Popular Film and Emotional Response Spectatorship Topics Revision

‘Popular film drives the spectator from one intense, dramatic situation to another, in a way which is irresistible.’ How far do you agree with this statement?

How do we read this shot? Poor Malena, she has been driven to this by her cruel society. Silly woman – why is she doing that? Monica Bellucci – phwoaaar! Wish I was one of those blokes. What an interesting composition. Note the forward tracking to draw our attention to the teardrop forming in her right eye. Did I feed the cat before I came out?

Are the techniques employed by filmmakers irresistible? Stuart Hall Differentiate between audiences (mass response) and spectators (individual response). Do we take a stance that is preferred, negotiated or oppositional?

American History X is a film full of deliberately provocative issues of race, (though the ending is anti-racist)

The Immigration Speech Cinematic devices?

YouTube users respond to the speech ElliotLegge If the truth is racist, then what's so bad about being racist? Sean Igo this speech is pathetic bullshit … Samson tower This guy has a point, and I'm Mexican! QDesjardin04 Perhaps Derek's speech might have a shred of truth in it, but there is an eerie undertone that resembles the Nazis pinning Germany's great depression on the Jews, the Gipsies, homosexuals and the Jews... Shekelburg Swindlesteincohenfeld I'm not a neo nazi or a white nationalist or whatever, but this speech is very true… Thomas Godin Amazing Performance by one of my favorite actor. My Favorite movie of all time, MASTERPIECE. #BestInTheWorld Norton #BestInTheWorld DarkEternal6 Good speech. Truer words could not be said. Van Rawr dumb retarded speech, but hey what else can you expect from a poor white american nothing but stupidity. Hello Education System!!

Laura Mulvey Film fascinates us (engages our emotions), through images and spectacle Hollywood/mainstream/narrative cinema manipulates visual pleasure. It ‘codes the erotic into the language of the dominant patriarchal order’.

Man as the bearer of the look Woman as image Scopophilia is the force driving the movements and positioning of the camera. The gaze is male, and the spectator is led to identify with this male gaze

But do we accept this eroticised reading of Malena?

Does the film confront us with our scopophilia in order to make us feel guilty?

Consider cinematic devices: Soundtrack Performance Cinematography Narrative structure/perspective

Julian Hanich Do we look into or away from a film at extreme moments? There is a trend along gender lines - but not exclusively - that women ‘look away’ (break contact) and men ‘look into’ (identify the artifice) when stimulation becomes too extreme in horror films

Irresistible?

Irresistible? What we don’t see is more effective (off camera foley, performance, editing) than what we do (unconvincing animatronic hands)

Is Audition stronger because of its slow build-up and subtle undercurrent than for the intense dramatic scenes?

Richard Wollheim Central imagining – our need to experience emotional response through identification with character

I identify perfectly Irresistible? I’m feeling something but it’s not identification

‘Popular film drives the spectator from one intense, dramatic situation to another, in a way which is irresistible.’ How far do you agree with this statement?

You’re on your own now. Good luck!