The Business of Fancy Dancing—from the heart of Sherman Alexie

My first take on this movie upon seeing it a few years ago was that it was not at all impressive. However, one must learn to shed the contemporary Hollywood perspective and its resulting expectations when watching this film. In fact, it is the film’s divorce from Hollywood in general that makes it so unique—and that much more admirable. It is best described as an experience offered to the public from the heart of Sherman Alexie.
The film’s deviation from typical Hollywood portrayals is perhaps best showcased by the portrayal of poet Seymour Polatkin’s homosexuality. Most Hollywood films that directly address homosexuality address it in a highly negative manner. As Anneke Smelik addresses in her article on Gay and Lesbian criticism, “ …homosexual characters have been taunted, ridiculed, silenced, pathologized, and more often than not killed off in the last reel.”[OG, 135].
While Seymour is portrayed as openly homosexual (that is, without the need for any sub texts or established audiovisual stereotypes that have come to characterize portrayals of gays and lesbians), it is not what drives this movie. In fact, one could go so far as to observing how oblivious and tolerant other people are to Seymour’s homosexuality. In fact, when Seymour tells his grandmother that he is gay, her first (and unexpectedly comical) response is her question about what gay men do in bed. Alexie seeks to portray a “new and realistic” social portrayal of the homosexual within Seymour—one who is homosexual, does not walk or talk in a peculiar way, and is a successful poet. In doing so, Alexie seeks to take the audience away from the story of his homosexuality, and focus on Seymour’s past on the reservation. In fact, when Seymour returns in the wake of Mouse’s death, he is unwelcome not because of his sexuality, but because of other factors contributing to his initial desertion of the tribe and more importantly, his motive for writing “whitewashed” Indian themed poems and selling them in the mainstream.
It is crucially important for those viewing the film to see it as a poetic reflection on the struggles of cultural assimilation faced by American Indians. It attempts to bring you a very realistic story with some personal touches of Alexie’s past. It is not a social commentary, nor is it a necessarily negative or positive portrayal of homosexuality (most synopses of the film do not even mention homosexuality), it is a tolerant portrayal of homosexuality in our world of stereotypes. If one can take this film as a story of American Indians and their struggles to adapt in our contemporary and judgmental world, it is a work of art characteristic of none other than Sherman Alexie.

Why documentaries?

One of the greatest atrocities of modern societies is ignorance. This ignorance can either be intentional – like in the sheltered life of the suburbs or parents preventing their children from seeing conditions or ideas that contrast with their own – or unintentional – like the majority of Americans who wish to simply live their life in the secure bubble without worrying about what might've been if they hadn't been born into a high standard of living. The documentary is the foil to this trend, not by calling a particular situation out and blaming whoever started it or showing a 10-hour film that covers all the bases of a subject; rather, the documentary exists to prove that the subject exists.

Documentaries must be careful in this way to demonstrate their subject without implying that it is representative of the entire subject. The films of the one of the more popularly criticized documentarists, Michael Moor, often cites big-picture facts; however, the pathos, the bulk of the film, typically follows a particular instance, like a few families or individuals, to form a story or sort of reality drama to hold the audience. After all, if a documentarist wanted to make a 10-hour non-dramatic picture, they would send that to the History channel instead of AMC theaters. While this method only features an instance of the documentary's whole subject, the point is that the subject exists.

The raison d'être of a documentary in my opinion is to combat ignorance. Long ago, one could drive past cardboard shanty towns during the Great Depression era, and one need only leave the palace walls to see the starving peasants. In modern times, people drive over the projects on interstates and around the low-income areas on well-shaded boulevards. People simply don't know something exists until they see it in action. The goal of a documentary filmmaker is to show an instance of the subject and that it actually exists.

Portrayal of Gay and Lesbian in Film

The documentary viewed this week in class serves as a great example that demonstrates the portrayal of gay and lesbians in film. For a very long time, homosexuality in film was a taboo and was not shown much at all; however, smart directors were able to slip in coded scenes that a majority of the audiences did not catch. However, when the "sissy" came along, homosexuality was turned into a comedic effect. Many films used the sissy to create comedic situations as the sissy did not fit into any certain category. Now films such as "Brokeback Mountain" do portray homosexuality and issues that are faced in today's society. Homosexuality in film started as a taboo but slowly emerged as an acceptable topic in film. Smart directors use subtle references in certain scenes and slowly build up the topic and theme to make it more acceptable to audiences. Diana Fuss also links this to identity politics. "the tendency to base one's politics on a sense of personal identity-as gay, as Jewish, as Black, as female." The leads into Gay Activism as the gay community needed a unified identity for its organization.

Brick Lane shatters the mirror

The 2007 film Brick Lane is a an excellent piece of film describing the life of a young Bangladeshi woman named Nazneem as she searches for her place in a world full of conflict. More importantly, Brick Lane represents a text that is important to the ongoing dialogue of feminism and film. One of the most important ideas to consider when evaluating film is 'reflection theory', the idea that a filmic text "reflects" how society treats women. This is usually utilized in the criticism of the female stereotype in mainstream media, pornography, advertising and of course, filmic text. Applying this to Brick Lane we get something interesting. Instead of a stereotypically flat central character, we get a well established and emotionally broad woman. While many films portrayals of women involve the use of women as objects to rescued or won over by male protagonists, Brick Lane builds it's story and it's "view" on the life of young Nazneem. Male figures in her story are also full of emotional depth. Here middle aged husband Chanu is a conflicted character, struggling to cope with his position at his job, negative feelings towards Bangaladeshis in London that he feels the repercussions of, his daughter's desires to assimilate into British society, and his own self consciousness about Nazneem's relationship with her sister. Outside of the context of feminist film, Brick Lane can be considered an excellent portrayal of a families struggle together, because Brick Lane doesn't just assign emotional importance to the lead character, it builds the characters as individuals and allows them to interplay to fulfill the plot. In a feminist perspective however, Brick Lane represents a very progressive text, portraying a realistic picture of a period of one woman's life and the events that take place in it with an almost documentary like sense of realism. Instead of using the female lead an image, it uses her as as a deep character with complex emotions and problems. We could possibly attribute this excellent perspective of a female character to the female directorship of Sarah Gavron.

Feminism and Reflection Theory

Molly Haskell and Marjorie Rosen pioneered several theories that overall became known as Reflection Theory. This theory states that the way a woman is treated in a film reflects how the public still treats women. This opinion is voiced in many feminist works and holds evidence as women still usually fill the sexual type role. In addition, ethnic women also face problems in the likes of stereotypes as several stereotypes categorize ethnic women and lock them into specific roles. Haskell even takes this a step further. She claims that violence towards women in film represents society's reaction towards feminism. Reflection theory can certainly be proven just as Haskell and Rosen did since many women roles feature only minor characters without development and mostly sex scenes.

Utopia and dystopia in cinema

What is The Matrix?

Enjoy!

My video essay! enjoy!

Classical Hollywood "Sleeps with the fishes"

My screen-adapted essay. Enjoy!

The importance of the tracking shot in The 400 Blows

Just as Bonnie and Clyde was the defining film of Post Classical Hollywood cinema in the late 1960’s, The 400 Blows is considered the film which truly marked the beginning of the French New Wave. Thematically, the French New Wave can best be defined as one which emphasized existential themes—sometimes stressing the individual, as was the case in The 400 Blows. The stylistic details, such as filming techniques and innovative use of the camera are what most obviously distinguished the works of the French Nouvelle Vague from previous works.

One widely consistent characteristic of films produced during this time was the idea of the very long tracking shots. The tracking shots, primarily created by cameras moving along a rail or on wheels following characters, had a mesmerizing effect when viewed on a large screen. It added a sense of realism to the movies which they were previously missing. For example, the very long and continuous tracking shot following Antoine running down the beach toward the water added a sense of realism and allowed the audience to realize the scope of Antoine’s wonder at viewing the ocean for the first time.

Furthermore, the conclusive zooming in on Antoine’s face which signaled the end of the film left the audience to contemplate what Antoine felt through his facial expression. Notice, also, that all of these events are occurring within the same long take.

The French Nouvelle Vague—the “Post Classical Hollywood effect”

After reading Jill Forbes’ essay on The French Nouvelle Vague of the 1950’s—one cannot help but notice the similarities between this new era in French film and the successive (and even parallel at a point in the late 1960’s) Post Classical Hollywood era in the United States. In the same way that Post Classical Hollywood came about from the creations of young “movie brats”, the Nouvelle Vague also featured a new wave of young French directors with distinct filmic tastes. Forbes writes, “ …and the Nouvelle Vague quickly became a marketing slogan in the pro-Gaullist press to promote the idea that with the change in the regime in 1958 France had been regenerated and rejuvenated.” [Forbes, 463] Essentially, the French press saw the “fresh” new takes offered by these directors in the form of films such as The 400 Blows(1959) and used them as propaganda for saying that France had undergone a tremendous amount of change. The idea of Post Classical Hollywood also had a similar effect on the American people in terms of “fresh” new ideas and the notion of the rebirth of good American film. Forbes then goes on to mention how the characteristics associated with French films in this era, such as the emphasis on the young heterosexual couples etc. and furthermore, chronicles the historical events in May 1968 which led to the “fall” of the Nouvelle Vague as quickly as it had risen. In this discussion, one can clearly see the parallels and differences which brought about new standards in French and American films.

A Cranky Response to "Unforgiven"

"Unforgiven" has been held as one of the greatest Western movies of all time. This is certainly a true statement. From the excellent and emotional plot, to, of course, gunfights, this flick has all of the western genre elements. Take the scenery for example. Towards the beginning of the film, the kid rides towards Clint Eastwood's isolated farm. These scenes feature the classic barnyard life, with hogs, mud, tall green grass, and a log cabin. You really get a feel of the isolation and peacefulness. This also compliments Eastwood's character, William Munny's new attitude. He was once a ruthless killer, but now he has just settled down with his kids in an isolated grassland. However, the film quickly turns towards the cowboy life. This features violence, drinking, guns, and cursing. For example, the encounter between Little Bill and English Bob features some brutal violence and excessive profanity. It definitely adds to the tension and the atmosphere between the two men as they despise each other. The brutality even at the beginning of the film also adds to the overall theme of disorder in the town. The women are pushed around and hurt; however, the cowboys do not do anything to properly punish the criminals. These elements all sum together to classify this film in the western genre. This film is definitely a must see for anybody that wants to get a true sense of the western genre.

The Searcher's Define A Genre

The western film is an iconic part of the the history of film, and John Wayne is one of the most iconic of it's stars. It seems fitting that a look at what defines the "western" as a genre can be glimpsed in the 1956 film The Searchers starring John Wayne and directed by the legendary John Ford. The Searcher's might be categorized as one of Bazin's 'superwesterns', a category of western films that came out of 1950's with new concepts that challenged the old stereotypes while maintaining the setting and basic framework. The Searchers' sprawling tale of a kidnapping that turns into an epic chase across the West lays the standard visual setting that audiences expect from a Western. But Searchers does differ in that it's emotional message is different. While many of the "classical" westerns feature an unambiguous battle between good versus evil, usually featuring a damsel in distress or some other plot driver, The Searchers is more complex about it's issues. The main character Ethan Edwards is an ambiguous antihero character, who's morality is loosely defined. Early on, Ethan's hatred for the Native American's is evident, fueled by the native-perpetrated kidnapping that serves as the major plot point of the story. Ethan's character undergoes a radical change over the course of the movie, wrestling with his hatred and the consequences that it brings. Eventually the story concludes with a "happy" ending, but Ethan is shut out of the world he sought to come back to, and is alienated. A western where the hero doesn't get the girl is certainly a different sort of western, and the genre "superwestern" is reinforced in this aspect. The Searcher's serves as a good jumping off point to determine an audience's expectations for the classical "western" and the post classical "superwestern" as it portrays the essential elements of a western while deviating enough to challenge the baseline in the style of "similarity and difference".

Interracial ideas in film

One of the major pre-1960s cinema trends was role segregation, where the film industry considered non-white actors somehow unfit for a particular role solely because of race. Roles non-white actors could, however, manage to land were often confined to minor, static characters having little to no complexity or development. Often, a white actor even played a non-white character in a film. For example, white actor Walter Long, in blackface, played as Gus in Birth of a Nation. This practice allowed filmmakers to circumvent the "Hays Code," which was the early version of the MPAA's movie ratings system, that banned miscegenation. Role segregation and use of makeup for blackface, redface, yellowface, etc. allowed filmmakers to be more at ease with filming such a scene.

Characters who do find actual interracial romance or intimacy were doomed to find their relationship fail or one or both lovers die. In Broken Arrow, a Native American woman and a white man find passion, yet the woman and her tribe is surrounded by white people and murdered; both the woman and the tribe's chief (a main character) were white actors. In West Side Story, where several Puerto Rican characters were white actors (and this is 1961!), Puerto Rican Maria's boyfriend kills her white lover Tony. No matter the circumstances, society and its cinema cannot wholly grasp the idea of a "real" interracial relationship. Even in Hitch (2005), Will Smith pointed out that the producers were having trouble deciding whether to cast a white-black or black-black relationship, as they were taboo or not popular, respectively. As a result, the producers decided to hire Cuban actress Eva Mendes.

The horrific depiction of racism via role segregation and the practices as a result of it was acceptable at the time and continued through the twentieth century and was a major contributor to the demonization of miscegenation in society and, frankly, still is.

District 9 shows us a science fiction movie with an uncommon

District 9 is an unusual film. Initial observations show it to be an unusually excellent science fiction movie. Which it is, and that is one of it's primary strengths. But District 9 represents a brand of film that isn't seen very often. Instead of focusing on action and science fiction elements like similar films from the genre, District 9 is told from the perspective of one character, Wikus van de Merwe. District 9 isn't so much a science fiction movie as it is a character drama, following the struggle for identity of the main character Wikus as he goes through a traumatic experience. This element is what makes District 9 good. It works well as an action driven science fiction movie, but it also shows a deeper meaning in it's main story. District 9 is a quality piece of filmmaking with a lot to say. \ The film is really worth a view.

Brief Irony in Crash

Crash depicts several story-lines that all contain themes about racism and prejudice. Actually, the beginning of the film has the most ironic and unique story-line. In this scene, Brendan Frasier and Sandra Bullock are walking t0 their car one night while Peter Waters and Ludacris are discussing racial tension in the town. Ludacris cynically points out that everyone is scared of them because they are the only black people on the street. As he says this, they both pull out guns and rob Frasier and Bullock. The irony comes from the Ludacris's dialogue. He claims that all the white people on the street are racist because they look at them with fear. He claims that nobody should be scared of them because they are just like everyone else; however, he draws his firearm as soon as he finishes that statement. This comes off to audience as some form of comic relief as the true beginning of the film is very mysterious and confusing.

On another note, Ryan Phillippe internally criticizes Matt Dillon's actions at the beginning of the film. Phillippe quickly learns that everyone can make mistakes at the end of the film. At the end of the film, He quickly draws his gun and kills Waters because he thought Waters was going to draw a weapon. Instead he was only taking his lucky statue out of his pocket. This is just one example in the film. All the stories eventually create some life-altering situations during the climax. The following video cannot be embedded but it can be watched if clicked.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXcT5noZE0k&feature=related

The "classic" film of Post Classical Hollywood

The end is at the beginning, but do not be quick to judge, for this is no detective story. This is director Christopher Nolan’s Memento (2000), widely considered to be a modern classic. But what makes Memento different is the brilliant and artistic manipulation of time and how effective this manipulation is at putting the audience in the shoes of protagonist Leonard Shelby, an anterograde amnesiac (one who cannot form new memories) seeking revenge for his wife’s rape and murder. The movie begins with a scene of Leonard killing a man unknown to the audience at the time, and from then on, it is a series of flashbacks containing information seemingly vital to Leonard on his mission to find his wife’s killer. However, in order to immerse the audience in the story, it is told through Leonard’s point of view, with some vital information about his past cleverly disguised in his “conversation” with a police officer (whose voice the audience never hears—but only later it is revealed that this is John Gammell (Teddy)). For the duration of the film, the audience must put together pieces of sometimes misleading information, just the way Leonard does, in order to find out what is really happening, and how Leonard’s wife really died. One might think that this film is almost entirely unique in that many elements of classical Hollywood Cinema are absent, however, in many ways, films like these truly characterize Post Classical Hollywood, with nontraditional use of time and space, as well as “incomplete” endings (For example, the audience never really knows what happens to Leonard at the very end (or beginning!) of the movie). Post classical era movies such as Memento and more recently, District 9, make use of anti-heroes and follow nontraditional endings as well (for example, in District 9, we also do not know if protagonist Wikus lives or dies). Memento is in many ways, the perfect example of a post classical Hollywood era film. It differs in almost every aspect of presentation from Classical Hollywood films, and perhaps that is why it is hailed a “modern classic.”

The role of establishing shots in Casablanca.

Michael Curtiz's film Casablanca perfectly conforms to the traits of the “Classical Hollywood Cinema” in several aspects, from it’s narrative structure to the melodrama in the film. However, Casablanca also makes use of filming techniques, most notably, the establishing shot, in order to better organize the narrative for the audience without necessarily detracting from the easy flow of the movie. The establishing shot serves as a silent introduction to all the characters and the settings pertinent to the scene that is about to take place. There are several prominent examples of establishing shots throughout the movie. As can be seen in the following scene for example, there is a quick establishing shot of the inside of Rick’s Café Americain just before Rick is introduced to Major Strasser by Captain Renault, which helps the audience orient themselves with where events in the narrative are occurring. Also, the opening scene of the movie has a series of establishing shots combined with a voice over narration to inform the audience of the historical context of the movie . Establishing shots primarily help the audience in understanding where a narrative is taking place and the significance of all the shown characters within that narrative.

House of Flying Daggers commentary

In our class, the feeling of heavy Westernization (strongly relying on visual effects and CGI to attract and hold an audience) is strong; however, the plot at least is strong, and the scenery complements it in an interesting way. The plot is indeed twisty, with the audience probably most confused with Jin, who is sort of the hero (sort of, in that the audience is directed to believe that he's noble subverting the failed government and saving Xiao), then realizing he's only attempting to infiltrate the Flying Daggers. This twisting plot line is complemented by the very simplistic and constantly beautiful scenery. the frequent symmetrical shots, like the image above, strike balance and simplicity where the plot is still developing in its non-linear fashion. The forests of bamboo and birch trees and the fields of flowers seem to be a happy constant for the love affair (an affair realized by the audience only near the end) between Jin and Xiao to thrive. When the lover confront each other, however, this happy medium is turned into a snowy, cold, forbidding expanse.

"Jaws" Movie Intro

The intro of "Jaws" uses both camera angle and musical score to add to the freighting element of the movie.

While the woman is in the water, the camera angles goes from showing her above the water, to taking the shark's point of view.

The camera angle becomes an underwater shot, coming under the girl, mimicking the way a shark attacks.

This theatrical element adds to the already suspenseful atmosphere of the film.

Also, with help from the camera angle, the score of the film adds to the suspense of the movie, thus achieving Spielburg's purpose.

The repeating "E" and "F" notes make their first "appearance" of the movie in this scene.

This becomes the trademark of a shark attack throughout the movie, which adds to the suspense and fear.

Tarantino's "Basterds" uses violence to send it's complicated message.

Tarantino's new war movie "Inglourious Basterds"(sic) starring Brad Pitt is a rip roaring thrill ride of Nazis, violence, and scalping. The movie itself is classic Tarantino, from the nail biting tension he builds in the first scene, to the gratuitous violence shamelessly shown at every moment, to the oddly fitting spaghetti western-style musical stings and riffs for each character. But what really intrigues about the superficially meaningless violence is the message Tarantino is putting through. (See below for a link to the synopsis)

Basterd's is a complex movie. On the surface, we have a campy, Tarantino-style action movie, initially comparable to Tarantino's early Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2, drowning in action and viol

ent spectacle. But, move a layer down, and Tarantino's movie is a simultaneously a tribute to the old style Western action films of yesteryear, such as "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" and "The Searchers", and the macaroni war movies such as "The Dirty Dozen" and "Where Eagles Dare". The music and timing are reminiscent of the classic Western, with an initially sprawling exposition that gradually speeds up as the movie unfolds, all the while punctuated by thematic music and well timed stings. The setting is pure war movie, a standard "good guys vs. bad guys" with most of the movie set in France. In an ironic nod to the classic war movies of old, the last half of the movie is set in a local movie theatre where a war movie is being shown, and the movie being played serves as both a plot device and a message in itself. Needless to say, Basterds pays an excellent homage to the movies that inspired it.

But if we delve even deeper, Tarantino is saying something more. The way he frames the main

characters the Basterds is almost villainous, and the majority of the Wehrmacht and SS characters we meet in the film are presented in way that is almost sympathetic. Tarantino

sets us up for a conflict. By contrasting displays of "righteous" American violence to "evil" Nazis with demonstrations of Nazi characters humanity, he flips the expectations of the audience. We know the Nazi's are evil. But we also come to view the Basterd's as evil too, their acts of violence start to approach the brutality of the Nazi's themselves. Tarantino wants us to contrast the two types of violence, and his message is multifaceted. I think he wants us to understand

that violence is still violence, no matter how righteous, and at the same time he wants to send a good over evil moral message (which he does with the climax of the love interest at the end). Basterd's is more complex than it might seem to say the least.

A Commentary of Spielberg's Jaws

Jaws, the classic american film, portrays the frightful events of a man-eating shark devastating a small island town. Throughout the film, Spielberg incorporates various types of shots as he conveys this frightful story. For example, in the very beginning, the whole scene of the boy chasing the girl is categorized by a series of medium shots. However, as this playful race into the water turns into a gruesome and mysterious shark attack, the camera changes to the first person view of the shark as it illustrates a close up of the girl in an underwater angle. This shift in viewpoint creates this mysterious tension as the audience senses the eventual death of the girl but does not know when.

Spielberg really has created something special here. In addition to the changing camera shots and angles, action and "special effects" (cheesy to most now) blend to make an exciting movie. From the excessive shark head barrages into the steel cage to the eventual oxygen tank explosion, Spielberg really gets the adrenaline pumping throughout the second half of the movie. Ultimately, great shotmaking combined with some action packed special effects scenes makes for a great movie.

Is this a commentary on culture or an Economics lesson?

Reaction to “Concepts of culture: public policy and the cultural industries” –Nicholas Garnham

At first glance this reading looked like it could very subtly pass off as part of a lesson in a respectable Economics textbook. As Nicolas Garnham defines the concept of cultural industries—“It sees culture, defined as production and circulation of symbolic meaning, as a material process of production and exchange, part of, and in significant ways determined by, the wider economic processes of society with which it shares so many common features.” [Film Studies Reader, 19], the definition suggests that the analysis of cultural industries centers more around the industrial aspect than its cultural counterpart that we have grown so used to seeing in this course.

The reading as a whole is divided between the explanations of the Structure and Dynamics of these cultural industries, as well as cultural repertoire and distribution. Garnham talks about how the film industry will manipulate the types of productions based on maximization of audiences, and that some film makers tend to continue making certain types or storylines in films which they know from past audience responses to be “reliable” in terms of success, and more importantly, a profit.

It is interesting to see how this “drive to audience maximization” departs entirely from any sort of culture, and turns into a game of what I would call “economic chess” which involves maximizing profits through advertisements which influence the audience and limiting or “blocking” competition through monopolies and close connections among these industries and government.

Garnham also makes a very valid point when he writes that no matter how much film industry executives manipulate the film for the “desired” audience response, in the end, it is inherently unpredictable. Sometimes the intended meaning and audience’s interpretation of the meaning of a film can differ, which at times can be disastrous to the film maker. In order to counter this risk, film makers typically produce and release multiple films, of which maybe the overwhelming success of one can erase any losses resulting from other sub-par films.

The next claim Garnham makes is bold—but in a practical sense, it is true. Essentially Garnham states that is distribution and marketing, more so than the actual production, that is the source of “power and profit”.

I believe that while all of the aforementioned points are excellent practical observations—they are purely economical in nature. What part of these principles can be applied to areas other than “cultural texts”? The ideas of profit maximization, optimization, vertical and horizontal integration and inherent risk are all applicable in areas outside of the realm of film and related media. The main idea: everything is a business.