I apologize for the delayed post but today I would like to bring up a point mentioned in The Celluloid Closet (Epstein & Friedman, 1995) about the role of the “sissy” in cinematic history. The “sissy” was the role of a gay man that made “both men feel more manly and women feel more feminine by playing the role in-between,” and these stereotyped characters were mostly seen in films in the 1920s and 30s. Although we did not have the time to see the entire documentary in class, I think the idea of the “sissy” in film has definitely evolved from a male that was not overtly gay, but was seen as feminine simply through his actions, to male characters who flaunt their sexuality overtly on film.

Here’s what I mean… If you are to look at The Producers (Stroman, 2005) there is a scene where two Broadway producers are trying to create the worst play on Broadway, and in order for their plan to work they want to hire the most flamboyant director in New York. While Gary Beach’s character does not exactly follow the stereotype of the sissy because he is very confident in his sexuality and there is no restrictions towards conveying his confidence, I also think that Beach’s character is fulfilling the same purpose as the “sissy”,  to make the male characters in the room feel more masculine and the female characters in the room feel like females by placing an “in-between” character in the film.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2015/02/19/387535508/composing-the-folk-music-of-a-made-up-country

As some of you may know, Alexandre Desplat won an oscar of best original score in Wes Anderson’s film, The Grand Budapest Hotel (Anderson, 2014). Although Desplat was nominated twice in this category, this NPR segment of All Things Considered explains why this award was well deserved.

The Grand Budapest Hotel takes place in a fictional central European country, “The Former Republic of Zubrowka”, therefore while spotting the film with Anderson, it was Desplat’s job to not only score music that complimented each character, but also to score music that depicted the culture of Zubrowka’s people.

I won’t give the NPR segment away, but Desplat and Anderson put in a ton of effort to find the perfect score for the sound bridge that the viewers experience in the very first scene of the film. An fascinating process and an interesting article!

What I found very intriguing in Oliver Stone’s film, JFK, was the use of repetition in the film that Pat Dowell mentions in his article, “Last Year at Nuremberg: The Cinematic Strategies of JFK”.  The author writes:

“Back and to the left,” the prosecutor and the filmmaker tell us again,  “Back and to the left. Back and to the left.” A hypnotic refrain on the sound track, a grainy slow motion image disolving into pink and green and white blobs on the screen. The courtroom audience groans in agony– at the graphic detail hitherto spared them, at the confirmation of their worst fears about a government cover-up, at Garrison’s ceaseless invasion of Kennedy’s final moments (Dowell, 8).

This use of repetition, although for a very short time, is one of the few moments in Garrisons speech where there is a lack of both diegetic sound and music from the soundtrack. Except now it the only noise that is present in the film is Garrison’s voice repeating the phrase “back and to the left”, and the grainy film of Kennedy’s last moments running. This repetition of the phrase is so powerful in the film because it is one of the very few moments where the people were forced to see the truth, and were forced to confront the reality of what happened to their President. The moment is so intense that offscreen the viewers were even groaning during our Tuesday viewing of the film.

In all, I thought it was a very good strategy for the film maker to choose a very minimal use in sound as well as minimal cuts to certain shots in this moment because in my personal opinion this seemed to be “the moment of truth” to the audience in the courtroom, regardless of the verdict.

One of the aspects of Pontecorvo’s film, Battle of Algiers (Pontecorvo, 1966), that I found fascinating was how the role of Islam played in the film through the use of diegetic sound.

For instance, there were two scenes in the film where the call to prayer was being recited some sort of loudspeaker in the background. While normally the call to prayer is a reminder that one of the 5 prayers of the day is about to occur and there is a need to take precedence in preparing oneself for this particular prayer, Ali and the members of FLN did not in both scenes.

I found this very interesting because Islam is so highly valued in the FLN for this film, and even when one particular character expresses his desire for Algeria to become free he states that it should be free but under Islamic rule. If religion has such a high value in the film then why didn’t Ali and his companions stop to pray in these two scenes? What is Pontecorvo trying to convey through this action?

In my personal opinion, I believe that Pontecorvo is trying to convey through the use of the call to prayer as diegetic sound that Islam plays a very significant role in the film, and is in fact always in the back of the people of Algeria’s mind, but perhaps freedom from the French was taking precedence at the time.

The one thing that really intrigued my about Do The Right Thing (Lee, 1989), was the Cinematography in the scene where Radio Raheem tells “the story of love an hate”, specifically the actor Bill Nunn’s bodily movements in his performance and blocking within the film’s mis-en -scéne.

When Radio Raheem begins his monologue he holds up his right fist where the “Love” ring is when he says “let me tell you the story of love and hate” and then his left fist where the “Hate” ring is when he says the word “hate”. I think that was a intelligent movement on his end because not only does it engaged the viewer, but it also provides viewers with visual aids of love and hate and further shows their relationship when Radio Raheem depicts the relation between the two with both his fists. It is clear from the beginning here that bodily movement is integral in this scene.

I also thought it was really interesting that Lee decided blocking wise to position Radio Raheem in the middle of the frame facing the camera. This suggest that there is an interesting hybrid between graphic blocking and social blocking. This is so because While Mookie is not in the frame, the audience understands that Radio Raheem is talking to Mookie, which gives the viewers this impression that while according to the story line Radio Raheem is talking to Mookie, Radio Raheem is actually speaking to the audience.

Above all, this scene stuck out to me the most in the film because of its strategic use in both blocking and the actor’s performance, specifically with bodily movement.