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.
