can just be a relatable story. In the same way, Books and movies are very different entities. In the short parable Doubt, the readers are lured in to the possibility of a scandalous relationship between a pastor and an alter boy. The readers’ curiosity is ignited because they are not given all the details. Therefore, their mind wanders further than the plot to create a story and characters that acted on one’s imagination; thus, the story became entertaining- flooded by the questions of what? Who? How? By which the reader can only answer. At this point, the readers create their own movie in a way. They will determine important aspects: how the character speaks, looks like, and reacts. Whereas, in the movie, the reader has no choice but to follow the plot laid out in front of them. No longer can they picture the characters in their own way or come up with their different portrayals. The fate of the story, while still unpredictable, was highly influenced by the way the characters looked, spoke, and presented themselves on screen. The movie leaves little to viewers' imaginations.In order to be entertained by literature or art, the viewer needs to feel that they can use their imagination and not be confined to a plot that reveals all.
Modern day horror films are very different from the first horror films which date back to the late nineteenth century, but the goal of shocking the audience is still the same. Over the course of its existence, the horror industry has had to innovate new ways to keep its viewers on the edge of their seats. Horror films are frightening films created solely to ignite anxiety and panic within the viewers. Dread and alarm summon deep fears by captivating the audience with a shocking, terrifying, and unpredictable finale that leaves the viewer stunned. (Horror Films)
Las Vegas symbolizes the American Dream and shows the corruption of society. When Duke and his Attorney, Dr. Gonzo, are at the Merry-Go-Round Bar, Dr. Gonzo expresses that the counter-culture of Las Vegas is getting to him. Duke struggles to accept what his Attorney says because he desires the Las Vegas lifestyle. Duke explains to Dr. Gonzo that they cannot leave Las Vegas, “…we’re right in the vortex [and] you want to quit….you must realize...that we’ve found the main nerve’” (Thompson 47-48), but Dr. Gonzo has already realized “…that’s what gives [him] the Fear” (Thompson 48). Duke and his Attorney thought that once they were in Las Vegas, the American Dream would be remarkable; but they realize that the American Dream is not magnificent, there are downsides to it. Witnessing how society acts in the “main nerve” of the American Dream, Dr. Gonzo is stricken with fear because he knows the American Dream is not benefitting him. When Duke looks back at his memories of his journey in...
“Why We Crave Horror Movies,” an essay by the legendary Stephen King, explains two challenging concepts to understand: why people like gory horror movies and how people are able to control their darkest desires. “I think that we’re all mentally ill; those of us outside the asylums only hide it a little better – and maybe not all that much better, after all.” King opens the essay by addressing the hard truth- we are all insane. People have dull lives, and often it’s the little bit of crazy within in us tha...
Leaving Las Vegas, directed by Mike Figgis and based on the autobiographical novel by John O’Brien, is an emotional story about an alcoholic who rejects life and wants to drink himself to death in Las Vegas, and an unselfish prostitute who loves him the way he is. Ben, played by Nicholas Cage, was a former movie producer in Los Angeles and has obviously crumbled in the glamour world of Hollywood which is shown in the opening scene. Here Ben is already an alcoholic when he disturbs former colleagues that are embarrassed of his appearance at the restaurant. Ben is unstable and a mess when one of the men give him money and tell him not to contact him again. Ben then gets fired and ultimately decides to drink himself to death in Las Vegas, a city constructed on greed, crime and moral negligence. We are never certain of the cause of Ben’s alcoholism, especially when he says “I don’t remember if I started drinking because my wife left me, or my wife left me because I started drinking.” In a last attempt and hope of human interaction, Ben pays the hooker Sera, played by Elisabeth Shue, 500 dollars to spend a night with him. Sera is magically attracted to the loser type of man, as Figgis shows us with her boyfriend Yuri, her abusive pimp and boyfriend. This drama is about the absolute love between two people that live on society’s border who need each other to know that they exist.
The entire movie is bursting with counter narratives, when the audience believes they hold an accurate grasp on what is truly happening, there is a misguiding event, as the storyline is continually challenged. The viewer’s beginning formations about what is going on are learned to be always questionable because what is repeatedly steered to trust and is revealed not be the truth in the conclusion of the film. This neo-noir film had multiple scenarios that make the previous actions untrustworthy to the actual message. This proves that all the observations and thoughts the viewer possesses are only relevant to what they are exposed to and shown and not to what is, in fact, happening.