American Society and Culture in Film - Essay Example

American society and culture in film Basic objectives Speaking of the basic objectives of AMST 322, one would have to point out that they include the goal to master the necessary skills and understanding of the major frameworks with the help of which students will be able to interpret films that were created in the United States in terms of their historical as well as cultural value. In other words, the course in question provides the students with the tool that will allow the former to understand the messages that have been sent by the cinema as well as develop a correct understanding of the role of movies in the American life and their impact on it. Major Concepts It would not be a mistake to suggest that the course heavily relies on several concepts that are used to design a framework for a detailed analysis of the cinema. Thus, the concept of historical as well as industrial contexts is engaged in order to show the diachronic value of films. Ideology is a notion which is used to translate the messages that are being sent. Genre is an important term which defines the place of a movie in a general perspective. Cinematic codes shed light on the way actual scenes, the building units of movies, are created. Visual politics explain the content of messages that are conveyed by the movies. Analysis of Concepts The first concept that will be analyzed in great detail is historical context of a movie. It is quite obvious that cinema should be regarded as one of forms of art, in spite of the fact that it is rather young if compared to others. Nevertheless, the popularity of it is big and resulted in the fact that movies became “an alternative to such established pastimes as the music hall, vaudeville, professional sports, and the saloon” (Jarvie, 1997, 249). As one can easily see, out of the pastimes which were named in the quote above, only professional sports survived. This means that movies should not be regarded as some kind of senseless entertainment, but rather an important act of aesthetic interaction between various parts of society – the function which the above mentioned pastimes used to fulfill. One would make no mistake suggesting that watching a movie may be regarded as a modern equivalent of listen to folklore stories since both engage a person in an aesthetic dialogue and teach a certain lesion. The only difference is the extent to which imagination is used. In addition to that, movies often were used as a means to convey important messages, for example, in the movie The Great Dictator the directors designed aesthetics in a way to reflect the contemporary situation in Nazi Germany. What is more important is that at the present moment there is a clear distinction between watching a movie and going to a cinema. Despite the fact that in the modern times people are able to watch movies at home, for a considerable period going to cinemas was an important part of social interaction in society and still remains as such. For example, watching a movie together is largely regarded as a socially acceptable form of dating, allowing people to experience some intimacy (dark interior, close chair), but in a controlled way. As a matter of fact, this amount of intimacy used to be criticized a lot, but now, with less people watching a movie in a cinema and more liberal views this ceased to be a problem. Having established that films should be regarded as a form of modern art, it would be rather logical to pay some attention to the notion of a genre – something that any has puts a great emphasis on. It is suggested that “a genre film, like virtually any story, can be examined in terms of its fundamental narrative components: plot, setting, and character” (Schatz, 1981, 21). In other words, the primary elements of every work of literature are being translated into a movie, pointing out that there is a close connection between the two. This means that every movie can be analyzed and interpreted as a piece of writing. Indeed, in this case it would probably lose a considerable amount of its visual representation since it may be quite difficult to describe in writing such spectacular scene as bullet dogging in Matrix or fantastic colors of Avatar. Nevertheless, there are three elements that might be used to set a frame of reference for every movie: the plot of it; the setting where action takes place as well as the character that move the plot forward. One would make no mistake, arguing that while watching a film, these are the aspect that every viewer should keep in mind in order to gain a better understanding of it. In addition to that, the emergence of new genres or reevaluation of the old ones might be regarded as a sign of evolution of the society in general. For example, the genre that is often called found footage reflects the changes in the society as a gradual shift of the public thought to a more individualist experience. Indeed, in this genre of films where the reality is shown from the point of view of the narrator, allowing the viewers to experience more, as in The Blair Witch Project. The next concept that is particularly important when it come analyzing cinema from a broader perspective is ideology. Indeed, if a film is a form of art then it is affected by some kind of public thinking. According to Wood, the movies which were created in Hollywood reflected the capitalistic ideology with different peculiarities of it, such as the role of a woman in society or a desirable pastime; nevertheless, Hollywood “presents an ideology that, far from being monolithic, is inherently riddled with hopeless contradictions and irresolvable tensions” (Wood, 2003, 61). This is quite significant since it provides the directors with a platform to create numerous conflicts that, on the one hand, will be interesting for the viewer and, on the other hand, will be rooted in real life. In other words, the modern movies do not necessarily have to reflect the so called eternal themes, but rather dwell on the issues that the society seems to be essential. What is more important is that by performing a close analysis of the content of a movie, the researcher will be able to reconstruct the public attitude towards a particular aspect of social life. Indeed, ideology is not some kind of a static concept: it has to develop in order to maintain the dominant place in the public life, retaining its fundamental aspects. Thus, if one takes a close look at the questions that were raised by the American movies over the previous century, one will be able to notice the way they reflect the changes that happened in the society in general. For example, a movie that is titled Rock ’n’ Roll High School reflects the controversial place of the above mentioned style of music in the social discourse of the seventies. This means that movies may be regarded as a reliable source of experiencing ideology that is being promoted in the society, allowing people to see what values are being put emphasis on in public view. Finally, the concept that is of great significance and which might be regarded as characteristic to cinema is visual politics. To begin with, one should note that the issue of race is the one that has been largely affected by debates over movies. For example, researchers argue that “when Black people are absent from the screen they read it as a symbol of their absence from the America constructed by Hollywood” (Diawara, 2004, 254). In other words, movies should provide a fair depiction of a society, not favoring a particular group. For example, in movie Thor one of the Scandinavian gods Heimdall is portrayed by an African American actors. Moreover, cinema often employs images of attracting women to appeal to different audiences, but not all women are satisfied with this. Feminist critics note that “cinema offers a number of possible pleasures. One is scopophilia. There are circumstances in which looking itself is a source of pleasure”, but it is not fair to exploit beauty of a woman, shaping the public opinion about it (Mulvey, 1990, 6). Indeed, if one analyzes female characters in early movies, one will be able to see that they reflect the stereotypical image of a beautiful woman: she is white, she is blond, she is weak and defenseless. However, in movies that were created latter, the way in which female characters a depicted is remarkably different. Moreover, the modern cinema features characters that might be seen as extremely controversial as in Brokeback Mountain or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It must be noted that the gradual evolution of the public opinion regarding different issue is often reflected in the cinema: for example, after the end of racial segregation, there were more African American actors on the screen, playing main and supporting roles; nowadays there are many female action heroes, arguing that women may be as strong as men. That is why if one wants to understanding the way in which society perceives the world, one should pay attention to visual politics that is employed in the movies. Having examined different concepts in great detail, it would be necessary to point out that some of the may be more important than the other. For example, the idea of a genre has been blurred to a certain extent, since the directors often try not to limit themselves with a particular genre, but try to combine characteristic features of many. Nevertheless, ideology and the way it is reflected in visual politics have always been important since they convey the very gist of a movie, designing the ultimate message that is being sent by the directors to the public. As one can easily see, a careful examination of the concepts is a clear connection to goals of the course. Since the latter tries to provide students with effective tool for analysis, there is no doubt that if one utilizes all the concepts that were mentioned above, one will be able to construct a well written movie review, highlighting aspects that are often discussed by the critics. In other words, all the concepts that were named in this paper contribute to a better understanding of what cinema is and how it is able to reflect the peculiarities of social life. One of the most important aspects that people should keep in mind is that none of the concept should be analyzed separately without any connection to the other ones. Indeed, each of the elements of the analysis is able to have a direct or indirect influence on the entire system. For example, it would not be correct to analyze historical context, without paying attention to the dominant ideology of the time; moreover, it may be quite useful to see who different genres are able to utilize visual politics as well as the statements that they make about different groups of people in the society. References Diawara, M. (2004). Critical Voices: Manthia Diawara on Race in Narrative Film. In T. Corrigan & P. White (Eds.), The Film Experience: An Introduction (pp. 254-255). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins. Jarvie, I. (1997). The Social Experience of Movies. In T. Sari (Ed.), Film/Culture: Explorations of Cinema in its Socia (pp. 278-286). Chicago, IL: Bedford/St. Martins. Mulvey, L. (1990). Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. In Issues in Feminist Film Criticism (pp. 1-8). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Schatz, T. (1981). Hollywood genres: Formulas, filmmaking, and the studio system. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill International. Wood, R. (2003). Ideology, Genre, Auteur. In B. Grant (Ed.), Film Genre Reader III (pp. 60-73). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Read More