An Important Aspect of Film Consumption - Essay Example

Introduction to film Analysis Films are types of arts that provide artistic representation of the society. Among the greatest films produced in 2013 was The Wolf of Wall street. While the film did not win any award, the fact that it obtained more than seven nominations was a portrayal of the developer’s genius in developing the film. The plot in the film centers on the life of a stockbroker in Wall Street, Jordan Belfort. The life of the fictional character is a representation of the several other millionaire stockbrokers both in Wall Street and millions of other stock brokerage firms worldwide. Jordan Belfort is a genius who can invent new products and therefore sustain investment. While he does this successfully, his self-drive is greed and personal gain as he continues to grow his earnings and savings from the industry. The director of the film, Martin Scorsese portrays professionalism in his creation of the work as he adopts a screenplay written by Terence Winter. The success of the film just as any other arises from the avid portrayal of the society. The director of the film strives to achieve this through effective representation of the facts in the film and construction of the plot. Films communicate through various features including characters, costumes and setting among many others. The developers of the film select such features carefully thereby enhancing the success of the film. The film stars renowned stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and Margot Robbie among many others. Such are established celebrities who do not only enjoy fame but also exhibit professionalism in acting. They therefore enhance the theme in the film thereby enhancing the success of the plot. The same is the case with the developers’ selection of the setting for the film and costumes for the characters all of which complement the theme in the film.in fact; some of the nominations were on such pertinent features as picture quality, costume design and characterization among many others. Just as any other man, Jordan Belfort has an interesting story. He begins his career at a stock brokerage firm in Wall Street. He learns through a shrewd businessperson, Mark Hanna who introduces him to drugs among other vices in the industry. Despite such, Belfort maintains his education and interest on the job until he becomes a certified stockbroker. Unfortunately for him, on the day he becomes a stockbroker the market crushed thus rendering him and many others jobless. Meanwhile he is a dedicated and loving family man who strives to provide for his wife. The wife, Teresa advises him to relocate to Long Island where he takes a job as a penny stockbroker. While in Long Island, Belfort understand the intrigues of penny stock which he finds lucrative and decided to open his own stock brokerage firm dealing on the same. The company grows rapidly owing to Belfort’s charisma. He employs numerous other equally shrewd people and grows the company even further. He later decides to apply the penny stock policies on blue chip companies and therefore makes tremendous wealth. While his wealth increases, he becomes increasingly careless with his life. He turns into both prostitution and drug addiction. The two break his marriage as he later falls in love with a model. Life with the model is not any different as his shrewdness intensifies. He begins money laundering as his addiction to both drugs and prostitutes intensifies. As his second marriage breaks, he is arrested of money laundering among other financial crimes. The short yet intriguing storyline underscores specific thematic features key among which is the fact that money and power corrupts. As stated earlier, films are types of arts. In this context, the artist is the director who develops the film. Just as the auteur theory posits, a film should always reflect the director’s creativity. The same is the case with the film, Wolf of Wall Street. The director, Martin Scorsese portrays his professionalism as he develops realistic characters thereby providing an analytical view into the stock brokerage industry and the nature of the society especially when wealth comes. As the plot of the film flows, the creative voice of the director remains audible throughout. He develops his characters creatively ensuring that each is functional and enhances the story. The correlation of issues in the plot is sequential and so is the flow of action. Belfort is a fast learning and proactive individual. The director deliberately selects Leonardo Dicaprio to play this role. Dicaprio is an established actor whose experience in role-play comes hi handy to enhance the success of the film. He therefore fits the roles and life of Jordan Belfort as he relives his life. The director’s creativity remains reminiscent throughout the film in the form of the other characters and the flow of the plot. Belford influences several other characters in the film. After he moves to Long Island, he meets other friends and opens up a company. The choice of the friends is peculiar thus portraying the director’s creativity and desires to communicate particular themes. Mark Hanna and Patrick Denhan become Belfort’s new friends in Long Island. The two are unstable individuals who readily quit their former lives to follow Belfort. Their addiction to drugs justifies their peculiar personalities. While the director strives to capture the nature of life at Wall Street, he captures the private life of the stockbrokers. Belfort’s private life is hectic. The billionaire becomes increasingly reckless with his life as he continues to accumulate his illegal billions. Belfort feels invincible even to his wife. He therefore breaks up with his first wife and remarries a model. Such are creative inclusion as the director strives to heighten the conflict in the film. Just as is in literatures, conflicts sustain stories and plots even in film. The director therefore portrays his creativity as he heightens the conflict in the film through the systematic and deliberate introduction of the numerous clandestine relationship Belfort has even after he marries a model. Throughout the film, the director justifies the auteur theory, which, despite recognizing that the development of a film is an industrial process, the creativity of the director remains paramount in safeguarding the success of a film (Tudor, 2006). The genre theory is yet another important theory that explains the nature of the film. Film classification is a vital feature that influences the consumption of the media products. The wall of Wall Street is a drama. As such, the action in the plat follows a specific dramatized structure one that enhances the creativity of the director. By placing the film in a particular genre, it becomes easier to understand the features in the film. This intensifies the action in the film as the director deliberately intensifies the conflict among the characters in the film. The director makes specific aesthetic choices all of which enhance the appropriateness of the film. As explained earlier, the film is a representation of the society. As such, the features the director represents must appear factual. Belfort is a wealthy stockbroker. The director of the film captures this through numerous aesthetic features he employs in the film. The director for example captures the change in Belfort’s attire and change in his personality. He joins Wall Street as a humble novice whose attire readily portray his financial humility. Thus changes progressively as he begins earning and becomes successful. The market collapses and Belfort is broke again. This becomes readily evident in his humility and attire. He deals in the penny stocks and progressively uplifts his social status. The director captures the change systematically through various features of the film key among which are the characters’ costumes and the setting of the action. Belford for example lives in a large luxurious house, which he describes as “humongous estate”. Additionally, just as stated earlier, films are creations of arts and must therefore represent social feature (Altman, 1999). The film alongside has numerous connotations that portray the directors ability to capture social impact. In doing this, the director captures some of the readily available social evils such as drug trafficking and use even by the society’s elite. The use of drugs is commonplace at Wall Streets with the stockbrokers justifying their actions by alluding to the stress they face on a daily basis. Another equally important social feature the director deliberately includes in the film is prostitution. Belfort’s addition to prostitutes is a portrayal of the failures in marriage. Belfort belittles women and therefore uses them as though part of his collection of toys. The deliberate inclusion of prostitutes therefore is a director’s way of capturing the position of sex and women in the society. Reflection Analyzing film is an important aspect of film consumption thus enhances the understanding of both the film and the representation of the society through art. In any work of art, the artist enjoys the freedom of bias. Understanding this is vital in appreciating any work of art including films. The auteur theory for example explains that the director’s creativity overrides the industrial nature of film production. Such is a vital feature that makes directors enjoy some bias, in analyzing a film, one understands the director’ position and attempt to represent the society in his own unique way. Film analysis therefore provides consumers with an opportunity to view the society through the director’s eye thereby understanding some features that remain insignificant to the rest of the audience. Understanding this feature has changed my view to films. I therefore consume films differently. I strive to understand the underlying message in the film. Instead of criticizing the individual character, I try to criticize the society through the eyes of the developers of the film. Film developers will always place their film strategically in the society by addressing various features of the society. When consuming such media content, I investigate the social feature. I pay attention to such pertinent features of the film as the accent of the characters, their costumes, settings and behaviors. This way, it becomes possible to identifying the underlying message in a film. The above reflection changed my understanding to film as media content. Films are products of arts and are therefore subject to the developers’ bias. Applying such theories as the auteur theory and the genre theory makes understanding films easier. In investigating the application of such theories in the structure of a film, it becomes possible to identify the director’s message (Schatz, 2003). This influences the nature of criticism to a film. Among the skills I developed in the course are analytical skills. I can analyze a film critically by evaluating the developers ability to convey a message, capture specific features of the society and use aesthetics systematically thus ensuring a successful film that targets a particular market niche. Analytical skills refer to the ability to identify the pertinent features of a film and their systematic usage in the structure of the film. References Altman, R. (1999). Film/Genre. New York: bfi publishing. Schatz, T. (2003). The structural influence: New directions in film studies. New York: OUP. Tudor, A. (2006). Genre. London: British film institute. Read More