Archetypes - Labyrinth

Fig 01

If you grew up in the 80’s, you will probably remember sitting down as kid to watch the fantasy world of Labyrinth  directed in 1986  by Jim Henson and produced by George Lucas. In a child’s eye, the film is a typical fairy tale adventure, with funny looking fury characters that sing and a pond that has farting stones when you walk across them. However, from a adults perspective, the film has darker undertones that depicts the ego of heroine ‘Sarah’ Jennifer Connelly as she begins her journey from childhood into adulthood. 

Sarah ‘The Hero’, is a daydreaming teenager, that is locked into a imaginary world with the help of aids that clutter her room, from Labyrinth board games, Fairy Tale books, stuffed toys and M. C. Escher’s Staircase art, that all become significant characters and environments as she travels through the film. Having to babysit her younger brother ‘The Child and Herald” ’Toby’ as her parents are going out, she throws a typical teenage hissyfit as she is unable to carry on her child like games, and forced to take more adult responsiblities with the choir of Toby. Wishing her brother to be taken away to the Goblin Palace by the imaginary characters in her make belief world, Sarah has set the path for her own discovery of adulthood and the journey into her psyche begins. “In Jung, the Labyrinth is also an image of the individual’s unconscious psyche. We will see Sarah fall several times in the film, deeper and deeper into the labyrinth. In “The Process of Individuation” by M.L. von Franz in Carl Jung’s Man and His Symbols, explains of the meaning of the labyrinth as subconscious” Dyer. J, 2010,

Sarah is given the option, by ’The Shadow’, ‘The Goblin King’ (Fig 03) to stay at home and stay young, or to enter the labyrinth and save Toby. Deciding to enter the Labyrinth we enter into Sarah’s psyche as she takes the first steps of discovery. Seeing as this is intended for child viewing, there are some very graphic innuendos and symbols (Fig 02, 03) that also shows the sexual journey, that does not really make sense to adolescents of the transformation between child and adult. The film is littered with phallus objects and scenes of a hidden sexual nature. “Sarah is trapped inside an “orb” and the ballroom scene. Phallic references are rife amongst the adults who wear demon masks. At one level, this is Sarah passing into the realm of adulthood, whose pleasures don’t make sense to her. The Goblin King, as the devil character, decides to take the virgin bride for himself (as Sarah is dressed in white). While drugged, she is initiated into The Goblin Kings cult in a “dance” that clearly hints at orgy”. Dyer. J, 2010. (Fig 05, 06, 07) 

                                            Fig 02                                            Fig 03                                       Fig 04

Fig 05                                            Fig 06                                       Fig 07

Before Sarah enters the Labyrinth, she stumbles across “Hoggle”, “The Shape-shifter” who is urinated into a pond. Again there is sexual connotations for the adult viewers that the child wont get. After his relief, Hoggle sets about poisoning fairies with what seems like nerve gas, offending Sarah as she thinks fairies are innocent creatures, only to be bitten by one she tries to help, showing to the viewer that not all is what it seems when you are child.  After mind games Hoggle reveals the entrance to the Labyrinth ‘The Threshold Guardian’ and Sarah begins her journey. Being misled by Hoggle, but as the story unfolds there begins a attraction between the two characters and Hoggle comes to save the day and destroy another ‘Threshold Guardian’.

Once inside the Labyrinth, Sarah is faced by confusion and riddles, from the hidden passages in the walls to characters that turn her markings around on the paving slabs (Fig 08, 09), causing her distress of not knowing what is going on, only for the film to fall deeper into her psyche “She thinks she has it figured out, and assumes she has solved the Scotty-dog’s riddles, but as a result ends up “falling” even deeper into her subconscious” (Fig, 010). Here there seems to be a good boundary between good and evil. Sarah finds her “Allies”, ‘The Trickster’ Ludo, who is being attacked by the Goblin kings hench trolls and ’Sir Didymus’ who guards the bridge at ‘the bog of eternal stench’ it seems that these characters symbolise the good qualities needed in adult life, Ludo, the caring giant and Sir Didymus, my word is my bond (Fig, 11).

                       Fig 08                                                  Fig 09                                                 Fig 010

                                                                                    Fig 11

Once Sarah reaches the Goblin Palace, she is confronted by M.C Escher’s painted stairs, Toby and The Goblin King defy gravity walking along walls and upside down stairs, This seems to be the beginning of the realisation that she is now a adult, and taking a leap of faith, into her ego, crumbling the Goblin Palace and is confronted by the Goblin King who wants to keep her in her child like state. But as Sarah has taken the step to becoming a adult, destroys 'The Shadows' ego, returning her back to reality.

Bibliography:

Dyer, J. (2016) Film Review: ‘Labyrinth’ At: https://jaysanalysis.com/2010/04/16/bowies-labyrinth-esoteric-analysis

Illustration List:

Figure 1. Labyrinth [Poster] At: https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/YS1Xerl30G9IYGPVMm9LMw-/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9ODAwO2lsPXBsYW5l/http://media.zenfs.com/en_US/News/USAFPRelax/labyrinth.31bea102924.original.jpg Accessed on: 12/09/2016

Figure 2. Maze At: http://www.astrolog.org/labyrnth/snap/maze1.jpg Accessed on: 12/09/2016

Figure 3. Bowie At: http://www.angrymenreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/david-bowie-goblin-king.jpg Accessed on: 12/09/2016

Figure 4. Sarah At: https://jaysanalysis.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/sarah-labyrinth.jpg Accessed on: 12/09/2016

At: http://images2.fanpop.com/image/polls/320000/320650_1257004561807_full.jpg Accessed on: 12/09/2016

Figure 5-11. Labyrinth Accessed on: 12/09/2016

Duel - Script to Screen

Man versus machine with a hint of supernatural prowess, Steven Speilbergs, 1971 ‘Duel’  is a simple premise of a paranoid American man who is teased and tortured on the open road by a menacing eighteen wheeled articulated truck that seems to breath polluted fumes and a roar  with the intent to consume its prey for no apparent reason. With no real monologue and only seeing the truck drivers Cowboy boots and elbow “Duel” could of been a silent film with the real stars being the truck and Plymouth Valiant. ‘’building excitement from the most minimal ingredients and the simplest of situations”. (Maslin, 1983)

From start to finish ‘Duel’ is a highway roller-coaster of tense cat and mouse action, dominated by the aggressive truck that always seems to fill the screen (Fig. 01), with low camera angles (Fig. 02) and wide focal lengths, the truck dominates “an invader of the frame” (Muir, 2010), there is always a intense presence that this is not just a truck but a primevil hunter, a living possessed creature - how else can a oil smoking truck posses  so much pace. “Is the truck driven by the Devil?  Is it purely and simply Evil on 18-wheels”? Mann. (Fig. 03)

Speilburgs camera work diminishes the presence of David’s Winy weak powered Plymouth Valiant  that in itself has been stripped of all its masculine attributes. 

(Fig.01)                                              (Fig.02)                                          (Fig.03)

The characters seem to be second thought in this film, little is made clear about David’s background and what he is doing, but we do know that this guy has serious Man issues. He seems to be battling with his masculinity from the very beginning As David pulls into a gas station after his first encounter with the truck, the attendant refers to his request with “your the boss” and Mann’s simple response back “not in my house i’m not”.  Also when Mann enters the gas station to use the telephone he takes a very Masculine stance in shot (Fig. 04), but this seems to be stripped away by the use of compositional choice and the Laundry room aesthetic that he is in. “Mann’s exaggeratedly masculine pose is  suddenly and totally eclipsed by a symbol of domesticity (and again, stereotypical “women’s work)”. (Muir, 2010). Enhancing this man in a womans world, a females hand opens the washing machine framing David in the bubble of the door totally framing him in domesticity (Fig. 05).  The film consists of powerful subtext about the state of masculinity in 1970s America, at the rise of the nascent women’s liberation movement.

                                    (Fig.04)                                                                 (Fig.05) 

David’s masculinity is also challenged in a Roadside Diner that is filled with the typical “All American man” - Cowboy boots in force, moody stares and sweaty men that could clear the best of backstreet bars. David’s Anxiety overwhelms his senses, forcing him to question his purpose and confront his problems. This is true for David’s problem with the truck also, as he tries to hide in his Plymouth and wait it out , as soon as his wheels hits the tarmac, the Truck is there laying in wait ready to ambush at the first chance it can. forcing David to finally “Man-up” to the truck and in a western style suit-up scene, face his fears and the ultimate enemy head.

But with the small monologue of this film, we never see the driver and or if he survived, cementing the fact that the stars of the film are infarct the vehicles and you are left with the dieing 18 wheeled beast.

Bibliography:

Thomas, W. (2009) Empire Essay: Duel At: http://www.empireonline.com/movies/duel/review/

Muir, J. (2010) Duel (1971) At: http://reflectionsonfilmandtelevision.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/cult-tv-movie-review-duel-1971.html

Maslin, J. (1983) Duel Review At: http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9804EFD81138F936A25757C0A965948260

Illustration List:

Figure 1. http://moria.co.nz/horror/duel-1971.htm

Figure 2. https://mossfilm.wordpress.com/2014/12/18/steven-spielbergs-duel-feature-review/

Figure 3. http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/spielbergs-first-full-length-movie-1971-duel-on-just-released-blu-ray-now-spinning.436382/ 

Figure 4.http://reflectionsonfilmandtelevision.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/cult-tv-movie-review-duel-1971.html

Figure 5. https://http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film4/blu-ray_reviews_63/duel_blu-ray.htm

Script to Screen - The Birds

“The Birds” (1963) by Alfred Hitchcock was directed at the pinnacle of his career, gaining trust and freedom from his movie sponsors with the success of Psycho (1960). Hitchcock had free rain to produce a movie that disposed of  the formal structure that movie goers where used to seeing.  Using his misdirection trope of fooling the audience into thinking they are watching one genre of film, only for it to flip into another adding to the thrill and also leaving a unresolved ending to a movie. Why did the this happen and what was the reason? “Actually I have no idea what draws the birds and turns them bad and it seems that nobody else does either”. Melanie Daniels

The opening scene shows the flirtatious bickering between a pristine female socialite Melanie, oozing with confidence, taunting a smart mouthed lawyer Mitch, equally showing high regard for himself. Filled with sarcastic flaunts and practice jokes (Fig. 01, Fig. 02), Hitchcock starts his trickery into fooling the viewer into what seems a light-hearted and fun comedy.  However, things take a turn for the weird, Firstly with a unprovoked bird attack on Melanie to the unsettling behaviour between Mitch and his possessive widowed Mother, Lydia.  “Mitch calling Lydia “darling” and “dear” is just plain odd. It made me think that a little something more was going on between them than the typical mother/son relationship.”

(Fig. 01)                                                                   (Fig. 02)

As Melanie appears on the scene and recieves Mitches full attention, you can see the fear in Lydia and the possibility of losing her status as being the dominant female in her Sons life. (Fig. 03). This dependancy of the female attention seems to affect the attacks of the birds, Perhaps a symbolic symbol of the pecking and neediness of females in Hitchcocks life. The bird attacks seem to occur when Lydia, sees Mitch and Melanie’s emotions getting closer and thus the bird attacks grow in intensity as their relationship becomes grounded. However as the attacks grow more brutal and murderous, the crumbling of Melanies confidence seems to mirror the Mothering that Lydia presents to her and by the end of the film Lydia, protects and nutures melanie. (Fig. 04).

(Fig. 03)                                                                   (Fig. 04)

Hitchcocks use of the camera throughout the film reflects the moods and emotions that he pushes onto the viewer. The seemingly calm and playfulness at the beginning of the film, is framed with beauty shots and lighting to suit. But as we get into the guts of the film, the angles are cranked and the shadows are unforgiving even for the most photogenic of actresses and actors (Fig. 05, Fig. 06 , Fig. 07), showing their transformation of the powerful to the vulnerable. symbolistic of the birdcage at the begining of the film, with the main characters laughing and joking over the two love birds locked up in their cage - to them eventually being the ones locked up in their house as the birds are attacking unable to escape...

(Fig. 05)                                                    (Fig. 06)                                       (Fig. 07)

Bibliography:

Brooks, X. (2012) My Favourite Hitchcock: The Birds At: http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/jul/31/my-favourite-hitchcock-the-birds Accessed on: 26/1/2016

Bovberg, J. (2013) The Birds (1963) At: http://www.jasonbovberg.com/hitchcock-conversations-the-birds-1963/ Accessed on: 06/8/2013

Illustration List:

Figure 1. The Birds [Film Still] At: https://mystery756.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/rod-taylor-tippi-hedren.jpg

Figure 2.  [Film Still] At: http://www.gudrunstights.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/the-birds.jpeg

Figure 3. Jealous Mother [Film Still] At:https://martinseay.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/lydia-thebirds.jpg

Figure 4. Ending [Film Still] At:https://crazycraig524.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/00246069_medium.jpeg

Figure 5. Attack [Film Still] At:http://www.gazetadopovo.com.br/blogs/cinema-em-casa/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2013/07/The-Birds.jpg?410996

Figure 6. Attack [Film Still] At:https://crazycraig524.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/00246069_medium.jpeg
Figure 7. Attack [Film Still] At:http://the.hitchcock.zone/files/articles/TheMakingOfTheBirds/birds010B.jpg

Space Oddities - Repulsion

“Repulsion” (1965) by Roman Polanski - Ventures into the world of mental disease and the crumbling of a mind, seeping down into the murky claws of Madness. Set in London during the 60’s in the era of the “Sexual liberation” society where beginning to have the freedom of sexual expression and flirtatious behaviour from both male and female was in full Swing on the streets.

Repulsion follows a mysterious and beautiful French lady “Carol” who from the first scene seem somewhat disassociated from her surroundings, drifting off into to dreamlike trances whilst in her working environment and seems to be unaware of her surroundings when travelling too and from her employment. Though this could be from the constant sexual heckling she gets from the male admirers that her beauty attracts. “Her daily walk from home to work becomes a cacophonous and uneasy trek within a public space where she cannot avoid the unwanted attention of others.” (Y. Nguyen, 2014)

Indicating the female alienation that harassment can cause, producing the pathological shyness that could be the cause to her depression and hostility towards the male gender and her eventual psychosis. “for they are often heightened versions of what occurs naturally in our world: desire, perversion, repulsion”. (K. Morgan, 2009)

(Fig. 01)

But Carol, who lives with her older sister, gets time to spend on her own when her sisters travels abroad on holiday. Carol is clearly in discomfort with the thought of her own company, and the spiral of Madness soon pursues. From the offset she is clearly in a state of depression, with the inability to clean from the previous nights meal preparation, leaving half prepared vegetables and the corpse of a Rabbit, with time seeming to rot and decay in harmony with her own mind. As the dementia sets in, memories or hallucinations flood her mind of a violent rape by a older man. Is this from a corrupted childhood that the photo at the end of the film depicts Carol’s hateful glance at her father, enforcing her sexual hatred and repulsion for the opposite sex?

The cracks and deformations that appear throughout the home of  Carol are a reflection of the instability of her mind, hands that burst through the walls groping at her flesh, could be seen as the lecherous male society that constantly cat-talk and ogle Carol or maybe the perverted hands of her father. “They are more plausibly (and more tragically) the echoes of a very real trauma that Carol experienced in her past”. (Y. Nguyen, 2014)

(Fig. 02)

With the murderous acts that Carole commits defending herself against the sexual contact and what was thought as entitlement to the male society, She is surrounded by decaying bodies, rotting food and swarms of flies. Reflected again in the aesthetic of the home, the walls have a oozing, melting and decaying skin like quality to them when she supports herself by the wall. But this is the breaking point for Carole.

“Repulsion is a story of a victim of abuse, faced with the everyday horror of the male gaze and male entitlement”. (nytimes)

Bibliography:

Websites:
•  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kim-morgan/roman-polanski-understand_b_301292.html
•  http://deadshirt.net/2014/10/17/horror-month-repulsion-1965/
•  http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?

Images
•  (Fig. 01) http://deadshirt.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/CatcallPOV.png
•  (Fig. 02)http://deadshirt.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/WallNightmares.png

Space Oddities - Suspiria

A visual “TRIP”, Dario Argento’s “Suspiria” (1977) pays very little attention to the narrative of the film, instead provides set designs and colour relationships more suited to cartoon worlds, where realism can be hanged from the ceiling and a stylised magnum opus can be produced. “Suspiria is self-consciously stylised, artificial and, as the first victim will remark in a kind of meta-commentary, “so absurd, so fantastic.” (Williamson, K. 2000)

“Suspiria” stylisation has been compared like the darker twin to Disney. “As much a reverberation as an inversion of Disney” and “Disney’s hidden reverse” (Schulte-Sasse, 2002). Key scenes seem to have a relationship with Disney’s “Alice in wonderland”, from the disoriented environment, to the effects of being drugged through the food creating the psychedelic colour shifts and not knowing if this is all occurring in reality or just ones mind.

Although Argento has openly said he wanted to achieve the colour satuartion of one of Walt Disneys earlier films “we were trying to reproduce the color of Walt Disney’s Snow White” (Williamson, K. 2000)  but with the nuance of a psycholigical thriller. Argento’s vision of creating a Fairytale building and juxtaposing with all the gore and violence of a Horror flick, Mixed with the repetitive eerie soundtrack and the subtly overlayed screams and wines produced some contemplative if somewhat disturbing viewing.

Bibliography:

Books:
•  “Williamson, K. (2000)  Rise of the Neo-Stalker,” Post Script: Essays in Film and the Humanities

Websites:

•  http://www.kinoeye.org/02/11/schultesasse11.php

Space Oddities - The Shining

Stanley Kubricks “The Shining” (1980) was classed as a disappointing Horror film when first released (NY times 1980), Stephen King detested how the film adaption of his novel was lacking the original story. “ He gave him good source Material for Kubrick just to throw away”. But now in modern day “The Shining” is  considered as a film masterpiece. But not for the reasons people may think, the film does have all the signature shots, angles and beauty of all Kubrick’s previous films, but it has been said that Kubrick was bored of making films previous to The Shining and he was looking for something new. “ Kubrick has a 200 IQ, he is bored of making masterpiece after masterpiece, so began working on a new kind of film”  (Geoffry Cocks)

The film is littered with political metaphors and subliminal images, ranging from a German typewriter that Jack works on and the number 42 that is used throughout the film on jumpers, number-plates and rooms, signifying the time of the Nazi holocaust in world war two and how mechanical and orchestrated the genocide was that took place. On the movie poster the quote of the film said “A wave of terror that swept across America” juxtaposing Calumet Baking Powder cans (Calumet is a native Indian ceremonial pipe) and Native American apparel on the walls of the hotel, and lines in the film referring to ancient Indian burial grounds beneath the hotel all linking to the genocidal armies that terrorised the native Indians across America. This metaphor is strengthen through the film by the multiple scene of the blood gushing from the elevator but the doors remain closed, signifying that the governments responsible for the acts of genocide don’t like to admit to their actions, but the smell of blood will eventually seep through. 

(Fig.01)   (Fig.02)   (Fig. 03)

There are also very strong subliminal hints to the involvement of Kubricks alleged fakery of the Apollo 11 moon landing. “1969 Moon landings were indeed a hoax, and were staged by Kubrick using the special effects  techniques developed for the production of his masterpiece 2001”  (Jay Weidner 2011). Though this is a conspiracy theory, Kubrick changed the haunted room of the Novel 217 to 237, and a scene from the Shining shows a key thob  with the pseudonym Moon Room (Fig .01) and 237 was the actual number of the sound  stage where the alleged fakery was shot.  The pattern on the carpet (Fig. 03) also mimics and the actual pattern of launch pad 39a (Fig. 02) where Apollo 11 launched.

(Fig.04)   (Fig.05) 

The experimentation that Kubrick tested through “The Shining”  was the mirror metaphor used throughout. Danny speaking and writing backwards only for the mirror to show the correct message, in the maze Danny also back tract in his foot prints to escape Jack. But the mirroring of the film goes far deeper.  Jay Weidner 2011,  heard the rumours about watching the film in reverse, and set up a screening of  the film to be played in both forward and reverse whilst overlapping. Whilst watching the Key symbols of the film all interacted throughout, from Jacks psychotic stare in-twined with the murder of the two girls (Fig. 05), to the relationship between Wendy and the two girls (Fig. 04)....  

Stanley Kubricks version of “The Shining” could be said to be a intentional dis to Stephen King, “as the Torrence family use a red VW beetle in the novel, but in the film a yellow beetle is used. Only for a later scene in the film, a Red VW Beetle has been crushed by a lorry in a road traffic accident” (Bill Blakemoore 2013). Altogether this is not “The Shining” from Stephen King, this is the “The Shining” by Stanley Kubrick.

Bibliography:

DVD:
•  (2013) Room 237. London: Metrodome Publishing

Magazine:
•  (2015) Forteantimes. London: Dennis Publishing

Illustration List:

•  Fig. 1,2,3,4. (2013) Room 237. London: Metrodome Publishing

Space Oddities - Black Narcissus

The provocative psychological thriller “Black Narcissus” (1947) by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger is a powerful study of colour composition, Film trickery and erotic symbolism. Following  five protestant nuns  setting up a convent school and hospitals for the inhabitants in the Himalayan village far below. Setting up their refuge in a Old monastery that  was once the Kublai Kahn’s pleasure dome. Erotic images line the walls glistening in gold leaf, adding to the frustrations of this odd group of missionaries who have abandoned their worldly pleasures for the devotion of their religion.  Black Narcissus is infested with sexual symbols,  from blooming flower buds to phallic objects and mannerisms. The introduction of the hero of the film further enhances the repressed sexual feelings that the nuns have, causing violence through passion.

“that the sexuality that is "repressed’ between the hero and heroine gives birth to a monster, which ‘returns’, archetypal, to attack the heroine” (B Walker)

(Fig. 01)

The Chromatic blue colour schemes at the beginning of the film give a sense of  tranquil religious peace, but as the film progresses and the feudanisms start to overwhelm the nuns, the technicolour shifts to vibrant strong colours enhancing the film to deeper places. Technicolor is stunning. The introduction of the more vibrant hues dominate the film. The use of red is feverish and is as effective and foreboding. (Roger Ebert). As the villain “Sister Ruth” succumbs to her feelings she is bathed in deep red hues that light up the scene enhancing the rage that she feels. Her mannerism also shift, as though she is possessed her movement up the stairs as she is stalking the hero, is non humanly and jerky suited to many of today’s horror films. "because she is a nun, her resurgent sexuality is rendered as a sort of demonic possession". (NY Times)

(Fig. 02)

Black Narcissus has all the atmosphere and altitude of a real Himalayan Monastery. But through cinematic trickery , Matte paintings and imported props. But the whole of this film was filmed in a studio set. Meticulous attention to detail from the production designers, a scenic film was created with the true feeling of a himulayan population. "poetic evocation of a country is created in the studio". (Roger Ebert)

(Fig. 03)

Bibliography:

Websites:

•  http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/47_BN/Walker.html

•  http://celluloidwickerman.com/2014/08/18/the-unleashing-of-repressed-eroticism-in-black-narcissus

•  http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=EE05E7DF173CE261BC4C52DFBE66838C659EDE

Illustration List:

•  Fig. 1. http://www.cineoutsider.com/reviews/pix/b/bl/blacknarcissus11.jpg

•  Fig. 2.http://celluloidoptimist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Narcissus.jpg

•  Fig. 3. http://images4.static-bluray.com/reviews/478_1.jpg

Space Oddities - Edward Scissorhands

Would you share your home with a spider that wanders the hallways alone in torment, Tim Burton’s “Edward Scissorhands” (1990) depicts the psychological barrier between societies need of acceptance in todays  culture, even though everyone thinks they are individual with their own choices and thoughts.

Edward Scissorhands is set in a fashionable 1950’s suburbia, in the brink of modernism, everything is clean, uncluttered and rather lifeless. All the residence having the same material objects but with the ability to pick their own unique “individualism” but in reality they are all living the same artificial world,  trying to find the latest gossip to add any kind of excitement to their average lives.
“a goofy sitcom neighborhood where all of the houses are shades of pastels and all of the inhabitants seem to be emotional clones of each other”.

Juxtaposing the “Goofy Suburbia” is a haunting Gothic castle set high above the suburb on a mysterious dishevelled hill. (Fig. 01) creating a strong visual boundary between Edwards world and the society beyond.

(fig.01)

Edward lives in sollitude, creating his own unique asthetic, creating magical sculptures and thoughtful collages of newspaper clippings. Though himself a creation, Edward seems to have a childish naiveness, and plaintive expressions that contrast to his fright hairdo, abundant scars and potentially lethal hands. When he is integrated into the pop culture of the suburbia below, there is a sense of sorrow to his awkwardness with his adapt ion to the new lifestyle and  tries to express himself through sculpture and the arts “the ability for all to connect with Edward for acceptance in the real world the ability for all to connect with Edward for acceptance in the real world, maybe through creativity” (Fig. 02)

(Fig. 02)

Through the film Edward is classed as a misfit and a outcast, alienated to the world through his difference, but as the film unfolds his character shows how he is gentle and sincere and that the everyday civilisations has the power to corrupt the innocence he has within. What started out as curious fascination and false friendships towards the novelty act of Edward, then when the suburbians did not get what they wanted the nasty nature of pop suburbia came out, making up stories and gossip to alienate him once more. “that it is the freak who seems real,and all the human denizens of the comical flatland suburbia below who seem false and grotesque” 

Bibliography:

Books:
•  Page, E. (2007) Gothic Fantasy: The films of TimBurton. London: Marion Boyars Publisher

Websites:
•  http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C0CE2D81338F934A35751C1A966958260
•  http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/edward-scissorhands-1990

Illustration List:
•  Fig. 1. http://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/movie-locations-then-now-edward-scissorhands-suburb-pictures-voodrew-1.jpg

•  Fig. 2. http://www.alltopmovies.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Edward-Scissorhands10.jpg

Space Oddities - La Belle et la Bete

A Poets fable, Jean Cocteau’s “La Belle et la Bete” (!946) shows how the artistic mind of a painter, sculptor and poet can use the medium of film to produce a surreal cinematic experience of a sexual fairy-tale fantasy.  

“It is a fabric of gorgeous visual metaphors, of undulating movements and rhythmic pace, of hypnotic sounds and music, of casually congealing ideas”.

The Surrealism of the film was enhanced with the atmospheric effects such as fog/smoke, swirling curtains, and haunting furniture. Dreamlike images of Belle floating down corridors with no movement of her body (Fig. 01), Magical hands that serve as waiters and candle holders. “When bodies appear through walls or fly up into the air, it is almost as if Cocteau’s camera has miraculously recorded a dream”

(Fig. 01)

Freudian symbols suggest how the dreamlike subconscious underpins the sexual nature to the film

“As Belle awaits her first introduction to the Beast, he moves in silence and approaches her from behind. She senses his presence, and toys suggestively with the knife on the table. The image of a scared woman playing with a phallic object burns with both desire and fear, excitement and anxiety”.

Though perceived to be a beast, as the beauty gets to know his chivalrous side, her attitude changes from seeing him as a frightening monster to a more caring individual, though still adamant that she will never marry him. She seems to become the more dominant of the couple, the beast following her around like a lost puppy and even drinking from her hands and feeding him. (Fig. 02)

(Fig. 02)

Though the sexual connotations seem to dominate the film, and a lot is read into the Freudian-ism. This is at heart a magical fairytale fable where adults have the opportunity to escape their everyday lifes and enter into to a childhood wonder.

Bibliography:

Websites:
•  http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B03EFD71E3EEE3BBC4C51DFB467838C659EDE
•  http://lisathatcher.com/2013/03/04/la-belle-et-la-bete-jean-cocteau-re-imagines-fairytales-film-review/

Illustration List:
•  http://www.leninimports.com/jean_cocteau_la_belle_et_la_bete_gallery_11.jpg

•  Fig. 2. http://nsa33.casimages.com/img/2014/06/27/140627013618501755.gif

Space Oddities - King Kong

Exploring unseen continents and unlocking the mysteries of the world, documentary expeditions in the early 20th century where cataloguing foreign cultures and aesthetics bringing the “armchair traveller” to the western worlds population, letting them escape into new worlds from the great depression of the 1930’s. Merian  C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933 action-adventure blockbuster “King Kong”  blends the ever popular documentary explorer, with the spectacle of turning scientific belief on its head and finding a 60ft ape, extinct dinosaurs, unseen African magic and sacrifice. 

Willis O’Brien special effects artifice impressively creates a engaging environment of size and stature.  Where man and beast can occupy the same space in a seamless plane. “In adhering to the proper perspectives the technical crew has never missed. The illusion of comparative size is splendid”

fig. 1.

O’Brien used multiple layers of back projections, glass paintings and models, creating depth and believability that the live action cast where in the heart of the jungle, where the impossible live and not in a Hollywood studio sets. Cleverly devised miniature puppets are used to trick the viewer to think that a inanimate 6inch model is a emotional, addictive, living breathing  60ft brute and that dinosoars do in-fact exist in the real world.

King Kongs political racial underpinning provides some uncomfortable viewing in today’s social conformities, referring to miscegenation and the slave trade. I’m not sure how to word this section, so a selection of quotes will explain the racial difference at the time of King Kong.

“It doesn’t require too great an exercise of the imagination to perceive the element of race in KING KONG. Racist conceptions of blacks often depict them as subhuman, ape or monkey-like. And consider the plot of the film: Kong is forcibly taken from his jungle home, brought in chains to the United States, where he is put on stage as a freak entertainment attraction” 

“Carl Denham’s introductory speech here highlights the uncomfortable parallels this film draws with the US slave trade, and the ensuing years of civil tension between black and white Americans. Released 35 years before the end of segregation and the passing of the Civil Rights Act, the film offers up a disturbing portrait of the dominant white racial ideologies of the time, implying that the idea of America (as represented by Manhattan’s iconic topography) would be destroyed if the black man were given total freedom.”

Even the Curvaceous victim Fay Wray  was caught up in the racial politics at the time. “How would you like to star opposite the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood?” Being victimised by Kong, It’s a 96-minute screaming session for her, being man-handled and sniffed by the addictive brute. But Kongs fascination with the carcseon female and the ability not to let her go, brings him to his capture and downfall. Being transported and secured in chains, again reference to slave trade at the time, Kong is publicised as the “Eighth wonder of the world” back in New York, showing the white dominance over primitive people “I’ll tell you, there’s something that no White man has ever seen”

But Kongs fatal attraction to the beauty causes the beast to break his chains and recapture the blonde causing carnage and destruction on the way only to be felled by New Yorks Air forces. 

 “Oh, no, it wasn’t the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast.”

Bibliography:

Books:
•  Woods, P. A. (ed.) (2005) King Kong cometh!: the evolution of the great ape. London: Plexus Publishing

Websites:
•  http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC06folder/KingKong.html
•  http://raceandkingkong.blogspot.co.uk/

Illustration List:
•  Fig. 1. http://cinentransit.com/el-cine-a-ojos-de-un-nino/king-kong-1933

•  Fig. 2. http://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2013/09/king-kong-turns-80-a-retrospective/king-kong-1933-granger/

Space Oddities - The Cabinet of Dr Caligari

The Horrific events of the first world war caused grusome injuries and deep deppresion over Germany. Suffering a hummilinating defeat and now stark and gloomy living conditions, for many Germans they where looking for a sense of escape from the anxieties of their new lives. From the ashes of war appeared two ex-soilders, scarred by the German goverment and that acts they where forced to commit. Carl Mayer and Hanz Janowitz decided to write a expressionist screen play on how the masses can get hypnotized by the goverment and commit awful acts for them. “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” was born.

The first psychlogical horror genre film of its time, Caliagri used artificial set designs that looked twisted and eerie combined with stark lighting and harsh shadows producing an unearthly, nightmarish location. These expressionist set designs where forward thinking at the time and has been “Branded as the first “art Film” the first movie to bring the ideas of Picasso ,Braque and Duchamp to the screen” - “ the first significant attempt at the expressionism of a creative mind in the medium of cinematography”

Creepy characters enhanced by outrageous make-up and jerky manourisms, dwarfed by the twisted, dark set designs with their quirky veiwpoints and perspectives, bring together a sense of paranoia of this nightmarish world. Everything about the film throws you off balance not knowing if you are in a interior or exterior world of who done it and is this real.

These techniques have been adapted and recreated in recent hollywood films, such as Tim Burton’s, “Edward Scissorhands” and “BeetleJuice”, which use all the formula’s and essence of Calgari, making it such a iconic film.

Figures 1, 2, 3

The plot twist of Calagari, also sets a dramatic keystone in modern films, namely Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island” and M. Night Shyamalan’s “Sixth Sense” where the viewer is kept in suspense on the story, they believe to be true,  only to be turned inside out at the finale of the film, leaving the veiwer in shock and deep emotions of what just happened.

Though the characters in Caligari where Lunatics, murderers and Somnambulist, Mayer and Janowitz place very subtle political statement in the eerie depths of this film. The Somnambulist Cesare, was the exarmple of the innocent public, transformed into the automatic equipment and the mindless soilder of war, commiting violent crimes to the human race just because they where told to by the goverment and not realising the morbid acts they where commiting. This attack continued throughout the story, as the Hero of the film eventually turns out to be the lunatic, further pressing the point that the person percieved to be the actor of evil “Caliagri’  and the soilders of the war, was actually a kind meaning inoccent doctor.

The Cabinet of Dr. Calagari has earned its place on the shelf for the first iconic Macabre horror movie - a film truely for nightmares.

Bibliography

Briggs, Joe Bob (2003) Profoundly Disturbing Shocking Movies THat Changed History. Plexus Publishing Ltd 2003

Figure 1. http://athenacinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/caligari-3.jpg

Figure 2. https://samletchfordfilm.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/dr-caligari.jpg

Figure 3. http://quietus_production.s3.amazonaws.com/images/articles/1003/caligari20_1232120970_crop_550x410.gif