The aesthetic approach, also known as the masterpiece approach, involves solely looking at movies as a whole. This approach coincides the movie to its own director. For example, the Auteur theory explains how the director is also the author of the film. Film as a social history approach includes issues such as, gender, racial, political, and environmental. For example, the feminist film theory conveys a negative approach toward women. As shown in movies, women are considered eye-candy, sexual, dumb, and have no authority. Laura Mulvey even coined the term that women are the “male gaze” of cinema. In result, the Bechdel Test was created; if a movie did not have at least two major female characters that interacted besides talking about men, …show more content…
I believe this film has a social history approach because it combines gender, racial and historical issues that support this particular approach. Although this film is considered a masterpiece, the social history approach is much more suitable for the context of the movie. The greatest accomplishment from this movie from a historical perspective is the way women are portrayed. Nurse Ratchet, who is the head of the main ward at the mental institution, is displayed with some authority, but in a negative way. Although she has control over most of the men in the ward, the way she treats them is in an unkindly, demanding, and ruthless attitude. Like most movies, the women authority is being mocked in a negative way because during the time the movie was released, gender equality was a lingering issue in the world. Also, many movies portray women with low intelligence, but in this film, Nurse Ratchet is quiet smart because she figured out right away that McMurphy was mentally stable. In conclusion, the movie touches on many approaches, which is why the film became so successful over its …show more content…
In my opinion, there are three specific criteria’s, which make a movie great. First, a great film always has great actors. For example, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Jack Nicholson, and Danny DeVito are well known actors who played a great role in this film, and wouldn’t have been the same without them. Next, a great movie always has a powerful opening that conveys presents crucial patterns to foreshadow later events in the film. I felt One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest lacked this aspect in its’ opening scene. All that is shown is a beautiful landscape with a mountain in the background, as the viewer sees a car drive by. This scene does not really convey significant patterns that follow throughout the movie. Lastly, a great movie always has a hero with a moral problem. These types of films reveal a unique and significant side to the heroes that give them the strength to prevail at the end of the film. In addition, these films have a hero that tries to override one master problem or goal that help drive the story of the movie. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest fit this criterion excellently. McMurphy, the so-called hero of this film wanted to make the people of the mental institution feel like they were normal. McMurphy constantly helped the group feel like they were men again by doing manly things with them, such as, playing cards, drinking alcohol, going fishing, and playing
The Bechdel Test has three seemingly simple requirements. First, at least two women have to have a significant role in the work. Secondly, these two females need to talk to each other at least once about, thirdly, something other than a man. To a reader, these needs are pretty easy to pass, however it can be shocking to find out how few movies and books actually pass the Bechdel Test.
The first thing about this film that caught my eye from a sociological perspective is that the society in the film is not depicted as a “perfect society” as most films do, instead it shows the real conflicts that society had back then with certain subjects. The film shows us the prejudices, and misconceptions that people had about things like sex, and homosexuality at the time.
Film making has gone through quite the substantial change since it’s initial coining just before the turn of the 19th century, and one would tend argue that the largest amount of this change has come quite recently or more so in the latter part of film’s history as a whole. One of the more prominent changes having taken place being the role of women in film. Once upon a time having a very set role in the industry, such as editing for example. To mention briefly the likes of Dede Allen, Verna Fields, Thelma Schoonmaker and so forth. Our female counterparts now occupy virtually every aspect of the film making industry that males do; and in many instances excel past us. Quite clearly this change has taken place behind the lens, but has it taken
Misogyny in this text is represented through many factors showing how women can only prove their dominance by removing the men’s sexuality and freedom of independence. It is also represented in the fact that Nurse Ratched is seen as perfect except for her breasts, her outward mark of being a woman. “A mistake was made somehow in manufacturing, putting those big, womanly breasts on what would of otherwise been a perfect work, and you can see how bitter she is about it.” (6) The fear of women is usually stemmed from ...
“Forman’s movie without Bromden’s perspective is empty and devoid.” (Shmoop Inc.). Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, has been adapted into a film version, directed by Milos Forman. It has won numerous Oscar awards including “Best Picture”, “Best Director”, and “Best Actors”. However, many readers of Kesey’s original novel agree that it did not capture the essence and intent of the story. After reading the novel and watching the movie, I also feel the movie version did not accurately renovate the original novel. With various important scenes missing, confusion about the main character, and an indistinct recreation of the plot, Forman did not precisely revive the authentic purpose into his film.
The novel was published in 1962, a time where the second wave of the feminist movemetn and the beginning of the seuxal revolution would make its foothold in society. Much like today, many traits that were associated with femininity were considered weak, undesirable in both men and women. While the disgust of feminine features is clear in the women of the story, specifically Nurse Ratched as she would “ignore the way nature had tagged her with those outsized
The main characters are men and they are the main focus throughout both. In Notes from the Underground, the story is based on the life of UM, the underground man, and Willy, the husband and father, in Death of a Salesman. They are the main characters to show that men are the leader and should be paid more attention to because of what they do for their families and themselves. This plays a huge role in Death of a Salesman. Going off of the traditional “norm”, Willy is the bread winner since he is a businessman and Linda, the woman, or course is a house wife and mother. As for in the story Notes form the Underground, UM worked in an office which gave a good indication that he was also the money maker. He never had a female figure in his life because that was one of his issues until he met Liza. She was a female prostitute. This is a very stereotypical point of view because of what society has always believed about gender roles. People do not realize though that these beliefs limit women to do what they want to do. This also brings in the idea of the feminist approach. Feminist criticism, according to “Literary Criticism Post-Modernism: Feminist, African American, Womanist, Psychoanalytical, Post- Colonial, and Gender notes, Feminist is the idea that society is male dominated and all texts are products of
The auteur theory is a view on filmmaking that consists of three equally important premises: technical competence, interior meaning, and personal signature of the director. Auteur is a French word for author. The auteur theory was developed by Andrew Sarris, a well-known American film critic. Technical competence of the Auteur deals with how the director films the movie in their own style. Personal signature includes recurring themes that are present within the director’s line of work with characteristics of style, which serve as a signature. The third and ultimate premise of the Auteur theory is the interior meaning which is basically the main theme behind the film.
The feminism components are more main stream than the racial issues. The women at the start of the story are expected to cook, clean, and lay down when told to. They are beaten when they do not obey their husband or man. The men act as if Women are there to serve the man. Celie is forced to have sex with her step father and her husband because she is not strong enough to say no to Albert or her step father. “He just climb on top of me and do his business” says Celie. As if the women are there just to open her legs and let the man do what he wants to do. The real first theme of feminism is the act of Nettie to not give in and let Mr.__ have his way with her. In this act it showed him that he was not going to be able to take from a woman. That is a change because he had always gotten what he wanted because Celie was just too scared to stand up to him. As the story moves along Sophia is...
One of the main reasons this novel is relevant today is the theme of tolerance in the book. Tolerance is still something we have a large problem with today. In the novel women, blacks and even Boo Radley are not thought as equals or are just not accepted into mainstream society. Today, we have the same issue. One simple example is how you will see blacks sit at one lunch table and whites sit at another. This is not serious, but is an example of the tolerance we have for others or outsiders. Women are still facing many stereotypes today, and still do not have near as much power as men. Though the stereotypes are less serious than in the novel, they still exist widely today.
They were held to lower standards and believed to be nothing but an object for men. The women were treated very poorly and were treated differently than the men. In many ways the women were shown to be little compared to the men. Since they didn 't have anything important in society the actions that were towards them were as if they 're peasants Woman had no possibility of ever been treated differently since they were ever going to have a better role in society. This movie portrayed how women weren’t held to higher standards but men
...es, in the eyes of the modern moviegoers, this position is no longer reasonable due to the strides already made by women in quest for equality. It is a reflection of how the past American society treated its women and draws to the traditional inclination of the Americans to achieve financial independence as seen in this post war film.
During a review by Vox, of the gender biases in Hollywood that were reported by the data visualization website Polygraph, over 2,000 movies underwent scrutiny in determining why men have more dialogue in movies, even in those that are supposed to be focused on the lead female characters. In what was stated to be one of the largest analyses of script reviews of all time, it was determined that the male characters within the study overrule women in over 78% of the analyzed films. This was concluded through a cross-analysis of character information such as name, gender, and age, with the information reported by the popular movie database, IMDB. The results of their study are astonishing. In the 2,005 screenplays across all movie genres that were reviewed by Polygraph, only two movies were delivered 100% by the lead female character. Conversely, the male dominated list has not only the largest number of results;
In her essay, “Women's Cinema as Counter-Cinema”, Claire Johnston proposed a path to creating Women's cinema to counter the numerous dominant male-oriented mainstream films. In it, she argues that you must first understand the ideology that is found in mainstream movies, and the ways that women are portrayed within it. She determined that there were two principle concepts to understand: how women are visually represented, and the effect that women have upon the creation of meaning within the film. The how refers to all the film techniques used in the creation of the image: lighting, hair, makeup, choice of lens, choice of wardrobe, and the framing of the camera shot are some examples. These are often done to increase the attractiveness of the female character, and creates a sign for the audience to accept and decode. The effect of the female character is limited to her physical traits and the impact that her presence has on the male protagonist, typically to send him off on an Oedipal journey.
Feminism is a movement that supports women equality within society. In relation to film, feminism is what pushes the equal representation of females in mainstream films. Laura Mulvey is a feminist theorist that is famous for touching on this particular issue of how men and women are represented in movies. Through her studies, she discovered that many films were portraying men and women very differently from reality. She came up with a theory that best described why there is such as huge misrepresentation of the social status quos of male and female characters. She believed that mainstream film is used to maintain the status quo and prevent the realization of gender equality. This is why films are continuously following the old tradition that males are dominant and females are submissive. This is the ideology that is always present when we watch a movie. This is evident in the films from the past but also currently. It is as if the film industry is still catering to the male viewers of each generation in the same way. Laura Mulvey points out that women are constantly being seen as sexual objects, whether it is the outfits they wear or do not wear or the way they behave, or secondary characters with no symbolic cause. She states that, “in traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote it-be-looked-at-ness.”(Mulvey pg. 715). Thus, women are nevertheless displayed as nothing more than passive objects for the viewing pleasure of the audience. Mulvey also points out through her research that in every mainstream movie, there is ...