Differences And Similarities Between Robert Wise And Snowden

This paper will compare directors Robert Wise and Oliver Stone, their styles, techniques, and overall message. Although both directors made films in different era’s, they both prompted the world to make a social and/or political change on some current issues of their time. Robert Wise’s production of West Side Story prompts audiences to leave racial prejudices behind, and Oliver Stone’s drama thriller Snowden prompts his audience to question their government, and decide if security is more important than freedom. Both directors use the technologies of their time to produce a compelling film that audiences would not only find entertaining but would prompt thought and self-reflection.

The American people are often encouraged to make a change

in their society.

The first amendment in the American constitution includes the freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom to peacefully protest. ‘We The People’ have rights, anyone who is or has become a citizen of America, are encouraged to seek social change, take the first step to ending corruption. Although they have the rights that enable them to do so, they are often met with hostility when it is against one’s set of values, while others may welcome the change. This applies to film director and producers Robert Wise and Oliver Stone. Both directors have been critically acclaimed for their works. Wise's films often included lessons on racial tolerance, and Stone often criticized his country and its policies.

Robert Wise is a film director, born in 1914, he began his lifelong career in filmmaking in 1933 when he moved to Hollywood. He started out working odd jobs until he got a job as an editor

at RKO Pictures. From there, Wise worked with many other editors and directors until he directed his first feature film in 1944. Demonstrating an unusual flexibility that surpassed any lack of a consistent style or theme, Wise was an efficient master craftsman who was first and foremost committed to conveying a sense of reality in his films. In the late 1950’s, Wise made a decision that would affect his life and the lives of those around him. Stepping out of his comfort zone, he co-directed the musical film, West Side Story, based on the Broadway production. It premiered in 1961 and was awarded 10 Oscars at the Academy Awards, including for Best Director and Best Picture. Wise had little to no experience directing a musical, however, he took the leap, co-directing with Jerome Robbins, a theater choreographer, producer, and director. West Side Story explores two rival gangs, of different ethnicities, fighting over territory in Manhattan, New York, the “American” Jets and Puerto Rican Sharks, they do not fraternize and when they do it seems to end up in some sort of altercation. At the community dance, the sister of the Sharks leader and best friend of the Jets leader fall in love, sending the gangs into utter shock and outrage. In many ways West Side Story reflected the drama of its time, flying in the face of racial taboo by bringing together a Puerto Rican girl and a Polish-American boy, while also bringing together ballet and popular dance, opera, and musical theater.
While there was obvious racism among the characters, the film manages to humanize and sympathize with the other, in this case, the Puerto Rican gang of the Sharks. "That kind of bigotry and prejudice was very much in the air," writer and co-creator Arthur Laurents says. "It's really, 'How can love survive in a violent world of prejudice?' That's what it's about."
In this almost Romeo and Juliet adaptation, two people with different skin tones fall in love with each other, despite racial prejudice carried by the rest of the public. Wise experienced many difficulties not only with the public views of the possibly controversial issue but also in production. During the late 1950’s and early 60’s, to make a film was much more time consumers and required acute attention to detail. Wise often used wider shots, to show a broader picture and used the camera’s and actors motion to get a specific point across. In the Prologue of the movie, there are wider angles show accurately set up the scene between the Sharks and Jets, and when they begin to fight, he moves the camera back and forth causing almost a blurry shot, this technique reinforces the notion that the streets are chaotic. Every shot is cut together, unlike today when it is possible to add visual effects, but to make a film, they put shots together using a method called splicing. There are various different ways to splice film together, using cement or tape. This is a very difficult process as you must go through each frame and determine where to cut the film and join it to another piece of film. Around that time, scientists were experimenting with ways to incorporate colors into films as a narrative, and they succeeded, as brilliantly seen in the Wizard of Oz (1939), when Dorothy leaves her sepia-toned reality for the imaginative land of Oz. “the bright and brassy aesthetic people now associate with the early days of Technicolor was itself a reflection of film processes that created a richer, color-flooded version of the real world.” The Atlantic on Technicolor. These colors were often very bright and vivid, exemplifying the real world, bringing the films even more to life. West Side Story was a bright burst of color in its time, not only because of its use for technicolor but for its underlying commentary on racism.
The unhappy ending of West Side Story, unlike other movies of the time that were family films and had a happy ending, was this technique to compel people to change. “Technically, it is superb; use of color is dazzling, camera work often is thrilling, editing fast with a dramatic punch, production design catches mood as well as the action itself.” Variety 1961 Review. West Side Story explored the morality of racism in a time when segregation and treatment the of others was being drastically changed. People were standing up for human rights, regardless of the color of their skin, and did everything in their power to change their social situation, regardless of those around them. Wise is influencing the country to be more accepting of others. West Side Story is considered a musical and cinema masterpiece.
Oliver Stone is a film director and producer, and self-proclaimed dramatist. Oliver Stone loves his country but is also one of its loudest critics. Stone was born in 1946, in the midst of Robert Wise’s rising movie success. He was admitted to Yale University but left after the first year to teach English in Saigon when the first American troops were sent to Vietnam. Stone eventually went on to become a US merchant mariner in 1966, then enlisted in the US Army in 1967 where he served in the 25th Infantry Division near the Cambodian border, where he was wounded twice, and then in the 1st Calvary Division in the northernmost part of Vietnam. He was honored with a Bronze Star for heroism and Purple Heart for his service. After he returned to the states he attended New York University and graduated in 1971 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in filmmaking. He went on to do small jobs in the film industry until he got his break through his 1978 film, Midnight Express. Oliver Stone has spent most of his film career detailing world events and profiling the lives of public officials and is responsible for many political and war thrillers like Nixon (1995), Wall Street (1987) JFK (1991), Natural Born Killers (1994). He loves his country but is not afraid to criticize it for its decisions and mistakes. Stone circles back to the grand questions of power, war, and secrecy that have propelled his most ambitious work.
Aside from the seriousness of the subject matter, and a good deal of narrative bravado, Stone has a very distinctive style—lots of camera motion and pace. He has been often criticized for manipulating and is willing to use editing, juxtaposition, and pace to make whatever point he wishes. Although very fascinated by the forceful nature of the medium, Stone is not beyond criticizing those forceful tools he himself uses. He uses simulates footage of real life events, re-photographs them and then proceeds to declare he is using those same tools to reveal “the truth.” In this sense, he is the ideal self-reflexive filmmaker. To be fair to Stone, he is also a part of a tradition of directors who see editing as the real art of directing. “I suppose film is distinctive because of its nature, of its being able to cut through time with editing.” Stone via Personal Website. Stone uses self-reflexivity to create a multilayered film experience. Stone creates an explosive, creative commentary on family, violence and the media in America.
In Oliver Stone’s latest film, Snowden (2016), it circles the real life events of Edward Snowden, who in 2013, leaked top-secret documents to the public. His disclosures have fueled debates over mass surveillance, government secrecy, and the balance between national security and information privacy. According to the leaked documents, the NSA intercepts the communications of over a billion people worldwide, many of whom are American citizens, and tracks the movement of hundreds of millions of people. Most such interceptions did not meet the legal requirements underpinning the agency's work. Snowden believed that it was not right to track so many people and store a virtual mountain of data that has been assembled to track all forms of digital communication -- not just from foreign governments and terrorist groups, but from ordinary Americans. When Snowden decides to leak this classified information, he becomes a traitor to some, a hero to others and a fugitive from the law. “Our government has developed and deployed the most massive global surveillance system ever seen in the history of mankind and did so without democratic consent. It’s one person, Mr. Snowden has had the courage to reveal it, out of sincerity, out of loyalty to government, and certainly his strong conviction, that it was illegal and unconstitutional.” -Stone on Colbert. With the growth in technology, there are new threats within them. Today’s world is more interconnected than ever before. Yet, for all its advantages, increased connectivity brings increased risk cyber crime. As Americans become more reliant on modern technology, they also become more vulnerable to cyber attacks. In order to combat it, the government implements various systems to monitor activity and content with the intention of keeping us safe, but at the cost of freedom and privacy. When Snowden exposed the government’s activities, he intended for the public to be able to make an informed choice regarding the coming course of action to combat an upcoming cyber-world.
“Everyday in our culture, we get the surface of things, it’s sanitized. We live in a ‘Disney World,’ And I as a dramatist, not as a journalist but as a dramatist, am fascinated by getting beneath the surface and digging. So all these stories reveal far more, people in power, men in power, have regularly lied to the American public for many years over many things, including the origin of wars-” Stone on Colbert. Things seem nice and neat on the surface but when you dig deeper people may not like what you see. This theme can be looped back into Wise’s West Side Story. Some people of that time did not want to see two people of different races together. As of late, it would be nice to be safe, and harder to retain their freedom.
Stone and Snowden compel the public to ask why they place so much trust in the government, as is their safety in fat worth the price of their freedom and privacy. Wise asks if it is worth the pain and suffering to hold onto our racial views. Each of these directors films reflect upon current society of their time, whether it be the American Civil Rights movement or the monitoring of our personal information for the benefit of national security, they each prompt change through their films.
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." Thomas Jefferson.