City of God - Characters and themes

Benny

Tries to leave the drug business, dies anyway

Lil Zé

Gains his power by killing all competition

bribes the corrupt police,

Carrot

Takes over Big Boy's drug business (gets arrested for not paying off the police)
Is arrested by the police at the end

Reflective Analysis

Lynne Ramsey

Similarities Kill the Day & MC

·         No expositional dialogue, visual storytelling

·         The character does nothing for a while, staring

·         Non-Linear

·         Extreme scene jumping

o   Hospital -> Prison (KTD)

o   Apartment -> Train Station (MC)

Similarities

·         Standing at bodies of water

Section B Film Choices

Pleasures

Scopophilia

The love of watching something (admiration).

Voyeurism

The sexual side of scopophilia, watching someone from a powerful position, where you can not be seen by the subject being watched

'The Gaze'

'The Gaze' is a popular feminist ideology also known as 'The Male Gaze' which is the concept that women are objectified in cinema by the male viewers due to the sexualization of many Hollywood actresses.

Objectification

Women are objectified by the male gaze

Uses and Gratification

The Uses and Gratifications theory is how spectators use films and the pleasures that an individual may have whilst watching a film.

Spectatorship

'One of the great pleasures of popular cinema is surrendering to the film experience and allowing ourselves to be emotionally manipulated'  

 

• Immersion - a film that draws you in and makes you believe (Whiplash)
• Suspension of Disbelief - a film in which the spectator must allow themselves to believe (Creed)

Watching Whiplash for the first time, I found myself being completely immersed by the characters and the story, partly because it was believable and I think that it was also because of how well the film flowed from a narrative perspective. The film had a linear narrative and focused solely on a lone character which made the film very easy to follow and very easy to concentrate on.

On the other hand, whilst watching Creed I felt that I had to suspend my own disbelief, which I think is partly because of my expectations, I had heard great things about Whiplash and therefore psychologically my mind was easily persuaded, and I think that I wanted to be persuaded by it as it was such a hugely respected and loved film that I wanted to be a part of it. 

Creed however, I had little to no expectations for a 'new Rocky Balboa film' as I perceived the film as a cash cow and a silly reboot and I think it's time that the Rocky films "throw the damn towel"

My predetermined opinion of the film effected my immersion level, and for what it's worth I think that the film was an odd balance between ridiculous and predictable.
 

Cognitivism

Cognitivism is the way in which our brains try to make sense of things and is how humans learn through experiences. In terms of film studies cognitivism is understanding a film relative to your personal life and past experiences.

Life is Beautiful

The beginning of "La vita es Bella" tricks all of my senses and everything that I know about film to believe it film is a lighthearted, feel good, romantic, comedy. However, as I already know that our Italian friend 'Guido' gets shot (with what I assume is an MP 40) in an alley by a Nazi, but the beginning of the film is crafted so that I'd expect another / more romantic and happy outcome.
If I hadn't seen the film before I doubt I would have predicted where it is going from the beginning, however there is a rather ambiguous beginning, with a slightly cryptic voice over, and the very cold and dark looking imagery at the start of the film could have been a hint.
There are many hints throughout the film that it is leading into a holocaust ending, based on what I've seen and based on the year the film is set in 1939, and that there is a segment from the film in which Guido impersonates a racist Roman inspector that is due to give a speech to children about Aryan race superiority.
So immediately the idea of Aryanism combined with 1939 and the Nazi salutes at the beginning of the film, they all point to the outcome of Nazism, WW2 and death camp.

Cognitive assumption

After the race superiority scene, my mind confirms that this is a film involving Nazism in a very key way because of several factors:

• The ambiguous Nazi salute at the beginning
• The year 1939
• Film is based in Europe
• 'Beautiful' in a film title usually suggests something bad will happen or that the film will be sad, e.g ('American Beauty' the protagonist dies, 'It's a Wonderful life' sad film)
• The beginning of the film includes a voiceover that suggests the film isn't entirely happy

Film Screenplay

About a person battling with depression