A2 film studies: 2015

Tuesday, 3 November 2015

Presentation script: Many Disney films present an ideology of dysfunctional families, could this continuous use of the theme be regarded as an auteur.

Speaker: My project is based around the works of Walt Disney, a well-known Animator famous for such works as Cinderella and Snow White and the seven dwarfs. In most of Disney’s films there is a visible ideology of dysfunctional families and this is a continuous theme throughout all Disney films but does this make Walt Disney an auteur? "A true film auteur is someone who brings something genuinely personal to his subject instead of producing a tasteful, accurate but lifeless rendering of the original material” (item 12).

Clip: [Evil Queen giving Snow White poison apple] Item 3

Walt Disney's first film was Snow White and the seven dwarfs made in 1937. This is the story of Snow White who's farther dies after marrying an evil queen, who tries to kill Snow White because the Queen is jealous of Snow Whites beauty. (Item 3) This is an example of dysfunctional family is a family where”one in which adult caregivers are unable to consistently fulfill their family responsibilities." By definition because the farther (the king) failed to stay alive and not fulfilling his family responsibility, makes a dysfunctional family, as well as the Queen being Snow Whites step-mother failing to take care of her by attempting to kill her as the previous clip shows adds to the dysfunctional family. (Item 15)

Clip: [Snow White cleaning by the well] (Item 3)

This scene shows Snow White a princess in rags and cleaning. This shows how Snow White is treated when her father is not longer around, she is treated like a maid as opposed to the princess she is. This is an example of how the Queen has mis-treated her step daughter, which is also an example of family dysfunction.

Peter pan (1953) is another one of Disney's films with dysfunctional families, as Peter Pan is a boy with no unmentionable parents who takes Wendy, John and Michael who has a strong conflict with their parents (mainly between Wendy and the father) about growing up, to Neverland to meet a group of other young boys with no unmentionable parents and live with them, forgetting about parents all together. (Item 1) Another definition of dysfunctional family is “A family with multiple 'internal'–eg sibling rivalries, parent-child– conflicts, domestic violence, mental illness, single parenthood, or 'external'–eg alcohol or drug abuse, extramarital affairs, gambling, unemployment—influences that affect the basic needs of the family unit” (Item 15) Although by definition Peter and the lost boys are not a family because they are not related by blood but within the context of the film they see each other as a family with Peter as the father figure, so to begin with it was a one parent family and then Wendy becomes the Mother figure. However nearer the end when Wendy wishes to go home, conflict arose and it split the “family” leaving Peter alone.

Clip: [Wendy and Father fight] (Item 1)

Bambi (1942) is another film by Disney, where Bambi is left without a mother by a hunter and creates a family with a rabbit and a skunk, instead of his seemingly emotionally empty father. (Item 2) Using both definitions of dysfunctional family, Bambi fits with both as there is parent/ child conflicts and single parenthood as well as a parent not fulling their duties (item 15)

Clip: [Bambi's mothers death] (Item 2)

This clip shows the death of Bambi's mother, from he clip we can see how devastated Bambi is about losing his mother. This scene is shown as a reflection on Walt Disney and how he felt with the death of his mother as Bambi similar to Walt Disney is not with his mother when she died.

I have mentioned the three key films that clearly show dysfunctional family. But to be an auteur, Disney’s use of dysfunctional family needs to be personal by definition, so is it personal or is it just for development of the story?

Clip: [Peter Pan introducing the Lost boys] (Item 1)

Well… according to Don Hahn who is an executive producer for Disney, in an interview commented on why Disney is usually missing a mother he offered two stories one is that “Disney films are about growing up. They’re about that day in your life when you have to accept responsibility…it’s much quicker to have characters grow up when you bump off their parents”. This poses a good point, would Peter Pan have been able to take Wendy, John and Michael away if they were part of a functional happy family? The Dysfunction leads to a quicker developed and more emotional story. However the second story he told was “In the early 1940s…The furnace leaked and his mother died… Walt never spoke about that time because he personally felt responsible because he had become so successful that he said, "Let me buy you a house." If Walt Disney felt personally responsible for his mother’s death it could have easily effected his work and as he couldn’t have a full functional family, neither could his characters. (Item 7)

Clip: [Bambi's dream] (Item 2)

This still doesn’t answer the question whether the dysfunctional ideology set in Disney films was a personal creative decision or something to ease a story. If we look at the dates, Flora Call Disney (Walt Disney’s mother) died November 26th 1938, meaning she dies before Bambi and Peter Pan were released but after Snow White was made, as that is how he made the money to buy his parents the house. (Item 6) So Snow Whites family dysfunction is only for narrative purposes, to progress the story so that the events like meeting the dwarfs actually happens and the story can continue.

By looking at the dates of the three films I have looked at two out of three point to Disney’s use of family dysfunction being personal and Disney is an auteur bringing something personal to all his films, however is it all his films? Lady and the Tramp is a story of two dogs who find love after coming from two different worlds, although you could argue that Tramp not having owners would count as a dysfunctional family because technically that makes him an orphan but at the same time does the definition of dysfunctional family count with animals, in that case, does Bambi count as a dysfunctional because it is animals? It is difficult to tell if there are exceptions to the definition or not which makes this hard to argue. (Item 9)

Clip:[Wendy wants to go home] (Item 1)

Walt Disney has a repetition for being a family man, who holds family in high regards, this is seen in this clip of Walt Disney with his children.

(Show home video from documentary Item 13)

This clip shows how close Disney was with his own family, hinting to the fact that he was close with his mother and was truly devastated at her death so much he channelled this into his work. Another example of how he regarded family is a quote that reads “a man should never neglect his family for business” This shows that he would always put his family before work. (Item 16)

Image: (Item 17)

Friday, 16 October 2015

quote

Wednesday, 7 October 2015

City of God

What is the importance of mise-en-scene and / or sound in creating meaning and generating response in the film you have studied?

In the film City of God, mise-en-scene is important because it can not only give clues on the narrative it also gives some contextual information. In the scene near the beginning, where lil' Dice and the tender trio are sitting on some bricks. The bricks represent the foundations the future of City which it will be built on. Now because the Tender trio and lil' Dice are smoking Pot and are holding guns, which mies-en-scene is setting an ideology of the foundations that the City of God is supported by drugs and violence, so we get the impression that later on we can expect the City to become very violent and aggressive and drugs would play a big part in the Cities financial situation. Also sitting higher up on the bricks is lil' Dice, this shows a mile-en-scene of a hierarchy of power with Lil' Dice at the top showing that he is going to be the powerful one, he will eventually rise to power and be above Shaggy, Clipper and Goose. Lil' dice in this scene is shown as the one who is dominant not just because he is placed in a higher position, he is also the one with the gun, a weapon which gives a person power, the gun gives Lil' Dice some stature but is taken away by Goose when, Goose hits him and takes away the gun at the beginning of the scene. This reminds Lil' Dice that he isn't as powerful because he is a kid and he doesn't like that, you can tell by his facial expression and the way that he tells them that he is a "gangster too". In this scene there is a shot where the characters are being shown through some metal bars, this represents a cage, that all of them are trapped in a cage and this is mise-en-scene of everyone who lives in the City of God is trapped and un able to escape because as a recurring motif throughout the film is that anyone who lives in the Favelas can't leave, they can try but it never works. The bricks are also miss-en-scene of being trapped in the same situation, because the bricks represent what the city is going to become, the people who live in the Favelas would get sucked into the drugs and violence and become further trapped and because nothing ever changes it becomes a repeated cycle, as the tender trio commit crimes, then Lil' Dice will follow in their lead and then someone else would follow Lil' Dice and it will keep on repeating in this cycle, because nothing ever changes and the foundations stay the same.

Mies-En-Scene importance is also shown in the story of the apartment. To show the history of the apartment they put in a cross devolve showing that the film is going through time, into a montage of the apartment owners. Thought he cross dissolve you can see how the apartment has degraded over time, this is mine-en-scene of how drugs can degrade and ruin people and places. It starts by going back and showing that a woman called Dona Zelia in the 60's when women had more power. The next owner of the apartment, who took it from Donawas a male and so where the ones who followed, this is mise-en-scene of how in the 60's women were more powerful but as time went on the power change over to the men. In the Favelas of Brazil, drugs are very common and thousands of people are involved with the business of them, this is also a reason why life expectancy is so low, it is between 14 and 26 is the lifespan of someone living the the Favelas because of the danger, like later on in this scene when Carrot shoots Aristotle, Carrot didn't have much of a choice he was put in a kill or be killed position d that is what it is like in everyday life in the City of God. This scene also shows that in the slums of Brazil that most people are in the drug trade like in the film as the average pay is around $13 but in the drug trade you can make about $300 a week and the drug trade is easier to get into because like most people in the Favelas you don't have to be educated.

Thursday, 24 September 2015

La Haine

What is the importance of mise-en-scene and / or sound in creating meaning and generating response in the film you have studied?

In the scene where the three characters are on top off a rooftop in Paris, Hubert and Vintz are sitting next to each other talking, this is mise-en-scene because those two characters have been in conflict throughout the film and this positioning shows that they are no longer in conflict, that they are friends one more. Said in this scene is doing nothing, he is messing around and enjoying himself, because mise-en-scene he is the one who brings the two friends together and tries to stop the conflict, so when these two characters are not in conflict Said doesn’t have to do anything. Hubert, Vintz and Said represent each of the qualities the French flag stand for, which are Liberty, fraternity and equality and in this scene is the first time the characters say these words. But they are saying it in the context of a mocking way, so it shows that they don’t fully appreciate the meaning, it could go as far to show that they also don’t appreciate each other and the roles they play in the friendship, which would explain the constant conflict. There is no sound added to the scene, just diegetic sounds in the scene like wind and footsteps, this ads a sense of realism to the scene. The characters are also seen smoking a joint, which shows that because where they come from is rough and filled with violence and drugs even though it is still a close knit community, and they are smoking as a way of escapism, they talk about how they want to get and that they don’t particularly enjoy there surroundings but they are stuck there because of poverty, so they use drugs as a form of escapism. Also in this scene it is the first time you see the Eiffel tower, which is unusual as in most movies based in France or Paris, there are many mentions and seeing of the iconic landmark but this is the first time seeing it because this film is very real, there is no fantasy of what Paris is like, this is based on real life and these characters don’t necessarily dream of a France, they see it how it is.

My next scene is the one before this one where they are at the train station after Vintz has spilt up from them, he then comes back to his two other friends. In this scene there is a shot which is in a shallow depth of field, focusing on Said and Hubert and there rest of the shot is out of focus so when Vintz walks up it is hard to see him but when the focus changes onto him, it shows that it has become clear to him that he needs his friends after seeing this violence in real life. This is the last time in the film where the boys have to reconnect after a confrontation, it is like Vintz has learned his lesson and you can see in his facial expression that he has changed, because his face has turned softer, he has become more sensitive in a way. The way that Vintz walking in showed that he was already on the platform, showing that he was waiting for his friends, he could have possibly got on the train and got home, but instead he waited for his friends so that he could reconnect because he learned that bad things happen when they are not together. In the next shot it shows them walking though the train station and one of the signs on the wall say “change” this is actually telling you that they have changed, over the couple of hours they have spent in Paris they have learned their lesson. As they are walking through the station there is echoes, which show how big Paris is, that is roomier than what they are used to. You can see how big the station is and there are the three characters in the middle, this could be mise-en-scene of how the characters no matter where they are or how big of a split they have they can always find each other. And once again there is no music, just the sounds of trains and echoes, reinforcing that this film is filmed almost like a documentary, with it being showed to be as realistic as possible because of it being based and filmed around the time of the riots in France.

Monday, 15 June 2015

Many Disney films present an ideology of dysfunctional families, could this continuous use of the theme be regarded as an auteur.

Many Disney films present an ideology of dysfunctional families, could this continuous use of the theme be regarded as an auteur.

Item 1: Peter Pan (1953)
I am using Peter pan as my focus film. Peter Pan is a well known story that focuses on children going to Neverland where there are no parents, most characters in the film do not have parents like peter pan, the lost boys, the pirates and Wendy, John and Michael although they do have parents they do not get along with them and were quick to run away from them. This film was made after Walt Disney’s mother death and that could have influenced only one set of parents featuring and all the other children being considered as orphans. This film consists of the Darling family's dysfunction which leads to their children running away and Peter Pans lack of parents, forcing him to create his own family with the Lost boys, where no one takes on the role of the parents leading to a dysfunctional family.

Item 2: Bambi (1942)
Bambi is a deer that lives in the woods and his mother gets shot by a hunter and his dad is distant and not that caring towards him. Bambi has to grow up with her friends like Flower and Thumper whose parents are not featured in the film. This was made after the death of Walt Disney's mother, to re-enforce the idea of Walt Disney past influencing film and shows how Bambi copes with the loss of his mother. This demonstrates dysfunctional family in the way of a missing mother figure and an absent father figure, so Bambi creates a family with his friends.

Item 3: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Snow Whites Mother and farther are dead and she is looked after her step mother the evil queen who wants to kill her. Snow white has grown up without proper parents to look after her, however this film was made before Walt Disney’s Mother died so the lack of parents would be to quicken character development and to make the story better. The dysfunction in this film is a absent father figure and a step mother who doesn't care for her step daughter creating family dysfunction.

Item 4: Web article
http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/life/521551/Walt-Disney-mum-death-film-characters-motherless
This is a web article about the theory of why Disney studios have a continuous theme of dysfunctional families in their films. It shows how there is a sympathetic reasoning behind the dysfunctional family. This website also contains films to back up the argument that the loss of Disney's mother effected him so much, that the characters in his films couldn't have a full functional family.

Item 5: Web biography of Walt Disney
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000370/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
This web biography of Walt Disney talks mainly about his films that he has made which include many of dysfunctional families like Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan, just to name a few. It also gives dates his films to give an idea of a Disney studio timeline. I will use this to compare the dates of when Walt Disney's mother died to when the films were made to see if Walt Disney's films were effected by his mothers death. This will be useful because it is a well known and credible site, with all of Disney's films in order with the dates next to them, clearly showing the information needed.

Item 6: Web biography
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8807
This is web biography on Flora Disney, Walt Disney's mother explaining her life and the date of her death and this allows me to compare the date of Walt Disney's mothers death to films with a strong theme of dysfunctional families. This is useful information of how his Walt Disney's mother died, as well as dates for me to use to help back up my point of how Walt Disney blames himself for his mothers death, which will be useful in my argument.

Item 7: Web magazine article
http://www.glamour.com/entertainment/blogs/obsessed/2014/09/disney-secrets-beauty-and-the-beast
This is a article from glamour magazine explaining Disney's use of dysfunctional families and mentions a different idea put forward by Don Hahn who is a Disney executive producer about the dysfunctional families in Disney films and why it recurs often which would act as a more reliable source as it comes from someone who works at Disney and has continued the theme of dysfunctional families. I intend to use Don Hahn's theory and compare it to the idea that the theme is used as a remembrance to Disney's mother.

Item 8: Website
http://www.ew.com/article/1992/12/18/dysfunctional-disney
This website lists the films and characters with a dysfunctional family background and how they are dysfunctional. The website lists well known Disney characters, their family situation and resulting neurosis, I can use these as examples to back up my points and from watching the Disney films, these characters have appeared in I can tell that there is truth in the information which allows me to use the source more because i feel it's more reliable.

Item 11: Book of Disney stories
This is a book full of written stories of Disney's films. So I can use more than the three films I have already picked as evidence to back up my dysfunctional families. This book I find is very reliable as it not only tells the story but has pictures to illiterate the words on the page and the book is part of Disney merchandise and they wouldn't put their name on a books which hold incorrect versions of their films.

Item 12: website on disneyfication
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Disneyfication
This website explains what disneyfication is and how it works. Using this i can relate Disney's theme of dysfunctional families to its use of fairy tale endings. This will help explain the darker side of Disney. It also gives some good examples of use of disneyfication in my presentation.

Item 13: Walt Disney and Europe book by Robin Allan
This book gives details on snow white and the seven dwarfs, who is one of my focus films, it also says about how some of the films were adapted from the grim tales and that links with the disneyfication source. This book shows the original story and how it was transformed to Disney, it also contains some good quotes that help me explain the dysfunction entwined in theses films and stories.

Item 14: The Routledge Companion to Philosophy Film.pdfThis book explains the Auteur theory clearly which i can apply to Walt Disney and by knowing the definition of an auteur I can argue whether or not Walt Disney's work makes him an auteur. It also has useful quotes that i can use in my presentation script to help back up my arguments on Walt Disney being an auteur.

Item 15: Documentary- The man behind the myth
This is a documentary of Walt Disney's life. This goes through in detail him childhood and family life. This is a good source to use because it is not only facts about Walt Disney but views from people who knew him or worked close to him. It also gives details that were left out of online biography's like how big his family was and it talks about the death of the mother and the effect on the family, which transformed Walt Disney's family into a dysfunctional one, which I can imply had an impact onto his films.

‪Item 16: Pan's Labyrinth: Disobedient Fairy Tale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbZNkMn3PvQ#t=250
This video is based on Pans Labyrinth but it entwines the view on Disney films and how the Disney films have a very fairy tale ideology, where the prince always saves the princess. I can use this to explain and compare Disney films to other fairy tale films (pans Labyrinth) without the fairy tale ideology.

Item 17: Definition of different family types
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/dysfunctional+family
This is a website that names and defines different family types including dysfunctional families. this will help me get across what dysfunctional family is to help explain how Disney uses it in his films. It also gives me other family types and definitions which i can refer to like he used this family in this film instead of the dysfunctional family and talk about what it means.

Item 18: Disney quotes
http://quotesgram.com/disney-movie-quotes-about-family/
There is one quote in particular where Walt Disney shows his view on family, this shows the value he holds family under and i can compare this value to how he shows family in his movies.

Item 19: A website
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1992-12-25/features/9204270263_1_caretaker-character-neurosis
This website lists the characters of Disney, like Aladdin and Bell etc. and who there caretaker is and what the effect of that Caretaker had on the character, like there resulting neurosis, which i can use to show the effect of the family dysfunction that Disney incorporates into his films. This is also useful in emphasising the family dysfunction as a recurring theme

Rejected items

101 Dalmatians (1961)
When the minions of Cruella De Vil abduct a litter of Dalmatian puppies, the parents must find them before she uses them for a diabolical fashion statement. I didn't use this film because it does not have a dysfunctional family in the sense of a broken family, the fil is more about dogs being gognapped than being a family.

Documentary- Walt Disney’s racism reveled
I didn't use this source because it has nothing to do with the dysfunctional families entwined in the Disney films but it focuses on Disney himself and his behavior at work, which is not relevant to my question in any way.

Imdb movie list
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls050794833/
This is a list of other film which have the theme of dysfunctional families similar to Disney films but my focus is on Disney and not about other films with the same theme.

Walt Disney interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7c5EZwZLFA
This is an interview with Walt Disney and he discusses making movies with people and TV being a competition for the cinema. This has nothing to do with my question or any of the points i'm going to make, making this a useless source.

Article on Disneys ideologies
https://anniegrant19.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/disney-film/
This article talks about the ideology of the perception that males are stronger then females as well as exploring the ideology of racism, but doesn't mention dysfunctional family which is the ideology and theme my question is focused upon.

Article on Disney lessons
https://bkhemphill.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/4-terrible-lessons-from-disney-princess-movies/
This is an article about the terrible lessons Disney princesses give young children, although interesting i do not think that it relates to what my question is about because it doesn't mention dysfunctional families or any ideology.

Thursday, 11 June 2015

possible questions

How come disney families are often missing main family members such as parents?

Disney families are often missing either one or both parents, why?

Why are most of Disneys characters without one or both parents?

Disney films before pixar that contains missing key family:

Cinderella (abusive stepmother and step sisters, a missing/ dead mother and farther)

Sleeping beauty (parents abandon child with three fairy's that know nothing about caring for a child)

Jungle book (a boy forgotten by his parents and raised by wolfs)

Beauty and the beast (mother is never mentioned, has to put up with ridicule from those who think her farther is mad, farther is kind of irresponsible making dangerous inventions)

Tarzan (mother and farther killed by animal when he was a baby, raised by gorillas, and daddy gorilla does not accept him as his own)

peter pan (lost boys ran away from home and have no parents)

Aladdin (aladdin had no parents and grew up alone on the streets, jasmine was raised without a mother)

Pocahontas (missing mother)

Walt Disney's mother dying could have influenced the plot line of many of the Dsiney movies.

However before she died he made:

Bambi (mother dies early on in the film)

Snow White (mother and farther dies, step mother tries to kill her)

Pinocchio (no mother)

Dumbo (separated from mother)

could it to be quicken character development?

Beauty and beast- belle had to take over roll of mother and grow up quicker with a mad inventor farther and no one else to help.

Cinderella- the cruelty she received made her nicer to others and got her a fairy god mother

Pocahontas- grew up to become more like her farther with her behavior and independence

Cinderella, belle and snow white- uninvolved parents, absent biological mother, surrounded by constant negativity.

New disney films:
the incredibles, brave- started with or had parents all the way through, character development still happened similar to older disney films, with both parents in tact. However could that have something to do with Pixar's involvement with disney?

Wednesday, 10 June 2015

Disney and representation of family

Disney films before pixar that contains missing key family: