Feminist Theory - The Incredibles

Feminist Theory

               Feminist film theory is a theoretical film criticism derived from feminist politics and feminist theory. It was started in 1920s in looking of women’s expression of her own subjectivity. Feminist view film as a culture practices that representing the myths about femininity and masculinity. Feminist film theory was started as a social movement. The early period of feminist theory and criticism was reflected at the stereotyped representation of women in classic Hollywood film. This stereotyped symbol of women in classic Hollywood had a negative effect on female spectators due to the fixed and infinitely repeated images of women in cinemas as objectionable distortions. Soon, there was a call for a more positive representation of women in Hollywood cinema by change the underlying structures in film. However, it is not enough to drive towards a more positive representation of women in the cinema because women representation in cinema was constructed from the male’s perspective. Back to the point, feminism is a set of political practices that analyses the social or historical position of women as subordinated, oppressed or exploited in dominant modes of production or by social relations of male domination. Therefore, in this essay, I would like to discuss about the theme explored in feminist theory and the discussion of feminist theory in the film The Incredible. 

               Feminist theory aims to understand gender inequality and focuses on gender politics, power relations and sexuality in providing an analysis of these social and political relations, and much focuses on the promotion of women’s right and interests. I would like to discuss one of the themes that explored feminist theory which is discrimination. Discrimination is a consideration of making a distinction in against a person based on the group, class, gender or a category which that person is perceived belongs to rather than on individual merit. It is a term in explaining the rejection of the usual look or convention that found in the reality. A typical example of a discrimination study argued that social, psychological and behavioral traits were caused by metabolic state.  In a sense of women supposedly conserve energy and this makes them passive, conservation, sluggish, stable and uninterested in politics. However, men expend their surplus energy and this makes them eager, energetic, passionate, variable and thereby interested in political and social matters. These biological facts give us a concept of the behavioral differences between women and men and also generalizing of the people’s perspective about the typical women which is weak, powerless, independence and etc. This creates gender imbalances and leaves room for systemic bias between the genders. For instances, there could be a claim that women is refused to become a hero to save the world as the people in the past generation would not accept it due to their negative perspective toward to women and also the dominance of men in social systems. An unfair discrimination usually follows the gender stereotyping held by a society. However, in the contemporary era, an obvious observation found from the society to advocate the gender equality in the society through the film. For an instance, a female superhero that save the world; a female spy or agent, or even a female villains to show her power and etc.  Therefore, it is a kind of satisfaction to see the progression of women position in the standing equally with the men in the context of film. 

               The Incredibles is a 2004 American animated superhero film written and directed by Brad Bird and produced by Pixar Animation Studios. The story started with Bob Parr a.k.a Mr. Incredible and his wife Helen a.k.a Elastigirl who are the world’s greatest famous crime-fighting superheroes in Metroville. But fifteen years later, they have been forced to adopt civilian identities and retreat to the suburbs where they have no choice but to retire as superheroes and live a “normal life”. They have their three children which is Violet, Dash and Jack-jack and they all have their own superpowers. In a sudden, Bob gets his chance when a mysterious communication summons him to an island for a top secret assignment. He soon discovers the conspiracy behind the villains and his family helps in rescuing the world from a total destruction.  

               A superhero film was usually featured around a dominant male superhero that solve obstacle and rescue the world. However, The Incredibles animated superhero film has reject the usual convention of a superhero film by bringing out positive representation of female characters in the film. For an instance, Helen, as known as Elasticgirl, has the superpower of elasticity. She is a family oriented woman who decided to protect their family in order to stay normal like a human without the superpower. One day, she realized her husband might in danger. Then, she successfully rescues her husband with her daughter and son. In this case, we can see how dependent Helen is in deciding how to rescue her husband, Mr. Incredibles from danger. As we can see this is another convention of a superhero film where a female able to plan and make decision to take action on saving someone. But not just center about how dominant is the male in saving the world. This film shows a different perspective of women in rejecting the convention of stereotyped representation of women in classic Hollywood film. It was a successful call for showing a more positive representation of women in film. 

               Besides, in study at feminism in films, we can observe the various female representations in the film and compare them, yet seeking out the final resolution of the “preferred” female representation. In this film, a few female characters have shown their differences traits and characteristic about the contemporary women. For instances, Helen, the Elastic girl, who is family oriented, strong, dominant, independent and more, able to take good care of the family and rescue her husband when he is in danger. Next, Violet, a shy, obedient girl that has lack of confident in doing things and a good follower to her mother, Elastic girl. She has the superpower of invisible, which reflects her own personalities of shy and no confidences in facing the peoples. However, she successful walks through from her inner shades and gains back her confidents after some incidents. From these characters in the film, we concluded that the film shows how women able to have their own decision making in their life without any control from the male. The contemporary women able to decide what to do and what to change for themselves without any kind of distraction from men or society. Women started  to think independently and free decision making in their life such as Helen able to make her decision in saving her husband from danger. 

               In a nut shell, women deserve the right in being equality treated in the film. It can be a question to the society on how women became in this contemporary era. It gives the critics the querying the reflection of the society or vice versa that we can seek out the ideological and social construction of women in films or societies.

Breathless - French New Wave

               In the late 1950s, French New Wave was emerged and it is an important moment in film history even though they are not considered as a film movement. French New Wave is a term refers to films made by a new generation of French filmmakers which were low-budget and went against the literary period pieces being made in France in the 1950s. This group of new generation of French filmmakers were desired to shoot more current social issues on location. Their intention of experiment with the film form which engaged with the social and political upheavals of the era, with the radical experiments of editing, visual style and narration. French new wave was explained as a motion against the traditional French cinema, which was more literature than cinema. Significantly, it was a radical sense of change in cinema that trickles around the globe. In this essay, I would like to discuss some characteristics and traits used in the film “Breathless” which is one of the famous French New Wave film in the history. 

               The French New wave gave birth to such ideas as jump cuts, unimportant of linear structure, discontinuous editing and etc. During that era, the filmmakers have limited budget and equipment can be used during the filmmaking process. In the context of social and economic troubles of post-World War II France, French New Wave technique is the issue of money and production value. The cost of making the film was a major concern. Thus, efforts to save film turned into stylistic innovation. The cinematic styling of French New Wave film brought a fresh look to cinema with improvised dialogue, rapid changes of scene and shots that broke the common camera rules such as 180 degree axis of camera movement, three point camera and etc. Most of the camera techniques used in the French New Wave was not to mesmerize the audiences with elaborate narrative and illusory images, but it is used as a convention to play with audience’s expectations. Besides, the new wave also the invention and use of jump cut. The jump cut is when a scene cut forward in time, whether by a split second or many seconds. The action is linked and relevant with the next scene so that audiences can understand and expect what is happening in the middle of the jump cut. For an example, a gun pointed to a man, but what the viewer sees is the gun being pointed then there is a jump cut to other character failing over. Then, the audience able to assume the man has shot another man. Next, other traits can be found in new wave cinema was the largely use of closely ups and a lack of establishing shots. The filmmakers were not as concerned about establishing spatial and contextual relationship as they were about the mise-en-scene. A viewer was supposed to feel the setting, not necessarily see it. Lastly, the new wave style has borrowed many techniques from the neo-realists as the new wave filmmakers often used handheld cameras to shoot on location. The cameras techniques used were cheap and quick which give a less static and structured feel of the shot. 

               Breathless is a 1960 French film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard. It is starring with Michel, a youthful criminal who steal a car in Marseille and shot a policeman in dead. Then, he runs from the police. He falls in love with an American named Patricia, a student and aspiring journalist who sells the New York Herald Tribune on the streets of Paris. Patricia hides him in her apartment as he simultaneously tries to seduce her and call in a loan to fund their escape to Italy. Patricia says she is pregnant and most probably is Michel’s. She notices that Michel is on the run when questioned by the police. Eventually, she betrays him, but before the police arrive she tells Michel about this. He is somewhat resigned to a life in prison and does not try to escape at first. The police shoot him in the street end, after a long run, he dies out of breath. 

               In this film Breathless, a few traits of French New Wave can be recognized. Firstly, the use of the jump cut. Jump cut was used in the film in order to cut forward in time of the action so that the audiences can understand the linked action of the scene yet the filmmakers can skip the particular action. For an example, when Michel shoots the police who has followed him onto a country home. Throughout the whole scene, the audiences only see the gun being pointed to the police then come with a jump cut to the police failing over. Audiences can still understand the action of the scene with the use of jump cut editing. Next, in the film Breathless, we can recognized a lot of close ups shots were used and lack of establishing shots used. For an instances, in the opening shot of the Breathless, the shot was focus on Michel’s newspaper as he is holding up, a close up of an ad showing a cartoon woman wearing undergarments that is pulled down to reveal the face of our main character. However, the audiences can’t see the establishing shot of the seen. Then followed by a series of cut, mismatches shot and random sound design, and these all concluded that has rejected the way of traditional continuity editing. Lastly, most of the shot in the film Breathless are using handheld to shoot. For instances, in the end of the film as the Michel is run away from the police, the whole scene was shot by handheld and the audiences can see the shakiness and unsteady shot of the scene. 

               The French new wave was to be the most important film movement of the 20^th century. Without it existence, the film would not be free, open or experimental for today. They give a new identity to the film where they stand up for their own designed art form and differ from the others. Therefore, French New Wave is still implementing in the era, not the technique, yet is the idea of experimenting behind these filmmakers.  

              

              

Italian Neorealism

            Italian neorealism is a style of film movement that characterized by stories amongst the poor and the working class to shows the difficult economical and moral conditions of post-World War II Italy. This film movement was lasted from 1942 to 1952. During the World War II, most of the national cinemas were devastated and affected economic stability of the cinema industries. But Italy cinema industries were not affected too much due to their early surrender in War World II. During the period of fascist rule under Mussolini, the type of Italy cinema was being produced was different from the reality and concerned, but only a good image of Italy. The governments had decreed that negativity issues or immorality should not be screen on the cinema. However, some filmmakers took a moral and aesthetic stance against the fascism and the term to explain this style of film is neorealism. Cesare Zavattini was the one of the famous theoretical founders of neorealism in the Italian film industries. So in this essay, we would like to discuss about the characteristics and traits of the Italian Neorealism film movements and also the Italian neorealism film, Bicycle Thief.

            After the fascism, the Italy film industries started to import Hollywood films, rather than helping to re-establish the Italian national cinema. During this period, Italian filmmakers had no financial support, professional actors, and production studios to produce big-budgets films. These came to the point that the Italian neorealist cinematography emerged. Italian neo-realism focused on the immediate reality of social life which we have to look back the historical context of the particular era to understand the kind of societies portrayed after War World II. During the era, the neorealism films were produced without dealing with the issues of history but present, in which ordinary people, events, and situation take places. The used of non-professional actors, on shot location and original used of sound track which give the film a grainy, realistic look of senses that reinforces in its documentary verisimilitude (Hayward, p. 220, 2013). For an example, the uses of professional actors in the film Bicycle Thief was only the one who distribute the job to the others as he has a very good vocal pronunciation and stress on the words which suit the role of the character and which is not an easy performances for a non-professional actor. Therefore, they usually use unprofessional or professional but unknown actors in the films yet the shooting take place on the real life locations which able to preserve a kind of documentary value within the film. 

            Besides, an Italian neorealism was usually emphasizes on a deep-focus shots which the foreground, middleground and background can be seen by the audiences when they watch it. With the conventions of long shots in the mise-en shot of an neorealism film, the audiences can see the same scene for a minute. This convention of this long shots and deep focus shots is to allow the audiences to observe the entirely situation of the scene and understand the relations between the figures on both background and foreground. This gives an illusion of reality to the audiences. So this enhances the audiences experience in the particular timeframe of the film. 

Moreover, the theoretical founder of neorealism in 1942, Cesare Zavattini mentions the new form of Italian Cinema that practice the real people and locations to direct contact with the contemporary social reality of that era. He opposed the classical filmmaking principles of the Hollywood and emphasizes more on the social problems such as inequalities, injustices, unemployment and any related to social conscious issues. It also focused more on daily life stories of ordinary, lower class or under-privileged groups in the society. Next, he also mentioned that film neorealism film is not resembling reality, but turning reality into a version of a story. The film is not the reality of the society but it represents the reality as it totally was. He believes that film was not just function as a serving medium between art and life but a medium that able to possess a moral responsibility to voice out the hidden issues or problem to the public. For an example, people always see Italy as a beautiful country but they have not known the issues portrayed within the country such as unemployment, criminals and more. Therefore, Zavattini’s idea is to establish a communication with the segments of society or public through film. 

One of the famous films in the Italian neorealism film is Bicycle Thief. The story starred with Ricci, an unemployed man in the depressed post-World War II economy of Italy. He able to gets a good job but the condition is he needs a bike to hanging up the posters. Thing goes well as he gets his bicycle by selling some mattress. He started to work. But soon his bicycle is stolen. He and his son walk the streets of Rome, looking for the bicycle. Ricci finally manages to find the thief, but he has no proof to it. On their way home, he steals an unattended bicycle and he gets caught. He gets released as the bicycle owner feels compassion to him. In the end, Bruno and him walk toward the crowd and disappear.  

In the film Bicycle Thief, there are a few elements that can be analysed as a Italian neorealism film. Firstly, the convention of long shot is can be found in the film Bicycle Thief. The long shot used allow the audiences to observe the foreground, background of the scene so that the audiences able understand the environment and situation of the story more. For an example, there is a part where Ricci doing his work by pasting the poster on the wall. The long shot is taken in showing his action pasting the poster. Then, the audiences can realize and observe that a few suspicion men were standing behind Ricci and up to something. Then, the bicycle was stole by the thief and we know there is a man who acts like a good guy in helping him to find the thief was actually the thief’s allies. So this kind of mise-en shot allows the audiences to observe more in a scene instead of just watching what the actor’s action is. 

Next, the second element of Italian neorealism in the film is on place location. The scenery of the film used are usually a real location which means there are take places on location outside but not in the studio or set-up any similarity location. So that audiences able to know the situation and environment take place in the scene. For an example, when Ricci gets the jobs, he walks toward the water collect station to find his wife. As we can see the setting and the environment of the scene, we can know that the particular time-frame of that era is having a bad situation. We can observe the road of the scene is all rocky, dusty and tan in colour and the building apartment was all new and unpainted. We can understand that the story of the film is happened after World War II where everything previously was destroyed and they are having a reestablishment of the places. So that the real location of the scene shows us the situation and timeframe happened in the scene and it gives audiences a version of reality in the particular era. 

Lastly, the story of the film is mostly emphasize on the social problems such as bad economic, crimes and injustices that happened after the World War II. The film shows that the people in that particular timeframe are having unemployment and economic crisis. People are despair in having a job to earn money for their living. For an example, in the beginning of the film, everyone was crowded at the stairs to ask for any job opportunities to work. We can see how desperate the people are in getting a job in the era. Next, the film reflected the crime issues that happened in the society. Ricci’s bicycle was stolen and he has no way to find it back. This comes to the injustices issues happened in the film where the polices are not helping the Ricci in finding the bicycle because they treat Ricci as a lower classes people in the society and they don’t really care about a cheap bicycle get stolen. 

In a nutshell, Italian neorealism is mostly contending with the difficult economic and post-World War II Italy. It is also representing the changes in the Italian psyche and conditions of everyday life such as poverty, oppression, injustice, and desperation. Therefore, it is a film movement that shows awareness on these issues in the society that hidden by the majority group. This film movement also taught us that film is not just about entertainment; it also can be studies or self-review of the societies. 

References:

Hayward, S. (2013). Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts (4th ed.). USA, New York: Routledge.

Film Noir

            Film noir generally refers to mystery and crime dramas film that produced from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. It is a term coined by French critics in 1946 who noticed the trend of dark, downbeat and black the looks and themed on many American crime and detective films that “invaded” in France’s theatres after the war such as The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Woman in the Window (1944) and more. Film Noir was developed during the period of political instability 1941-1958 which undergoes World War II and the Cold War in United States. It is an intention for the people during the World War II and post-war disillusionment period in order to cheer people’s bleak outlook during the hard times of the Depression and World War II. The films of the 1940s reflected the disenchantment felt of the people toward the country, especially with the soldiers who back from the war and notice the women’s roles in the work force of the country which lead to the questioning between masculine identity and national identity. Besides, post-war realism is one of the elements in the emerge of film noir where the American audiences wanted a harsh view of society form the perspective of realistic human life instead of studio built streets They want to see the film that reflecting the characteristics of human being and the realistic of society. In this essay, I would like to discuss about the characteristics of film Noir based on the film The Maltese Falcon. 

            Film noir is normally featuring about the reality of the society which with criminals, darkness and violence. The main characteristics and convention of film noir can be identified through mood and styles of the film. For example, disillusionment, disenchantment, moral corruption, evil, guilt, desperation, paranoia and more are considered as the mood and styles of the film noir. The characters found in a film noir are mostly relatable such as heroes, anti-heroes, corrupt characters, villain, conflicted hard-boiled detective, a lone wolf and more. The reason that these characteristics and traits are shown in the film noir is to reflect the period of Cold War era where the societies were full of sense of fear, mistrust, and mistrust which represent as a metaphoric symptom of society’s evils (Film Site, n.d.). 

            Besides, Film noir has a visual style of cinematography that emphasizes on a high contrast, low-key lighting shots, deep shadows and oblique angles to create a sense of dread, mysterious and anxiety (Hayward, p. 149, 2013). German expressionist style can be found in a film noir where the distorted effects created by lighting, setting and use of shadows to give a particular kind of psychology which associated with the protagonist character in order to give a sense of social malaise, suspicion and gloom. The protagonist is often side-lighted to enhance the profile from one side and leaving the other half on the face in the dark, it creates sense of feel that the protagonist is neither a hero nor completely bad guys. Besides, the main struggle that portray in the film noir is the conflict between male protagonist and femme fatale. Film noir provide a very central role to the femme fatale and give her the advantage of being active, intelligent, powerful, dominant and in charge of her own sexuality (Hayward, p. 151, 2013). Until the end of the film, she will usually face the consequences through death or submission to the patriarchal system. The film noir is not usually just about investigating a murder, although it might at first appear to be. Generally, it is about the female sexuality that is under investigation which threatens the male quest to resolve the mystery. Therefore, the film noir is not just thought to be a crime thriller or gangster sub-genre of film, but it is a film that misleads the audiences into thinking there is going to be a happy ending. It is the most American film genre as they believe the society created a world with doom, fate, fear and betrayal.  

            We have selected The Maltese Falcon as one of our film noir analysis film. The Maltese Falcon is story about a private detective investigates a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar and their quest for a priceless statuette. The story started with Spade and Archer, a San Francisco detective agency. One day, Miss Wonderly walks into their office and asked them for help. The night after, Miles Archer is dead, so is a man named Floyd Thursby. It seems that Miss Wonderly is an innocent women that surrounded by dangerous men. There’s Joel Cairo, who uses gardenia-scented calling cards. There’s Kasper Gutman, with his enormous gifth and feigned civility. But there is Sam, who gives her a sense of protection, was suspected by the police of the murder cases. They have caused more murders because of their lust toward a statuette of a bird: The Maltese Falcon. At last, Sam made O’Shaughnessy (Wonderly) confesses her intention and murdering action and then begs Sam to not turn her over to the police. But Sam gives up on her in the end. 

            In the film The Maltese Falcon, the story voices of the film are the part of the traits that can be recognized as a film noir. The women character in film noir is central to intrigue play on her sexuality which allow controlling the males by putting her as the disguise of the male’s investigation (Hayward, p. 152, 2013). For an example, Ruth Wonderly, as known as Brigid O’Shaughnessy is the femme fatale character of the film where she leads misinformation to Sam in investigating the murdered cases. At first, audiences feel the Wonderly is an innocent girl who looking for her missing sister and claim that it is involved with a man named Floyd Thursby. Then, Archer was killed when he was asked to find Floyd for investigation. It seems like Floyd killed the Archer but actually is an implication from Wonderly (O’Shaughnessy) to cover up her kills toward Archer and blame it on Floyd Thursby. Her first impression gives people false information as they thought she will be the victim of the story due to her innocent action, voice and sense of weak feminine characteristics. This is how the femme fatale affects the male protagonists as shown in the film The Maltase Falcon as the investigator affected by the false impression from Wonderly (O’Shaughnessy). At last, the Wonderly get caught as her intention was exposed by Sam. The closure of the film usually determine the containment of the femme fatale which the women will faced sadistic closures in the end such as death, outcast or mental torture. 

            Next, the German expressionist style in applying in the film noir can be recognized through the film. The low key lighting, setting and use of the shadows which reflected inner turmoil and alienation in associated with film noir (Hayward, p. 150, 2013). The shadow and the side-lighted on the character which create a harsh shadow on the background with a dark faced on the half face show the mysterious, suspicion senses toward the character. As when the Sam walks down from the stair, the side-lighted on him which create a dark shadow on the background which give a sense of mysterious, suspicion and untold secret that hide deeply inside his thought or intention. It leads the audiences to feel visually that he is a hero, but actually a man with full of his own intention and cunning planning. This gives a hint to the audiences to feel the sense of the character’s traits rather than just explaining it out in word. 

            In conclusion, film noir is a film movement that evolved after the World War 2. The film noir reflected on the reality of the societies during that particular era which give a sense of relieve to the audiences when watching the film noir as it was a time of repressed insecurity and paranoia when the American Dream was seemed to be under severe strained. Therefore, it has gain certain popularity in the certain area as the convention of the film also made a very great study toward the societies and human characteristics. 

References:

 

Film Noir - Films. (n.d.). Retrieved July 29, 2016, from http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.html 

 

Hayward, S. (2013). Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts (4th ed.). USA, New York: Routledge.