Taxi Driver

Aside of the crime and drama, I thought of Taxi Driver as a psychological thriller. I like to think this because it gets into the head of Travis Bickel, and his thoughts alone are scary. I think Travis Bickel just wanted some more action in his life because he came home from war and was just expected to live a normal life, but since he had psychological problems, maybe PTSD, he went about taking action in the wrong way. These actions ranged from situations like dating, to killing people.

While driving his taxi, Travis drives by a place where they do campaigning for a presidential candidate. He sees a beautiful woman in there, and proceeds to watch her for a few hours. Luckily, this woman, Betsy, notices, her coworker confronts him, and he drives away. The next day comes and he does the same thing, but this time, he actually walks in and asks her out. While on their date, they are talking and he is saying some really strange things like “when he walked in he instantly felt a connection between them”. This may be true, but he just keeps rambling on about it. They go on more dates, and he takes her to a porno. Betsy is not comfortable with this, and she leaves. This part just shows how socially inept he is. 

After he attempts to shoot Palantine, the presidential candidate, I think he comes to the realization that he doesn’t want to be infamous. Instead, he goes to a pimp, and asks for the girl that he has also been stalking. He doesn’t want sex with this girl, he wants to help her. By helping her, Travis sought the thrill that he needed by killing her pimp, while also becoming regarded as a hero. Throughout the movie, which I had a hard time following, I thought he was going to do something bad. I was very happy with the ending, and I am interpreting it as Travis still being alive. 

The Royal Tenenbaums

In film making, composition is an important part of how the film is made. With composition, if we pause a movie, it can look like a photograph. Although composition is used to create a picture perfect scene, it is also used to convey ideas. In the Royal Tenenbaums, directed by Wes Anderson, composition is a key element. In the scene where Royal Tenenbaum is laying in bed, with his family surrounding him, composition is used to fit everyone in the frame, as well as appeal to the viewer’s emotion.

The characters in this sequenced are framed in a tight setting, although the shot has depth. All of the characters are squeezed in to one little place, and it almost looks uncomfortable. What I find interesting about the composition of this scene is that although they are cramped into this little room, there is still room to display the trophies. Instead of making this a pure family scene, the composition makes sure that the material things can be displayed. Because we see these trophies, and these paintings, we know that it is Richie’s room (if you missed Richie saying that in the scene before). Nothing can be simple in this household. Also, there is no dead space in this shot, which symbolizes the family living under one roof again; no one is alone. 

Composition says a lot about the characters in the movie. Characters who are closer to the camera, have a more prominent role in the film, while characters who are less important are positioned farther in the back. The doctor and Royal are front, meaning that they are the two most important people in the film, and they have power. Obviously if the film is about Royal wanting to reconnect with his family, right? We can see that Richie, Uzi, and Ari are behind the two main characters. Clearly, we know that Richie is the favorite child of Royal. He was the only one who went to see grandma, and Royal is in his room. While he doesn’t have a good relationship with his grandsons, they are important because he will try to continue to build a relationship with them throughout the movie. Pagoda, Chas, Henry, Etheline, and Margot are all in the back, symbolizing that they are characters of minor importance, especially Margot. 

The composition of this scene moves the narrative forward because everyone now sees what Royal is going through. With this, the character will have to make up his or her mind when it comes to letting Royal make amends with them. This shot reminds me of “The Last Supper” by Leonardo DaVinci. While this painting would be considered a loose shot, with some dead space, the concept of being gathered around the leader is there. The people are listening to what Jesus has to say, and are paying attention to what He is doing. The Tenenbaums are listening to what the doctor is saying and doing. 

While we may not think composition in films can appeal to emotions, we can see that is has a significant impact on how we watch movie, especially for someone taking this class. Now when I watch movies, I will be looking for composition and what it means. 

Blog 3 Response

While watching a movie, there are more things to look for than just the basic plot. Art direction, historical criticism, and structural criticism are all elements in movies that truly bring the movie to life. With these components, the viewers can get a look into the past (or what could be the future) and get a taste of what life was like back then. All of the movies we have watched so far had distinct features of the time and place the movie was made.

In The Graduate, the art direction really sets the chic tone of the 1960s. The sets in this film are mostly colored black and white; his parents house, his room, and the Robinson’s house. Black and white was trendy in 1960s interior decorating, but in this case, it represents the feeling of entrapment that Benjamin Braddock is feeling right after he graduates college. His parents want him to do one thing (graduate school), while he wants to create his own path. In Ben’s room, his walls are wallpapered with black and white stripes. These stripes symbolize a jail and creates the idea that Ben is mentally stuck with what he wants to do. He is trapped and his room feels the jail cell. The awning at the Robinson's house is also black and white striped. For Mrs. Robinson, this could also symbolize the fact that she feels her own house is a prison. 

The Graduate is also a good example for structural criticism. By definition, structural criticism is how we experience the world through cultural signs. The use of cigarettes in The Graduate, show us that cigarettes were a sign of sophistication in the 1960s. Mrs. Robinson smokes throughout the whole movie. In the beginning, Ben is completely repulsed by the smell, and doesn’t want her cigarette ashes in his room. By the middle and end of the movie, and with his newfound maturity, Ben is smoking cigarettes. In a movie today, characters who smoke cigarettes would be portrayed as lower class people; a complete role reversal from previous times.

Art direction and structural criticism let us see what previous times were like through sets, costumes, and cultural behaviors. Historical criticisms let us see what the past was like through the economic, political, racial, and gender values of the time. North by Northwest, by Alfred Hitchcock, is a movie that demonstrates the social aspect of the 1950s. At this time in history, the United States was going through the Cold War with the Soviet Union. The antagonists in this movie have a Russian accent. In a movie today, a villain would most likely be portrayed as a Middle Easterner. Also in this movie, there is a scene that takes place in the dining car of a train. Every waiter in this scene is African American. This symbolizes that in this time period African Americans were still doing servant type jobs. 

These three elements help the movie come to life. I enjoy watching these older movies because it gives a look into the culture back then and it is really interesting. We hear stories of older times, and although these movies are fiction, the styles and symbols of the times are not. 

The Shining (Blog 2 response)

The Shining is a movie directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on a Stephen King novel. While watching this movie, I didn’t think it was as scary as everyone said it was. Instead, what made is scary was the way it was filmed and the sound elements that were in it. I found this movie to be very interesting. Like Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, The Shining gives a more extreme example of how barbaric people can become when there isn’t anyone there to correct them. 

The book references the interview scene when Jack is a civilized man at one point. In Figure 4.5 in the book, it says “lines in the set are used to reinforced the idea of a conflict between civility and animality in human life” (Ryan, 98). Honestly, if the book didn’t mention that, I would have never picked up that the particular scene was figuratively splitting his head in two and showing a human conflict. 

Later in the movie, Jack falls asleep at his workstation and has a dream that he brutally murders Wendy, his wife, and Danny, his young son. Danny comes in the room, and we see that he has a huge bruise on his neck. Wendy accuses Jack of hurting him, because there was as previous instance where he hurt him, and the look on Jack’s face is confused, but he also looks evil. I think that this is where he starts to turn hostile, although the textbook says otherwise. The art direction in this scene is the music that is being played, Jack’s outfit, and the room they are in. The music is sharp with a scary tone, but being paired with the shot of the room is what makes it scary. This room is so big, and it shows just how alone this family is. Jack’s outfit is half blue and half red.

In the textbook, the authors mention that the colors red and blue are very meaningful in this movie. “Blue is linked to civility, self-control and empathy [...] red is linked to violence, rage, and animal-like behavior...” (Ryan, 108). At some point in the movie, the three main characters will be shown wearing one of these colors on top of each other. This symbolizes the animality within civility. In the scene where he meets with the butler in the bathroom, and when the butler convinces him to “do something about his family”, the bathroom is a very bright red color; this is when he makes his commitment. In the scene where Wendy starts to notice Jack’s transition, Jack is still wearing the blue and red combination, showing that Jack has not done any physical harm. We see him changing through his speech, and body language; art direction can also come from the actor. If Jack did that monologue without the aggressive hand motions, and facial expressions, the scene could have played out in a more sympathetic way.  

Overall, I thought the movie was very good and there are many subtle clues that give foreshadowing, which makes viewing the movie exciting.

The Graduate (Blog Response 1)

  In the movie, The Graduate, Ben Braddock is having trouble dealing with life after college. In a way, he is still like a kid after he comes home. He obeys what everyone says, and and seems very young. In the movie, mise en scene plays a very big role. Everything we see, the different house settings, the water, and even the cigarettes, are in the movie is for a reason.

In the Braddock house, every thing is black and white. While this may look sleek and be reflective of the times, it has symbolism in the movie. The black and white may symbolize a prison. His room is wallpapered with black and white stripes, and this gives the viewers a feeling of entrapment. Since Ben is worried about his future, this anxiety may make him feel like he is trapped. The directors of the film didn’t just randomly pick black and white for the colors of the Braddock household, they carefully picked out these colors to give the viewer a sense of the dullness in Ben’s life.

  To get rid of this dullness, Ben has an affair with Mrs. Robinson, who happens to be friends with his parents. Is this really the way to start growing up? Maybe not, but it helps Ben break out of conformity. Throughout the film, water is a recurring role. To me, the water symbolizes purity. After Ben is starting to realize the affair is no good and he wants to clean up his act, there is a scene where he is in his room and we see, out of the window, Mr. Braddock skimming the pool. This scene really stuck out to me. Although it wasn’t Ben skimming the pool, the act of this father skimming it symbolizes that Ben wasn’t pure anymore, but was trying to erase all of the really bad things that he did.

      Although cigarettes are considered bad today, in the 60s, they were a sign of sophistication. In the beginning of the movie, when Mrs. Robinson goes into Ben’s room with a cigarette, he is totally repulsed by the smoke and wipes her ashes into the trashcan. After one of the turning points in the movie, when sleeps with Mrs. Robinson for the first time, we start to see Ben breaking out of his perfect child role; he is starting to grow up. Because he has this new sense of being an adult, he starts smoking cigarettes. In the beginning, he is known as this track star from college, and his parents are pushing him to go to graduate school. Ben doesn’t want to do that, and has other plans for himself. When Ben starts smoking, this is a sign that he is defying what his parents want him to do, and he is not under the control of his parents anymore.