A short essay for my Film Theory and Criticism Class The 1956 French short film classic “The Red Balloon” (Le ballon rouge) features a tender drama with a fine touch of flight of fancy. Its subdued setting features a lot of grays, suggesting the depressing quality of the film’s mood and tone, which is then contrasted with the blazing red balloon in mid air. This post-war motion-picture classic written and directed by Albert Lamorisse features a seemingly cynical world that turns magical
Film Analysis
‘Hedgehog in the Fog’ Short Film Critique: The Phantasm of Venturing Into the Unknown
A short essay for my Film Theory and Criticism Class The 1975 short animated film “Hedgehog in the Fog” (Yozhik v tumane) by Yuri Norstein offers an amalgam of terror and pleasure using the phantasm of venturing into the unknown. This evocative work of imagination features the journey of a hedgehog one evening to see his bear cub friend. As he travels in the foggy forest, he encounters many scary things that eventually become transformative moments of wonder. This 11-minute Russian
‘Tango’ Short Film Critique: Overlapping Routines as a Collective Ritual
A short essay for my Film Theory and Criticism Class Filmmaker Zbigniew Rybczyński presents his critically acclaimed 1981 Polish short film “Tango” as a rhythmic play set in a stage that gradually progresses. It begins with a vaguely minimalist room where there are three points of entrance and exit: two doors and a window. These points become the gateways of a plethora of characters that initially starts with easily recognizable parts until each one’s repetitive acts create layer after layer of
(Omnibus Paper) Media and information literacy in 10 films and TV shows
An omnibus paper for my Media Information and Literacy class identifying how media literacy was applied on each of the viewed audio-visual material (how each concept/principle/proposition of media literacy was illustrated in each assigned film/TV show) 1. “Beauty in a Bottle” This 2014 satirical comedy by Antoinette Jadaone follows the story of three different women with a common struggle relating to their physical insecurities. Their lives intertwine somehow through the craze for a new beauty product as one of them works
(Response Paper) David Bordwell: The Blurred Line Separating Art Cinema with Classical Hollywood Cinema
In response to: The David Bordwell essay “The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice” from the journal “Film Criticism” A response paper for my Advanced Film Theory and Criticism class In the essay “The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice,” American film theorist and film historian David Bordwell primarily discussed how art cinema can be considered as a distinct mode of film practice by comparing it to classical narrative cinema (which can be traced to studio feature filmmaking in Hollywood since
(Response Paper) Laura Mulvey: The Women as Element of Spectacle in the Patriarchal Order
In response to: The Laura Mulvey essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” from the journal “Screen” A response paper for my Advanced Film Theory and Criticism class In the essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey objectively examined the roots of woman’s oppression in cinema using the socially established interpretation of sexual difference which controls images, including the erotic ways of looking at spectacle, as applied in films. She looked into the language of patriarchy using the tools provided by psychoanalysis, offering
(Response Paper) Elizabeth Spelman: Centuries of a Woman’s Body as a Gift and as a Curse
In response to: The Elizabeth Spelman essay “Woman as Body: Ancient Contemporary Views” from the journal “Feminist Studies” A response paper for my Advanced Film Theory and Criticism class I find philosopher Elizabeth Spelman’s “Woman as Body: Ancient Contemporary Views” as an eye-opening essay. It helped me better understand the oppression of women through the centuries, while making me realize the importance of really knowing iconic figures in history more than the popular accounts about them. This becomes of extreme importance in the case of
(Response Paper) Ideology, Reality, and the Apparatus Film Theory with Jean-Louis Baudry
In response to: The Jean-Louis Baudry essay “The Apparatus: Metapsychological Approaches to the Impression of Reality in Cinema” from the Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen book “Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings” A response paper for my Advanced Film Theory and Criticism class In this essay “The Apparatus: Metapsychological Approaches to the Impression of Reality in Cinema,” French psychoanalytic film theorist Jean-Louis Baudry asserted that cinema is, by nature, ideological. This is because films are created to represent reality and the mechanics
(Response Paper) Cinema and Ideology with Jean-Luc Comolli and Jean Narboni
In response to: The Jean-Luc Comolli and Jean Narboni essay “Cinema/Ideology/Criticism” from the journal “Screen” A response paper for my Advanced Film Theory and Criticism class This essay entitled “Cinema/Ideology/Criticism” by French writers Jean-Luc Comolli and Jean Narboni started with an introduction of the pioneering French film magazine Cahiers du Cinema, offering a general overview of its objectives, goals, and ideology. It also presented the perennial question “What is film?” and “What is cinema?” – questions that continue to linger around many
(Response Paper) The Mythology of Roland Barthes: Studying the Semiological Nature of Myth
In response to: The section “Myth Today” from the book “Mythologies" by Roland Barthes A response paper for my Advanced Film Theory and Criticism class In reading French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician Roland Barthes’ “Myth Today” from his book “Mythologies,” I found myself more open to the nature of cinema as a theoretical discussion. In presenting the groundwork for semiology and its relationship to myth, I got to the starting point of examining current forms of existence and revealing the ideological