The essay will address the statement through intermediality of literature and film, in particular, avant-garde film and poetry. Even though, Robert Stam analyses film adaptation in his influential books on literature and film, his statement can be engaged in from a slightly different perspective. The statement deals with the notion of medium and intermediality in a broader sense. It is exactly what the juxtaposition gives to the medium. It broadens and opens expressive possibilities or provides a new lens for analysis of the medium. Poetry is going to be used for exploring the medium of film because films are constantly prescribed with the “poetic” quality. It is an ambiguous term which implies the relationship between poetry and film. In this essay I will explore the cinematic medium in terms of poetic form and try to argue the features of …show more content…
Pasolini develops a difficult argument of semiotics as discourse for cinema. Although widely controversial because of the use of semiotics, Pasolini’s critical theory is relevant to the study of film lyricism. He stated that: “language of cinema is fundamentally a “language of poetry” (Pasolini 3). The Italian film director proposes a terminology of “free indirect subjectivity”, “im-image” and “free indirect discourse” (Pasolini 1) to link the verbal and visual mediums. These units compose the cinematic language which made out of signs, distinctively visual signs and verbal signs. “The linguistic instrument on which cinema is founded is thus of an irrational type. This explains the profoundly oniric nature of cinema“ (Pasolini 2). Here the dichotomy of objective and subjective manifests. The “im-image” posses both dream like qualities which are subjective yet the unit also has objective archetypes: “as also its absolutely and inevitably concrete nature, let us sayits objective status (Pasolini 2). Linking these two natures is where cinema of poetry
To draw the conclusion, it can be effectively said that it is very difficult to incorporate the ideas contained in books into films, especially when one has to prove some theory. Pasolini has done it successfully by incorporating his film theory contained in the book Heretical Empricism into the film Mamma Roma. Pasolini’s creativity is an integral part of the classical art. He gave his life to change the world for the better through his films. He has not only presented his socialistic thoughts in the film, but also included religious motifs of Christianity to show the plight of a woman in this materialistic society. The development of unforgettable emotions and memories are guaranteed in return. Modern society should know and remember the
In having their films examined as auteurs of the cinema, both Howard Hawks and Martin Scorsese have been described as great artists whose body of work demonstrates repeated themes and motifs, that put in context reveals a particular belief and world view that is held by the director. In fact, Hawks was among the first directors working in Hollywood who was considered to be a “major artist” by Cahiers du Cinema critic Jacques Rivette in his 1953 essay The genius of Howard Hawks (Hillier and Wollen, 1). In similar fashion, Ben Nyce in Scorsese up Close, describes Scorsese as a “True artist” on a “personal and artistic quest” (Nyce, 16). The view of a director as a great artist whose films express their own individual vision is one that characterised auteur theory from its inception and through most of the 1960’s. But from the late 1960’s arguments have been raised questioning “the ideology of the artist as sole creator of the art work” (Cook and Bernink, 235). Thus, auteur theory has been modified to include different approaches including structuralism, feminism and social and political concerns. By using different auteur theories to look at the work of these two directors, we shall try to determine whether the director can be referred to as the artist or author of his films and whether the auteur theory is still relevant today.
Canadian filmmaker and cinephile, Guy Maddin once said, “I do feel a bit like Dracula in Winnipeg. I’m safe, but can travel abroad and suck up all sorts of ideas from other filmmakers… Then I can come back here and hoard these tropes and cinematic devices.” Here, Maddin addresses his filmmaking saying that he takes aspects from different film styles and appropriates them into his own work. In The Saddest Music in the World (2003), Maddin uses a combination of French Surrealist filmmaking and classical American Hollywood cinema, specifically melodrama, to create his own style. In an article by William Beard, Steven Shaviro talks about Maddin’s filmmaking, and he links Surrealism and melodrama together saying, “Maddin’s films are driven by a tension between romantic excess [melodrama] on the one hand and absurdist humour [Surrealism] on the other.” In regards to The Saddest Music in the World, the relationship between Surrealism and melodrama is not one of tension, as Shaviro suggests, but one of cooperation. This paper will analyze two films by filmmakers Maddin was familiar with —Un Chien Andalou (1929) by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali on the Surrealist side, and All That Heaven Allows (1955) by Douglas Sirk on the melodrama side—to showcase the important elements of each, concluding with an analysis of The Saddest Music in the World in conjunction with both film styles. Ultimately, it will be shown how Guy Maddin combines French Surrealist cinema and Hollywood melodrama in The Saddest Music in the World, to create his own unique film style.
The purpose with this paper is to study and compare two different directors, and to compare and contrast the two different works. How are they working with their movies and how do they use mise-en-scene? By studying two different directors that uses different techniques when making movies, we are going to find out how important mise en scene really is, and how it affects the movie.
A dynamic interplay of art and life can be evinced in the relationship between films and society. Films provide escape from daily life, opportunity to solve mysteries, chances to identify with powerful competent heroes and discussions of morality that are comfortingly unambiguous. By opening a window on exotica, films enable us to become voyeurs, secret observers of the personal and even intimate lives of characters even when we know that the stories are largely fantasies. The present thesis proposes to focus its attention on film studies, subsumed within Cultural Studies to examine Alfred Hitchcock’s oeuvre. Cultural Studies evident in the study of cultural artifacts (films, music, novels) and examination of practices (sports, national events) is
”[1] From the above quote it’s fair to suggest that when answering this. question importance lies in the discussion of Film Language. The assignment will therefore look at the various Film Languages. The text that will be used is Macbeth[2] (Shakespeare), and Roman.
... movie stars like royalty or mythical gods and goddesses, viewing the drama between great archetypal characters in a personal psychic realm. By considering the statements made and their societal impact from a Marxist perspective, Benjamin’s method is highly effective, as it does not simply consider art in terms of pure aesthetics anymore, but considers art’s place in a society capable of mechanically reproducing and endlessly duplicating film, photography, and digital art. His qualm with losing the aura and mystique of an original work is negated by the cult of movie stars, the adoration of fame, the incorporation of soundtracks which embody a particular time period, cinematographic allusions, and time-capsule-like qualities of a film such as Basquiat, a 90s tribute to the 80s, produced both as a part of and resulting from the art movements and trends it addresses.
In my essay I will discuss the differences between national cinema and Hollywood cinema by using Rio de Janeiro¡¯s famous film City of God. There will be three parts in my following main body, the first part is a simple review of the film City of God, I will try to use the review to show the film structure and some different new points from this, show the how did the ¡®Shocking, frightening, thrilling and funny¡¯ (Nev Pierce) work in the film. The second part is my discussion parts; I will refer some typical Hollywood big name films such as Gangs in New York, Shawshank¡¯s Redemption, and Good Fellas to discuss the main differences between City of God and other national films. The third part is my summary, I will use my knowledge to analyse why there have big different between both kind of films and their advantages.
In relation to contemporary cultural aesthetic, the postmodern adopts two modes: mainstream mode and oppositional mode (Hayward 302). In Amelie, a mainstream approach is taken through the mannerisms and stylization of the film, through pastiche. Amelie resembles a mainstream use of pastiche and bricolage, which can be seen through the assemblage and mixtures of the different styles and genres. The assemblage of different genres is a common characteristic that is found in many postmodern films. We get a blurred line of genres ...
In her thesis Drumova attempts sociology of literature concerning in comparative study between novel and film. As a result of the analysis of the topics a parallel emerges between the subjects that have been preoccupations of the Victorian society (conveyed in the novel) and
The aim of this report is to discuss Italian Neorealism (Neorealismo); looking at how the movement played a significant element in European cinema during and after the times of Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime. The report not only looks at how but why Neorealism became a growing phenomenon for filmmakers during its debatable 10 year period, and what implication of messages these Neorealist directors were trying to send out through their films. Backed up by several reliable book sources, the evidence for this report will also highlight the influences Neo-realism has created in modern filmmaking today.
In the presented essay I will compare the style of work of selected artists in the montage of the film. I will try to point out some general regularities and features of Soviet cinema. At the same time I will try to capture especially what is common in their systems and similar or conversely what differ. For my analysis, I will draw on the feature films of the Soviet avantgarde, namely these are the movies - The Battleship Potemkin (S. Eisenstein, 1925), Mother (V. Pudovkin, 1926) and The Man with a movie camera (D. Vertov, 1929).
Postmodernism is a vague term that can describe a variety of disciplines that include, architecture, art, music, film, fashion, literature…etc. (Klages). In the case of “Videotape”, postmodern literature would be the main focus or area of study. This type of literature emerged in the era that succeeded World War II and relies heavily on the use of techniques such as, fragmentation, the creation of paradoxes, and questionable protagonists. Furthermore, postmodern literature also exudes ambiguity and critical thinking where the focus is mainly on the reader and his/her experience of the work rather than the content and form. Building upon that, the selected passag...
During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that, examining post classical at which time the relationship between them will become evident. It is my intention to reference films from both movements and also published texts relative to the subject matter. In order to illustrate the structures involved I will be writing about the subjects of genre and genre transformation, the representation of gender, postmodernism and the relationship between style, form and content.
In her essay, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, British film maker Laura Mulvey attempts to demystify how pleasure can be fulfilled in film. Contending that a pleasure in looking (scopohilia) and a pleasure in possessing the female as what to be looked at (voyeurism) fufills the audience’s desires, Mulvey suggests how filmmakers use this knowledge to create film that panders to our innate desires. In “Meshes of the Afternoon” by Maya Deren and “Vertigo” by Alfred Hitchcock, it is seen that Mulvey’s argument—the desire to look, the hunting, seeking, and watching, and harnessing of the female form is natural human desire. Deren and Hitchcock will use entirely different techniques to achieve that sense of fulfillment for the audience. But how does this watching and looking translate in to the written word? In “The Winter’s Tale” by William Shakespeare, we will see the ideas approached by Mulvey and the themes used by Hitchcock and Deren utilized to create a sense of looking and objectifying the woman in the absence of the screen. Through this paper, the concepts of pleasure for Mulvey will be shown to have applicability not only in cinema but in art in far more universal terms. First, a discussion of pleasure and Mulvey’s definition of it will allow for clearer understanding as to what this fulfillment actually is. Secondly, Vertigo will be examined—as an example of “mainstream film” utilizing the ideas of scopophila and voyeurism in a perfect balance. Scottie and his search will then be contrasted with Leontes of Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale, where again desires will be balanced in harmony with Mulvey’s principles. It is to become clear through...