Transcript of Jayne, rosie, louise pp
- 1. It is sometimes said that films generating a strong
emotional response disarming thespectators critical faculties.
Discuss how far this has been true of the films you have studied
for this topic!
- 2. IntroductionEvery person has a different emotion response to
films, often based on their personalexperiences. The audience as a
whole experiencing the film may have similarresponses to certain
scenes but spectatorship is a very individual response to a filmand
may change significantly from person to person. Some films may
cause aspectator to become fully enthralled within the film world,
whereas the same personmay feel distanced from a different film.
Films can cause a many different emotionsin a spectator, for
example when watching the Pixar film Up I experience a range
ofdiffering emotions throughout the sequence. I feelt happiness
when Ellie and Carlmeet as children progressing to sadness (and the
visceral response ofHEARTBREAKING SOBS) when Ellie dies.The films
we I studied regarding our emotional response are: Black Swan
(DarrenAronofsky 2010), 127 Hours (Danny Boyle 2010) and City of
God (Fernando Meirelles2002). These films triggered a range of
different emotional responses, which for somespectators could cause
critical faculties to be disarmed and in some cases not. Eitherway,
their can be a strong emotional response, for example: shock at
violence whichfeatures heavily in all three films. Shock is a
strong reaction to something which isoffensive, disgusting or
emotionally disturbing. This could also provoke a visceralresponse
such as gasping or crying!
- 3. Critical FacultiesUsing a critical faculty in relation to a
film is watching the film from a kind of distance,where you are
able to analyse the films characters, narrative and film language
etcbecause you are not taken on the emotional journey where you
become fully absorbedinto the world and go with the emotion,
whichever way that may take you.Having your critical faculties
disarmed means that you are allowing the film to take youon the
emotional roller-coaster that is intended. Because of this you may
be unable todistance yourself and take into account the
construction of the film.
- 4. The DirectorThe key ways in which the audience allows the
director to manipulate them isthrough genre, narrative and film
language. One of the ways this is done is throughMurray Smiths
theory of engaging characters. The protagonist is presents in such
away that we should feel both alignment and allegiance to them.
Alignment is createdthrough film language for example close ups
help us connect with a character as wefeel their emotions more.
Allegiance is the assumption that through the narrative,we will
side ourselves with the main character, although this may not
always be thecase. If we do grant a character our allegiance, we
are more likely to feel that ourcritical faculties are disabled and
be more drawn into the film.
- 5. Black SwanWhen watching Black Swan we were completely
enthralled but at other points feltdistanced from the film. This
can be explained by Stuart Halls reception theory,which states that
being engaged with some parts of the film and not others is
anegotiated reading of the film as we partly took in the intended
meaning, but atother parts were disconnected.A key way in which we
felt connected to the film was through the use of genre.One of the
scenes in which horror conventions are presented to the audience
isthe transformation scene. In this scene we see the main
character, Nina, begin totransform into the swan after trying to
find her bad side. The horror conventionsused include: the shocking
violence of her trapping her mothers hand in the door,which
combined with pace of the music enhances the violence. Special
effects offlesh tearing (sound) and bones breaking, are shocking
and repulsive.The reason why horror conventions are used is because
the audience have aconditioned response or fear/anticipation, which
is automatic and heightenstheir emotions in relation to the
scene.
- 6. Black SwanAnother way the director attempts to manipulate
the audience is through the use ofnararative: Main theme: reality
Vs fantasy from the beginning we are never sure what is and isnt
real (dream[?] scene at the beginning). We see the world through
Ninas eyes. Because we see the world through her eyes, we relate to
the character but are constantly questioning whats happening.
Because of these enigmas our critical faculties cannot be fully
disarmed, or we would just go along with it when there are too many
questions, we dont feel as connected. Visual motifs of mirrors
fantasy aspect, the duality of a doppelganger and not knowing whats
real, conflicting personalities etc. For some people the fantasy
elements distance them from the film, as they are obviously fake.
Discontinuity editing doesnt always establish a location which
causes confusion. (Eg dance studio to hospital scene), because we
dont know how she got there, we again question what is real.
- 7. Black Swan TheoryDespite the way in which the director
attempt to manipulate the audience anddisable their critical
faculties, it doesnt always mean it works.Engaging Characters
Theory (Murray Smith) argues that if we dont grant acharacter out
allegiance along with aligning ourselves with them then we will
notfeel the same connection to the film. In Black Swan I had
allignment with Nina,suggested through the film language, but did
not grant her allegiance because shewas very irritating and I found
her frustrating.For me, the exaggerated fantasy sequences meant I
only had A-centeringimagining towards the film, because it
immediately makes it obvious that it isntreal, and disconnects me
from the narrative.
- 8. 127 Hours127 Hours for us, didnt provide as strong a
connection as Black Swan, largely becausethe situation was so far
fetched from what we have gone through (although it is a
truestory). We did not feel a very strong connection to the
character.The film language used in the scene where Aron makes a
video home is designed tomake us feel sympathy with a character we
didnt previously like (because of hisarrogance, treatment of other
people etc): Direct address to the camera when talking to parents,
what hes saying and the emotion he shows begins to change our
opinion on him because he is so sincere. Hes going mental playing
different people on a chat show, seems funny at first but also
rather disturbing. Realism all filmed on his camera so looks
home-movie esc
- 9. 127 HoursThe narrative construction with flashbacks and
hallucinations are also designed tocreate sympathy towards the
character. Flashbacks Eg seeing him with his ex girlfriend, allows
the audience to know the character better and makes us feel sorry
for him. Hallucinations see more of his personality, see whats
going on in his mind and that there are people who care about him
see his regret. Arm cutting scene Creates a sense of drawn out
shock because of how long it takes him to cut off his arm. The
sound effects of breaking bones and the cutting of the nerve
enhance the violence and create a feeling of disgust. If a
spectator was not in allegiance with the character, they may not
have been as affected because they wouldnt care about him.
- 10. 127 Hours - TheoryBecause we did feel sorry for the
character to a degree, but didnt particularly like him, wealso took
a negotiated reading of the film ((Stuart Halls reception
theory).Patrick Philips aspects of self theory could explain why we
feel this way. The private selfis not relatable to film as we have
never experienced anything that extreme.Murray Smiths theory
Despite not liking the character, we granted him both alignmentand
allegiance, as we were invested in what happened to him, and didnt
think hedeserved to die.
- 11. ConclusionArt may have meaning but what makes art is not
its context but its affect. Although we can be deeply effected by a
film, we are choosing to let ourselves beaffected in that way. Not
allowing out critical faculties to disturb the viewing of afilm we
particularly enjoy may make our viewing of the film more enjoyable
butdoes not necessarily mean we are unable to critically access it
afterwards, orappreciate it critical at certain points in the
narrative. Although some film theoriststhink of the spectator as
passive, through the theories we have looked at it is clearthat it
in an individuals choice to suspend their disbelief, based on their
personalrelationship with the film. Every individual will
experience a film in a different way,for the films we have studied,
I dont think our critical faculties have been disarmed,as we were
not completely absorbed by the two we have discussed.
However,certain scenes make us feel this way, particularly the
horror scenes we havediscussed.