April 15, 1999

Announcements:

Lecture Notes:

Continuation of April 13 notes:

    B.  Explicit Violence

• Filming violent scenes through slow motion photography forces the viewer to contemplate the brutality of the act
• Use of violence justifies Vietnam War
• In Bonnie and Clyde, the film leads us to believe that Clyde's sexual inadequacy leads him to violence
• Police are considered evil, we identify with Bonnie and Clyde

V.  The Counter-culture B-Movie:  Easy Rider (1969)

• Example of an exploitation film
• Draws upon conventions of European art film
• The film reduces the idea of the counterculture rebellion
• Classic line:  "We blew it." --- the counterculture was destined to unravel

• The shot lasts a long time
• In Easy Rider, the shot plays against the grain of the narrative
• The shot normally implies a sense of wholeness, unity
• In this film, there was no unity, the kids will ultimately return to suburban life

• We did not see the feminine movement on screen
• Hollywood still portrayed women in movies as prostitutes, or mothers, etc.
• Clute
• Clute is a detective investigating a murder and falls in love with a prostitute
• She decides to settle in with him in a small town and become a homemaker

VII.  Blaxploitation:  Stereotypes or Heroes?

• Attempt to cater to the movie tastes of young, urban, blacks
• With suburbanization, urban theaters were shutting down
• Films reacted against sanitary image of blacks in previous movies (ex.  Sidney Portier)
• Offers liberated view of the black male
• Movies made by white filmmakers, but stereotyped black males
• Shaft
• About a man with one foot in white, mainstream culture, and the other foot in the counter-culture goings on in Harlem
• He is a mediator between the two cultures

VIII.  Counter cultural Confusion:  Gimme Shelter (1971)

• Through documentary film making, audience gets true reality and finds fundamental truth in the objects being filmed
• This movie captures on camera the murder of a young black man at a Rolling Stones concert at Altamont Speedway
• Reveals the Stones' guilt about the murder
• The counter-culture is unraveling

IX.  The Counterculture's Demise:  One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

• Movie stars Jack Nicholson, who had been catapulted into fame after Easy Rider
• Film laments the death of the counterculture
• Prison style film portrays central character as christ-like martyr
• Nicholson's fellow patients are his "deciphles"

X.  The Counterculture Goes Yuppie:  The Big Chill:  (1983)

• Counter culture expressed through nostalgia
• A group of college friends get together for the funeral of one of their friends and reminisce about their college days