Adoor’s films are, I would argue, not melodrama in pure sense; rather he employs melodramatic tenets to form an amalgamated aesthetic mode to express the compound philosophy of his narratives. It internalizes a system of conflict, producing its own fictive logic; and the characters and narrative are governed by this mode within which they operate. Of all aesthetic form melodrama was favored by Adoor, chiefly because of its ability to link the personal with the political in the absorbing stories of Kerala’s social history. This finds the filmmaker to be, notwithstanding the classical arc of narrative, a consummate modernist with a highly developed style of all his own. To achieve a remarkable mode of ‘expressive modulation’ Adoor organized emotions …show more content…
Moral expressivity in Adoor is typically articulated in terms of a critical exploration of the ways in which social milieu and prevailing social order shape the lives of the characters and contribute to their own suffering. For instance, the second half of the film focuses on the inevitable reversal in Unni’s situation as he finds him pitted against individuals who are neither compliant nor submissive and openly challenges his fake hegemony. They are mostly members of his own family who now become his adversaries. There is a radical shift in the power game inside the house as Unni gradually concedes his powerlessness. Unni’s gradual decline is spatially represented as we see him retreat from the ‘poomukham’- the porch that he occupies during the day- to the interior of the ‘tharavadu’ (ancestral house). In the early section of the film, he is occasionally shown outside the house, but such instance become increasingly rare until he finally withdraws into the recess of the ‘naalukettu’. The movement parallel is the process of his mental collapse. In contrast, the women move out into the wider world. Sreedevi is the first one to break free, followed by Rajamma’s departure. Adoor himself has spoken about how Elippathayam is about sharing; this pertains not just to property but to “love, concerns, anxieties, fears, hope and frustration.” (Ganguly, 2015) in its absence, one ceases to be human. Since Unni cannot step out of himself, Adoor Questions the very basis of his existence. As he remarks, “I feel that any existence in isolation from society is no existence at all.” (Ibid) Unni’s life after Sreedevi’s and Rajamma’s departure bears this out. It is the story of his rapid decline into paranoia and is spatially represented by his withdrawal into the interior of the
A few upper caste youths, hiding behind parapet of the building in an opposite auction place, stoned the pot. “C-r-a-ash” a sound Teeha heard. The youths struck Methi’s pot and her whole body became drenched completely. It is her caste that is her flaw. By the time, Teeha moved towards Methi as soon as the pot shattered. Methi’s companions stood at some distance from them. Mathi was wet from head to feet. She stood rooted to the ground. The upper caste youths’ eyes roved over Methi’s breast and navel visible through her wet clothes, because the woman was an untouchable’s community in that village. So the upper caste youths wanted to humiliate her in public place. Look at this caste that became a weak and means of under-estimation. Teeha, a Dalit and an outsider, has openly hit a Patel youth that is a burning issue. But a low-caste girl was assaulted which is considered as sign of upper caste
A traditional extended family living in Northern India can become acquainted through the viewing of Dadi’s family. Dadi, meaning grandmother in Hindu, lets us explore her family up close and personal as we follow the trials and tribulations the family encounters through a daily basis. The family deals with the span of three generations and their conflicting interpretations of the ideal family life. Dadi lets us look at the family as a whole, but the film opens our eyes particularly on the women and the problems they face. The film inspects the women’s battle to secure their status in their family through dealing with a patriarchal mentality. The women also are seen attempting to exert their power, and through it all we are familiarized to
The hopes and dreams of Annawadi’s citizens breed corruption. In hopes of leaving Annawadi, Asha resorts to scams and cheating to make them come true. For her, it is the only effective method to make those dreams happen. However, in reality, the people living in Annawadi were doomed from the start. Either having a dream come true or even a jump in social class is a rarity that does not favor the people. Hope is what makes them delusional and blind from reality. This is what’s holding back most of the people of Annawadi. They sit around and hope that other people will make a change, that the Corporator will stop the raze, and that they won’t be forgotten. After Kalu died,no one realised that his death was already set in stone. Boo wrote “ To Annawadi boys, Kalu had been a star. To the authorities of the over city, he was a nuisance to be dispensed with” (168). Kalu’s mistake was giving police intel on criminals, and therefore died a brutal death. His punishment for being naive was paid by a quick case, false cause of death, and no autopsy. In addition, Sanjay was also treated like Kalu. Boo wrote, “So Sanjay’s mother learned only what another mother, who slept on the pavement, dared to whisper: ‘Your boy died with fear in his heart.’” (174). The people who live in Annawadi who had dreams are forced to face the truth. When Abdul was in jail, Mirchi had to sort garbage to earn money for the family. The boy who dreamed of working in a fancy hotel and declared to never sort garbage was forced to eat his words. Once Mirchi started working his mother would complain about how terrible he was. Mirchi had to take up any job he could, even multiple ones. After realizing his dreams were for a boy he told his sister that they were “down to earn-and-eat.” (238). Unlike Mirchi, people like Abdul doesn’t waste their time on false hope, instead, they
Stanley Kubrick is one of the most influential and daring filmmakers to ever put his mark on the silver screen. He has created a large body of very influential works spanning several decades and many genres. Throughout his whole collection there are many elements which are repeatedly used to enhance the viewer's experience. There are also many recurring themes in Kubrick's works that are commented on both by the context in which they are brought forth and the techniques used to expound upon those themes.
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].
For our second assignment, we are assigned to watch one international film and study it thereafter. We are to identify its genre and its particular conventions such as themes, sub-themes and etc. However, the main idea of this assignment is the film theory. We are to apply one of the nine film theories into our film choices and analyze it thoroughly in terms of mise-en scene, narrative structure, character interaction and any other criteria.
Art has been always seen as a form to express self emotions and ideas; an artist creates an idea and shapes it by culturally known objects and forms to send encrypted message. Through the times both, ideas and materials used, separates art in to different periods and movements. In late 40’s and late 50’s two art and culture movements emerged, one from another. The first one, Lettrism, was under the aspiration to rewrite all human knowledge. From it another movement, Situationism, appeared. It was an anti-art movement which sought for Cultural Revolution. Both of these movements belong to wide and difficulty defined movement of experiment, a movement whose field is endless. Many different people create experimental films because of the variety of reasons. Some wishes to express their viewpoints which are unconventional. But most of them have an enthusiasm for medium itself. They yearn to explore what prospects the medium has and wishes to open new opportunities to create and to explore, as well as to educate. Experimental filmmaker, differently from mainstream filmmakers, wishes to step out from the orthodox notions. The overall appreciation is not the aim that the experimental filmmakers would seek for. Experimenters usually work on the film alone or with a small group, without the big budget. They intend to challenge the traditional ideas. And with intention to do so Lettrism tries to narrow the distance between the poetry and people’s lives, while Situationism tries to transform world into one that would exist in constant state of newness. Both of these avant-garde movements root from similar sources and have similar foundations. Nonetheless, they have different intentions for the art and culture world and these movements...
The second part of the volume consists of a collection of essays that focus on filmmaking. The opening chapter takes us for a life-journey to the holy city of Benares, the city of death, through the eyes of the maverick filmmaker Robert Gardner. Schmitz follows Gardner’s esoteric steps from the Ghats to the holy river of Ganges, in a transcendental journey from life to death and back to life as documented in Gardner’s Forest of Bliss (1986). Schmitz highlights the authoritative and idiosyncratic character of Gardner’s filmmaking in terms of his manipulation of time and space and unique visual language, which aesthetically renegotiate the firm categorizations of ethnographic and avant-garde cinema. By focusing on the uniqueness of “Gardner’s
Is important to point out that Cinema Vérité and Direct Cinema films aesthetic and philosophy was not first thought of during the 1960’s. The father of Documentary Robert Flaherty foreshadows key elements of Cinema Vérité and Direct Cinema. For example, the interest in studying real people in their actual environment. In Nanook of the North (1922) Flaherty Follows Nanook and his family for moths, to show the world Nanook’s background life style and culture. Another example is that Flaherty saw the Filmmaking process as and art of observation and afterward selection. Which relat...
The corruption in hospitals, where “doctors can keep their government salary and work in private hospitals”, sees people like Balram’s father die of horrible deaths every day. Dismayed by the lack of respect of the government for its dying citizens, Balram is corrupted by the fact that in the “darkness”, there is no service, not even in death. Balram also claims that “the schoolteacher had stolen our lunch money”, which was for a government funded lunch program. However, Balram doesn’t blame him, which justifies that Balram, from such a young age gives into the idea of corruption saying that “...you can’t expect a man in a dung heap to smell sweet”. In addition to his father and the school teacher, Balram is corrupted by his childhood hero Vijay. Growing up, Balram idolises Vijay for having escaped “the darkness”. However what he is ignorant of is that even though Vijay is in “the light” he is still corrupted by “the darkness”. Balram explains that “Vijay and a policemen beat another men to death”, yet he doesn’t see it as a problem, because he understand that one cannot become successful in such a corrupt system without becoming as corrupt as the system itself. It is here that Adiga asks the question of how are impoverished Indians are expected to refuse to engage in corruption when they live in such poor conditions. Thus, the reader is able to sympathize with Balram’s corruption,
Since the creation of films, their main goal was to appeal to mass audiences. However, once, the viewer looks past the appearance of films, the viewer realizes that the all-important purpose of films is to serve as a bridge connecting countries, cultures, and languages. This is because if you compare any two films that are from a foreign country or spoken in another language, there is the possibility of a connection between the two because of the fact that they have a universally understanding or interpretation. This is true for the French New Wave films; Contempt and Breathless directed by Jean-Luc Godard, and contemporary Indian films; Earth and Water directed by Deepa Mehta. All four films portray an individual’s role in society using sound and editing.
Estha’s search for justice, or more accurately, his inability to search for justice, is representative of much larger systemic issues that plague India. The caste system, although now illegal, still remains very influential in many aspects of Indian society, including the justice system, which ultimately lead to the death of Velutha, an Untouchable, by denying him an opportunity to defend himself, along with the end of Estha’s childhood innocence as he confronts the harsh reality of the adult world, and subsequently attempts to escape it. Furthermore, Estha’s inability to let go of his past following the trauma of his childhood as he is forced to falsely incriminate Velutha to protect his own family is representative of the larger struggle of society to give up past traditions including the caste system to embrace a more moral society that allows people to fight for justice. Without solving these larger issues, it is impossible for individual people to effectively and morally carry out their lives and their own search for
Urvashi Butalia in her book, The Other Side of Silence, attempts to analyze the partition in Indian society, through an oral history of Indian experiences. The collection of traumatic events from those people who lived through the partition gives insight on how history has enveloped these silences decades later. Furthermore, the movie 1947 Earth reveals the bitterness of partition and its effect of violence on certain characters. The most intriguing character which elucidates the silence of the partition is the child, Lenny. Lenny in particular the narrator of the story, serves as a medium to the intangibility created by the partition. The intangibility being love and violence, how can people who grew up together to love each other hate one another amidst religion? This question is best depicted through the innocence of a child, Lenny. Through her interactions with her friends, the doll, and the Lahore Park, we see silence elucidated as comfort of not knowing, or the pain from the separation of comfort and silence from an unspoken truth.
The Das parents’ negligent relationship with their children in Clear Light of Day mirrors India’s independence from Britain. Before their deaths, Mr. and Mrs. Das were preoccupied and inattentive to their four children, Raja, Tara, Bim, and Baba. They spent most of their time at the club, playing “their daily game of bridge” (Desai 50). This pastime is so important to them that they neglect to take care of their kids. For example, Mrs. Das tires of “washing and powdering” Baba, her mentally disabled baby, and she complains, “My bridge is suffering” (103). Mr. Das also does not focus on his children and “he [goes] through the day without addressing a word to them” (53). Unfortunately, Mr. and Mrs. Das are unable to ever form a loving relationship with their children because they both pass away. After Mrs. Das falls into a...
They are rebels and their rebellion is not so much directed against society as against individuals. Their problems are neither physical nor social. They are psychical and emotional” (Kunhambu 277). Of course, in a society, knit with power relations, their places promise different levels of freedom and consequences. The novel is important in displaying that in a universe of big things, an individual can hardly find oneself existing.