David Finchers 'Fight Club' is a polysemic text and can be approached in more than one way to create meaning, whether this be by the cinematography, mise-en-scene, sound or characters performance. Certain approaches are more useful than others, one approach often used when decoding Fight Club is the Crisis of Masculinity. The approach Crisis of Masculinity suggests that men in todays society are becoming more feminised due to the lifestyle they have chosen. The approach also suggests that we live in a female-dominated world and this is the reason for the femininity of males.
During the scene in which the narrator first goes to the Self Help Groups, framing and the mise-en-scene is important, as in the background of the shot is a basket ball hoop, showing the audience the Self Help Groups are being held in a basketball gym. This was seen quite ironic, as basketball gyms are usually used for sports and manly activities, but instead is being used for a group of men to talk to one and other about their problems, hug and cry with each other. This emphasises the emasculation, also with the pure fact that the men in the discussion all have testicular cancer, resulting in no testicles and a lack of masculinity. As all the men find partners to discuss their problems, the narrator comes across 'Bob'. He states he has 'bitch tits' and goes on to tell the audience in a voice over that he has had his testicles removed due to cancer, and his body wasn't producing enough testosterone and more estrogen, he then grew a pair of breasts and his wife left him. Bob is a perfect example of the crisis portrayed in the film as he has no testicles or wife/children. This helped me gain a deeper understanding of the film as males are literally being turned into women and they can't do anything about it. Fincher even played around with Bobs name and made it humorous as it is just one letter off being 'boob'. The narrator struggles to cry, it is only when Bob hugs him and is placed within Bobs boobs he starts to feel emotional and lets out a weep, implying that men need woman to be able to cry and become emotional, once again showing the lack of masculinity. As the narrator walks out the room and down the street, non-diegetic music accompanies the scene, it is very bland, and almost sounds like elevator music, it isn't very masculine, and once again shows the emasculation within the males in the film.
Throughout the film, there are numerous homosexual references. During the scene in which numerous males, including Tyler and the narrator, go down into the basement for the first ever Fight Club, close ups are shown of the men taking off their wedding rings. This a subtle reference to homosexuality and leaving their wives behind. Another subtle reference to homosexuality within the scene is where Tyler explains the rules of Fight Club. "The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club" which may be implying not coming out of the closet and admitting you're gay. Tyler also says 'if a player taps out, goes limp, the fight is over', the words 'go limp' have been selected carefully to refer to a mans penis during sexual intercourse, referring once again to homosexuality and a lack of masculinity.
Another critical approach used when watching Fight Club to develop deeper meaning is Post Modernism. Fight Club is considered a post modern text, it involves things such as intertexuality, homage and hybridity. Multiple scenes in which the house where Tyler lives are shot and framed in a similar way to the house in Psycho. It is in fact the same house used, an example of intertexuality and homage. During the scene in which Project Mayhem had the members of parliament on the floor in the toilet and there is a point of view shot showing Tyler from a disoriented angle. This mimics the rape scene from A Clockwork Orange, another example of intertexuality. Another example of intertexuality is the scene where Tyler enter Marlas room and finds a sex toy on the table, mirroring A Clockwork Orange once again. Many would consider Fight Club a drama, however, it contains multiple conventions of the Noir genre, with things such as the voice over, a sinister and emotionally damaged protagonist, the constant low key lighting and Marla acting and being portrayed slightly as a Femme Fatale. Taking the critical approach that Fight Club is a post modern film is very useful in finding meaning, it is a suggestion of how society is moving, it is no longer moving forward but is just moving in circles picking up parts of the past to mix into a new, society is just a copy of a copy of a copy, which the narrator actually says within the film.
Tuesday, 17 June 2014
Monday, 16 June 2014
What is the importance of mise-en-scène and/or sound in creating meaning and generating response in the films you have studied
Both Matthieu Kassovitz' La Haine and Fernando Meirelles City Of God use mise-en-scene and sound to create meaning and generate a response. La Haine is set in France in the 1990's, the time in which the youths and police force were rioting against one another. After the real life footage is shown to us, we get a close up of our first character, Said. The camera slowly zooms into his face and as he opens his eyes we are introduced to the diegetic sounds around him. This shows that Said, and the youths of France in the time in which it was set were trying to shut out the world around them, or that they couldn't believe their eyes. We then get a point of view shot of Said looking across the road at the police force, or better known in the film as the 'pigs'. The distance between Said and the pigs creates conflict, providing contextual information for the audience.
We are then introduced to our second character, 'Vinz'. As well as mise-en-scene and sound being important to create meaning within the text, cinematography and the choice of camera work also helps. We are first shown Vinz in a dream, as he dances around in an underground deserted area, but the camera then cuts to a close up of Vinz' face asleep as Said walks through the door, a point of view shot is then used but the camera then scurries away to zoom into a ring on Vinz' finger which says 'Vinz'. This gave me a representation of Vinz which made me see him as a bit of a slob, who is quite unintelligent that likes to wear jewellery stating his name. Later, we are shown Vinz mimicking the Travis Bickle character from Taxi Driver in his mirror, threatening his reflection, using his hand to mimic a gun. Vinz only believes what he has been shown on the TV, he has not had the opportunity to explore anything else, so he has an unrealistic view of violence and believes this is how ordinary life is. This piece of mise-en-scene shows the results of poverty, and generates a response within the audience.
La Haine is based around a 24 hour period, time is a constant reference used within the film. We often get cuts to a time a frame with a ticking clock in the background. Throughout the film, in scenes like the one wear Said, Vinz & Hubert are sat on the side-walk doing nothing, there is a subtle non-diegetic ticking clock in the background, this suggests that the characters have nothing to do, causing them to become disconnected from society and results in characters turning to things like crime, drugs and anti-social behaviour. This subtle usage of sound creates huge meaning within the text. Within the mise-en-scene, we are often seen Vinz fantasizing. The characters don't resort to crime in the film, however, their attitudes towards the police and society are clearly shown, Vinz is willing to kill an officer if his friend dies in a coma, and the use of mise-en-scene showing Vinz fantasizing his vengeance backs that up.
The use of mise-en-scene and sound is also very important in creating meaning and generating a response in City of God. Straight away within the opening shot we get a close up of a knife sharpening against a rock. There is meaning instantly as it represents the violence within the favelas, and that if you live in the favelas you are living on the edge of a knife. This shot is then supported by the usage of cinematography, which as I mentioned earlier on, is equally important in creating meaning within the text. The editing is fast paced, and also includes very harsh cuts, which shows the fast pace of Rio De Janeiro. All these conventions have been encoded into the text to represent citizens in the favela as poultry.
The character, Lil' Z/Dice is often represented as in power. During the scene in which Lil' Dice disobediently goes to the hotel in which his brother and friends trashed, he kills many, if not all the people inside, this shows Lil' Dices lack of conscience and how sinister he actually is. This is supported in the mise-en-scene as a low camera angle angle is used to show he is in power and to emphasise his evil smile and the gun in his hand. This scene supports the statement often implied in the text 'whoever has the gun, has the power'. Another scene which supports this is the scene in which the character Steak 'N' Fries is forced by Lil' to shoot a runt from the favela, a low camera angle is once again used to show that Steak 'N' Fries is in power as he is currently in possession of a gun, a point of view shot is also used to emphasise the power gained by the gun as it is centre frame.
City of God begins with bright colour to represent the sixties and seventies, but as the narrative progresses, the colours become duller. This represents the power of drugs and drug dealers in the times they were set, back in the 60's/70's the colour was bright, happy, green, to represent the calm times back in the favela when marijuana was around, however, when Lil' Z was in power, cocaine was the biggest drug around, at this point things in the favelas were much more about power and control and this was reflected through the dull colours in the mise-en-scene. In both La Haine and City of God, mise-en-scene and sound are both important in creating meaning and generating a response, however, cinematography and editing are equally important also.
City of God begins with bright colour to represent the sixties and seventies, but as the narrative progresses, the colours become duller. This represents the power of drugs and drug dealers in the times they were set, back in the 60's/70's the colour was bright, happy, green, to represent the calm times back in the favela when marijuana was around, however, when Lil' Z was in power, cocaine was the biggest drug around, at this point things in the favelas were much more about power and control and this was reflected through the dull colours in the mise-en-scene. In both La Haine and City of God, mise-en-scene and sound are both important in creating meaning and generating a response, however, cinematography and editing are equally important also.
'Experimental films are often designed to make us see and experience the world differently.' Has this been your experience as a spectator of the films you have studied for this topic?
Experimental films are constructed and designed to make the spectator see and experience the world differently. Experimental films are nonconformist, they challenge mainstream conventions and rely mostly on imagery and don't often have a narrative. Arguably, Luis Bunuel 'Un Chien Andalou' is the most popular and most successful experimental film.
Un Chien Andalou is a surrealist film, the film is displayed as a dream, an element of the subconscious mind. The film was released in 1929, the opening scene created a response straight away as we get a close up of a womans face with another Bunuel himself holding a knife up to her, the film then cuts to a shot of the moon with a cloud moving across it. The moon represents the womans eye, and the cloud represents the knife, in the next shot, we are shown a close up of the womans eye being slit open by the knife with a strange substance coming out of it. Even in the modern 21st century, I found it difficult to watch, and thought I had seen most horrific and extreme things in cinema, so I can imagine in the time of release, many were horrified at the scene. As the film went on, I tried to discover a narrative, but eventually I decided this was a purely surreal film, that relies purely on imagery, during the scene where one of the male characters chases a woman around the room attempting to rape her, he is suddenly out of no-where anchored down by a rope tied to a piano with a dead mule on top of it. This to me had no inner deep meaning, it was purely imagery of Bunuels subconscious mind and dreams placed in front of the camera to challenge the spectator. Bunuel once said in an interview "reject any idea or thing that has meaning". This film overall made me see the world differently as it's not all black and white, we are capable of thinking such shocking and strange things, and Bunuel proved this by putting it on a movie screen.
Another experimental film is Godfrey Reggios 'Koyaansqatsi'. It is very different to Bunuels Un Chien Andalou, but is still considered experimental as there are no actors or script and was filmed over a 4 year period. Koyaansqatsi is a montage sequence, it focuses on human destruction to the earth by showing changes visually to the earth over a certain amount of time. The opening scene is very dramatic, slow motion imagery of the earth in it's true form, just open space and beautiful scenery, but then we start to get imagery of the modern day earth, buildings, cars, roads. During one of the scenes in which the buildings are shown, the non-diegetic soundtrack is quite dominant and powerful and sounds very triumphant, this subtly shows the audience that mankind is triumphant and has won the battle over nature. I responded to this in almost a guilty way, as I am part of the race that has destroyed the earth that was here before us, even though I did not take part in any kind of destruction whatsoever. After watching Koyaansqatsi, it enabled me to see the world we live in differently, and I appreciated those parts of the earth not yet touched by man kind.
Jon Svankmajers stop-motion film 'Darkness Light Darkness' is also seen as an experimental film. The film is constructed in a way to gain more than one response from it's spectator, when first watching the film, I went through many different emotions. The film features a group of body parts slowly coming together as they work out what goes where. This is presented to us in quite a humorous way, for example when the eyes are put on the ends of two fingers and it looks directly at the camera, or when the two feet come together and squish the face, etc. At this point, I found the film quite funny and didn't think it was very serious, however, then real human body organs start to come into the scene, which are in their natural colours, red, brown, where as the rest of the body and room is very dull and bland, this grabbed my attention straight away and started to make me feel a bit sick. As it grabbed my attention, I started to become a much more active viewer, and believe their may be meaning behind the film, which I found out toward the end, when the body is complete, it is very cramped inside the room, the meaning behind this is the more real you become, the more trapped you will be.
Experimental films vary, and are presented and constructed in a number ways but always attempt to make the spectator see and experience the world differently, after watching all 3 films, the response I got from all 3 were different, but I certainly saw and experienced the world differently.
Un Chien Andalou is a surrealist film, the film is displayed as a dream, an element of the subconscious mind. The film was released in 1929, the opening scene created a response straight away as we get a close up of a womans face with another Bunuel himself holding a knife up to her, the film then cuts to a shot of the moon with a cloud moving across it. The moon represents the womans eye, and the cloud represents the knife, in the next shot, we are shown a close up of the womans eye being slit open by the knife with a strange substance coming out of it. Even in the modern 21st century, I found it difficult to watch, and thought I had seen most horrific and extreme things in cinema, so I can imagine in the time of release, many were horrified at the scene. As the film went on, I tried to discover a narrative, but eventually I decided this was a purely surreal film, that relies purely on imagery, during the scene where one of the male characters chases a woman around the room attempting to rape her, he is suddenly out of no-where anchored down by a rope tied to a piano with a dead mule on top of it. This to me had no inner deep meaning, it was purely imagery of Bunuels subconscious mind and dreams placed in front of the camera to challenge the spectator. Bunuel once said in an interview "reject any idea or thing that has meaning". This film overall made me see the world differently as it's not all black and white, we are capable of thinking such shocking and strange things, and Bunuel proved this by putting it on a movie screen.
Another experimental film is Godfrey Reggios 'Koyaansqatsi'. It is very different to Bunuels Un Chien Andalou, but is still considered experimental as there are no actors or script and was filmed over a 4 year period. Koyaansqatsi is a montage sequence, it focuses on human destruction to the earth by showing changes visually to the earth over a certain amount of time. The opening scene is very dramatic, slow motion imagery of the earth in it's true form, just open space and beautiful scenery, but then we start to get imagery of the modern day earth, buildings, cars, roads. During one of the scenes in which the buildings are shown, the non-diegetic soundtrack is quite dominant and powerful and sounds very triumphant, this subtly shows the audience that mankind is triumphant and has won the battle over nature. I responded to this in almost a guilty way, as I am part of the race that has destroyed the earth that was here before us, even though I did not take part in any kind of destruction whatsoever. After watching Koyaansqatsi, it enabled me to see the world we live in differently, and I appreciated those parts of the earth not yet touched by man kind.
Jon Svankmajers stop-motion film 'Darkness Light Darkness' is also seen as an experimental film. The film is constructed in a way to gain more than one response from it's spectator, when first watching the film, I went through many different emotions. The film features a group of body parts slowly coming together as they work out what goes where. This is presented to us in quite a humorous way, for example when the eyes are put on the ends of two fingers and it looks directly at the camera, or when the two feet come together and squish the face, etc. At this point, I found the film quite funny and didn't think it was very serious, however, then real human body organs start to come into the scene, which are in their natural colours, red, brown, where as the rest of the body and room is very dull and bland, this grabbed my attention straight away and started to make me feel a bit sick. As it grabbed my attention, I started to become a much more active viewer, and believe their may be meaning behind the film, which I found out toward the end, when the body is complete, it is very cramped inside the room, the meaning behind this is the more real you become, the more trapped you will be.
Experimental films vary, and are presented and constructed in a number ways but always attempt to make the spectator see and experience the world differently, after watching all 3 films, the response I got from all 3 were different, but I certainly saw and experienced the world differently.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)