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Perspective and Melancholia

The article “Seeing Things” by Anand Pandian talks about how cinematography is used to provide different perspectives. Pandian uses the Apollo 9 mission pictures of Earth as an example of how images can completely change the perspective of something that is very familiar to us. These images made people realize that we are really just riding on a fragile floating ball in space. This really brought me back to the film Melancholia and how it really focused on providing different perspectives for the viewer. This film also makes one realize just how fragile our life here on Earth by showing the Earth getting completely destroyed by another larger planet. Melancholia mainly focuses on providing perspective on depression, both those who experience it and those who care for the one’s experiencing depression. In Melancholia, Justine is the one experiencing depression and as we follow her through her wedding all the way to the end of life on Earth, we learn about Justine’s point of view about life and death. Justine tells her sister, Claire, that the Earth is evil and that there is no need to grieve for it. Justine has accepted and seems to be almost at peace with the world ending towards the end of the film. Claire on the other hand has a different perspective on this matter. She is much more concerned and wants her son to be able to live and grow up. The handheld shaky emphasizes the perspective of instability and uneasiness throughout the film. As the end of the world approaches we see a reversal of roles where Claire, the caretaker of the depressed Justine, is actually taken comforted and taken care of by the depressed. This film gives an interesting perspective on depression during times of extreme hardship and death.

Is there a risk when trying to present a specific perspective that the audience will not see the intended perspective due to each viewer’s own personal perspectives?

Does that last question make any sense at all?

Magnolia: Continuity Editing to the Max

Magnolia contains most if not all the film elements we have discussed in this course so far. This film uses quite a lot of continuity editing in particular. There is matching on action, eye-line matching, and graphic matching throughout. The continuity editing is very important in this film because there are multiple story-lines going on in a nonlinear fashion. These filming techniques are necessary for transitioning between characters and story-lines in ways that connect them while not causing confusion. There are multiple shots where we transition to a new character or story by zooming in on a television screen and then enter the set. Television connects most if not all of these stories and characters together. Music is another important part of this film and also helps connect the stories together. There are a number of scenes where a song will be heard or sung by one character in one shot and then we switch to another shot with a different character while the song goes from being diegetic to nondiegetic, playing in the background. Music or just sounds carry on from one shot to another, transitioning between and also connecting the two shots. The ending scene where all of the main characters are singing along to the same song is another way in which music helped connect and bring together the film. While the ending of this film did not necessarily tie all of the stories together in a neat and spectacular way like I was expecting, it used continuity editing along with TV, music, and just media in general to show that there are some connections between them. Without these filming techniques, this narrative would be all over the place and much harder to understand.

What is this film trying to say about the media and the people that are involved in media?

Also…

Frogs!? What is that supposed to mean?

World of the Future: The Benefits of Animation

The film “World of the Future” is animated in a style that looks as though a small child could have drawn all of the images. The two main characters are stick figures, the robots are literally just balls of scribble and many times the background is made up of just simple shapes and dots. Even though this film is visually very simple, it is still able to effectively present a story that involves very complex themes and get the audience to become at least a little bit emotionally invested in this experience. The simple child-like animation connects the viewers with Emily who is a happy, innocent little girl. We see the horrors of a future where people transfer their memories to clones from the viewpoint of a child which helps lighten the mood of the film. Using animation, masses of dead bodies can be shown floating around in space and then hurtling down to Earth in a way that is not completely visually disturbing while still getting the point across that things are not going well in the future. The playful animation along with the contrast between the sad Emily clone and the happy, excited Emily prime adds plenty of comic relief to this otherwise very depressing film. The funny and light-hearted animation with the serious adult topics is similar to having a spoon full of sugar to help the medicine down. The comedy and animation make it easier to take and think about the serious and depressing topics this film explores. Hertzfeldt succeeded in making a film that touched on a nice variety of science fiction topics in a funny and creative way while lasting only 17 minutes long.

What are the disadvantages to this style of animation? Does the film take these serious topics too lightly?

Advantageous: The Bonding Power of Music

Music and its influence on people is one of the many themes present in the film “Advantageous”. The first time we see Gwen and Jules, they are sitting close together singing a hymn. The close-up of them singing immediately establishes the close relationship between them. Gwen looks at Jules and smiles as they sing together, a bond forming action. Later on in the movie, we see them singing the same song again. The second time they sing this song, we see Gwen and Jules look at Gwen’s new body and then we see Gwen ultimately die. Singing together is the last thing we see Jules and the original Gwen do together. Through the music, they seem to have a very deep and emotional understanding of each other. This understanding of each other through music is further demonstrated when Gwen starts to play the piano after making the decision to transfer her mind and Jules asks her what is wrong. Jules is able to tell that something is bothering Gwen from her playing the piano. Jules also comes to the realization that her original mother is actually dead through Gwen 2.0’s reaction to music. When Jules plays a song that Gwen usually liked and played to relax, Gwen 2.0 asks Jules to turn the music off. Jules learned that this Gwen was not her mother using music. We also see Gwen 2.0 struggle with playing the piano which again emphasizes that she is a different person. Music was a way Jules and Gwen bonded and it helped them deal with the stressful times they were living through. It also seemed to be a part of their identity. Music was a part of who Gwen and Jules were as mother and daughter.

To what extent does music and art in general connect people and become a part of their identity?

Mad Max Fury Road: The Almighty V8

Cars are a very big deal in the world of Mad Max: Fury Road to the point that they are worshipped, especially by the war boys. The viewer sees to what extent the war boys worship cars from the shot that shows a shrine made of steering wheels. As one of the war boys approaches it, a low angle shot makes the large steering wheel on the top of the shrine appear above everyone around it which is emphasized as the war boy bows before it. The low angle shot along with the single bright ray of light shining down upon the shrine gives a very holy and religious image. As the war boy bows before the shrine, he says “By my deeds I honor him, V8” in a way that sounds like a prayer. He also makes a V sign with his hands using a total of eight fingers, again showing honor and praise to V8. This car cult is headed by Immortan Joe, the provider of water and gasoline who will lead his war boys down fury road to Valhalla.

Mad Max Fury Road shows that during extreme times, people are more willing to look to anyone or anything to believe in. Immortan Joe represents people who take advantage of other’s desperation and use religion to control them. He forms a cult that allows him to get young boys to do what he tells them, even if it involves killing themselves. The war boys live to serve Immortan Joe believing they will be awaited in Valhalla. This worship of engines and of those who provide them reminded me a lot of Snowpiercer and how the people on the train worshiped Wilson and his sacred train engine.

In a post-apocalyptic world, will those that provide essential resources become so powerful that they will be considered gods and worshiped by others, or is that too extreme to be believable?

Children of Men: A Christmas Story

There are many bible references in Children of Men, specifically about the Nativity or the birth of Jesus, a major Christmas story. In the nativity, a woman, Mary, is pregnant with humanity’s savior, Jesus, and goes on a long and difficult journey while guided/protected by Joseph, a fatherly figure though not the actual biological father of the baby being born. This sounds very similar to what happens in Children of Men with Kee as Mary, Theo as Joseph, and baby Dylan as Jesus. Kee first reveals her pregnancy to Theo in a stable and throughout the movie animals such as sheep, chickens, and goats are seen around the main characters which can all refer to how Jesus was born in a stable surrounded by animals. Kee even jokingly says she is a virgin, directly referring to Mary being a virgin in the Nativity. During the large battle scene, there is a complete cease fire as the “holy” family walks and tries to escape. Some men even kneel and make a sign of the cross as the baby passes.

During this cease fire, the camera finally becomes more stable as the three main characters get up and start walking. The early shots of the walk show lots of people raising their hands up to the child and lowering themselves as she passes, some even bow. Shock, reverence, praise and many more reactions are seen during this scene. There are multiple low-angle shots of the family making them seem higher than everyone else, again, adding to the reverence of the moment. Everyone is respectful as the savior, this last hope for humanity, this innocent baby passes by.

Is Dylan the savior of humanity or is it Kee or even Theo? Is Dylan mainly a sign of hope for humanity rather than a savior of humanity?

Dr. Strangelove: Fear and the Deterioration of Moral Values

There are a number of characters in Dr. Strangelove who are devoid of moral values. Jack Ripper, Buck Turgidson, and Dr. Strangelove specifically show very little value for human life. Jack decides to start a nuclear war to keep his bodily fluids pure, Buck talks about 10 to 20 million human deaths as if it is a trivial matter, and Dr. Strangelove gets excited about a doomsday device and believes humanity can be saved by selecting a small group to live in mining shafts. When each of the characters spoke about these topics during close-ups, I noticed that they were sitting in slanted or unbalanced ways, especially Dr. Strangelove, which emphasized the instability of the characters and their way of thinking. They all share an excitement for violence and destruction with no regards to human life. The Russian government also showed little concern for human life by making a doomsday machine while fully aware of what the consequences would be if the bomb were to go off.

Fear was a major driving force in most of these decisions made. The fear of infiltration, attack, retaliation, and being technologically behind all lead to the deterioration of morals and ultimately to the end of the world. It seems that when the fear of nuclear war and the apocalypse is present, morality is thrown out of the equation and human lives are nothing more than numbers that need to be calculated like when Dr. Strangelove described his mine shaft survival plan. Dr. Strangelove is the embodiment of human immorality and even moves and acts similar to a machine. This could possibly represent him lacking that which makes humans human. His view on life is less like a human’s and more like a machine’s, similar to the doomsday device.

Does this film serve as a warning that fear is actually the biggest threat to humanity?