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The Sound of Music （1965）

The Sound of Music is an American musical drama film in 1965 and directed by Robert Wise. This film is considered as one of the most exceptional films in the mid-1960s. Besides, this film represents the climate of Hollywood musicals.  In the play, the heroine Maria is singing incessantly, which is her yearning for freedom and pursuit of happiness and happiness. This film narrates a story that a nun Maria came to retired naval officer Captain Georg’s house to work as a private teacher. She soon became popular with the children. Captain Georg gradually fall in love with Maria.

This film won the best picture award, best director award, best editing award, best sound award and best score award at the Academy Awards in 1965, which are still regarded as the gods of song and dance films. Music not only depicts the characters, sets off the atmosphere, but also plays an important role in promoting the plot.

In his film, music is very successful in depicting characters’ psychology, setting off the environment and atmosphere, and promoting the plot development. Music plays an irreplaceable role in the process of film development. Music popular tune is easy to be more accepted and recognized, and the art form of music makes the film to express feelings more deeply in people’s hearts, causing strong resonance of people, finally make the film music function is fully reflected.

https://journals.equinoxpub.com/index.php/JFM

https://www.filmsite.org/soun.html

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/may/17/the-sound-of-music-review-julie-andrews-christopher-plummer

Film Analysis Essay 1 The Wizard of Oz (1939)

The little girl named Dorothy lives with her aunt and uncle on a farm in central Kansas. One day, the tornado hit, in order to find her beloved dog, Dorothy was not able to hide in time. A powerful tornado swept Dorothy’s cabin into the air. After some time, the hut finally fell to the ground and killed an evil witch. Below the guidance of kind-hearted north witch, Dorothy and her dog set out for wizard oz the emerald city that lives, pray he can help him go home. On the way, Dorothy meets a scarecrow, a tin man and a lion who have no brains.

This film is one of the most popular musical adventure films in MGM. One of the most important reasons why this movie is a classic is that it shows a kind of rite of passage. And it was played every year at Christmas and Easter. Despite the technological backwardness of the 1930s, this fantasy film is a timeless classic. The reasons are as follows:

1. The rare color film in those days. For us to create a magnificent fairy tale world.
2. The beautiful music and Judy’s rich infectious voice. The song “Over the Rainbow” has been covered many times since, but I can’t think of any other version that compares to Judy’s original.
3. “classic educational story. “There is no place like home.”

In addition to the comparison of characters and scenes, the constant repetition and variations of music theme always emphasize the changes of Dorothy’s emotions, and the same music theme also helps to unify the story in a unified style.

In terms of content, characters Dorothy met representing different meanings, such as the lion without courage, the tin man without heart, the scarecrow without wisdom, and the witch of the east with love and the witch of the west with evil. Dorothy is determined to run away from home for her dog, away from the aunts and uncles who raised her, ignoring the fact that she has a warm home and wants to go to a more perfect place. But every corner of the world where there will be a perfect place to send the existence. Oz, although there is a full of love little person and love the witch, but she also met a defective lion, tin man, scarecrow, she was in love like to go to the mage with three to get the courage, heart, wisdom, but they are not all the way all goes well, there will be full of evil witch to rock the boat, although they upset their lack of wisdom has the courage to love, but when Dorothy was a witch, when to go to catch them in order to save Dorothy, but showed remarkable courage, wisdom and love.

The mainframe of the story is that Dorothy dreamed that she was transported to Oz by a whirlwind. After meeting many friends on her way home, she solved some difficulties and successfully returned to her home in Kansas, only to find that she was just having a dream. That story is the standard of A – B – A – oz – Kansas (Kansas) type structure, the change of the color (black and white – color – black and white) also shows that this structure, the black and white (Kansas) and color (oz), the specific content of the story are filled in the framework of this big, thus creates A complete story.

https://www.filmsite.org/wiza.html

https://daily.jstor.org/consumerism-and-the-wizard-of-oz/

https://www.ahschools.us/cms/lib08/MN01909485/Centricity/Domain/818/Grade%2012%20Economics/oz.html

Gangster films represent a film genre that is often critically acclaimed. It displays gangsters, more often than not in an objective lens. Creators tend to portray a crime-induced life to steer away from. However, at times, the discourse of the crime film narrative is often sexist and inaccurate.

In a New York Post, Kyle Smith proclaims that “Women are not capable of understanding GoodFellas.” With an overt generalization, Smith ironically displays on how he, himself, did not comprehend Martin Scorcese’s GoodFellas. He reasons with the “wiseguys never have to work (…) doing what guys love above all else: sitting around with the gang, busting each other’s balls.” Fittingly enough, Smith also did not have to lift a finger in the level of thinking in digesting Scorcese’s film. Scorcese’s portrayal of “busting each other’s balls” and the male gangster camaraderie  is a precedent to the eventual downfall of the perceived close-knit brotherhood. In the end, Henry Hill breaks one of the primary rules of the mob: do not snitch on each other, so the idea that this exemplifies trust and brotherhood in a positive connotation falls apart with knowing how Henry turns out. In retrospect, the comedic relief of “cheerfully insulting one another” is the superficial shield to the insecurity that is masculinity (Smith). The men insult one another as if to display that nothing pierces their facade—a masturbation of each other’s egoes. 

But when this framework gets infiltrated by an outsider, the gang’s insecurity shows its fragility. In the infamous Billy Bats scene, Billy comments on Tommy’s old ways of shining shoes. Tommy overreacts with violent anger going as far as “whacking” Billy Bats. Smith describes Billy’s comments as “improper ball-busting.” The lines who can insult or not in the mob are arbitrary. It is merely an excuse to draw lines between “us against them,” which is the whole premise of a gang. Tommy displays how fragile his ego is when he assumes that the comment was an insult, but as Smith describes in his article, insults are often done “cheerfully” (Smith).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pQ6fd6iO_c

In opposition, in the scene where Henry exclaims of how Tommy is funny, Tommy teases and intimidates Henry of acting like he is insulted by the remark. The gang laughs it off that Tommy completely intimidates Henry, a harmless jab by two comrades. But, Scorcese carefully places a line Tommy says in the end, “I worry about you sometimes, Henry. You may fold under questioning.” The harmless joke turns out to be a foreshadowing of the downfall of the mob.

Smith makes the comparison of the GoodFellas to Sex and the City, and how the women in the critically acclaimed HBO TV show tend to bring up their personal problems; therefore, the men in GoodFellas are superior for not letting this poison Smith’s love for the bustings of the balls. However, the demise of the gang stems for the suppression of the information towards each other. Their lack of communication ends up being their downfall and mistrust with each other—along with the use of cocaine. A prime example of the effect of how the toxic masculinity that Smith seems to be so eagerly glorify is how Henry Hill ends up telling all. Because of the suppression of what Smith perceives as feminine qualities, Henry eventually comes to a rupture. Smith also presents the relationship between Karen and Henry to be that of exemplary ball-busting marriage. Smith states, “[Karen] promises to keep the party going” implying another form of suppression through the tough times. If Karen keeps the party going even with the DEA completely at Henry’s tails, Smith completely misses the point of the dangers of suppressing the inevitable.

The argument of ball-busting being a harmless promotion of the masculine ethos misses the fact that the demise of the  GoodFellas is what Scorcese wants to convey to the audience. Most of the film’s runtime involves the good times of the mob—how their camaraderie kept the ship afloat, so Smith’s comprehension of the events seems to leave out the ending. Ironically, the aspect he glorifies the most is the root cause of their demise. Gangster films are ultimately great, but the discourse around it seems to be inaccurate with the people that it is written for merley confirms their misogyny. Smith exudes of the male hubris Scorcese attempts to steer him away from. Sadly, he is just not capable of understanding the GoodFellas. Sorry, Kyle!

Sources

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7e9d/3db2be6a0b29b17933348d04490adc350297.pdf

https://nypost.com/2015/06/10/sorry-ladies-youll-never-understand-why-guys-love-goodfellas/

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/goodfellas-1990

In Xiaolin Chen’s The Use of Symbols in Schindler’s List, non-linguistic symbols are examined in the film by Steven Spielberg, and how these symbols “promote the development of the story in a unique ideographic manner” (Abstract). While he perfectly tells the narrative of Oskar Schindler in a very detailed manner, Spielberg’s use of color symbolizes the thematic binary of morality in Schindler’s List which is formulaic of a code to be decoded. Chen makes the argument that “All members of society have a common cultural belief (…) to understand the meaning behind the code” (1). The commonality of all society hinges on the basic difference between good from bad. 

Nothing actualizes the dichotomy of morality more than Schindler’s realization of the binary in the scene of the liquidation of the ghetto. Schindler sees a girl in red walking amidst the chaos; and throughout the whole film, the audience is restricted to the color palette of black and white. However, Spielberg carefully breaks this restriction when he chose to display the little girl in a red coat. While aesthetically an assumption could be made that the device is utilized to underscore the bloodshed, narratively, the moment is where Schindler gets down from his high horse and ascribes to the perspective of humanity. Spielberg’s option to work outside the parameters of black and white parallels that of Schindler’s watershed moment. From then on, Schindler empathizes to whom that suffers. Within Schindler, another binary arouses: the Oskar from the past is no longer—the Oskar post-girl-in-red is now the protagonist of the story.

The sound of bullets rapidly infiltrates the audience’s ears, but Schindler fixates on the girl in red along with the audience. The angelic choir attempts to drown out the sound of violence and horror, but it merely amplifies the complete dread that the film constantly unveils. The horrific side of morality is always concealed—it is mostly unsurfaced, but when it arises, it is far louder than the other, unfortunately. So, Spielberg invites the audience to recognize the girl in red like Schindler. 

A tracking shot of the girl assumes the perspective of Schindler. A group of to-be-executed is at a focus while the girl in red is still tracked by the camera out of focus. Spielberg overwhelms the audience with devices that conveys the chaos and confusion because what is ensuing has no explanation for it. As the girl hides under the bed the red on the coat is no more. She now joins every other victim of the massacre as a statistic. 

In his review of the film, Roger Ebert questions “Why did [Schindler] change? What happened to turn him from a victimizer into a humanitarian?” and he assumes that Spielberg does not truly answer the question. But, Chen’s argument certainly unveils Spielberg’s assumption of what changed Schindler. In Ebert’s binary of a victimizer to humanitarian, Schindler realizes that sitting idle and not doing anything is within the same parameters of victimizer. Hence, the girl while under the bed, does not differ from anyone anymore. She is immediately put in the restrictions of black and white like every other character in the movie. But for a moment, the girl in red is the catalyst to Schindler’s mission that is his list.

However, in a Time article, it is mentioned that an Israeli newspaper quoted the film as “Spielberg’s Holocaust park,” and questions Spielberg’s motivation of the movie. While the theme of binary is present throughout the film, another in the realm of the critique of the film gets deconstructed. Spielberg preaches of the evils of morality and displays it in an objective way, but this does not take away from the gratification of a lesson learned at the expense of those who truly suffered. The feeling of guilt is commodified within the film, and this is not an argument of how the film should have never even been made. But, an awareness should be explored on why a critique from the Israeli newspaper exists.

In the ending scene, Schindler repeats, “I could’ve got more.” It is a crowning achievement of Liam Neeson to convey helplessness that Schindler exhibits within his mission. However, it also begs the question as to why the audience needs a lesson of morality when the said binary of morality should be a commonality in all of society as Chen presented. This guilt felt in the film removes all agency of sitting idly like how Schindler is in the scene of the liquidation at the ghetto. The film tells of a lesson, but the conversation around the film tells of a greater story and accepts the perspective from the victims.

Sources

https://www.atlantis-press.com/proceedings/iccessh-18/25898107

https://time.com/5470613/schindlers-list-true-story/

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/schindlers-list-1993

The Searchers is a great Western film that follows a story of a Civil War veteran who struggled to save his niece from another tribe in West Texas. The story was happening during the early 1950s an 1960s. Honestly, this film allowed me to experience how one’s race and kinship shape one’s way to live in the world. In this film, the settings of the story are designed in the wilderness of West Texas where people are living with violence and wars. Nonetheless, it is in such a unique social background that director Ford wants its audience to see how people make their lives during that period.

In this story, Ethan is the only one who is highly expected to find his 8-year-old niece Debbie. In his process of finding Debbie, Ethan is accompanied by his nephew Martin who is Debbie adopted brother. However, Ethan treats Martin always in a harsh way because he does not really acknowledge Martin and Debbie as true relatives but rather two mixed-blood adopted children. When he and Martin find Debbie, Ethan does not want to rescue her but to kill her because of her assimilation with Indians. However, Martin has struggled to stop his uncle’s wrong ideas and protect his sister. Though Ethan did rescue Debbie from the chief Scar and return their home finally, the kinky depiction of his racism forces me to consider whether Debbie and Martin and even other indigenous Indians will struggle to survive with his or her race? Or birth? I feel a little confused about the answer.

One of the moments in this film stood out to me is when Ethan sweeps Debbie onto the saddle, saying “Let’s go home, Debbie.” The scene functions as a transition of the whole story for implying Ethan’s obsession of dignity, dominance, and redemption for his Indian slaughter. The middle shot of Debbie and Ethan allow the audience to see how the eye contact between the two characters goes. Also, the sound at background becomes softer at this scene that helps enhance the relationship between Debbie and Ethan and push forward the plots to the audience.  Most importantly, in the scene, the costume of Ethan and Debbie have separately enhanced their own identity. Ethan’s standard cowboy look and Debbie’s indigenous cloth and hairstyle have paved the way for their different fortune and life.

One of the critical conversations I read about the film is from film critic David Thomson. For this film, Thomson said that he has been compelled to watch The Searchers again and again and every time he’s not sure how it’s going to end…this resonates with me a lot because the mystery of Ethan’s morally ambiguous figure is a little hard to capture for me. Throughout the film, Ethan is portrayed with a kind of dual personalities, such as he both wants to return to Debbie’s home and leave that home, and he both wants to rescue Debbie and kill Debbie. These dual characteristics of Ethan make it a little hard to conclude where the story goes and what a person Ethan is.

In another way, the themes of this film are family, racial prejudice, and sexism are going to resonate with the society we are living in. Many scenes of the film are about the Edwards family members talking to each other in the small cabin or standing at the door to welcome the return of Ethan and Debbie separately. This is a big topic of the society where each one sees family as a big part of their lives. What’s more, women in this film are portrayed as sexless and inferior to men, which can be observed from the Comanche tribe where women and children imprisoned and white women are raped and become wives of Scar. This is depicted as an unspoken theme in this film but I feel that it has made a big difference to the society because it allows people to identify what kind of a relationship between women and men should be established in this society. Overall, from the filmmaking techniques such as the mise-en-scene, the themes of racism, family, and sexism, and the storyline, The Searchers allow the audience to experience what a Western film is like and what white settlers and Native Americans were living together with violence and tolerance. Most importantly, what makes it a great film is largely because what the characters are experiencing gives the audiences a deep thought about gender, family, and race we are experiencing in daily life.

 Frankel, Glenn. “‘The Searchers’ was influential film in its day and still resonates today.”washingtonpost. Retrieved from

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-searchers-was-influential-film-in-its-day-and-still-resonates-today/2013/07/04/8b6d5e48-dffb-11e2-b2d4-ea6d8f477a01_story.html?utm_term=.f05c213941a4