Week 8 Discussion

 

This week in class we go to watch Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth and after coming off the boring Lost in Translation, I'm glad to say that I really liked this one. I thought they meshed the fantasy with the reality of the time really well, and I really liked the historical feel of the film. My favorite (and the saddest part) was when Ofelia was running of with her brother, and the general shoots her. I liked how that scene was shot because the at first I thought the Faun might have done something to save her but then the Ofelia turns and you see the blood. Followed by Mercedes' reaction the scene really had an emotional impact.

I also thought the whole time that the Faun was actually manipulating her to do something evil, because whenever Ofelia would question him he would kind of brush her aside and especially when the Faun wanted her to kill her brother. I also liked that Ofelia didn't sacrifice her brother and that really made me respect her as a character.

After the movie ended we briefly discussed whether or not all the magical stuff was real and how it is kind of left up to interpretation to the the viewer. To me, the film is a lot better if Ofelia was imagining the whole thing. She's a young girl with her head always in a fairy tale, so it's definitely within her character. I think there's also some evidence of this when Ofelia early on talks to the dragonfly/insect thing following her and talks to it and is like this is what a fairy looks like and the bug changes shape to copy the image in her book. I think this was actually in Ofelia imagination and Guillermo is actually showing the audience that all this from the start is Ofelia actually trying the register the the trauma going on around her in her own child like way. We know that her father recently passed away amidst a bloody civil war, and her mother is pregnant with a man that is she is now expected to view as her new father. Any child would need an outlet to be able to make sense of what is going on an the whole princess thing was just to help her cope.

Week 7 Discussion

 

After 30 min of watching Lost In Translation, I couldn't wait for it to be over. During the film I went on Rotten Tomatoes and found that the movie had a rating of 95%, so I guess it's just me that didn't enjoy the movie which is okay. I thought the movie was absurdly slow, and felt like nothing was really happening. I didn't really care about any of the characters and what they were going through, because I feel like the movie never showed me why I should care about them in the first place. From the beginning were are tossed into Bob and Charlottes lives and although they both seem lost in life I didn't really care. I feel these types of movies just aren't for me, because I didn't like Good Will Hunting either and I feel like these movies are kind of similar in how their both trying to be super philosophical.

As for Sofia Coppola, this is the first time I've ever seen one of her movies I think. Some aspects of the film that might make her an auteur and are unique to this film were the amount of shots with characters sitting still with view of a city behind them. We saw multiple shots of New York and Tokyo which was definitely very noticeable. Something else I noticed was that some of the dialogue was sort of awkward between some characters, which I think was done purposefully.

Week 6 Discussion

 

This was the first time I watched Get Out and I'm glad to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think it was the best movie we've watched this year. I have been a big fan of Jordan Peele because Key and Peele was such a vivid memory from my childhood. I remember just binging all their shorts on YouTube with my friends and to this day I find them hilarious. Since I've always viewed Peele as a comic, it's surprising he was able to make a scary movie like this one. 

This movie did such a great job of keeping me on my toes. I really did think in the beginning that Rose and her family were good people. Even when the parents were being weird I still thought Rose was the good one until she too was revealed to be a monster, and I really appreciated.

I also thought it was kind of interesting how one the main premises of the movie was that the white people wanted the "genetic gifts" or things that to black people inherently have and give them to white people. Chris literally asks, "why black people" to which it is explained to him that being black can be perceived as more attractive, have better genetics, etc. However, instead of accepting that a colored person might have inherent gifts that white people don't have, they decide to take it from them with force.

Another interesting part that I thought was great writing was the scene when Rose is eating fruit loops, but she doesn't put cereal in a bowl with milk. Instead she takes a bite of a cereal separately, then a sip of milk from a glass. I think the reasoning for this is because the writers want to show that she doesn't want to mix the colored (the fruit loops) with the white (the milk).

In terms of Peele as an auteur one thing comes to mind is the humor in this film. Since I've been exposed to Peele at an early age I was waiting for some really funny moments, and although they weren't there were moments jokes were made that made the story feel more real. I think that is one of his main distinct features as a writer.