The Visual Re-Creation of Orpheus

There are quite a few advantages and disadvantages when considering using film as a depicter of the past. One of the biggest advantages of film is its ability to provide visual representation for any situation. Especially when it comes to history, sometimes words do not do the situation justice. For example, the treatment of slaves is widely recognized as being cruel. However, movie possess the ability to show you the cruelty and make you understand as it did in this movie.

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.

Does a film have to be a completely accurate picture of the world in order to realistically represent it? There are arguments for both sides, but ultimately realism in cinema is subjective, because people’s view of the world is subjective. Reality for you can be completely different for someone else. The same way a movie can be an accurate representation to you, but the complete opposite to someone else. Andre Bazin claims cinema realism stems from the origins

He rejects the “assertion that film is nothing but the feeble mechanical reproduction of real life” (“Film Theory and Criticism” 228), instead postulating that human perspective and choices should be involved in the process of making a film to meaningfully shape elements of our lived experience. In Black Swan, director Darren Aronofsky uses multiple tools and aspects of the medium of film to create a surreal narrative. The film Black Swan qualifies as art by Rudolf Arnheim’s standards because of the ways that the viewers’ experience of the film differs from our experience of reality. Arnheim’s body of theory suggests that the necessity of human intervention to implement plot, tropes, and culturally legible symbols raises a film to a higher level than a mere copy of reality, and that this interpretation and expression of meaning is “a question of feeling” or intuition on the part of the filmmaker. (“Film Theory and Criticism” 283) One consequence of effective directorial intervention is that differences in speed, stops and starts, and what would otherwise be jarring gaps in continuity can be accepted by viewers, because if the essentials of reality are present, th... ... middle of paper ... ... art as removal from reality, controlled by the filmmakers’ choices which adds the element of human interpretation Arnheim finds so important.

Mise-en-scéne elements of setting, brilliant cinematography, and profound editing techniques institute the film’s prevailing narrative form and motifs. Many film directors manipulate the concept of fantasy versus reality, but instead of providing a mundane exposition, fantasy becomes the new reality in Inception.

For example, the tasteless perfect ending is eliminated and replaced with an unconventional one which only adds more suspense to the film. Also the main idea that no place is safe, the use of charismatic villains and a blurred line of good and evil remains intact through out this film as well. It is seen in the setting of a suburban town and even the dialogue as well. Also Lang true status remains a mystery to the public allowing him to stay charismatic, and even the protagonists use unethical means to achieve theirs goals. I believe Pellington honored Hitchcock’s classic elements while adding his own style to the film.

Expressionists use distortion and exaggeration in order to “set [themselves] against Naturalism” (Eisner 1973:10) thus purposefully creating a representation of the unreal. Expressionist artworks were often da... ... middle of paper ... ...The framing story turns most of the film into a flashback with the exception of the prologue (mentioned above) and the epilogue in which we realise that ‘Dr Caligari’ is in fact the sane one and thus undermines Mayor and Janowitz’s original intent The addition of the framing scenes to the film changes the interpretations that arise in watching it in a number of ways. One of the most apparent differences that occur is the loss of the intended subversion of the film. In the script sans epilogue, the story ends with Caligari in a straight jacket, locked away and therefore represents the triumph of good (Francis) over evil (Caligari).

The main drive of the story remains in the movie form: Kubrick utilizes the means, such as a musical score and the visual dimension, unique to the dramatic genre to find ways around the loss of Nadsat and first person narration. He also tries to maintain the twisted sense of humor found in the book while working to promote the audience’s understanding of Alex’s universe. Kubrick preserves the unusual opportunity A Clockwork Orange offers the audience—a chance to immerse itself in Alex’s character and actions, and have its "nastier propensities titillated" (Burgess ix)2 by Alex’s "ultra-violence", instead of being frightened away. In the novel, Burgess is able to speak indirectly through Alex’s narration, telling the reader about the novel’s political setting as well as revealing Alex’s (and perha... ... middle of paper ... ... Nadsat, is lost. And with the loss of a large and comprehensive language such as Nadsat, goes part of Burgess’ voice.

It also attempts to transform the mainstream conventions of characterization, narrative and suppresses the audience suspension of disbelief. The postmodern cinema often rejects modernist conventions by manipulating and maneuvering with conventions such as space, time and story-telling. Furthermore, it rejects the traditional “grand-narratives” and totalizing forms such as war, history, love and utopian visions of reality. Instead, it is heavily aimed to create constructed fictions and subjective idealisms. Postmodern film directors such as Ridley Scott, Woody Allen, Quentin Tarantino, The Coen Brothers, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan and others, make films that are often highly original, by reproducing the very popular mood of anxiety, fear, uncertainty and cynicism that reflects in the general society.

Hollywood film producers have always taken interest in depicturing the alternative worlds of particular kinds and types. We might consider as a good example the techniques in which the contrast worlds are being embodied in Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind, and how, in that film, main character Joel Barish attempts to regulate his memories and not let them be vanished. While watching this film we unwittingly get involved into the alternate world of Joel’s memories. The integral aspect in the film’s successful portrayal of the parallel reality from the first sight seems to be related to the specific film shooting or editing technique; however, the philosophy of the film depends on the sequence of the film techniques and how the audience react to the particular scenes of the film and what emotions the film evokes in them. So what are the emotions that the character of Joel Barish played by Jim Carrey evokes in us?