The Lunchbox

Orientalism : How Western artists (film makers) represent gender, race, and ethnicity in cultures of North Africa and Asia. It is also known as a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having control over the Orient. Lastly it is referred to as “imaginative geography” in terms of how it is expressed by the artist and perceived by the audience.

Visions of the East: Orientalism in Film. Ed. Matthew Bernstein and Gaylyn Studlar. New Jersey: Rutgers, The State University, 1997. Print.

The Lunchbox ( 2013/ Directed by Ritesh Batra/ Starring Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, and Nawazuddin Siddiqui)

The heartwarming film entitled, The Lunchbox, portrays a friendship between a young housewife (Lla) and an older accounts payable clerk ( Saajan Fenandes) in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Lla joins a lunch program in order to send homemade lunches to her husband, through the famous Mumbai dabbawalas. Dabbawalas are a delivery men, who deliver food from restaurants and homes to other destinations. Unfortunately, in the film, the delivery men keep sending Lla’s homemade lunches to Saajan’s office. This mix up results in a sincere and life changing relationship between the two above mentioned characters. The two began to exchange witty, intellectually stimulating, and anecdotal letters to each other by concealing them in the lunch containers. The relationship causes both of the characters to examine their own lives, serves as a motivational tool, and in the end gives both of the characters a more positive outlook on life.

I really enjoyed this movie due to elements of realism. Both of the characters depicted everyday people, who were just living their day to day lives. Nothing was over glamorized, for example there was a lack of excessive and elaborate makeup and wardrobe for the actors. Additionally, there was no film music, stunts, violence, intimate scenes, and  product placement within this film. In terms of the relationship between the characters, it developed slowly and innocently. It became something of value, just as real relationships should. This is very different from the relationship dynamic depicted  within many western films and soap operas. In these mediums, relationships often develop faster and tend not to last long, due to the emphasis on intimacy rather than friendship.

In the film, Lla is a middle aged woman, stay at home mother, and an emotionally abandoned wife. She portrays the epitome of a wife and reminds us (me) of our own mothers, because of her values. She is a good mother, puts care into cooking for her household, shows respect for the elderly (shown though dialogue with older neighbor), maintains her household,and dresses in a traditional and respectable way. As her friendship with Saajan continues, she becomes more confident. After her husband’s infidelity and the death of her father, Lla attempts to maintain her marriage by cancelling the lunch program deliveries and visiting Saajan in person. By the time she attempt these actions, Sajaan has already retired from his job and has cancelled his lunch program privileges. However, Lla’s attempts display her newly attained initiative and assertiveness.

Saajan is an older man who, after 35 years of working in accounts payable, is about to retire. As a result of the political, social, and economical climate in Mumbai and issues that occurred within his youth, he is very pessimistic, lonesome, simplistic, and a minimalist. He appreciates and looks forward to the letters that he receives from Lla. This takes away from his regular, stagnate, and habitual lifestyle. This gives Saajan a sense of purpose, social interaction with the opposite sex, and an increased sense of  patience towards others that he relates to ( i.e. Shaikh).

This is a really great movie that I would definitely recommend to others.

My Prairie Home

My Prairie Home (2014), is a musical documentary directed by Chelsea McMullan, with music composed by Rae Spoon. The film title was inspired by Rae’s latest album that bears the same title. Rae Spoon is an incredibly talented singer, guitarist, and song writer. According to journalist Bryen Dunn, “As a young person, Rae used music both as an escape and as a place to build a world they could live in safely. Songs about death, coming out as queer during high school, and surviving abuse are all sung by a voice that can break a heart and fill it with hope at the same time”. The documentary depicts Rae’s growth and struggles with their (her) transgender identity, Pentecostal upbringing, abusive father, and development as a musician. 

Chelsea McMullan states that “[Her] intention for the film was to create a biography of a feeling. I want the audience to really understand in a visceral way what it’s like to be Rae Spoon. Also if it exposes more people to Rae’s music, then that’s great too…Finally, my films are not overtly political but I would love if this film starts a conversation about gender. Since meeting Rae, my perspective on gender has totally shifted. It’s liberating when you sort of let the binary fall away and just be.” This film remained objective to its goal. The audience was exposed to Rae’s music, various struggles, and search for an identity. 

Love is a Hunter (My Prairie Home) Rae Spoon

Rae grew up in Calgary, Alberta in a suburban Pentecostal family. Rae’s father suffered with a mental illness, and therefore contributed towards a very abusive and unstable environment. During their adolescence Rae moved in with their grandmother and began to explore their identity. Being in a loving, nurturing, supportive, and comfortable environment allowed for Rae to make these important decisions. During this time, they asserted themselves as a lesbian and had their first openly gay relationship with a girl named Sandya. This relationship challenged both race and gender. 

In the film, Rae describes the shift from a lesbian to a transgender. Rae describes not being aware of this choice, until much later. After making this choice, Rae also made it very clear that she wanted to be referred to as “they” rather than being referred to as “he” or “she” (hence my usage above and throughout this blog). Rae also talks about being perceived in various ways while on tour. This was often based on location, demographics, and exposure to alternative sexual identities. While viewing the film, I noticed that Rae is very shy, based on their gestures and speech pattern when attempting to relate to others. However during the film, the audience  witnesses moments that display Rae’s confidence, strength, strong sense of self, perseverance, and musical talent.

Through watching this musical documentary my perspective of identity was challenged. I was able to become educated about a lifestyle and view other than that of my own.Overall, I really enjoyed viewing this film.The combination of music and information made this film very fun to watch.This documentary makes clear distinctions between aspects of identity such as gender, personality, ability, occupation, race, traditions, and culture.

Works Cited

Dunn, Bryen. “Free streaming of Rae Spoon documentary: My Prairie Home.” Digital Journal 25 Jan.2014. Web. 18 Mar. 2015 <http://www.digitaljournal.com/entertainment/free-streaming-of-rae-spoon-documentary-my-prairie-home/article/366390#ixzz3UrkVV215>.

Reflexive Documentary: Stories We Tell (Blog #5)

“But if I have learned anything from making this film, it is that we can’t all be right and we can’t all be wrong. So we must be unintentionally distorting things to varying degrees in order to feed our own version of what we need the past and history to be, and in our way, we must all be telling the truth as well.” – Sara Polley

The traditional documentary form is known as expository. Expository documentaries “fabricate a narrative of authority” (Screen Acting 3225). They are created with the goal of teaching and increasing the audiences awareness about a historical, scientific, political, social, factual, or phenomenal event. Within these types of documentaries, re-enactments, docu-dramas, archival photographs, shorts films, and original documents are used  in order to validate the information that is being presented. An example of an expository documentary is the Canadian documentary film entitled, Reel Injun (2009).  

Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell, is and example of a reflexive documentary. Reflexive documentaries are very different from expository documentaries because the content is more subjective. These documentaries are normally constructed around the making of the film. According to Sarah Polley, “Because the film was so much about storytelling and how stories are constructed, it would have felt really false to me to leave out the fact that I was constructing this story — and that this, in itself, was very subjective”. This means that out takes, editing, cameras, actor coaching, and directing are all shown as part of the film. As a result the vulnerability of the film maker, cast, film crew, and the overall process is shown. This challenges the authenticity of those involved.

Additionally, this form exposes the film maker (Sarah Polley). An example of her “exposure” is her fear and hesitation, when she had to tell Michael Polley that he was not her biological father. This gives the audience a sense of her character. Another example is the fact that the precursor of her curiosity regarding biological father, was a family joke. Polley was often the subject of ridicule within her family, with regards to her mother’s infidelity, for many years. The idea of taking authority of this joke, by examining its validity and then owning it by presenting it to an audience, speaks volumes.

Finally, reflexive documentaries also depict the film maker’s relationship with the subjects they film. In this case, Polley’s relationship with her brothers, sisters, Dianne Polley, Michael Polley, her biological father etc. The film allowed viewers to witness a collective resolution for all of the above mentioned individuals. These people experienced self revelation, healing, and self discovery as a result of the film making process. All of those involved received emotional closure and more meaningful relationships. Polley found out who her biological father was, and was welcomed into his family. By allowing her father to narrate the film, he was able to understand her story from her point of view. All those involved shared narratives that included memorable, positive, and negative aspects of their relationship with one another.

Sarah uses various techniques that challenge the traditional documentary form and the viewer’s notion of truth. As mentioned above  re-enactments, docu-dramas, archival photographs, shorts films, and original documents are features that are typically used within expository documentaries. In the film Polley presents original documents (paternity test), archival family photos, family home videos, re-enactments of various situations, and narratives from various family members, extended family, and friends. While watching the film I had no idea that actors were being used in order to portray Diane Polley and various nostalgic family scenes, up until this was revealed closer to the end of the film. Overall the film challenges the viewers notion of truth by using elements of  both expository and reflexive documentary forms. This technique blurred the distinction between fact and fiction. Additionally truth is blurred because the audience is able to draw conclusions for themselves instead of being told what to believe. This method allows for a variety of meanings and truths.

In conclusion, expository documentaries attempt to teach and mold their viewers opinions whereas reflexive documentaries allow the audience to watch the film maker learn. As a result the audience is given the freedom to create a conclusion and impression about what is being presented for themselves. All in all, I really enjoyed watching this film, and believe that Polley’s approach towards a reflexive documentary adds both a creative and unique touch.

 

Smoke Signals: Challenging the Portrayal of the Noble Savage in Cinema (Blog#4)

(Smoke Signals 1998 directed by Chris Eyre/Screenplay by Sherman Alexie/ Starring Adam Beach, Evan Adams, and Irene Bedard)

Smoke Signals, is an independent film that was created in order to challenge stereotypes and negative depictions of Native American residential life. The film displays the lives of Thomas and Victor in order to allow audiences to see through the eyes of the modern Native American of the 90s. While this film was well received in the media upon its release, to some the film simply reinforced stereotypes. Previous to viewing this film, I was concerned that this movie would simply reinforce stereotypes rather than solve them based on seeing small snippets this film in the documentary film entitled Reel Injun. However  what I saw in this film was the ability to express frustration, politics, racial tensions, and stereotypes in an exaggerated and unexpected way through the usage of counter representation. Eyre and Alexie created a film where Native American characters presented stereotypes that were aimed towards them.This gave them the opportunity to liberate themselves. As a result the film was used to express that as a people, Native Americans were beyond the labels, words, and actions that were intended to culturally, socially, psychologically disfranchise them.

One of the stereotypes that is actively challenged in Smoke Signals, is that of the “Noble Savage”. The Noble Savage is an idealized, one dimensional, and pre-colonial portrayal of Native Americans in Hollywood cinema. According to authorities in Native American cinema such as Chris Eyre and Jesse Wente (Reel Injun), this Hollywood character is spiritual, mystical, free, and passive. They are also strongly attached to nature, have intrinsic hunting abilities, and are a master of justifiable/tactical warfare. This character is also adverse to change and colonialism. According Eyre this character stems from initial depictions of Native Americans. Western audiences were introduced to the Native American culture through Thomas Edison’s early moving pictures. These images introduced audiences to the Laguna Pueblo dance of the Native American Pueblo people. This showed Western audiences a limited representation of Native American culture. Therefore this early audience could only learn from and draw conclusions based on this portrayal the culture and traditions. It is Eyre’s opinion that Hollywood has been recycling and reusing this small way of thinking with regards to how Native groups are depicted within film today. The scene below from Smoke Signals, included dialogue between Thomas and Victor pokes fun of the concept of the Noble Savage.

Hollywood film productions of the 1930s greatly influenced how Native American were portrayed in the media for a very long time. The genre known as westerns was created in order to allow American audiences to feel validated and cope with loss during the Great Depression. The vigilante cowboy character allowed  Caucasian American men to feel empowered during a time when they could not live up to the role placed on them within society. The first Western was entitled Stagecoach. Film maker and critic Jesse Wente deems this western to be the most damaging representation of Native Americans in film and a precursor to the term “savage”. After this many films portrayed Native Americans as antagonists. In the documentary film, Reel Injun, activist Rusell Means recalls a childhood memory of going to the movies with his younger brother during a time when western were all the rave. As a child playing “Cowboys and Indians” came from what young children adapted from film and cartoons. Means recalls him and his brother enduring racial confrontation (being beat up by Caucasian children). Means acknowledges that this treatment was a result of  susceptibility and vulnerability of young minds. The film Smoke Signals makes reference to westerns. Victor is watching what  might be and episode of Stagecoach and Thomas says,“The only thing more pathetic than Indians on TV is Indians watching Indians on TV “, this is a very subtle yet important line.

*As a child I actually watched Bugs Bunny. I recall my Mom actually pointed out a few episodes with comments that were not politically correct. This above clip that I saw while watching Reel Injun was really surprising. It is really interesting how repetitive images, phrases, and depictions of others whether good or bad forces us to make connections and then apply them to our real world.

All in all, the film Smoke Signals is a very contemporary approach towards challenging  stereotypes, politics, racial tensions within the life of Native American youth of the 90s. Outside of challenging stereotypes the film also displayed other important themes such as loss, family, and  friendship. This film also had a strong moral message that resonated with me.

Little Miss Sunshine: A True Underdog Story (Blog Assignment #3)

 

According to director and playwright Samuel Beckett, nothing is funnier than unhappiness. The film Little Miss Sunshine (2006), directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris represents this sentiment. This film explores the classic theme of the underdog. The Hoover family; Richard, Sheryl, Grandpa Edwin, Frank, Dwayne, and Olive all exemplify failing at achieving their (American) dream or holding up to a set social normative in some form or another. We were previous introduced to this idea of characters failing in their pursuit of an object of desire by Žižek. In my opinion the Hoovers represent postmodernist attributes but have a modernist aesthetic in the sense that they value and put emphasis on the family as a central unit. All of the characters challenge the image of the nuclear family rather than the concept of family.

Grandpa Edwin is an eccentric, out spoken, sharp-witted, and fun-loving elder. He demonstrates his love and support towards his two grandchildren by offering them his wisdom. This consists of very direct, yet insightful advice. Among his quotes is the following, “Life is one ***king beauty contest after another…Do what you love and ***k the rest!” This is something that my own grandfather has explained to me on numerous occasions with respect to my decisions in life, minus the swear words of course.

This quote refers to life as a performance. In our day-to-day lives we all wear masks, compete, and conform to standards that are placed upon us by society, our parents, our peers, or even our own selves. This metaphor uses the ideas of glam, pseudo, competitiveness, perfection, and a standard of beauty found within the realm of beauty pageants in order to represent the everyday struggle to obtain the American dream and be a part of the social normative. Grandpa reminds Olive to be her authentic self in spite of everything. While he does not advocate against having goals or striving, he reminds her, not to compromise, to value her family, to be authentic, and of course to do what she loves.

 

 

This film demonstrates many comedic performance traditions. I have chosen to describe how deadpan and bathos are used within this film in order to promote the film’s ideological framework. In the film Dwayne has taken a vow of silence until he is able to attend the Air Force Academy. He is in his teenage years and is undergoing very common attributes of this age such as teenage angst, hormonal changes, and gaining a sense of identity. During this phase he has a hard time relating to his family and feels very alone. Due to the fact that he is unable to speak he uses a notepad in order to communicate with others. His sentiments combined with earnest, and dry delivery makes all of the scenes with him and his notepad very funny. This is an example of deadpan. Dwayne’s efforts represent his pursuit of  a desired object, that he is unable to attain. At this point in the film he does not realize that he is an underdog.

 

The scene in the hospital after the death of Grandpa Edwin is when bathos begins. The Hoover family has just experienced an unexpected loss just before Olive is obligated to perform within a beauty pageant, and while the family is desperately attempting to race against the clock in order for her to qualify. Instead of going through the proper protocol at the hospital which includes filling out hospital paperwork, attaining a death certificate, and making funeral arrangements, Richard decides to steal the body in order for Grandpa to have a proper burial and to go to the beauty pageant. The family works as a team and steals the body then places it in the trunk of the camper-van. It only gets more ridiculous after this. Now that the dead body is in the van, the horn is now honking continuously. The Hoovers are pulled over by a police officer and Richard fails to act inconspicuous. He is asked to open up the trunk revealing the dead body wrapped in sheets. The officer is distracted by Grandpa’s pornographic magazines and decides that since he and Richard have a commonality, Richard will simply get a warning. The police officer then picks up Franks homosexual pornography magazine that is in the same pile and is at a lost for words. He leaves Richard abruptly. The brief encounter with the officer and Richard shows what is the normative vs. what is perceived to challenge the normative.  

The Normal Heart

(2014, directed by Ryan Murphy, starring Mark Ruffalo, Jonathan Groff, Frank De Julio, and Taylor Kitsch)

The Normal Heart is a film that depicts the HIV epidemic in New York of the early 1980s. The lives of HIV advocacy founder Ned weeks, his male lover, and members of his community are explored in order to present the struggle that homosexual men faced within political circles, the workplace, or even in their own neighbourhoods. The film did and still does leave me a bit shocked and uncomfortable for two reasons.  The first reason is that the film was very sexually explicit.  The second reason was the way that symptoms attributed to HIV were shown through various characters. It was very graphic and disturbing. I understand the approach that was used in order to display the human body as valuable and beautiful but at the same time very vulnerable and fragile. Overall the film is very complex and I feel that there were a lot of layers in terms of themes and issues that coincided with each other, making the viewing experience very intense.

Ned Weeks was very passionate about his cause, due to the fact that his colleagues and close friends were affected by HIV. He witnessed many of them go through stages of the illness and attended many funerals. That reality must have brought on feelings of  sadness, emotional numbness, and hopeless. Weeks made a point to speak up in defense of the gay community, however I really could not understand his approach as depicted in the movie. He often sabotaged himself because he did not have the ability to be diplomatic, build rapport, have charisma, and negotiate. His passion was greatly appreciated, however he did not know how to conduct himself around politicians or people who were uncomfortable about his sexual preference, but were in a position to help his cause.

There are various scenes that show him going to conferences and interviews without the consent or knowledge of his advocacy group. He would often make very general and strong statements or initiate verbal battles, that reflected his personal interests rather than that of his community. He was not voted in as president of his own group and he was eventually voted out of the group all together.

In the film Weeks was depicted as someone who had a lot of emotional baggage. It was easy to pick this up when he had discussions with his older brother.  They would discuss their childhood and therapy. I would have been interested in seeing a little more of a story between Weeks and his brother. The scene where Ben took Felix to the hospital and stayed while both Ned and Felix were married by Dr. Emma Brookner, was very powerful. Ben and Ned were reunited and Ned finally received Ben’s acceptance towards his sexual identity and personal choices.

As a learning tool about gender, sexuality, and love this is a very good film choice. Even though as I stated above there are many elements occurring simultaneously in this film, love is a very central and well developed theme.

lo sono l’amore (Blog Assignment #2)

 

 

Within our society we often associate men and women with certain traits and characteristic. This process is referred to as gendering and stereotyping. Men are often stereotyped as competitive, physically imposing, non emotional, and ambitious, while women are often stereotyped as passive, nurturing, accepting, and graceful. The Italian melodrama lo sono l’ amore (2009) distinctively displays gender and stereotypes through the use of characters and their reactions towards the situations that they encounter. Emma Recchi displays all of the above stereotypes associated with women. I will be primarily focusing scenes that display her as accepting, nurturing, and graceful.

The scene where Emma discovers her daughter’s sexual identity, is a clear example of women as accepting. When Emma goes to pick up her daughter Betta’s blazer from the dry cleaners, she is made aware that something was left in one of the pockets. Emma reaches in to discover a love letter with a CD, from another young woman. She reads the sentiments carefully and imagines the young women together, in an attempt to fully understand the relationship. Emma tells her husband that she knows  that Betta does not love her boyfriend and will not marry him. This indicates that she is fully aware and has accepted her daughter’s stance. Additionally when Betta returns home both her mother, Emma and her grandmother meet up with her to take her home. Emma seems a bit reluctant as she examines her daughter’s short hair and makeup-less face. This affirms her view of physical stereotypes attributed to lesbianism. She is processing the fact that her daughter has just graduated from university and has chosen to be a lesbian. These are two defining moments of Betta’s young adulthood. Finally Emma and Betta hug each other lovingly, which displays Emma’s acceptance and unconditional love for her daughter.

Once Emma and Betta are alone, Betta confides her sexual identity to her mother. This scene displays the stereotype of women as nurturers.  In response, Emma caresses Betta’s hair, and tells her that her girlfriend is very beautiful. She continues to have a loving and motherly conversation with Betta. They both agree to not share the new revelation with Tancredi, Betta’s Father.

Gracefulness is modeled through Emma’s posture, open movements, and flowing gestures throughout the film. During the final dinner scene Emma displays both grace and confidence through the way that she is dressed and her purposeful movements. She rushes down the staircase in a very beautiful and flowing gown, in order to kiss Antonio discreetly and then return to the party unnoticed. The camera moves with her in order to capture her gracefulness and the natural swaying of her gown as she moves swiftly and excitedly to share a moment with her lover.

 

The film’s dramatic love story and central characters are used to explore political themes such as class dynamics, gender, and sexuality. The Recchi family is a wealthy Italian family that owns a textile factory. Emma Recchi pursues a relationship with a young and struggling chef named Antonio. In A Pervert’s Guide to Idealogy, Žižek describes this type of affair, where people from the upper class have relationships with those of the lower class in order to re-authenticate themselves. These relationships are not very serious and enduring because they are based on lust and impulse. Emma leaves her family in order to be with Antonio. The film ends with the two of them laying in a small ditch inside of a cave. This brings the concept of Plato’s allegory of the cave to mind, which leaves us to wonder about the seriousness and authenticity of this relationship.

Additionally gender is explored through the usage of hyperfemininity and hypermasculinity. This is where males and females express stereotypes and norms that are attributed to their gender in a conscious, deliberate, and even dramatic way. It is clear that Emma is expected to be, and therefore acts, very feminine.  The same can be said for Tancredi with respect to his masculinity. Both Edoardo and Betta defy gender stereotypes because neither of them display a strong sense of “maleness” or “femaleness”. Edoardo is a heterosexual male who is seen as weak, clumsy, naive, and effeminate. Betta is gay and is seen as independent, strong, free spirited, and dominate.

Lastly sexuality is explored through Betta’s lesbianism. This conflicts with the family image, tradition, and values. Her relationship is not responsible for it, but is a part of events that take place in order to show deconstruction of and change within their family structure.

American Beauty (Blog Assignment #1)

In A Pervert’s Guide to Idealogy, Žižek supports a modernist viewpoint that includes normative dominant ideologies such as master narratives of history, culture, national identity, the nuclear family, realism, structure, the pursuit of success, and the attainment of wealth, mass culture, broadcast media, and the dichotomy of high and low culture. The film American Beauty, critiques the modernist viewpoint and displays the collapse of what is “normal” within monotonous suburban society (simulated world). The film utilizes characters that fall into modernists, postmodernists, and neutral categories. They constantly interact with each other and affect each others lives, in both a positive and negative way, using their own ideology in order to support their choices. In the film American Beauty, a specific modernist ideology that is challenged is the nuclear family. The Burnham family which consist of Lester, Carolyn, and Jane represents the collapse of the nuclear family in more ways than one. Their relationship displays the fragility of the family structure. In order to prove my point I will use Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) as an example.

Lester represents a postmodernist, and some may argue that he goes from being a modernist to becoming a postmodernist as the movie progresses. I believe that Lester has always been a postmodernist who displays modernists attributes in public due to a sense of obligation (metatheatricality). This is why he has depression, a mid-life crisis, and begins to use drugs. This signifies a conflicting identity which is a dominantly postmodernist attribute. Lester challenges the structure the nuclear family. I believe that he is merely a physical and visual depiction used in order to portray the Burnhams as a nuclear family. He displays selfish behavior, irresponsibility, and inappropriate desires.

Lester is emotionally, and socially unavailable to both his wife and daughter. He is physically unavailable to his wife, forcing her to seek physical gratification through means of an affair. His daughter needs Ricky in her life in order to give a her a sense of confidence that her Father was not able to provide. Lester also regresses to a state of a teenager in order to cope with his dissatisfaction with his own life. Lastly he begins buying weed from Ricky who is teenager and quits his job, that helps to support his family financially, in order to work at a fast food restaurant. These are all very selfish and self-serving acts.

Lester is also very irresponsible. For some reason his feelings, wants, and desire become more important than the well-being of his family. We all struggle with modern and postmodern attributes in the way we regard family. While I don’t totally agree with Carolyn’s “act” in order to portray success at all times, I think that as people who are part of a family, we are responsible to conduct ourselves in a certain way. Member of families represent each other, and out of respect must work together in order to attain goals, maintain a strong foundation within the family structure, and maintain  healthy family relationships. Lester goes from a job in the media to a fast food restaurant, when his wife has a job that relies on her image, and her daughter is struggling with her image. This puts both Carolyn and Jane is an odd place socially, when their reputation/image is what is what their survival depends on.

In addition to being selfish and irresponsible, Lester has very inappropriate lustful fantasies towards a sixteen year old girl. Lester clearly demonstrates Žižek’s idea that, “Cinema is the ultimate pervert art. It doesn’t give you what you desire – but tells you how [what] to desire.” Additionally Žižek explains that fantasies are easy ways to cope with life, rather than confronting reality. Lester has daydreams of his teenage daughter’s friend Angela, where she is naked and covered by rose petals that continue to rain down on her. The rose petals (saturated image) act as a motive that reappears every time he begins to fantasize about Angela. Lester’s daydreams begin to distract and influence his everyday life (hyperreality). He begins to work out in order to make himself appear more attractive, hoping to make his fantasy a reality. Lester has a sixteen year old daughter and does not consider how he would feel if an older man felt the same way about his her. This situation represents manifestation of desire, chase, and the inability to achieve the dream. It also shows Lester as a poor example of the Father role within a nuclear family.

Django Unchained

(2012, directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, and Leonardo DiCaprio)

“I wanted to explore slavery…give black American males a hero…and revenge. ” – Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino is know for his distinct directorial style that features various Tarantino trademarks. These identifiable components include extreme and excessive usage of violence often accompanied by pulsating music, satire, a strong female lead, use of a select group of actors (ex. Uma Thurman and Samuel Jackson), and a cameo appearance within the film. The film Django Unchained, was released in 2012, and contains a few of these signature trademarks such as violence, pulsating music, satire, Samuel Jackson, and a cameo appearance. Tarantino created this film with the purpose of creating a film that provided a form of catharsis for African American men.

The movie explored the American Slave Trade and the idea of what would occur if a character similar to that of Shaft, existed back then. What qualities would the ideal black superhero of that time period possess and look like ?

… Enter Django the African American, gun slinging, sharp shooting, cowboy.

The film is the center of controversy due to its portrayal of slavery, use of the derogatory word “nigger”, extreme levels of violence, and how the content was satirized.

Portrayal of Slavery

• Life on the plantation was depicted as relaxed in some cases. On the plantation belonging to Spencer “Big Daddy” Bennett, a select group of slave women were shown wearing nice dresses, chattering among themselves, and enjoying a sunny afternoon on swings while other slaves toiled in cotton fields. I believe that this contrast existed in order to educate the audience about types of slave, for example house and field slaves.

• As slave owners both Bennett and Calvin Candie seemed way too “familiar” with the slaves. In the film both of these slave owners were regarded as wealthy and ruthless but other than their wealth, they seemed very relaxed. The acted as if they were simply victims of societal norms of the time (slavery and white dominance) and were simply following the rules. If it was not for slavery, perhaps everyone would be friends.

• The relationship between Calvin and Stephen and between Dr. Shultz and Django are fairly similar. In the relationship between Calvin and Stephen, it is Stephen who is ultimately in control. He says whatever he pleases, challenges and mocks Calvin’s “authority”, manages the other slaves, assumes a position of authority that Calvin acknowledges, and is treated as an equal among the other white characters on Calvin’s plantation. In the relationship between Dr. Shultz and Django, it is Django who openly challenges Dr. Shultz, maintains his own sense of self regardless of any suggestions made, and contributes his opinions towards important decisions that must be made. In both cases there is a dynamic where both of the black characters are leading their white counterparts, to believe that they are fully in charge. They boost their egos, and submit themselves to the social laws of the time period but in truth it is truly them (the black men) who are in charge.

• There was a point made during the class discussion where a student spoke of the relationship between Django and Shultz , as a slave and master relationship. Shultz was referred to as the “white savior”. I saw the relationship as an objective business transaction. Shultz and Django both wanted something and needed each other in order to get it. They used the guise of slavery, and race in order to calculatingly achieve their own desires.

The “n” Word

• This film is criticized for the repetitive usage of the word nigger (110 times). During slavery the “n” word and various other words were used in order to reinforce and ingrain feelings of sub-humanness within the slaves. Passages from the bible were also read in order to justify slavery and to condemn them as a people, by attempting to prove that they were rejected by God.The idea that God the Father in heaven, did not love them, created them to be slaves, thought of them as he did animals, and made them to be disadvantaged is heart breaking. I believe that the usage of the “n” word is very appropriate for the time period that the movie is attempting to portray. It is a very small verbal device that was used to mentally ensnare the slaves along with the great injustices and cruelty that was inflicted upon them. In no way was Tarantino attempting to recreate the film entitled Roots (1977, directed by Alex Haley). The “n” word displayed a very small part of the overall injustice. This is why it was played up and used within this film along with a variety of other aspects to create a well put together pastiche art form.

Extreme Levels of Violence

• Within this movie there are extreme levels and excessive usage of violence. As pointed out during the class discussion that immediately followed the film, the white characters died in over the top circumstances, Django was able to defeat large groups without sustaining any injuries (the slave masters are very unskilled with guns), and the victims often lost large amounts of blood that gushed everywhere. The black characters died in more realistic but grotesquely cruel ways. In death,Tarantino portrayed slaves as human, who bled and died as humans do while the white overseers were sub-human, with ketchup red blood bursting from their veins.

Awkward Satirical Moments

• I felt very strange laughing during the scene that displayed the early stages of the creation of the KKK. My laughter came from a place that coincided with Tarantino’s overall intention for this film but for myself (a woman). As of now, I feel that comedy being used in order to introduce the KKK in the film is very strange. I have conflicting feelings towards that scene.

A Pervert’s Guide to Ideology

(2012, directed by Sophie Fiennes, written and presented by Slavoj Žižek)

In this documentary film, philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Žižek presents various ideologies such as modernism, postmodernism, Marxism, fascism, communism, consumerism, capitalism, and religion. He critically examines periods throughout history that reflect these ideologies in order to demonstrate the strengths, weaknesses, intentions, and vulnerability of our social, economic, and political fabric. Innovation, acceptance, change, revolts, and opposition towards a particular ideology resulted in great wars, famines, genocides, the rise and fall of the economy, industrialization, urbanization, and the distinctions within the social class. The result of these defining moments still linger within the world of today.

Žižek was able to demonstrate how these ideologies are subtly or overtly perpetuated, reflected, satirized, or challenged within films. He used various films,dating as far back as 1935 and slowly made his way towards films of the 21st century, in order to isolate scenes that supported his argument. While he discussed ideology as a foundation, he also discussed themes as pillars. Some themes included forbidden love between the higher and lower class, the “mask”  worn in order to appease others, and the justification of lies in the case that the truth is too strong. The movies used to portray these themes were A Brief Encounter (1945), Titanic (1997), and The Dark Knight (2008).

While I was shocked by many of the vague, general, harsh, or at times racist remarks made in the film, there are three main concepts that I was able to take away from viewing this documentary.

There is always a crisis…

Towards the end of the film, Žižek stated that the world is in a constant crisis. This idea is supported by the media; newspaper, news, and radio. There is always a disharmonious issue for example a political disagreement, a tragic death,war, natural disaster, job loss, and fluctuation within the stock market. Whether these issues are local, regional, provincial, or international, there is always an issue somewhere. With this in mind he always spoke of the idea of an ongoing cycle that includes circulation, reproduction, and accumulation. According to Žižek anything can be sacrificed in order to comply with the above mentioned cycle. The idea was interesting to me because is demonstrated that the earth is a self preserving force, the world/society continues with or without us, and that as people, we are resilient.

Starbucks…

The concept of consumerism was discussed by using  the popular Starbucks Chain as an example. Starbucks consumers pay higher prices for organic fair trade certified coffee, premium tea, pastries, and other delectable products. The higher price allows for a small portion of money from every purchase to contribute towards the purchase of the organic coffee. The organic coffee comes from various coffee plantations around the world, for example Mexico, Costa Rica and Rwanda. Coffee plantations and the fair trade initiative enables environmental sustainability, job security, and economic opportunities for farmers in impoverished areas. Starbucks consumers can proudly boast that their money contributes towards a greater cause and has a global impact. This is a win-win situation for both the supplier and the consumer.

Conscious and unconscious viewing (brain washing)…

The idea that as viewer we do not realize that while we watch film in order to be entertained, we are being exposed to various symbols, advertisement, themes, and ideologies. Some of these images go unnoticed because they simply reinforce what we believe or what we expect. Some images may challenge our beliefs and teach, disgust, or offend us. In some cases we may also be desensitized by certain images. It is important to be aware of what and why, we are watching.