April 20, 1999

Announcements:  There will be two review sessions:  Thursday, April 29 from 7 - 8:30 and Friday, april 30 from 1- 2:30.     They are both held in 113 Carnegie.  The final is Friday, May 7 from 4:40 - 6:30.

Lecture Notes:

I.  The French New Wave

• Arose in direct opposition to a preceding movement
• Prior to this, films were tradition bound:
• through the idea of "cinema of quality," director's role as interpreter of the movie was minimized
• influenced by Hollywood studio system - assembly line style of film making
• With the French New Wave, the director was considered the author of the film
• French elevated movies to fine art

II.  The Auteur Theory

• The director was the "author" of the film
• Each director put a certain stamp on their films
• Raised studio system films to level of high art

III.  The Redefinition of the Traditional Film Canon

• American films could constitute their own canon as works of high art
• Redefined acceptable characteristics of film making

IV.  America Discovers its Cinematic Past

    A.  The Rise of Film Schools

• Grew out of English departments
• Film could be studied the same way as literary text
• American films were worthy of artistic appreciation

• New pool of talent came out of  the film schools with education on the tradition of films
• Older directors were retiring
• Younger directors stepped in and made films about their own generation (baby-boomers)
• They were known as the film school generation
• Most of their films paid homage to older generation directors and New Wave directors

V.  The Art of Allusion

• Pastiche - the language of film was taken as far as it could go.  There was nothing new to do in the movies
• The high art of the New Wave merged with low-budget exploitation films

• Body Double
• draws upon high art through the use of montage
• movie about porno industry, which was considered the subject matter of exploitation films
• Rear Window
• associational montage
• see character's thought processes

• The 400 Blows
• directed by French director, Trouffeau
• about a young man in a reformatory who escapes and runs to the edge of the ocean
• Uses freeze frame, which was a new style at this time
• This style shows the character's sense of uncertainty with nowhere left to run
• Goodfellas
• High art technology of freeze frame in a low-art context, gangster film
• Form of pastiche - pays homage to Trouffeau
• In this case, the use of freeze frame does not really say anything about the character

MOVIE:  E. T.

    A UFO has landed in the forest and the aliens that have emerged from it are roaming around taking plants and vegetation back to the UFO.  When a group of men stumble upon one of the aliens, it runs towards the UFO but does not make it back before it lifts off.

    A young boy, Elliott, goes outside of his house and hears something in the shed.  He runs back in the house to tell his family, but when they check it out, they don't see anything.  In the middle of the night, Elliott goes back and out and finds the alien in the cornfield.  They both freak out and the alien runs away.    His family doesn't believe him when he tells them the story.  He says his dad would believe him.  (The parents are divorced and the father is in Mexico with a girlfriend).  Elliott goes back to the forest and leaves a trail of Reeses Pieces for the alien.

    That night, Elliott sleeps outside in hopes of seeing the alien.  He wakes up when he hears the alien coming towards him, holding the Reeses Pieces.  He takes it into the house and up to his room.  The alien mimics everything Elliott does.  Meanwhile, men are at the site of the UFO landing searching for clues.

    The next day, Elliott fakes being sick so he doesn't have to go to school.  He shows the alien all of the stuff in his room.  Elliott shows his brother, Michael, and little sister, Gertie, the alien.  He makes them promise not to tell their mom.

    One day, at the bus stop, some kids are making fun of Elliott about his "goblin."  He tells them his goblin really did come back, but he's actually a space man.  While Elliott is at school, the alien goes down to the kitchen and starts drinking some beer.  He starts running into things and falls over because he is drunk.  At the same time, Elliott falls out of his chair.  He gets sent home from school for acting drunk.

    Gertie teaches the alien how to talk.  He tells her to "Be good."  When Elliott gets home, they name him E. T.  E. T. points out the window and says, "E. T. phone home."

    The "alien-hunters" learn that E. T. is at Elliott's house, so they wire it and listen in on the conversations going on in the house.  They hear Michael and Elliott giving E. T. supplies so he can make a radar to phone home.

    On Halloween, they dress up E. T. as a ghost.  Their mom thinks that the ghost is Gertie.  They ride (and fly) their bikes to the forest where they will set up the radar.  When it gets late, and they're still not home, Elliott's mom drives off to look for him.  When she leaves, the alien-hunters enter the house to look for E. T.

    The next day, Elliott wakes up in the forest, but E. T. is not with him.  He goes home and tells Michael this.  So, Michael hops on his bike to go look for E. T.  He finds him passed out in a creek.  Michael brings him back to the house, where their mom sees him for the first time.  Elliott and E. T. are both really sick.  At this point, the alien-hunters totally invade the house.    Michael explains to them that Elliott can feel E. T.'s feelings.  The men turn the house into a pseudo-hospital.  As E. T.'s condition declines, Elliott starts to get better.

    The next morning, the doctors declare E. T. dead and pack him in ice.  Elliott is given some time alone with him.  When he tells E. T. he loves him, E. T.'s heart lights up and he starts saying, "E. T. phone home."  Elliott doesn't want the doctors to know he's alive.  He tells Michael and they steal the van that holds E. T.'s body.  They drive to the playground where some nehgborhood kids are waiting on their bikes.  They ride off towards the forest with the police and scientists in hot pursuit.  They make it to the forest without getting caught.  The UFO is just arriving to take E. T. home.  He asks Elliott to come with him and Elliott asks him to stay.  E. T. says, "I'll be right here" before getting in the UFO.  When the UFO takes off, it leaves a rainbow trail.