April 22, 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:

Continuation of Tuesday's notes

    C.  Vertigo, Jaws, Zoom In/Track Out Shot

• Vertigo
• Hitchcock movie about a crazy guy
• The use of the zoom in/track out shot gives a visual metaphor for the character's state of mind
• Jaws
• Pastiche for Hitchcock
• The same shot is used, but it has no effect on the narrative of the movie

VI.  "The Failure of the New"

    A.  Incoherence, Schizophrenia, Taxi Driver

• A New York City taxi driver becomes a vigilante to clean up the streets
• He thinks he can make everything okay, but he's really just insane
• The central character has no real objectives to drive the plot forward
• The audience is clueless as to the point of the movie and distances itself from the character
• Film comments upon the state of American identity at the time
• The taxi driver is a sort of Western hero, but he is really just insane
• who was good and who was bad?

VII.  The Reagan Era:  Comfort, Comics, and Nostalgia

• The films that made the most money were innocent, avoided the tensions of the 70s
• The audience is encouraged to assume a level of innocence and to believe in make-believe
• Return to a simpler time, where good was good and bad was bad
• The use of special effects causes us to suspend our disbelief in other worlds in order to believe the simpler depiction of the world in the movie
• Special effects tend to be emphasized at the expense of character and plot development

• A christ-like alien, ET, comes to Earth and redeems an American family
• Romanticizes the restoration of nuclear family through a father figure
• References to Disney style films  i.e.  the spaceship leaves a rainbow in its wake

• Supposed to believe in the redemption of a young man's innocence
• A kind old man takes a young deciphle on mission of redemption
• Film brings out the child in everyone
• Clearly defines good vs. bad