Russell B. Parnell Parnell 1
.Professor Austin Riede
English 2150
22 April 2015
The Inspiration of Horror from Un Chien Andalou Enjoyable might not be the best term to describe to feelings evoked by Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel’s Avante Garde brainchild, Un Chien Andalou. First shown in 1929 to a mixed response of bewilderment and cheers, Un Chien Andalou has solidified its place as an irreplaceable classic of world cinema. Bunuel insisted that nothing in the film symbolizes anything, allowing it explored and enjoyed by people far and wide, leaving the viewers free to create their own meaning. A film of pure surrealism, Un Chien Andalou was simply intended to shock and provoke the viewer with a series of strange and disturbing
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This practiced composition gives the truly reflexive jolt, leaving viewers cringing at the perfectly timed cut that makes the film’s opening sequence such an unforgettable experience.
“it's such a basic attack on you, the viewer, watching in the dark with your eyes supposedly free to look, to see an eye destroyed, the jelly pouring out of it as its membrane is pierced.”(Jones)
The dream-like sequences are descendants of the subconscious, and the nonsensical logic that accompanies it cannot be pinned down and rigorously subjected to intellectual processing. Parnell 2
Bunuel designed this short film to assault the viewing audience, degrading the social norms that were accepted. This assault was met with appreciation and Un Chien Andalou became a
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Surreal horror is more of a literal nightmare, disjointed and filled dreamlike. This is likely the inspiration for why the killer clown is so scary. Pennywise from IT or Captain Spaulding for The Devil’s Rejects are realized culminations of a bizarre freakish nightmare. There is not much quite as shocking as taking an occupation meant to entertain young children and perverting it to something more suited for a hellscape. The slow camera pan to the darkness of the corner of the closet or the thumping knock from behind closed doors are commonly used in the modern horror genre to instill dread as viewers watch on with bated breath. While this might not be a direct example of surrealist horror, it can be seen as a sort of fusion with the mainstream made the movement so effective. Allowing the viewer’s own imagination to get the better of them, drawing fear from the intangible, the darkness lurking below their own consciousness.
Like Un Chien Andalou, most of these types of films are more meant to be experienced, rather than analyzed. Although film has moved away from the surrealist style of the nonsensical, confounding any logic to be had, many horror films still thrive off of the subconscious details hidden in them. Whether playing on the unconscious fears that roam beneath the grasp of logic or finding hilarity within the sheer insanity of a situation, the most memorable moments of the horror
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
One can gather that socialism was on the rise and supported by many of the working class. From the co-op in The Crime of Monsieur Lange to the Communist party’s support of Madame Nozière, public opinion was shifting away from supporting a patriarchal society. What was once taboo became more popular topics of discussion, such as the pornography in Baptiste’s possession, Estelle’s miscarriage of Batala’s child, fathers taking their daughters’ innocence, and ousting men of unnecessary power. A film, while not necessarily factual, focuses on culture and values. Cinema is an art form that reflects what the directors and actors, and by extension, the general public, believe.
Of special note is that the horror is created, in large part, by suggestion rather than a heavy sledgehammer approach, In the most famous sequence of the film, the man d...
Just as a mirror reflects one’s face, the horror genre is a physical representation of how fear is portrayed to discuss the social anxieties of one’s time period. Representations of fear have continued to vary in accordance to reflect a particular time period’s social anxieties. Robin Wood, in the essay American Nightmare: Essays on the Horror Film, articulates how the ‘true subject of the horror genre is the struggle for recognition of all that our civilisation represses or oppresses.’ He contended that the way in which any given horror narrative determines this conflict, uncovers its ideological orientation, and further, that most of these compositions will be conservative; stifling desires inside of the self and disavowing it by projecting
A horror film should therefore make the audience imagine the terror in order to maximise the fear factor. Many horror films nowadays use similar techniques to those used by Spielberg in the film ‘Jaws’. They use techniques such as framing and mise-en-scene in order to create something called safe space and unsafe space. Safe space is the space that the camera is looking at.
Un Chien Andalou (1929) by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali is the quintessential Surrealist film, including shocking imagery, non-linear time, black humour, oddities and a specific editing st...
Horror movies are one of the most fascinating genres of film that exists. They are unrealistic but at the same time, they are also realistic. This realism that they contain is what draws people’s interest towards them because viewers are able to associate aspects of their own lives with the film. Every horror movie, no matter how farfetched the theme or plot may be, contains an element that people can relate to. This element may not be observable to a conscious mind, but to an unconscious mind, it brings back memories of something that has been repressed earlier in our lives (Wood, 197). This recollection of suppressed memories is how horror films create a sense of fear and it is literally what Robin Wood means when he talks about “the return
People are addicted to the synthetic feeling of being terrified. 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.
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...
The New French Extremity is probably one of the most controversial film periods of French history. Since the 1990’s until today, the idea of breaking away from classical film techniques have been emerging. There came an idea of doing anything possible to make films out of the ordinary. It was an idea to make the audience uncomfortable and disgusted from what they were viewing. The New French Extremity seized to be completely different. Those differences are very well depicted in the new French films produced in that time period and have a new perspective, in which disgust the audience. Gaspar Noé’s film Irréversible, very well depicts the New French Extremity’s ideas of taking people out of their comfort zone and taking them into a world of confusion, while at the same time introducing to them a new style of filmmaking within La Nouvelle Vague.
Horror is one of many fears humans have. We all have many terrors, but horror is the one that gets the best of us. Some crave, while others resent, the feeling horror movies bring to our body and the emotions that we experience. In Stephen King’s article, “Why We Crave Horror,” he explains that it is a part of the “Human Condition,” to crave the horror. King gives many strong and accurate claims on why we crave the horror movies, such as; testing our ability to face our fears, to re-establish our feelings of normality, and to experience a peculiar sort of fun.
The genre of horror when associated to film, it reflects on a vast variety of issues but when examined for the cultural significance it is narrower to what the aim is. This review surveys multiple scholarly sources from different aspects of the purpose of horror films. This literature review justifies that horror is derived from the fear and guilt within our psychological minds. I will argue that the cultural significance of this genre relates back to the emotional appeals that are conjured up when viewing these films.
Hailed as one of the finest films ever made, Jules and Jim adapted from the book with the same name, when projected today, can still generate an emotional effect that just as remarkable as the results provoked in the young viewers of 1960s. As a represent film of the French New Wave, Jules and Jim feels like a breath of fresh air injected into the French cinema in that era. Directed by the New Wave’s leading figure Francois Truffaut, Jules and Jim, against the conventional production known as the ‘tradition of quality’, used a free manner to launch an social experimentation, a creative revolution that has been forever recorded in the French film history. This essay will explore these innovative qualities contained in the film and the novel of Jules and Jim. It will firstly begin with the introduction of the revolutionary director Francois Truffaut and discuss his creativity in the film, then examine the French New Wave movement and its influence to the film of Jules and Jim.
Stephen King, a very well-known writer and director, has a passionate voice when it comes to anything dealing with horror. In “Why We Crave Horror Movies,” King calls us out for knowing that we love the adrenaline rush and how we are so captivated by horror movies. He explains how we watch horror movies for the level of fun. King proposes that we go to defy ourselves; to see how far it can push us and that is what makes the experience so interesting. We lock our inner psycho from reality and feed it with the demonic, bloody violence found in horror movies. Doing this suggests that horror movies are our fix for our psychotic thoughts. Stephen King’s “Why We Crave Horror Movies” portrays that we are all insane in some weird way through
Horror films are designed to frighten the audience and engage them in their worst fears, while captivating and entertaining at the same time. Horror films often center on the darker side of life, on what is forbidden and strange. These films play with society’s fears, its nightmare’s and vulnerability, the terror of the unknown, the fear of death, the loss of identity, and the fear of sexuality. Horror films are generally set in spooky old mansions, fog-ridden areas, or dark locales with unknown human, supernatural or grotesque creatures lurking about. These creatures can range from vampires, madmen, devils, unfriendly ghosts, monsters, mad scientists, demons, zombies, evil spirits, satanic villains, the possessed, werewolves and freaks to the unseen and even the mere presence of evil.