William Wylers The Little Foxes: the Films Depiction - Research Paper Example

ANDRE BAZIN'S IDEAS IN WILLIAM WYLER'S "THE LITTLE FOXES" Introduction This paper aims to present an analysis with reference to Andre Bazin's essay, "The Evolution of Film Language" in which William Wyler explores the moral and emotional conflicts experienced by his heroine through depth-of-field photography. The Little Foxes filmed in 1941, is the film used for this purpose. Andre Bazin is a French film theorist who presents a segment of life and lays it bare through the camera. He compares the camera to a police interrogation in which the truth is uncovered as time goes by and as the interrogation ensues. Likewise, the camera uncovers a certain amount of truth once it runs long enough and captures reality accordingly.1 Bazin regards cinema as an idealistic phenomenon with technical features resting only in the background. As a humanist, he thrives on the view that the idea is precedent to the invention and is therefore superior to the technical means used in achieving it. In his book The Evolution of the language of Cinema,2 he asserts that the necessity for an idea towards technical means is one that requires new form or style. Bazin states that the cinema is much elevated as compared to photography because of its ability to record the event in time and posits that filmmakers must refrain from false subjective manipulation owing to the complexity of reality which the cinema characteristically pursues. There has been confusion in the domain of film theory concerning Bazin's writings, which can be traced down to the image being filmed and its life counterpart, in which he says that the photographic image is one that may be described as a kind of transfer. It is the object itself which is freed from the conditions of time and space governing it. There is a commonality in the photograph and the object itself whose sameness is pursued by a fashion of the fingerprint.3 Bazin's Ideas in Wyler's "The Little Foxes" (Referring to Andre Bazin's essay, "The Evolution of Film Language", analyze the ways in which William Wyler explores the moral and emotional conflicts experienced by his heroine by using depth-of-field photography.) Wyler's The Little Foxes is a film depicting a family torn apart by greed, featuring Bette Davis in her most villainous role. The film is considered a masterpiece of cinematic craftsmanship in which first-rate support actors gave life to their roles.4 Wyler's film shows details that depict Bazin's ideas in The Evolution of Film Language. Cinema as an idealistic phenomenon5 which Bazin explores in his essay is embodied in The Little Foxes with the film's portrayal of greed and avarice having the real message it wants to convey - that of the consequences of evil acts which men must avoid. As Bazin generally describes a film as a medium of duplicating reality, Wyler was able to successfully convey this duplication in real-life experiences of wealth and greed in the Hubbard and Giddens family, in which surefire downfall awaits people of extreme greed. Wyler explores the moral conflicts experienced by his heroine Regina Giddens with the use of depth-of-field photography through the captured emotions needed to surface from a villainous character. How other characters were portrayed, such as that of being kind (Horace and Alexandra Giddens) reinforced the evilness of the heroine through implied comparison. The moral conflicts are tackled in the story with wealth and money as the groundwork of the exhibited behavior of the characters, whether acting upon it or away from its influences and corruption. Regina Giddens is in a situation which might be considered a maze in which she was to succumb to social norms of this time where a woman does not bring money with her when she gets married regardless of the family's wealth. Hence, she must rely financially on her husband. The social norms had placed her in a stringent situation totally not giving her a space to express her fondness for money. An attempt to put her daughter Alexandra in marriage to Leo, Alexandra's first cousin, in a dire pursuit of investing in a mill with her brothers was considered a morally disdainful step by both her husband and her daughter. This Wyler's cinematic myth is parallel to Bazin's presentation of what is described as a reflection of humanity's psychological and ethical obsession in the arts and the film's corresponding persistence to depict reality in them.6 Having been filmed in 1941, The Little Foxes is within the period in which realist style dominates and has left behind the imagist style in filmmaking.7 Indeed, with Wyler's realistic and surrealist depiction of The Little Foxes, the imaginist style which thrived in silent movies was replaced by the realist style as apparently conveyed in the film. The emotional conflicts in The Little Foxes were also heightened by sound and music, elements which were absent in imaginist films which Bazin has emphasized as important in the spatial-temporal theory of realism. The needs for expressivity and denaturalization in realist style were eliminated with the important usage of sound which is characteristic of realism as in The Little Foxes. However, Bazin maintains that such necessitates to be downplayed so as not to interfere with the spatial/temporal claim of the realist style.8 The moral and emotional conflicts in The Little Foxes vis--vis depth of field are seen in several ways. The depth of field is a portion of the scene appearing sharply with a gradual decrease in sharpness.9 Wyler was successful in undertaking an aesthetic tendency towards depth of field and long shots in The Little Foxes, heighlighting the moral and emotional conflicts even more. This is in synergy with Bazin's claim of what characterizes a realist style in films. The moral and emotional conflicts portrayed in the film are seen to have started with Sountern aristocrat Regina Giddens, who is confined in an early 20th century society which traditionally views the sons as the sole heirs, discriminating women. However, such conflict does not end in Regina's situtaion as her very own brothers were as avaricious and set conlflicts in the film themselves. (How does this particular stylistic choice, made by the director, affect our relationship with the camera and with the world of the film, and thereby shape our understanding of the ethical and emotional issues that concern Wyler) Wyler has used a realist style in The Little Fox, a film style which was getting popular at this time. This has consequently affected the audience's relationship with the camera in such manner that places their involvement in the film not only through the technical aspects related to depth of field but also in the manner that the issues in the plot were tackled. The very soul of the topic of the film - avarice and greed - accounts for a realistic human drama which is not only portrayed in the cinema but is also a usual phenomenon encountered by human beings, hence its duplication. Wyler became as realist as possible by even incorporating the social norms that surround gender relations in the nineteenth century. Bazin himself describes this realist portrayal in films as "the creation of a sense of meaning not proper to the images themselves but derived exclusively from their juxtaposition."10 We may then posit that the depth of field itself is a technical innovation of the realist style through long shots and camera focuses in order to capture, emphasize, and heighten emotions to the spectator. The cinema serves as a whole arsenal of means imposing its interpretation of an event on the spectator, mirroring in them bits of realities and facts of the human life.11 There are also scenes in the film which are suggestive of symbols and imply certain messages beyond literal meaning, such as Leo catching a fly and slowly closing his fist on it while contemplating on a greedy plan about his marriage with his cousin Alexandra (on Regina's grounds of acquiring wealth from Leo's family). The realist style was thus able to shape our understanding of the ethical and emotional issues that concern Wyler through technical aspects and emotional downturns connected to ethical and moral issues portrayed in the film. Conclusion William Wyler's The Little Foxes is a realist film whose elements are parallel to what Andre Bazin employs in his essay The Evolution of the Film Language. This is seen in a manner which the film employs depth of field and camera movements in order to accentuate an emotion or a message. The film's depiction of greed and avarice to the point of family destruction is a realist pattern, bringing the spectator towards its depth, just like what Bazin describes about a realist film style in his essay. It is not only through the use of camera techniques and other technical effects that the film is considered a realist, but its meaning itself which duplicates human experience. It is able to relate the full details back to the spectators who directly experience this realism in actual life. Bazin and Wyler through The Little Foxes agree on the idea of commonality between a film and the object itself, which have a close integration in a realist film. Works Cited Bazin, Andre. "The Evolution of Film Language" in What is Cinema Vol. 1, University of California Press, Berkeley, London, 1967. Bazin, Andre. "The Evolution of the Language of Cinema." In Gazetas, Aristides (ed) An Introduction to World Cinema. McFarland, 2000. Pentland, A. P. A New Sense of Depth of Field. A. K. Peters Ltd., 1992. The Little Foxes Study Guide. http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-littlefoxes/chapanal001.html Read More