Murder should never be justified nor should it be displaced—this very demand to eliminate the justification interrogates the sincerity of society. Badlands (1973) is an American crime film directed and written by Terrence Malick. The film follows the story of a vulnerable teen Holly who lives in a small non-descript town in South Dakota and her garbage-collecting boyfriend Kit. The two go on a killing spree in the badlands of South Dakota. The film is based loosely around the 1950s Starkweather-Fugate murders, which inspired this film. Holly’s father struggled to keep the two lovers apart. Holly’s father in fact, was Kit’s initial victim, which initiated the psycho toward the killing spree itself. Initially when the film was first released, …show more content…
More specifically, Holly also narrates the majority of the film. The narration allows the audience to understand what’s going on inside of her mind through her thoughts, which amplify the point-of-view the film has chosen to follow. Through trailing Holly and Holly’s thoughts, we learn more about her character’s personality and her lack of motives. The audience sees first-hand how unaffected she is from her boyfriend’s psychotic personality causing him to go on a killing spree. The clear-cut point-of-view question the morals and values of this film. Holly’s lack of concern really questions the moral values of good vs. evil. She shares with the audience that “I didn't feel shame or fear, but just kind of blah, like when you're sitting there and all the water's run out of the bathtub” (Badlands, 1973). As the spectator, we are placed in a situation where we watch these murders as they take place. The people that surround them obviously become affected, but the characters themselves are never impacted emotionally nor is the world that surrounds them. For these characters, there’s no stopping when it comes to life vs. death due to the fact that the murders are pushed so far. Their mortal selves personally question the morality of good vs. evil as they never feel remorse from committing such a deadly act—literally. It just goes to show that while leadership can exist so does a sense of passiveness in a corrupted …show more content…
However, upon the new changes in cinema—the idea of ideology shifted as well. Modernist Cinema subverted that typical dominant ideology. There is always a larger question poses about the film as a whole; why was this film made? Badlands situates the spectator in the position to decide whether or not murder is evil based on the visuals he or she views. The author’s hopes is that by creating unidentifiable characters and a nonchalant world that the spectator will realize that the idea of murder isn’t in fact being promoted merely the opposite—it’s being subverted. The subject matter of this film is one that is certainly unpleasurable in terms of entertainment but actually a dissatisfaction intending to comment on society as a whole. This intentional provocation involves “the attack on ‘entertainment’ cinema [as] part of a broader attack on the whole of ‘consumer society’” (Wollen, 424). Cinema serves as a distraction from society, but also operates to make a point to its intended audience. The point being the obvious, murder should never be morally acceptable. Its consequences typically should evoke a reaction that testifies against nature of the
Film Noir, as Paul Schrader integrates in his essay ‘Notes on Film Noir,’ reflects a marked phase in the history of films denoting a peculiar style observed during that period. More specifically, Film Noir is defined by intricate qualities like tone and mood, rather than generic compositions, settings and presentation. Just as ‘genre’ categorizes films on the basis of common occurrences of iconographic elements in a certain way, ‘style’ acts as the paradox that exemplifies the generality and singularity at the same time, in Film Noir, through the notion of morality. In other words, Film Noir is a genre that exquisitely entwines theme and style, and henceforth sheds light on individual difference in perception of a common phenomenon. Pertaining
The major motion picture American Sniper was released December 24, 2014. It is based on the true story of the life of the United States Navy Seal Chris Kyle. Based on symptoms shown in the movie and the criteria set by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th Edition, Chris Kyle would be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, which the movie accurately displays. Various forms of treatments were presented in the movie and more exist outside of those for individuals who suffer from PTSD. While the movie succeeds in sending a positive message about helping veterans with mental disorders, there is still stigmas that surround individuals with these disorders.
1. Sobchack’s argument pertaining to on -screen violence that she wrote thirty years ago was that any violent acts portrayed in movies back then was to emphasize the importance of an element in a story, an emphatic way of engaging the viewers and forcing them to feel what the movie was about. It gave them a sense of the substance of the plot which would allow them to feel for the characters and yearn for good to overcome evil. In other words, the effort made to engage audiences through depictions of violence created violence that was artistic and well done, or as Sobchack writes, violence was “aestheticized.” Violence was incorporated into film in a stylistic way, and even though violence in all forms is offending, twenty five years ago when it was seen in film, it had a greater impact on audiences because it had meaning (Sobchack 429).
The movie, Awakenings, begins by showing a little boy, Leonard Lowe, playing in the park with his friends. Those same friends join Leonard as they go to school. While at school, Leonard begins to show signs that he is having difficulty writing. His teacher, looks through his notebook and notices that his writing has suddenly gotten worse. His teacher then notifies Mrs. Lowe of her findings. It is evident that Leonard’s right hand has curled to the point that he can no longer use it to write (Sacks & Zaillian, 1990).
The protagonist in the motion picture Good Will Hunting is called Will, and he is described to be a high intellect person but with recluse tendencies whereby he has kept to himself mostly having only a few friends near him. The young adult is employed as a janitor in the university where can work out a difficult question presented to the students by the professor. The problem appears to be quite difficult for the students, but he does not struggle. The teacher takes an interest in the young man and stands for him in court and takes responsible for him. He takes him to therapy to treat his psychological disorder which becomes apparent with the actions and words that he utters in the film. Will is tough in the therapy sessions until he later
Bully (2001) is a movie based on a true story about a group of rebellious, yet naïve teens who conspire to exact ultimate revenge on a mutual friend. In a twist, unlike most, this movie highlights not only extent of bullying amongst peers, but details the ultimate revenge that would irrevocably change the lives of the entire group. The movie takes place in South Florida where Marty, a high school dropout, and Bobby are “alleged” best friends. As they set out to meet up with mutual friends Ali and Lisa for a double date the bully is immediately apparent as Bobby begins to verbally torment Marty, which quickly turns physical as he repeatedly punches Marty while he is driving for accidently swerving. Although, Marty stops the car and retaliates,
The purpose of any text is to convey the criticisms of society, with V for Vendetta and Animal Farm being chief examples of this statement. Through their use of allusion, symbolism and representation, they portray many of society's flaws and imperfections. Such an imperfection includes the illustration of how totalitarian governments abuse the power they have acquired for their own gain, harming the people they are sworn to serve and protect. Through this abusive self-gaining government, we all are liable to become victims of consumer culture caused by the blind obedience to advertising and propaganda, being unable to form or voice an opinion of our own. But this lack of opinion can be at fault because of our own apathy, the ignorance and slothfulness that is contributed to the role we play in our society and the importance of that role's ability to motivate and inspire change.
The relationship between entertainment and violence has always been rife with controversy. Today’s debate over violent video games, movies, and television shows is yet another manifestation of this timeless issue. In Confessions, Augustine addresses how humans consume violence as entertainment and proposes two reasons for why they do so. One is an act of pleasure seeking that uses the sight of tragedy or violence to bask in the feeling of false pity. The other is a carnal desire for excitement and adrenaline fueled by primal instincts. According to Augustine, both motivations degrade and dehumanize the viewer of violence. However, Augustine deeply valued the importance of learning from any viable source; Cicero’s Hortensius convinces him “that
It deliberately appeals to all that is worst in us.” Suggestive of the notion that we need horror movies to stay on sane level of the playing field. I believe that this is a far-fetched idea to why we enjoy the blood filled manic movies. I am sure there are those circumstantial people who truly do watch them for pure pleasure and liking, but we can’t take this into account because there will always be circumstantial evidence. As humans, we are naturally curious and we all carry the desire to see what were not supposed to see. We credit most of life’s greatest discoveries on the fact that we are curious, rapidly moving into an era of new findings. For instance, your first reaction when driving by a major car accident is to look, we have the innate tendency to catch a glimpse of the world no one wants to really experience. We know that when we look, odds are were not going to witness a unicorn jumping over a rainbow, but the possibility of seeing a horrific accident or even a mangled
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...
It became the last American film noir in the classic era of noirs. The movie’s script is based on the novel Badge of Evil written by Whit Masterson. This film was regarded as one filled with exaggerations, controversial themes relating to ambiguity in sexuality, and racism. It is also regarded as a rebellious and bizarre film that made a mockery of the sensibilities existing in the 1950s (Anderson 23). The Touch of Evil is the story of Orson Wells (Hank Quilan) who is a corrupt policeman. He is under investigation by the UN narcotics agency, Charlton Heston (Mike Vargas) who is an agent of the agency who is pursuing Hank Quilan. Hank sought refuge in a brothel where he encounters the love of his life Tanya. Despite, being abandoned by all his friends, Tanya remains true to him. She facilitates his escape from Vargas. She further helps him in confronting his own demons. From the film, it is clear that she loves him (Anderson 23). In this study, we will analyses the instances of violence in both films as well as their respective narratives in determining their importance to the story and analyzing how the directors used different modes of cinematic in engaging the audience’s
One could easily dismiss movies as superficial, unnecessarily violent spectacles, although such a viewpoint is distressingly pessimistic and myopic. In a given year, several films are released which have long-lasting effects on large numbers of individuals. These pictures speak
The purpose of this report is to analyse the personality of the character, Will Hunting from the film Good Will Hunting using the psychodynamic and humanistic theories of personality. The main characters discussed in this text and their relationship to Will can be seen in appendix 1.
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 reclusive film director Terrence Malick has to date, only directed a small number of films. His twenty year hiatus between directing Days of Heaven (1978) and The Thin Red Line (1998), may provide the explanation for such a sparse back catalogue. Malick’s refusal to talk with the media, has led to hearsay, as to how he occupied his time during the hiatus. Malick’s directing debut Badlands (1973) is a collection of concepts, all carefully moulded together to create one iconic piece of film. This process draws in and also alienates the audience. Malick’s style is positively noted by critics to be influenced by European philosophy. This is clearly due to Malick’s study of philosophy at Harvard and Magdalen College Oxford. There is no given explanation to the mindless violence featured within the film, mainly due to the films resistance to the straight forward approach. The familiar and the unknown are carefully merged together. The only way of gaining an understanding into the hidden meanings within Badlands is by breaking down the film, by looking at the characters, the use of sound, the visual setting and the films genre. The illusionary effect of Malick’s style means that all is not as it seems.