Saturday, February 22, 2014
Away for some Growin' Pains
Hi there,
Been absent a while.... I know. Life get's in the way of updating this or that site when you have a few that you started managing when in High School with all the time and space to look forward to.
A few relationships later, a few jobs later, a few life experiences later.... I come back here to make an update.
This, the year of the winter olympics, 2014, the year I move in with someone....first time I've done that... and the year I start with a good job, hopefully the year will close with lots of success and progress in my life.
The last few years haven't felt all that fulfilling, a lot of it felt like I was biding time, or waiting for something great to happen. Perchance, that's what happened in the middle of last year, and because I wasn't ready...other, not so great things, prevented the full enjoyment of those good things. I know this is all vague and not very transparent. I've been trying to keep my tongue to the public realm better then I have in the past. I'm listened to now. Previously I would announce all to the world of the internet and no one would hear me. Now, I could be found, looked up, or those I hold dear just feel uncomfortable with all that information out there.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that the last few years were hard, I made it through, I stuck it out through the hard things and navigated situations that were most uncomfortable. Today I try not to overload with too many things as to get overwhelmed. Yet, to the future I look with hope and promise.
This, the month of February of 2014. I can't believe so much time has gone by. I feel like it's 2012, sometimes even 2008 sometimes. And even the 90's and I look at my behavior and feel confused why I am so immature.... then I realize it's best to bring your childhood sense of glee with you everywhere you go, especially the future. It will be your saving grace when times get too serious. Learning to laugh and maintaining that culture is the difficult task. Yet I believe we all should take that task on.
Thanks,
MK out.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
A week of pretending
This past summer, my boyfriend's family adopted me into their huge family vacation in Santa Cruz. The grandmother had rented a huge victorian near the water for a week. It was really great to feel like part of a large family. I am part of a large family on my dad's side, but mum's is pretty small. We don't spend time with dad's family too often, so what happens is, since my parents are divorced, and my pop travels a lot, it ends up with just me and mum. Pretty super small for holidays and year round. So, while in santa cruz, I felt overjoyed to spend time with youngsters that spanned from 2 to 6 or more years younger then me. The feeling in the house, even when it was brimming with people was that of love all around. I didn't expect to be so liked by the younger girls, but I was welcomed like family.
Just a scenario I loved and adored being adopted into a large family for a week. I hope things like that may happen in the future too, but we'll have to see.
It just made me appreciate that which many complain about profusely: family gatherings. The feeling of love all around overwhelmed me and filled my heart with joy, which is what those type of occasions are known for.
Just a scenario I loved and adored being adopted into a large family for a week. I hope things like that may happen in the future too, but we'll have to see.
It just made me appreciate that which many complain about profusely: family gatherings. The feeling of love all around overwhelmed me and filled my heart with joy, which is what those type of occasions are known for.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Despicable Me
Maria:
-humor
-artistry
-mix of villainy and childcare issues
-humanity and being a good person
-leaves you warm and fuzzy
-<3 between people
A+
Und
Wilhelm:
-great, awesome
-two thumbs way, way up
-animation-really good
-the character design fit the emotion well
-coulda been longer for older audience
-good, take your kids
-good for adults too
-buy it, own, love it
-not testing sands of time
-but still great for any collection
-humor
-artistry
-mix of villainy and childcare issues
-humanity and being a good person
-leaves you warm and fuzzy
-<3 between people
A+
Und
Wilhelm:
-great, awesome
-two thumbs way, way up
-animation-really good
-the character design fit the emotion well
-coulda been longer for older audience
-good, take your kids
-good for adults too
-buy it, own, love it
-not testing sands of time
-but still great for any collection
The Last Exorcism
Maria:
-projection of norm to fiction in an s curve
- graphics, s-fx-so-so but good for the script
-ending leaves something to be desired (drops off)
-<3 her red boots
-good sprinkles of medieval religious references
c+
Und
Wilhelm:
-good beginning, bad ending
-acting-superb
-motivation of character A+
-script hindered by documentary premise due to ending left unfulfilled
-although, using the documentary backdrop was good due to it not being done before
-the rapid change from documentary to fantasy was too much
-the subtle changes stemming from the beginning were beautifully done
-but the end needed more to finish it
B, B+
-projection of norm to fiction in an s curve
- graphics, s-fx-so-so but good for the script
-ending leaves something to be desired (drops off)
-<3 her red boots
-good sprinkles of medieval religious references
c+
Und
Wilhelm:
-good beginning, bad ending
-acting-superb
-motivation of character A+
-script hindered by documentary premise due to ending left unfulfilled
-although, using the documentary backdrop was good due to it not being done before
-the rapid change from documentary to fantasy was too much
-the subtle changes stemming from the beginning were beautifully done
-but the end needed more to finish it
B, B+
Nanny McPhee Returns
Ladies first, Maria's review
-great characters
-love the setting and war backdrop
-brought fourth good issues in children and parenting
-color usage beautiful
-sense of magic entact
A, B+
Und
Wilhelm's Review
-great acting
-script, story, plotline all good
-still fine as a stand alone film
-nice mary poppins hints
-cinematography-good
-costuming nice too
-playful, effective and proper for the setting
-engaging for all ages
A-
-great characters
-love the setting and war backdrop
-brought fourth good issues in children and parenting
-color usage beautiful
-sense of magic entact
A, B+
Und
Wilhelm's Review
-great acting
-script, story, plotline all good
-still fine as a stand alone film
-nice mary poppins hints
-cinematography-good
-costuming nice too
-playful, effective and proper for the setting
-engaging for all ages
A-
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Shoot Em Up final paper for neo-noir argument: 6/3/09
Davis and Viewer Intrique
Bugs Bunny grabs attention in the film Shoot Em Up as a gag to keep you entranced in the story. Clive Owen as Mr. Smith eats carrots, has a good wit about him, and keeps the hunters running around in circles trying to capture the drifter-turned hero. Along the plot line, a baby falls into his lap of protection, and his friend who happens to be a hooker; Donna Quintano is a convenient wet nurse. Throughout this film, there is a theme of orange carrots indicating Mr.Smith as a Bugs Bunny-type character. His wit, knowledge of gun play and fighting, coupled with his oral obsession with carrots entices the audience with the hints of a Bugs Bunny character. By using this technique on the lead character, Mr. Smith keeps the viewers attention, but perhaps it is only with this gag that the film possesses any merit. By borrowing from Bugs Bunny and film noir, Michael Davis creates a film that is primarily comprised of MacGuffins distracting the viewer in order to keep interest. Reviews of Shoot Em Up run on the skeptical side due to all of the action preventing the viewer to see much else then action packed gun play. The New York Times said that this film is "garbage", "witless" and "tasteless" (Scott) but that comes only from looking at the surface. After delving deeper into the script and cinematography we find how Shoot Em Up is both a neo-noir film utilizing the iconic Bugs Bunny and a social commentary.
Bugs bunny tricks his victims by "playing along with the tormentor"(Savoy, 193) and Mr. Smith does this as well. Showing Mr. Smith through the bugs bunny lens gives the audience a way of seeing. This newfound vail is so hard to see due to how ingrained pop culture is in our society. Having such a figure as Bugs Bunny in mind, Davis can manipulate audiences attention well at this hinted. With a strong, culturally ingrained character such as Bugs Bunny who has been around since 1938 (Savoy, 189), the plot can float along on a very weak string without much weight or substance behind the constant action. Some tricks signifying the Bugs Bunny character in Mr. Smith are his obsession with carrots, his ability to keep his hunter on his toes and running in circles, and his keen knowledge of deception.
When Mr. Smith hides a recording of a baby crying in a rag doll to simulate the baby he is protecting from the head honcho leading the search; Paul Giamatti, we see how deceptive and tricky Mr. Smith can be. The viewer doesn't get to be in on the trick until Giamatti though, showing that not even the viewer is as smart as Mr. Smith, not unlike how Bugs Bunny is portrayed. Another such incident is that Another such incident is when Mr. Smith's hide out home is found, which is located in an abandoned building, but Giamatti's men go up these stairs that circle around a square foyer and when all of them get upstairs, Mr. Smith repels down through the whole past all the men. This trick is also significant of Mr. Smiths outwitting ability and similarity to Bugs Bunny. Hiding in a fortified whole is something Bugs Bunny would do in order to deceive an opponent, and Mr. Smith does that when hiding Donna and the Baby in a tank on display in a museum so he can keep Giamatti of the Baby's trail. All these tricks and conniving schemes ring true of Bugs and keeps the audience entranced by all the action schemes of this sort possess.
Without the wit and scheming ability of Bugs Bunny, Mr. Smith would be left with brut force and that kind of subtraction from this film would leave it bare and the viewers might leave without a second thought due to the boredom that would ensue if the movie was fight scene after fight scene. The film tries to depict Mr. Smith as having inherent knowledge of gun play as well as the wit to keep Giamatti's minions running in circles. But these qualities seem to come from adopting the Bugs Bunny guise for Mr. Smith.
Carrots play a big role in this film and are a huge indicator that Mr. Smith is Bugs incarnate. He grows carrots in a greenhouse and always has them on his person. The film opens with Mr. Smith taking a huge bite out of a carrot aggressively and then the plot progresses with the arrival of a woman in labor with a man after her with a gun. Mr. Smith runs after him and in the process of rescuing the baby, he kills a man by inserting a carrot in a man's mouth, slamming it in through the back of his neck therefore killing him. After he does this, Mr. Smith says to him "eat your vegetables" and continues on his heroic way.
Mr Smith gradually reveals himself as a master trickster. Savoy writes, " Bugs Bunny's role is not simply to elude the machinations of Daffy and Elmer in a serial fashion, but rather to redirect them to the mutual humiliation of his opponents" (189, Savoy). Paul Giamatti intends on humiliating Mr. Smith throughout the whole film, but time after time Mr. Smith turns it back over at Giamatti and embarrasses him by eluding his clutches.
At the tail end of the film Mr. Smith gets out of a jam in a truck stop where he finally meets back up with Donna and the baby by using a carrot to pull the trigger of a gun against some cash register thieves. His fingers are all broken, so the comedy of bandages and fire power show up here. Carrots a weapon of knowledge and wit against those dumb soldier types of our society. What does this teach to viewers? Knowledge is power, and if you have a carrot in hand, you can probably see more clearly the situation surrounding you, due to its eye-improving qualities.
Another interesting aspect about bugs bunny that Savoy points out is the gender bending that crops up in most of his cartoons. Within Shoot Em Up the gender roles are pretty stead fast and black and white. Although, while in the midst of a shoot out, Mr. Smith turns and swishes the tails of his coat like a skirt and gives the flourish of feminine mystique.
Catch phrases surround Bugs Bunny and this follows through with Mr. Smith as well. Instead of "What's up, Doc?" (Savoy, 194) Mr. Smith says "You know what I hate?" and then proceeds to describe and then destroy whatever it is he hates. One example of this is pony tails on old men, he says "it doesn't make you look hip, young, or cool" and proceeds to shoot it off one of Giamatti's men. The use of the catch phrase not only is indicative of Bugs Bunny but is also yet another distraction from the plot and refocuses the viewer on Mr. Smith and his character as a drifter bad ass.
The theme surrounding fighting the heroe's battle comes from film noir stereotypes. Mr. Smith inexplicably cares about this baby and fights for its life, all in the name of justice. Spicer writes about how lead male protagonists have a category made up of drifters or accidental victims and Mr. Smith becomes the victim toward the end of the film. He keeps Giamatti's men from the baby but he ends up getting caught and having all his fingers broken. Spicer also writes that lead noir characters are sometimes damaged men, psychopaths and serial killers. And this film has all of that rolled up in one. Mr. Smith comes from a place of mystery to this film's viewers and as the film progresses we find out a tiny bit of his damaged past which include training with lots of guns and gunplay. By utilizing all of these categories of noir, Michael Davis brings in the noir portion of this film in order to keep us occupied and dazzled.
Noir stereotypes include the visual style and cinematography used in those shadowy, dark, night for night shot films. In Shoot Em Up, we find that color has enhanced the shadows, created a darker theme throughout the film and helped excentuate the importance of color when color enters the frame. When speaking of film stock used in the sixties and seventies, Erikson writes, " modern high-speed color negative films provide filmmakers exceptional low-end latitude, and render true blacks. This means that the shadowy, high contrast images familiar to film noir can now be realized with color film" (314, Erikson). What Erikson says of the sixties and seventies film stock is also true of our even further modernized technologies with digital graphics and computer work. Shoot Em Up utilizes the new technologies like a pro, with the added contrast between dark and light, Shoot Em Up also grunges certain colors and brightens others. In the first scene when the woman comes running past Mr. Smith Pregant, her smock and purse are faded and not at all sharp. But each and every one of Mr. Smith carrots are brightly, and spunkily orange. The significance of this is that the carrots clear Mr. Smith's mind in order to sort out what is morally best to do. Since the pregnant woman was desperate not to die, her colors weren't bright and brilliantly sharp. Yet when the dead woman is placed in the car with Paul Giamatti later in the film after the baby is delivered to Mr. Smith, her skin, lips and smock become more sharp in the shot. Here we see that in death, she has clarity, yet her face is very pale and in a state of shock. Her lips are still brightly red with the pain of giving birth, signifying she had more to say; especially about the whole scheme to utilize her baby's marrow to keep a Senator alive.
Yet another noir stereotype exibited in this film is the femme fatale. She has morphed into something different in this film, but none the less, Donna plays the femme fatale figure. What creates the male gaze these days is that "the postmodern fatal woman is a creature of excess and spectacle, like the films she decorates" (167, Stables). Donna is a lactating prostitute in flashy, fancy clothing creating a spectacle of herself wherever she goes, her fatality comes in the form of allure. What is misplaced is the fact that is Mr. Smith is her gun, all Donna must do is point and Clive Owen's trigger is pulled. Interestingly enough, the scene where Mr. Smith goes gun crazy on an on slaught of men while having sex with Donna creates this duo's dynamic nicely and clearly for the viewers. The ballet that they perform during this scene indicates how well coupled they are. The best way to characterize this scene from the perspective of Donna is that
"The postmodern fatale utilises sex to deliver death" (172, Stables) and that is exactly what she does.
The action that monopolizes this film has roots in the video game community and the first person shooter. Our society encourages the idea that "watching violence is a popular form of entertainment. A crowd of onlookers enjoys a street fight just as much as the Romans enjoyed Gladiators" (Felson, 103). Felson goes on to theorize and site studies of how young males exhibit more violence if they've watched violent television or played video games. This film contains shots that could be described as first person shooter shots excentuating the perspective of Mr. Smith. The fighting that predominates this film could be described as formulating the behavior of those who have viewed it. But with all the publicized violence in the media, news and metropolises there is no need to censor because the public will be exposed to it anyway. This portion of the film is already integrated into the framework of our societies mindset. After acknowledging this we can absorb its violence and appreciate the beauty that is depicted in the cinematography of flying bullets, skidding dolly shots of Mr. Smith sliding under cars on oil, and celebrate the movement of the camera.
A raving review of this film says, "action fans will find plenty to amuse them with this film that makes Hard-Boiled look restrained" (Scheck). This action packed theme of Shoot Em Up lends itself to furthering that of hard-boiled fiction. The gangster film of the noir era has been succumbed by that of the gun-fire dominated chase genre. What really excentuates this film with the draw of violence is the same very thing that keeps the surface thin so as to let the underlying social commentary shine through. By keeping us distracted by action and violence we have a hard time seeing the politics behind the movie maker. After close analysis we come to realize how this film is relevant to the time it was made, and how much this film brings out its own context. In post 9/11 America there is a dark mood about the American people and we have a gloom about us that keeps convoluted governments in power. The plot of this film surrounds the fight for a baby's bone marrow in order to keep Senator Rutledge from dying. Giamatti and his men want to kill the baby in order to prevent the continuation of Senator Rutledge's term. This kind of secrecy and corruption in the institution that rules America is very significant and similar to the whole of G.W. Bush's eight years in office and his involvement in the Iraq war. Giamatti as a tool of this governing body is after Mr. Smith and the baby for one reason only, and that is for monetary compensation. The film indicates that Giamatti has a winey wife and how he has expensive cars, cool gadgets etc showing how in a world of fantasy, the reality behind the writer and his time shines through.
In keeping with the gloomy theme of the film, and its dark landscape, Davis incorporates noir themes. Silver writes about how ‘resurfacing themes and styles of noir” (331, Silver) keep coming up in contemporary films with the intention of captivating the audience with old tricks. Crime has become so fantasized that films peak on that sort of theme and continuously bombard the viewers with violence and more violence. The “pervasiveness of crime and the public’s fascination with sensual crime” (316, Erikson) has escalated our society’s absorption of crime. The teen population has gotten more and more entranced by sex and violence and the age of innocence is getting younger and younger. The “rogue cop” (150, Spicer) in a world of crime has become a staple in popular media culture. What makes our society so interested in this particular genre is clear; we identify with the rogue cop. In contemporary American society, the individual wants a hero to drive us out of a bad economy and away from wars only perpetrated by the governing body rather then the popular vote. Shoot Em Up significantly helps the viewer identify with an individual lost in a corrupted world, fighting for integrity and ritcheousness.
Instead of focusing in on pop culture references and government politics, Shoot Em Up works to hint at a greater picture. The mood in which the people of America are in during the period this film was being made was pretty dreary. Upon reflection of noir's first round, Silver writes "at the height of the movement individual noir films transcended personal and generic out look to reflect cultual preoccupations"(331, Silver). Here Silver writes about how the noir of the 1940s had a thread of the war torn people and their dispare, distrust, and depression. Shoot Em Up emulates that same thread but of the American people's distrust of their government, the poor economy falling to pieces and the concerns about global warming.
Within Shoot Em Up we see the references to the corrupt government easily with the main plot but the poor economy and the concerns for the global warming are harder to find. The poor economy comes out in the last scene where the men who rob the gas station are in such dire states of cleanliness we see how desperate and bedragled the men have let themselves get. Some other instances of the poor economy being hinted at are in the means of making money. Donna prostitutes herself as a lactating mother, and the scientists who scientifically engineer the babies for the Senator's bone marrow transplant seem to not care about the moral decisions they are making to create such a product.
The global warming concerns are easily found in the green bus routed to "Wherever" using biodiesel fuel and filled with hippies. This small hint might indicate how prioritized Davis sees this concern in the population of America. If this film were divided up into how much attention was put into the extra hints towards the populations concerns, Davis would be representing the economy and the corrupt government as a major concern but the deteriorating environment may only be a side note. But we must notice it is in there with all the rest.
After considering the guise of Bugs Bunny, the stereotypes of noir, and the underlying social commentary exhibited by this film, we can move on to what this film might render and inspire. In being a neo-noir, Shoot Em Up has the potential to inspire a new run of films based off of its style. Although, this film belongs to its own group already, the group may inspire a new dark comedy gangster chase drama genre...What it comes down to is that this film is iconic in its time, regardless of poor reviews. The lone drifter with an obsession for carrots and a great plethora of gun knowledge has always been one of those characters we know and love, but maybe we will see something innovative and new come from out of it.
Works Cited
Erikson, Todd. "Kill Me Again: Movement Becomes Genre." Film Noir Reader. Pomptom Plains, New Jersey: Limelight Editions, 2006. 307-331.
Felson, Richard. "Mass Media Effects on Violent Behavior." Annual Review of Sociology 22 (1996): 103-128.
Scheck, Frank "Shoot 'Em Up Bottom Line: The title of this over-the-top action movie says it all.." The Hollywood Reporter 22 Aug. 2007. 29 May. 2009.
Scott, A.O. "Never Mind Those Bullets, a Newborn Needs Rescuing." New York Times 7 Sep. 2007. 29 May. 2009.
Shoot Em Up. Dir. Michael Davis. Perf. Clive Owen. DVD. New Line Cinema, 2007.
Silver, Alain. "Son of Noir: Neo-Film Noir and the Neo-B Picture." Film Noir Reader. Pompton Plains, New Jersey: Limelight Editions, 2006. 331-339.
Spicer,. "Neo-Noir 2: Postmodern Film Noir." Postmodern Film Noir. 149-174.
Stables, Kate. "The Postmodern Always Rings Twice: Constructing the Femme Fatale in 90s Cinema." Women in Film Noir. London: British Film Institute, 2003. 164-183.
Bugs Bunny grabs attention in the film Shoot Em Up as a gag to keep you entranced in the story. Clive Owen as Mr. Smith eats carrots, has a good wit about him, and keeps the hunters running around in circles trying to capture the drifter-turned hero. Along the plot line, a baby falls into his lap of protection, and his friend who happens to be a hooker; Donna Quintano is a convenient wet nurse. Throughout this film, there is a theme of orange carrots indicating Mr.Smith as a Bugs Bunny-type character. His wit, knowledge of gun play and fighting, coupled with his oral obsession with carrots entices the audience with the hints of a Bugs Bunny character. By using this technique on the lead character, Mr. Smith keeps the viewers attention, but perhaps it is only with this gag that the film possesses any merit. By borrowing from Bugs Bunny and film noir, Michael Davis creates a film that is primarily comprised of MacGuffins distracting the viewer in order to keep interest. Reviews of Shoot Em Up run on the skeptical side due to all of the action preventing the viewer to see much else then action packed gun play. The New York Times said that this film is "garbage", "witless" and "tasteless" (Scott) but that comes only from looking at the surface. After delving deeper into the script and cinematography we find how Shoot Em Up is both a neo-noir film utilizing the iconic Bugs Bunny and a social commentary.
Bugs bunny tricks his victims by "playing along with the tormentor"(Savoy, 193) and Mr. Smith does this as well. Showing Mr. Smith through the bugs bunny lens gives the audience a way of seeing. This newfound vail is so hard to see due to how ingrained pop culture is in our society. Having such a figure as Bugs Bunny in mind, Davis can manipulate audiences attention well at this hinted. With a strong, culturally ingrained character such as Bugs Bunny who has been around since 1938 (Savoy, 189), the plot can float along on a very weak string without much weight or substance behind the constant action. Some tricks signifying the Bugs Bunny character in Mr. Smith are his obsession with carrots, his ability to keep his hunter on his toes and running in circles, and his keen knowledge of deception.
When Mr. Smith hides a recording of a baby crying in a rag doll to simulate the baby he is protecting from the head honcho leading the search; Paul Giamatti, we see how deceptive and tricky Mr. Smith can be. The viewer doesn't get to be in on the trick until Giamatti though, showing that not even the viewer is as smart as Mr. Smith, not unlike how Bugs Bunny is portrayed. Another such incident is that Another such incident is when Mr. Smith's hide out home is found, which is located in an abandoned building, but Giamatti's men go up these stairs that circle around a square foyer and when all of them get upstairs, Mr. Smith repels down through the whole past all the men. This trick is also significant of Mr. Smiths outwitting ability and similarity to Bugs Bunny. Hiding in a fortified whole is something Bugs Bunny would do in order to deceive an opponent, and Mr. Smith does that when hiding Donna and the Baby in a tank on display in a museum so he can keep Giamatti of the Baby's trail. All these tricks and conniving schemes ring true of Bugs and keeps the audience entranced by all the action schemes of this sort possess.
Without the wit and scheming ability of Bugs Bunny, Mr. Smith would be left with brut force and that kind of subtraction from this film would leave it bare and the viewers might leave without a second thought due to the boredom that would ensue if the movie was fight scene after fight scene. The film tries to depict Mr. Smith as having inherent knowledge of gun play as well as the wit to keep Giamatti's minions running in circles. But these qualities seem to come from adopting the Bugs Bunny guise for Mr. Smith.
Carrots play a big role in this film and are a huge indicator that Mr. Smith is Bugs incarnate. He grows carrots in a greenhouse and always has them on his person. The film opens with Mr. Smith taking a huge bite out of a carrot aggressively and then the plot progresses with the arrival of a woman in labor with a man after her with a gun. Mr. Smith runs after him and in the process of rescuing the baby, he kills a man by inserting a carrot in a man's mouth, slamming it in through the back of his neck therefore killing him. After he does this, Mr. Smith says to him "eat your vegetables" and continues on his heroic way.
Mr Smith gradually reveals himself as a master trickster. Savoy writes, " Bugs Bunny's role is not simply to elude the machinations of Daffy and Elmer in a serial fashion, but rather to redirect them to the mutual humiliation of his opponents" (189, Savoy). Paul Giamatti intends on humiliating Mr. Smith throughout the whole film, but time after time Mr. Smith turns it back over at Giamatti and embarrasses him by eluding his clutches.
At the tail end of the film Mr. Smith gets out of a jam in a truck stop where he finally meets back up with Donna and the baby by using a carrot to pull the trigger of a gun against some cash register thieves. His fingers are all broken, so the comedy of bandages and fire power show up here. Carrots a weapon of knowledge and wit against those dumb soldier types of our society. What does this teach to viewers? Knowledge is power, and if you have a carrot in hand, you can probably see more clearly the situation surrounding you, due to its eye-improving qualities.
Another interesting aspect about bugs bunny that Savoy points out is the gender bending that crops up in most of his cartoons. Within Shoot Em Up the gender roles are pretty stead fast and black and white. Although, while in the midst of a shoot out, Mr. Smith turns and swishes the tails of his coat like a skirt and gives the flourish of feminine mystique.
Catch phrases surround Bugs Bunny and this follows through with Mr. Smith as well. Instead of "What's up, Doc?" (Savoy, 194) Mr. Smith says "You know what I hate?" and then proceeds to describe and then destroy whatever it is he hates. One example of this is pony tails on old men, he says "it doesn't make you look hip, young, or cool" and proceeds to shoot it off one of Giamatti's men. The use of the catch phrase not only is indicative of Bugs Bunny but is also yet another distraction from the plot and refocuses the viewer on Mr. Smith and his character as a drifter bad ass.
The theme surrounding fighting the heroe's battle comes from film noir stereotypes. Mr. Smith inexplicably cares about this baby and fights for its life, all in the name of justice. Spicer writes about how lead male protagonists have a category made up of drifters or accidental victims and Mr. Smith becomes the victim toward the end of the film. He keeps Giamatti's men from the baby but he ends up getting caught and having all his fingers broken. Spicer also writes that lead noir characters are sometimes damaged men, psychopaths and serial killers. And this film has all of that rolled up in one. Mr. Smith comes from a place of mystery to this film's viewers and as the film progresses we find out a tiny bit of his damaged past which include training with lots of guns and gunplay. By utilizing all of these categories of noir, Michael Davis brings in the noir portion of this film in order to keep us occupied and dazzled.
Noir stereotypes include the visual style and cinematography used in those shadowy, dark, night for night shot films. In Shoot Em Up, we find that color has enhanced the shadows, created a darker theme throughout the film and helped excentuate the importance of color when color enters the frame. When speaking of film stock used in the sixties and seventies, Erikson writes, " modern high-speed color negative films provide filmmakers exceptional low-end latitude, and render true blacks. This means that the shadowy, high contrast images familiar to film noir can now be realized with color film" (314, Erikson). What Erikson says of the sixties and seventies film stock is also true of our even further modernized technologies with digital graphics and computer work. Shoot Em Up utilizes the new technologies like a pro, with the added contrast between dark and light, Shoot Em Up also grunges certain colors and brightens others. In the first scene when the woman comes running past Mr. Smith Pregant, her smock and purse are faded and not at all sharp. But each and every one of Mr. Smith carrots are brightly, and spunkily orange. The significance of this is that the carrots clear Mr. Smith's mind in order to sort out what is morally best to do. Since the pregnant woman was desperate not to die, her colors weren't bright and brilliantly sharp. Yet when the dead woman is placed in the car with Paul Giamatti later in the film after the baby is delivered to Mr. Smith, her skin, lips and smock become more sharp in the shot. Here we see that in death, she has clarity, yet her face is very pale and in a state of shock. Her lips are still brightly red with the pain of giving birth, signifying she had more to say; especially about the whole scheme to utilize her baby's marrow to keep a Senator alive.
Yet another noir stereotype exibited in this film is the femme fatale. She has morphed into something different in this film, but none the less, Donna plays the femme fatale figure. What creates the male gaze these days is that "the postmodern fatal woman is a creature of excess and spectacle, like the films she decorates" (167, Stables). Donna is a lactating prostitute in flashy, fancy clothing creating a spectacle of herself wherever she goes, her fatality comes in the form of allure. What is misplaced is the fact that is Mr. Smith is her gun, all Donna must do is point and Clive Owen's trigger is pulled. Interestingly enough, the scene where Mr. Smith goes gun crazy on an on slaught of men while having sex with Donna creates this duo's dynamic nicely and clearly for the viewers. The ballet that they perform during this scene indicates how well coupled they are. The best way to characterize this scene from the perspective of Donna is that
"The postmodern fatale utilises sex to deliver death" (172, Stables) and that is exactly what she does.
The action that monopolizes this film has roots in the video game community and the first person shooter. Our society encourages the idea that "watching violence is a popular form of entertainment. A crowd of onlookers enjoys a street fight just as much as the Romans enjoyed Gladiators" (Felson, 103). Felson goes on to theorize and site studies of how young males exhibit more violence if they've watched violent television or played video games. This film contains shots that could be described as first person shooter shots excentuating the perspective of Mr. Smith. The fighting that predominates this film could be described as formulating the behavior of those who have viewed it. But with all the publicized violence in the media, news and metropolises there is no need to censor because the public will be exposed to it anyway. This portion of the film is already integrated into the framework of our societies mindset. After acknowledging this we can absorb its violence and appreciate the beauty that is depicted in the cinematography of flying bullets, skidding dolly shots of Mr. Smith sliding under cars on oil, and celebrate the movement of the camera.
A raving review of this film says, "action fans will find plenty to amuse them with this film that makes Hard-Boiled look restrained" (Scheck). This action packed theme of Shoot Em Up lends itself to furthering that of hard-boiled fiction. The gangster film of the noir era has been succumbed by that of the gun-fire dominated chase genre. What really excentuates this film with the draw of violence is the same very thing that keeps the surface thin so as to let the underlying social commentary shine through. By keeping us distracted by action and violence we have a hard time seeing the politics behind the movie maker. After close analysis we come to realize how this film is relevant to the time it was made, and how much this film brings out its own context. In post 9/11 America there is a dark mood about the American people and we have a gloom about us that keeps convoluted governments in power. The plot of this film surrounds the fight for a baby's bone marrow in order to keep Senator Rutledge from dying. Giamatti and his men want to kill the baby in order to prevent the continuation of Senator Rutledge's term. This kind of secrecy and corruption in the institution that rules America is very significant and similar to the whole of G.W. Bush's eight years in office and his involvement in the Iraq war. Giamatti as a tool of this governing body is after Mr. Smith and the baby for one reason only, and that is for monetary compensation. The film indicates that Giamatti has a winey wife and how he has expensive cars, cool gadgets etc showing how in a world of fantasy, the reality behind the writer and his time shines through.
In keeping with the gloomy theme of the film, and its dark landscape, Davis incorporates noir themes. Silver writes about how ‘resurfacing themes and styles of noir” (331, Silver) keep coming up in contemporary films with the intention of captivating the audience with old tricks. Crime has become so fantasized that films peak on that sort of theme and continuously bombard the viewers with violence and more violence. The “pervasiveness of crime and the public’s fascination with sensual crime” (316, Erikson) has escalated our society’s absorption of crime. The teen population has gotten more and more entranced by sex and violence and the age of innocence is getting younger and younger. The “rogue cop” (150, Spicer) in a world of crime has become a staple in popular media culture. What makes our society so interested in this particular genre is clear; we identify with the rogue cop. In contemporary American society, the individual wants a hero to drive us out of a bad economy and away from wars only perpetrated by the governing body rather then the popular vote. Shoot Em Up significantly helps the viewer identify with an individual lost in a corrupted world, fighting for integrity and ritcheousness.
Instead of focusing in on pop culture references and government politics, Shoot Em Up works to hint at a greater picture. The mood in which the people of America are in during the period this film was being made was pretty dreary. Upon reflection of noir's first round, Silver writes "at the height of the movement individual noir films transcended personal and generic out look to reflect cultual preoccupations"(331, Silver). Here Silver writes about how the noir of the 1940s had a thread of the war torn people and their dispare, distrust, and depression. Shoot Em Up emulates that same thread but of the American people's distrust of their government, the poor economy falling to pieces and the concerns about global warming.
Within Shoot Em Up we see the references to the corrupt government easily with the main plot but the poor economy and the concerns for the global warming are harder to find. The poor economy comes out in the last scene where the men who rob the gas station are in such dire states of cleanliness we see how desperate and bedragled the men have let themselves get. Some other instances of the poor economy being hinted at are in the means of making money. Donna prostitutes herself as a lactating mother, and the scientists who scientifically engineer the babies for the Senator's bone marrow transplant seem to not care about the moral decisions they are making to create such a product.
The global warming concerns are easily found in the green bus routed to "Wherever" using biodiesel fuel and filled with hippies. This small hint might indicate how prioritized Davis sees this concern in the population of America. If this film were divided up into how much attention was put into the extra hints towards the populations concerns, Davis would be representing the economy and the corrupt government as a major concern but the deteriorating environment may only be a side note. But we must notice it is in there with all the rest.
After considering the guise of Bugs Bunny, the stereotypes of noir, and the underlying social commentary exhibited by this film, we can move on to what this film might render and inspire. In being a neo-noir, Shoot Em Up has the potential to inspire a new run of films based off of its style. Although, this film belongs to its own group already, the group may inspire a new dark comedy gangster chase drama genre...What it comes down to is that this film is iconic in its time, regardless of poor reviews. The lone drifter with an obsession for carrots and a great plethora of gun knowledge has always been one of those characters we know and love, but maybe we will see something innovative and new come from out of it.
Works Cited
Erikson, Todd. "Kill Me Again: Movement Becomes Genre." Film Noir Reader. Pomptom Plains, New Jersey: Limelight Editions, 2006. 307-331.
Felson, Richard. "Mass Media Effects on Violent Behavior." Annual Review of Sociology 22 (1996): 103-128.
Scheck, Frank "Shoot 'Em Up Bottom Line: The title of this over-the-top action movie says it all.." The Hollywood Reporter 22 Aug. 2007. 29 May. 2009
Scott, A.O. "Never Mind Those Bullets, a Newborn Needs Rescuing." New York Times 7 Sep. 2007. 29 May. 2009
Shoot Em Up. Dir. Michael Davis. Perf. Clive Owen. DVD. New Line Cinema, 2007.
Silver, Alain. "Son of Noir: Neo-Film Noir and the Neo-B Picture." Film Noir Reader. Pompton Plains, New Jersey: Limelight Editions, 2006. 331-339.
Spicer,. "Neo-Noir 2: Postmodern Film Noir." Postmodern Film Noir. 149-174.
Stables, Kate. "The Postmodern Always Rings Twice: Constructing the Femme Fatale in 90s Cinema." Women in Film Noir. London: British Film Institute, 2003. 164-183.
Murder, My Sweet: Film Noir Midterm Paper 5/4/09
Murder, My Sweet and It's Elements of Film Noir
Phillip Marlowe describes why he was at the office so late one night: "I'm a homing pidgeon, I always come back to the stinking coop no mater how late it is" (Murder, My Sweet 2:50min into the film). What makes up this particular noir film is mostly due to Chandler's character Phillip Marlowe and his methods of detective work, but noir basics complement and fill in the rest. In the first sequence of the film, the mise-en-scene, cinematography, and Chandler's writing create the building blocks that support the film that follows, while the femme fatale is the underlying, driving force of the film.
The mise-en-scene of the first scene includes the lighting and how all the shots are set up. For one, the desk Marlowe is interrigated at is the main point of interest as the credits progress over the screen. Focusing on the desk sets up the idea to the audience that an interview will take place, it also gives off a noir feel due to the one light ont he desk and no other light existing anywhere else in the overhead shot. Within the first sequence the idea of the desk is central. After Marlowe begins his recount of events of late, we dive back in time to when Marlowe first meets Moose Malloy and during this scene the desk place a role as well. The role the desk plays is that of space and gives power, but it is unclear to whom. Malloy eyes Marlow's gun that rests on the desk and then proceeds to move it, sit upon the desk and orchestrate the usage of Marlowe's detective skills through bribary with some cash. Before Moose sits on Marlowe's desk, Marlowe has the power in the scene, but then Moose gets him to take the case, and takes over the control. The sparse decor in both the police office and Marlowe's office are indicitive of noir, but also accentuate what the characters say instead of the background. But the basic noir lighting is what keeps this opening sequence indicitive of film noir. Schrader writes, " ...in the late forties, hollywood decided to paint it black, there were no greater masters of chiaroscuro than the germans. the influence of expressionist lighting has always been just beneath the surface of hollywood films and it is not surprising, in film noir, to find ...a larger number of German and east Europeans working in film noir"(55, Schrader). The transition from police interrigation office to Marlowe's office brings in the next basic noir component: cinematography.
A montage is used in order to bring us back in time to when Marlowe meets Moose Malloy. And the shots used to compile this montage contain neon signs and canted angled shots or "dutch tilts' emphasizing the city and its large size. The neon signs set up our orientation and give us California as a location for the narrative to take place, most possibly LA. From there the camera tracks in on Marlowe in his office with one of the neon signs flashing on and off right outside his window casting shadow, then a bright key light, and then none again. Using this key light, that is constructed in the narrative as coming from a neon sign outside Marlowe's window, Dmytryk stealthily introduces Moose Malloy by having him reflected on the inside window pain of Marlowe's office. The trick is, Malloy is only reflected when the neon sign flashing its lights is not on, but then he disappears when the light flashes. This ominous introduction of Malloy gives off the idea that something sketchy is about to occur in the narrative structure; something that involves a guy like Malloy (a gangster character). Speaking of violence, Borde and Chaumeton write, "It is the presence of crime which gives film noir its most constant characteristic...blackmail, accusation, theft, or drug trafficking set the stage for a narrative where life and death are at stake" (19).
Another aspect of creating this ominous feeling is that of voice-over narrative, of which Marlowe is famous for. His voice-over begins as an interview in this sequence, but comes up again after having the scene with Malloy and they arrive outside Florian's where Malloy's gal used to work. The narrating structure gives it more of a story feel, but the quality of the voice has a large impact on what emotion or mood is evoked in the audience. Marlowe's particular style is that of a neurosing detective that is good at his job, but knows all the horrors that life can throw at a man. This quality helps to continue the noir flavor of the film, especially with just a prime character to lead the story along. Another way of looking at it is that the narrative imposes the feel of noir on the audience, not unlike another film with Marlowe in it called the Big Sleep, (46', Howard Hawks) where Marlowe utilizes the voice-over narrative also. Borde and Chaumeton write, "The big Sleep [among others] imposed the concept of film noir on moviegoers. A new "series" had emerged..."(17, Borde and Chaumeton).
Which brings us to the lady of the film, who is barely mentioned in this opening sequence, but all the more important for she drives this film as the femme fatale. Borde and Chaumeton write, " there is the ambiguity surrounding the woman: the femme fatale who is fatal to herself. Frustrated and deviant, half predator, half prey, detached yet ensnared, she falls victim to her own traps"(22, Borde and Chaumeton). What Borde and Chaumeton mean is that the femme fetale lies in limbo between two distinctions and her position is difficult. In Murder, My sweet Helen Grayle, formerly Velma, is a money grubbing, backstabbing, gold digger that lets the men take the rap after she commits crimes and gains all the wealth. Mrs. Grayle fits the part of the femme fatale but in true noir fashion we don't know it till close to the end. In the beginning sequence, we hear Marlowe talking about this girl and Malloy searching for his old gal from before he was in prison, and that is our introduction; our hint at the real underlying drive to this film.
The writing of film noir is absolute key to creating a well made noir film. In introducing the femme fatale in such a subtle way at the beginning of the film, we see how social hierarchies can incubate women like Mrs. Grayle, at least those societies within film noir. Harvey writes, "film noir offers us again and again examples of abnormal or monstrous behavior, which defy the patterns established for human social interaction and which hint aat a series of radical and irresolvable contradictions buried deep within the total system of economic and social interactions that constitute the known world." (Harvey, 35). What follows the slight mention of Velma (aka Mrs. Grayle) in the sequence is that of her monstrous behavior mentioned by Harvey as well as her being a "sexually expressive woman, which is its dominant image of women [in noir], extremely powerful" (48, Place). Mrs. Grayle also utilizes society's idea that "women are weak and incapable that they need men's protection' to survive" (49, Place). Malloy hints at this in the sequence that opens the film through his mannerisms and attitude toward his old gal Velma.
All in all, this sequence sets up Malloy's ploy to find his girl, and Marlowe's long, complicated involvement in Mrs. Grayle/Velma's schemes that unfold in the rest of the film. This beginning portion of the film sets all this up through its use of mise-en-scene, cinematography, and writing which all lead to creating a convincing film noir worthy of studying more thoroughly. The femme fatale is so cunnningly pointed out as the underlying, driving force of the film during this sequence due to how subtle the mentions of her are. This sequence is beautifully put together in a way that gives the viewer all the bare bones necessary to both understand the basic plot, and have a hint at what the punch line is. Course having the original material for this film come from a Chandler novel helped a great deal.
Phillip Marlowe describes why he was at the office so late one night: "I'm a homing pidgeon, I always come back to the stinking coop no mater how late it is" (Murder, My Sweet 2:50min into the film). What makes up this particular noir film is mostly due to Chandler's character Phillip Marlowe and his methods of detective work, but noir basics complement and fill in the rest. In the first sequence of the film, the mise-en-scene, cinematography, and Chandler's writing create the building blocks that support the film that follows, while the femme fatale is the underlying, driving force of the film.
The mise-en-scene of the first scene includes the lighting and how all the shots are set up. For one, the desk Marlowe is interrigated at is the main point of interest as the credits progress over the screen. Focusing on the desk sets up the idea to the audience that an interview will take place, it also gives off a noir feel due to the one light ont he desk and no other light existing anywhere else in the overhead shot. Within the first sequence the idea of the desk is central. After Marlowe begins his recount of events of late, we dive back in time to when Marlowe first meets Moose Malloy and during this scene the desk place a role as well. The role the desk plays is that of space and gives power, but it is unclear to whom. Malloy eyes Marlow's gun that rests on the desk and then proceeds to move it, sit upon the desk and orchestrate the usage of Marlowe's detective skills through bribary with some cash. Before Moose sits on Marlowe's desk, Marlowe has the power in the scene, but then Moose gets him to take the case, and takes over the control. The sparse decor in both the police office and Marlowe's office are indicitive of noir, but also accentuate what the characters say instead of the background. But the basic noir lighting is what keeps this opening sequence indicitive of film noir. Schrader writes, " ...in the late forties, hollywood decided to paint it black, there were no greater masters of chiaroscuro than the germans. the influence of expressionist lighting has always been just beneath the surface of hollywood films and it is not surprising, in film noir, to find ...a larger number of German and east Europeans working in film noir"(55, Schrader). The transition from police interrigation office to Marlowe's office brings in the next basic noir component: cinematography.
A montage is used in order to bring us back in time to when Marlowe meets Moose Malloy. And the shots used to compile this montage contain neon signs and canted angled shots or "dutch tilts' emphasizing the city and its large size. The neon signs set up our orientation and give us California as a location for the narrative to take place, most possibly LA. From there the camera tracks in on Marlowe in his office with one of the neon signs flashing on and off right outside his window casting shadow, then a bright key light, and then none again. Using this key light, that is constructed in the narrative as coming from a neon sign outside Marlowe's window, Dmytryk stealthily introduces Moose Malloy by having him reflected on the inside window pain of Marlowe's office. The trick is, Malloy is only reflected when the neon sign flashing its lights is not on, but then he disappears when the light flashes. This ominous introduction of Malloy gives off the idea that something sketchy is about to occur in the narrative structure; something that involves a guy like Malloy (a gangster character). Speaking of violence, Borde and Chaumeton write, "It is the presence of crime which gives film noir its most constant characteristic...blackmail, accusation, theft, or drug trafficking set the stage for a narrative where life and death are at stake" (19).
Another aspect of creating this ominous feeling is that of voice-over narrative, of which Marlowe is famous for. His voice-over begins as an interview in this sequence, but comes up again after having the scene with Malloy and they arrive outside Florian's where Malloy's gal used to work. The narrating structure gives it more of a story feel, but the quality of the voice has a large impact on what emotion or mood is evoked in the audience. Marlowe's particular style is that of a neurosing detective that is good at his job, but knows all the horrors that life can throw at a man. This quality helps to continue the noir flavor of the film, especially with just a prime character to lead the story along. Another way of looking at it is that the narrative imposes the feel of noir on the audience, not unlike another film with Marlowe in it called the Big Sleep, (46', Howard Hawks) where Marlowe utilizes the voice-over narrative also. Borde and Chaumeton write, "The big Sleep [among others] imposed the concept of film noir on moviegoers. A new "series" had emerged..."(17, Borde and Chaumeton).
Which brings us to the lady of the film, who is barely mentioned in this opening sequence, but all the more important for she drives this film as the femme fatale. Borde and Chaumeton write, " there is the ambiguity surrounding the woman: the femme fatale who is fatal to herself. Frustrated and deviant, half predator, half prey, detached yet ensnared, she falls victim to her own traps"(22, Borde and Chaumeton). What Borde and Chaumeton mean is that the femme fetale lies in limbo between two distinctions and her position is difficult. In Murder, My sweet Helen Grayle, formerly Velma, is a money grubbing, backstabbing, gold digger that lets the men take the rap after she commits crimes and gains all the wealth. Mrs. Grayle fits the part of the femme fatale but in true noir fashion we don't know it till close to the end. In the beginning sequence, we hear Marlowe talking about this girl and Malloy searching for his old gal from before he was in prison, and that is our introduction; our hint at the real underlying drive to this film.
The writing of film noir is absolute key to creating a well made noir film. In introducing the femme fatale in such a subtle way at the beginning of the film, we see how social hierarchies can incubate women like Mrs. Grayle, at least those societies within film noir. Harvey writes, "film noir offers us again and again examples of abnormal or monstrous behavior, which defy the patterns established for human social interaction and which hint aat a series of radical and irresolvable contradictions buried deep within the total system of economic and social interactions that constitute the known world." (Harvey, 35). What follows the slight mention of Velma (aka Mrs. Grayle) in the sequence is that of her monstrous behavior mentioned by Harvey as well as her being a "sexually expressive woman, which is its dominant image of women [in noir], extremely powerful" (48, Place). Mrs. Grayle also utilizes society's idea that "women are weak and incapable that they need men's protection' to survive" (49, Place). Malloy hints at this in the sequence that opens the film through his mannerisms and attitude toward his old gal Velma.
All in all, this sequence sets up Malloy's ploy to find his girl, and Marlowe's long, complicated involvement in Mrs. Grayle/Velma's schemes that unfold in the rest of the film. This beginning portion of the film sets all this up through its use of mise-en-scene, cinematography, and writing which all lead to creating a convincing film noir worthy of studying more thoroughly. The femme fatale is so cunnningly pointed out as the underlying, driving force of the film during this sequence due to how subtle the mentions of her are. This sequence is beautifully put together in a way that gives the viewer all the bare bones necessary to both understand the basic plot, and have a hint at what the punch line is. Course having the original material for this film come from a Chandler novel helped a great deal.
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