tag:theconversation.com,2011:/nz/topics/film-1175/articlesFilm – The Conversation2024-03-26T12:50:09Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2265332024-03-26T12:50:09Z2024-03-26T12:50:09ZRoad House explores what it means to be a hyper-masculine hardman in the 21st century<p>Through Doug Liman’s reimagining of the Patrick Swayze vehicle Road House (1989), Amazon Prime is trying to draw a distinction between “toxic” hyper-masculinity and “useful” hyper-masculinity. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/hypermasculinity">Hyper-masculinity</a> refers to the exaggeration of stereotypical masculine traits and behaviours, emphasising physical strength, violence, aggression and sexuality. </p>
<p>Road House tells the story of Dalton (Jake Gyllenhaal) a down on his luck former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter who takes a job as a bouncer at a Florida Keys roadhouse. He soon discovers that the roadhouse is at the centre of a power struggle between gangsters, corrupt cops, and its charismatic owner Frankie (Jessica Williams). And guess what? Dalton’s the only one who can sort it all out. </p>
<p>The film plays out as a western, and it’s a bit meta about it too. Charlie (Hannah Lanier), a teenager that Dalton befriends, continually reminds us that Dalton’s life mirrors <a href="https://jweberle.com/2023/04/26/a-stranger-rides-into-town/">the stranger archetype</a> of the wild west genre. “Your job,” she tells him, “it’s like something out of a western. You’re the Lone Ranger walking into a lawless town, bringing order to chaos.” </p>
<p>If you like action films, and you have your tongue firmly in your cheek, then you’ll probably like this. Road House is packed with fun, fighting, fast cars and frivolous funnies. But what makes it interesting is the not-so-subtle exploration of what it means to be a hyper-masculine hard man in the 21st century.</p>
<h2>The hardmen of Prime</h2>
<p>Over the past few years, the Amazon Originals slate has heavily invested in hyper-masculine stories, with several films dedicated to adrenaline-fuelled muscle men kicking butt and taking names. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for Road House.</span></figcaption>
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<p>With prominent action hero productions such as Reacher (2022), The Terminal List (2022), and the forthcoming <a href="https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/god-of-war-tv-show-amazon-1235460972/">God of War</a>, it is not much of a stretch to suggest that Prime Video is fast becoming the new home for the hyper-masculine hardmen of the small screen.</p>
<p>The Amazon Studios <a href="https://press.amazonstudios.com/us/en/press-release/amazon-studios-releases-inclusion-policy-and">inclusion policy and playbook</a> claims that: “Amazon Studios has long prioritized telling innovative and inclusive stories from a diverse range of creative talent.” So why, then, are the 1980s calling and asking for their action genre back?</p>
<p>The 2024 Road House is in keeping with the Amazon Studios’ playbook in that diverse casting is front and centre in the story – but at its core it is a <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Hard_Bodies/7nERHha7TZUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=hard+bodies+the+reagan+heroes&pg=PA24&printsec=frontcover">portrayal of hard-bodied hyper-masculinity</a> and its associated ultra-violent behaviour. </p>
<h2>Masculinity in Road House</h2>
<p>From the outset, masculinity in the movie is associated with drinking, gambling, aggression, social dysfunction and thoughts of suicide. Dalton is a loner, who lives in the shadows and makes his money by hustling at underground mixed martial arts fights. He has few possessions and nowhere to live. </p>
<p>Yet, for all he is disempowered financially, he is empowered by the physicality of his body. His existence is defined by and dependent on his hyper-masculinity. You can stab him, beat him up, hit him with a pickup truck and he’ll just keep coming back.</p>
<p>Frankie harnesses Dalton’s hyper-masculine aggression to sort out the trouble at her roadhouse, which is overrun with thugs who are chasing off her customers. She can’t get help from the cops because they’re corrupt. So, she hires a harder man to sort out her hardman problem. And it works. Dalton’s hyper-masculine aggression is presented as functional. Given a purpose, Dalton becomes a useful tool. His hyper-masculinity is deployed for good.</p>
<p>It is up to Knox, played by former UFC champion <a href="https://www.ufc.com/athlete/conor-mcgregor">Connor McGregor</a>, to represent the “toxic” side of hyper-masculinity. As the only antagonist capable of challenging Dalton, Knox’s aggression has no real purpose. His violence is uncontrollable, unpredictable and sexually aggressive. He is the dark mirror of Dalton and as the story progresses, the boundary between the two men becomes less clear. To overcome Knox, Dalton must embrace the darkest aspects of his own hyper-masculinity.</p>
<p>Dalton’s hyper-masculinity is ultimately tragic. Once he has defeated Knox and solved the problem at the roadhouse, he is of no more use to the community of Glass Key and must move on. </p>
<p>So, does this mean that Road House is problematic in its messaging? Well, that’s up to the viewer to decide. The story is ridiculous, and it doesn’t pretend otherwise. It’s a guilty pleasure. A pastiche. So, in that sense, probably not. But then again the character of Knox cuts close to the bone in light of McGregor’s <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/conor-mcgregor-ufc-champion-timeline-arrests-abuse-1234772835/">real life legal troubles</a>, which include allegations of assault, reckless driving and robbery, which he has denied – all of which are featured in Road House. And these are characteristics that probably aren’t worth celebrating. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Quinn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If you like action films, and you have your tongue firmly in your cheek, then you’ll probably like this.John Quinn, Lecturer in Screen & Performance, School of Business and Creative Industries, University of the West of ScotlandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2225972024-03-25T19:06:21Z2024-03-25T19:06:21Z‘To truly forget life for a while – a reprieve and a reward’: why Australians love going to the cinema<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575230/original/file-20240213-20-2j40o9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/rearview-shot-little-kids-watching-movies-641241664">Khak/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australians have had plenty of time in the last 100 years to work out what they value about cinema-going and why it matters. Head to any cinema and catch the Val Morgan advertising in the pre-show. Take a closer look at the date the company was founded. Not 1984, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val_Morgan">but 1894</a>. That’s more than 125 years of “Making Messages Memorable” on Australian screens.</p>
<p>We have a deep and abiding love for cinema in this country. Over the last century, the experience of going to the movies has both shifted significantly (<a href="https://villageroadshow.com.au/-/media/VRL-Corporate-Media-Library/Documents/Press-Releases/2017/5-December-Gold-Class-Celebrates-20-Years.pdf">we invented Gold Class, you know</a>) and somehow remained resolutely enduring in terms of appeal. </p>
<p>My colleague Tess Van Hemert and I have spent the last two years <a href="https://research.qut.edu.au/dmrc/projects/resilient-screens-investigating-the-value-of-australian-cinema-exhibition/">researching</a> the cultures and practices of cinema-going and how cinema sites shape that experience. </p>
<p>A typical response in our research was:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I love the cinema experience. It’s a bonding experience, if it’s good it’s a emotional and cathartic experience.</p>
</blockquote>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-promised-big-hits-sure-disappointments-and-hidden-indie-gems-well-get-from-hollywood-in-2024-219964">The promised big hits, sure disappointments, and hidden indie gems we'll get from Hollywood in 2024</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<h2>‘A reprieve and a reward’</h2>
<p>Cinemas <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/industry-data-insights/reports/measuring-economic-value-cinema-venues">are a catalyst</a> for social, cultural and economic activity wherever they operate, from single-screen regional sites to major multiplexes in suburban shopping malls. Cinema, our participants said, is the “ideal” way to watch a movie:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I like to sit as close as I can to the screen so that the ‘real’ world is completely blocked out. I am immersed in & in awe of the film only. To truly forget life for a while – a reprieve & a reward.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575208/original/file-20240213-22-djkf8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People watching cinema inside a packed theatre hall" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575208/original/file-20240213-22-djkf8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575208/original/file-20240213-22-djkf8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575208/original/file-20240213-22-djkf8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575208/original/file-20240213-22-djkf8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575208/original/file-20240213-22-djkf8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575208/original/file-20240213-22-djkf8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575208/original/file-20240213-22-djkf8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Cinema-goers spoke about the importance of being a quiet part of a community.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/group-of-people-staring-at-monitor-inside-room-23LET4Hxj_U">Jake Hills/Unsplash</a></span>
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<p>Cinemas also mirror communities back to themselves. We may go in alone, as a couple or with family and friends, but in the cinema we form a community. When reflecting on returning to the cinema between COVID lockdowns, one person spoke of seeing American Utopia:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There were only about 10 people in the cinema. We didn’t know each other but we all started spontaneously dancing, first in our seats, and then everyone ran down to the floor in front of the screen to dance together. It was like a mini music festival when live music was banned.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Despite the cost, despite the hassle, despite the need to leave the couch, Australians turn up time and time again to cinemas. In 2023, the Australian box office generated nearly <a href="https://if.com.au/australian-box-office-neared-1b-in-2023/">A$1 billion</a> (although this is down on <a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/asia/australia-annual-box-office-drops-1203476275/">pre-COVID figures</a>). Four
of the top ten highest grossing films of all time in Australia have been released <a href="https://www.valmorgan.com.au/2022-at-the-movies">since the pandemic began</a>. Australian census data tells us cinema-going remains Australia’s <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities#:%7E:text=44%25%20of%20people%20attended%20the,popular%20cultural%20venue%20or%20event">most popular</a> cultural activity. </p>
<h2>‘Being able to switch off’</h2>
<p>When cinemas face closure – or shut temporarily, as they did during the pandemic – the outpouring of community support can galvanise a community and remind them of all the times and ways in which they valued that access to that experience. </p>
<p>One participant spoke of seeing their first film in the cinema after the pandemic:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It made me appreciate the whole cinema experience more. Getting out and being able to switch off was a welcome change.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In our research, we observed how cinemas began to <a href="https://www.palacecinemas.com.au/blog/the-cinema-why-we-love-it/">articulate</a> their value to community through the pandemic period of forced closures. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575215/original/file-20240213-24-gb2h4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A ticket counter inside a movie theatre with 'Box Office' written in bright red letters" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575215/original/file-20240213-24-gb2h4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575215/original/file-20240213-24-gb2h4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575215/original/file-20240213-24-gb2h4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575215/original/file-20240213-24-gb2h4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575215/original/file-20240213-24-gb2h4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575215/original/file-20240213-24-gb2h4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575215/original/file-20240213-24-gb2h4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">In 2023, the Australian box office generated nearly A$1 billion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bangkok-august-29-major-cineplex-rangsit-1123739954">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>In the <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/243758/">large-scale national audience research</a> we conducted in partnership with Palace Cinemas the value audiences derive from cinema-going was as diverse as the programming. </p>
<p>They remembered specific films, such as watching the opening credits of Force Awakens with a crowd of avid fans, or feeling like they were “experiencing summer in Italy” while watching Call Me By Your Name.</p>
<p>They focused on memories of the people they were with, such as feeling “all grown up” while seeing arthouse films with their dad when they were a kid. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-barbie-and-oppenheimer-how-do-cinemas-make-money-and-do-we-pay-too-much-for-movie-tickets-211121">Beyond Barbie and Oppenheimer, how do cinemas make money? And do we pay too much for movie tickets?</a>
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<h2>‘Float in the memory’</h2>
<p>They spoke about the feelings they had before during and after the screening and the experience overall. One respondent wrote of loving the end of a film:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the quiet few minutes as the credits roll and you float in the memory of the film. This only happens for me when I see it in the cinema.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another participant spoke about leaving the cinema and:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>doing a walk around the block thinking about the movie, still thinking about the movie driving home.</p>
</blockquote>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575211/original/file-20240213-24-zupq2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A crowd of people watching a film inside a movie theatre" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575211/original/file-20240213-24-zupq2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575211/original/file-20240213-24-zupq2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575211/original/file-20240213-24-zupq2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575211/original/file-20240213-24-zupq2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575211/original/file-20240213-24-zupq2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575211/original/file-20240213-24-zupq2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575211/original/file-20240213-24-zupq2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The quiet few minutes as the credits roll.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/person-watching-movie-AtPWnYNDJnM">Krists Luhaers/Unsplash</a></span>
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<p>One participant said they love “being able to have respectful (unbothered) alone time publicly”. </p>
<p>Clear in this data is that memorability – and the experience of cinema – is far more nuanced than the simple appeal of watching a big film in a big room on a big screen. Cinemas continue to serve Australian communities in far more complex way than simply movies and popcorn. </p>
<p>Cinema has always battled headwinds. Since radio, cinema has constantly faced in-home entertainment technology that was supposed to knock it over completely – TV, colour TV, cable, satellite, VHS, DVDs and now streaming. Each time, the desire for people to come together in a space and watch something unique in a way they can’t find anywhere else, with a level of engagement they can’t find anywhere else, has prevailed. We all have a kitchen at home, but we still love going out to restaurants.</p>
<p>Disney, Warner Bros and Australia’s own Birch Carrol and Coyle all celebrated 100 years of operation in 2023. To sustain another century, more research is needed to better understand how cinema-going must continue to evolve to meet shifting audience expectations.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/interactive-cinema-how-films-could-alter-plotlines-in-real-time-by-responding-to-viewers-emotions-200145">Interactive cinema: how films could alter plotlines in real time by responding to viewers' emotions</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222597/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ruari Elkington and Tess Van Hemert collaborated with Palace Cinemas (Palace Audience Survey) and Film Fantastic/Brisbane International Film Festival (2021 and 2022 BIFF industry reports). They were not funded by Palace Cinemas or Film Fantastic for this research.</span></em></p>I have spent the last two years researching the cultures and practices of cinema-going. Here’s what people tell me.Ruari Elkington, Senior Lecturer in Creative Industries & Chief Investigator at QUT Digital Media Research Centre (DMRC), Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2263622024-03-22T16:22:09Z2024-03-22T16:22:09ZAlien invasions, a lesbian road movie and tropical architecture – the best things to watch and do this week<p><em>This article was first published in our email newsletter Something Good, which every fortnight brings you a summary of the best things to watch, visit and read, as recommended and analysed by academic experts. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Click here</a> to receive the newsletter direct to your inbox</em></p>
<p>Here’s a winning equation for you. The creators of Game of Thrones adapting one of the most celebrated authors of Chinese science fiction, whose books are beloved by fans including Barack Obama and Mark Zuckerberg. No wonder <a href="https://theconversation.com/3-body-problem-netflix-adaptation-of-liu-cixins-alien-invasion-trilogy-is-captivating-226049">3 Body Problem</a> looks set to be one of the biggest Netflix shows of the year.</p>
<p>Based on Liu Cixin’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy, the series begins amid China’s Cultural Revolution in the mid-1960s. But it soon moves to the present day, where several top scientists have mysteriously committed suicide. What unfolds is an alien invasion story with a twist, as scientists and officials race to protect human civilisation from the incoming Trisolarans.</p>
<p>Mia Chen Ma, an expert in Chinese sci-fi, has been “captivated” by the eight-part series, which is released today. She is particularly impressed by Netflix’s willingness to get stuck into the big philosophical questions at the heart of Liu’s novels. If a technologically superior alien civilisation were to invade Earth – a planet already plagued with ecological destruction and human conflict – how should we respond? Is humanity worth saving? Is saving ourselves even possible?</p>
<p>As our author explains, the show offers a range of answers. But ultimately, its mix of intrigue and open-ended storytelling encourages viewers to draw their own conclusions.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/3-body-problem-netflix-adaptation-of-liu-cixins-alien-invasion-trilogy-is-captivating-226049">3 Body Problem: Netflix adaptation of Liu Cixin's alien invasion trilogy is captivating</a>
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<h2>Left-field love stories</h2>
<p>Lesbians have had a rough ride at the cinema. For nearly 40 years between 1930 and 1966, the Hays Code (strict censorship guides imposed on filmmakers) only allowed depictions of the “sexual perversion” of lesbianism if shown in a negative light. The film lesbians of these years (in movies such as Dracula’s Daughter, Rebecca and The Children’s Hour) were murderous, farcical, or rebels sorely in need of reform.</p>
<p>Thankfully, there has been change in recent times. Historical dramas like <a href="https://theconversation.com/carol-review-stunning-1950s-tale-of-two-women-in-love-51148">Carol</a> (2015), <a href="https://theconversation.com/ammonite-the-remarkable-real-science-of-mary-anning-and-her-fossils-151296">Ammonite</a> (2020) and my personal favourite, <a href="https://theconversation.com/where-theres-smoke-seeing-sex-in-portrait-of-a-lady-on-fire-132184">Portrait of a Lady on Fire</a> (2019) have all shown tender love stories between women. But as touching and refreshing as these portrayals of women in love are, they’re all rather sad. So, I was cheered to read Deborah Shaw’s review of <a href="https://theconversation.com/girls-just-wanna-have-fun-drive-away-dolls-and-lesbians-at-the-movies-226254">Drive-Away Dolls</a>. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_vy_7UGICJU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for Drive-Away Dolls.</span></figcaption>
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<p>“Odd couple” friends Jamie (Margaret Qualley) and Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) take a road trip in a hired car. Jamie wants to visit as many lesbian bars as possible, in a quest to cheer up Marian, who has just split with her girlfriend. Unbeknownst to them, the friends are driving a car with a mysterious suitcase in the boot and soon they’re being pursued by hapless thugs. This brainchild of Ethan Coen and his wife Tricia Cooke (a queer woman herself) is a lesbian road movie that will make you laugh, rather than tugging on your heart strings.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/drive-away-dolls-overturning-the-bad-sad-and-tragic-stereotypes-of-lesbians-in-film-226254">Drive-Away Dolls: overturning the bad, sad and tragic stereotypes of lesbians in film</a>
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<p>A film that’s always managed to make me laugh and cry in equal measure is Michel Gondry’s masterpiece <a href="https://theconversation.com/eternal-sunshine-of-the-spotless-mind-at-20-an-unflinching-meditation-on-love-and-memory-224462">Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind</a>, which turned 20 this week. I’ve rewatched the movie several times in recent years, and it somehow brings out a new emotion in me with every viewing. </p>
<p>This week, it was the scene where Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (a blue-haired Kate Winslet) meet in his memories as children that got me. Especially the moment when she steps in to protect him from the childhood bullies that he faced alone in real life. </p>
<p>For Jane Steventon, the film is an unflinching meditation on love and memory. And it was shockingly prescient. A movie about a man erasing the memories of an ex-lover takes on a whole new resonance in our social media age, when the photos of and posts about a previous relationship can be deleted with the touch of a button. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/eternal-sunshine-of-the-spotless-mind-at-20-an-unflinching-meditation-on-love-and-memory-224462">Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind at 20: an unflinching meditation on love and memory</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>Broadening horizons</h2>
<p>Despite his fame today, the artist and poet William Blake was relatively unknown in his time. This meant he couldn’t afford to travel widely, as many of his more successful contemporaries did. In fact, Blake never left Britain. But he was certainly interested in Europe. He read the works of Dante in Italian and translations of German philosophers such as Jakob Böhme and Swedish theologians like Emanual Swedenborg. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583510/original/file-20240321-24-hc0ngm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Painting of William Blake." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583510/original/file-20240321-24-hc0ngm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583510/original/file-20240321-24-hc0ngm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583510/original/file-20240321-24-hc0ngm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583510/original/file-20240321-24-hc0ngm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583510/original/file-20240321-24-hc0ngm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=968&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583510/original/file-20240321-24-hc0ngm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=968&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583510/original/file-20240321-24-hc0ngm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=968&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">William Blake by Thomas Phillips (1807).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Blake_by_Thomas_Phillips.jpg">National Portrait Gallery</a></span>
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<p>So, a new exhibition <a href="https://theconversation.com/william-blake-new-exhibition-reconnects-poet-and-artist-with-his-european-contemporaries-226150">at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge</a> that shows Blake’s art and poetry alongside that of his European contemporaries feels like retroactive justice. </p>
<p>His beautiful hand-printed poem, Europe, and his energetic reinterpretations of ancient Greek sculptures take on new life when displayed alongside the artists who really lived and worked in these locations. The show expands Blake’s personal creative universe, reframing it as part of a shared imaginative and cultural space. That this exhibition figuratively takes Blake – and visitors – on a journey across Europe, is something very special.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/william-blake-exhibition-making-a-european-out-of-the-poet-and-artist-who-never-left-england-226150">William Blake exhibition: making a European out of the poet and artist who never left England</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/tropical-modernism-architecture-and-independence-at-vanda-reintroduces-indian-and-ghanaian-pioneers-of-the-style-224556">Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Independence</a>, now open at London’s V&A, showcases the legacy of tropical modernism in Ghana and India. This style of architecture was developed specifically for tropical climates, resulting in grand, elaborate structures that provide optimal ventilation and minimise solar heat gain. </p>
<p>Our reviewer, Adefolatomiwa Toye, who is writing a PhD on tropical modernism, was impressed. The show challenges the Eurocentric stories that are often told about these designs and spotlights the architects and labourers from India and Ghana who helped to create some of their country’s most iconic buildings. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tropical-modernism-architecture-and-independence-at-vanda-reintroduces-indian-and-ghanaian-pioneers-of-the-style-224556">Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Independence at V&A reintroduces Indian and Ghanaian pioneers of the style</a>
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</em>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
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Our top picks of the best films, TV shows and exhibitions to see this week.Anna Walker, Senior Arts + Culture EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2244622024-03-18T13:44:33Z2024-03-18T13:44:33ZEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind at 20: an unflinching meditation on love and memory<p><em>This article contains spoilers.</em></p>
<p>Heartbreak is a universal experience. When a heart breaks, we vacillate between hope and fear, anger and denial and a thousand fragmentary moments of grief. Uninvited memories persistently invade our days: memories of what was, what could have been and what will never be.</p>
<p>When writing Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Charlie Kaufman could not have known about the seismic impact of social media in years to come. How we now lurk on our former lovers’ profiles, view their photos, analyse their posts and remove images – metaphorically wiping the slate clean and willingly deleting our past.</p>
<p>This relatable angst of ridding ourselves of past memories of heartbreak is the premise of director Michel Gondry’s masterpiece, which is 20 years old this week.</p>
<p>With a non-linear narrative steering a rollercoaster script, this quirky, nebulous, joyous then rueful story is not for those who like their love stories simple. Gondry’s emotive film dares to confront the not so happy-ever-afters in a dark fairy tale which meditates on love and memory and the discombobulation of a broken heart. </p>
<p>We first meet Joel (Jim Carrey) as he abandons his daily commute for the opposite platform, to catch a train heading for the coast. It’s there, on a desolate grey beach, that he first sees Clementine (Kate Winslet), with her colourful blue hair. She introduces herself on the return journey with a sharp punch to the arm and a direct, unflinching intensity. </p>
<p>Shy, insular Joel is hooked and so are we. With the meet-not-so-cute established, the whirling storyline begins to loop and bend around time. Is this the beginning of the love story, or the end?</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Can’t get you out of my head</h2>
<p>We duly witness Joel’s agony and ecstasy through a collection of memories which ultimately end with the loss of Clementine. With her gone, Joel’s life loses its colour and verve. </p>
<p>He’s galvanised to win Clementine back, but is confused when she doesn’t recognise him. This leads him to discover that Clementine has had their entire relationship erased from her mind by the avuncular Dr Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson) and his eccentric team: an unusually chaotic Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood and Kirsten Dunst. When Joel decides to undergo the same procedure to shut out his own pain, the chaotic emotional conflict deepens. </p>
<p>The space between waking and dreaming become progressively intertwined with nightmarish depictions of Joel’s brain cleansing. Acid-coloured set design that exaggerates childhood memory, nightmarish Kafka-esque corridors of the mind and circus-like distortions exacerbate the effect.</p>
<p>In this anything-can-happen landscape, Joel’s desperation to hang on to his memories of Clementine becomes a driving force and the audience roots for their love, however dead it has seemed, to live on. We hope that they will outrun the mind-filtering process and come out ready to give love another try.</p>
<p>In real life, Gondry’s low-key, laidback and friendly persona <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/03/eternal-sunshine-of-the-spotless-mind-anniversary-jim-carrey-michel-gondry">enabled him to persuade</a> big stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet to sign up for the quirky premise and his own relatively untested directorial vision.</p>
<p>Up until then, his main gig had been as <a href="https://www.redbull.com/us-en/7-best-michel-gondry-directed-music-videos">music video director</a> for artists including The White Stripes, Bjork and The Foo Fighters. He had form as an imaginative and experimental auteur, but the one previous cinematic outing that he and Kaufman had created, the Tim Robbins and Patricia Arquette comedy Human Nature (2001), resulted in an underwhelming box office and a <a href="https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2022/09/naturally-shortsighted/">confused set of critics</a>.</p>
<p>When Carrey first met Gondry to talk about the project, he was reportedly in a state of brokenness after coming out of a relationship with fellow actor Renee Zellweger – something that Gondry <a href="https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/fucked-up-meeting-inspired-jim-carrey-greatest-role/">urged him to preserve</a> for the character of Joel. Gondry saw the actor as the opposite of the ebullient, anarchic character he mainly portrayed and as someone who stood apart from the crowd. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls-9_Iz0zR4">He cited</a> a lonely moment he had once seen of Carrey standing to the side during the credits of Saturday Night Live, as others danced and celebrated.</p>
<p>Winslet, doyenne of many a period drama by that point, took on the more conventional Carrey-esque role of Clementine, showcasing hair of many colours throughout the movie, and a changeable personality to match. Her performance was revelatory and ultimately the gamble of going against casting type paid off, winning her a best actress Oscar nomination.</p>
<p>Gondry and Kaufman <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2Nav-ct3W8">won the Oscar</a> for best screenplay. In later years, Kaufman <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38OC0vvB4h8">urged an audience of writers</a> to subvert narrative structure with advice seemingly tailored to his experience of Eternal Sunshine: “your dreams are very well written. Approach your work like your dreams would and throw away conventional approaches.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/loves-labors-lost/read/5/2/">“A light heart lives long”</a> intones Shakespeare in Love’s Labour’s Lost, and nearly all romantic comedies end on such a “happily ever after” But in Eternal Sunshine, Gondry’s gift is to present us with love as it often really is: a messy, painful experience that fans the flames of hope, connection and intimacy in us all. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224462/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Steventon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This quirky, nebulous, joyous then rueful story is not for those who like their love stories simple.Jane Steventon, Course Leader, BA (Hons) Screenwriting; Deputy Course Leader & Senior Lecturer, BA (Hons) Film Production, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2226062024-03-15T05:07:18Z2024-03-15T05:07:18Z‘An exceptionally queasy atmosphere’: the unsettling new Aussie horror You’ll Never Find Me<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582118/original/file-20240315-20-dr4lqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=142%2C11%2C7797%2C5249&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Credit Ian Routledge. Copyright Lot Film Pty Ltd</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the middle of the night, during a terrible thunderstorm, a sodden stranger knocks on Patrick’s door hoping to use a phone. Insomniac Patrick (Brendan Rock) is a paranoid, bearded loner who sits alone in his dimly-lit mobile home as if he is waiting for a dawn that may never come. The nameless, barefoot visitor (Jordan Cowan), a 20-something woman with long dark hair and haunted eyes, seems unsure if she’s stumbled across a saviour, or a predator. </p>
<p>This unexpected encounter opens the Australian psychological horror film You’ll Never Find Me, an unsettling and economical chamber piece that makes effective use of its limited location and its dialogue-heavy script.</p>
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<h2>Shifting identities</h2>
<p>We begin the film unsure about either character’s identity or motivations. “I’m afraid you’ve knocked on the wrong door,” drawls Patrick mournfully. </p>
<p>He shows the visitor initially reluctant but surprisingly tender hospitality and she is uncertain how to respond. At time drags on, Patrick demonstrates a deep willingness to wax lyrical about his take on life’s difficulties. “It’s nice to pass the time with a stranger,” he confesses. </p>
<p>As the storm knocks out the power, it’s unclear whether the visitor will be able to leave. It’s also obvious something more ominous and perhaps infernal is unfolding. </p>
<p>Directed by Josiah Allen and Indianna Bell, the film offers a gothic, moody ambience. The mobile home is isolated from others in the park. It presents a claustrophobic environment and comes to be a character in its own right: it creaks and groans like a ship riding the waves. </p>
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<img alt="A man sits at a table at the end of a hallway." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582119/original/file-20240315-22-dge1jl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582119/original/file-20240315-22-dge1jl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582119/original/file-20240315-22-dge1jl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582119/original/file-20240315-22-dge1jl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582119/original/file-20240315-22-dge1jl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582119/original/file-20240315-22-dge1jl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582119/original/file-20240315-22-dge1jl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The mobile home comes to be a character in its own right.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo Credit Maxx Corkindale. Copyright Lot Film Pty Ltd</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The shadowy space seems simultaneously too cramped and too spacious, as if everything is being slowly sucked into the strange, curtained-off section at the back of the home. Ratty 1970s décor aside, time does not seem to be passing in a legible manner, something emphasised through an unsettling string-heavy score and slow, invasive tracking shots.</p>
<p>Information is doled out carefully. The visitor finds odd mementos stashed around the house and is confused at her own inability to keep her story straight. Patrick picks anxiously at the edges of forgotten memories, repeatedly describing the night, and his recollections, as “strange”. </p>
<p>Is this all an insomniac’s drifting thoughts, or the pair’s subjective experience of mutual distrust and paranoia? Has the young woman come looking for Patrick, or has he somehow summoned her? </p>
<h2>A careful dance</h2>
<p>You’ll Never Find Me builds successfully on a “<a href="https://theconversation.com/10-years-of-homegrown-horror-hits-talk-to-me-and-the-golden-age-of-aussie-horror-211031">golden decade</a>” of Australian horror. </p>
<p>This period has showcased diverse innovative and internationally-acclaimed films, ranging from maternal horrors The Babadook (2014) and Relic (2020), to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Found_footage_(film_technique)">found footage</a> 70s throwback Late Night with the Devil (2023) and runaway hit supernatural horror Talk to Me (2023). </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/10-years-of-homegrown-horror-hits-talk-to-me-and-the-golden-age-of-aussie-horror-211031">10 years of homegrown horror hits: Talk To Me and the golden age of Aussie horror</a>
</strong>
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<p>You’ll Never Find Me also illustrates the importance of an industry pipeline. Writer/director Bell and co-director Allen, as Stakeout Films, found earlier success with shorts Safe Space (2019), Call Connect. (2019) and The Recordist (2020), some of which also featured performances from Rock and Cowan. Each short plays across genres, featuring evocative soundscapes, moody lighting, tense relationships and claustrophobic settings. </p>
<p>These prior relationships are evident in the film’s confident tone and performances. Cowan and Rock have a compelling chemistry. Extreme close ups on their faces and bodies chart the film’s careful, slow-burn dance between threat and disclosure, or vulnerability and dread. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582121/original/file-20240315-24-dr4lqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A bearded man" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582121/original/file-20240315-24-dr4lqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582121/original/file-20240315-24-dr4lqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582121/original/file-20240315-24-dr4lqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582121/original/file-20240315-24-dr4lqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582121/original/file-20240315-24-dr4lqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582121/original/file-20240315-24-dr4lqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582121/original/file-20240315-24-dr4lqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">At time it feels like we are watching a play.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo Credit Maxx Corkindale. Copyright Lot Film Pty Ltd</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The pair move through odd, circular conversations about their life philosophies and past experiences, as if we are watching a play. We’re aware we are witnessing a careful dance – but for a long time it is unclear who might be the biggest threat to whom. </p>
<p>“You’re the one who knocked on my door,” Patrick reminds the visitor, as she becomes increasingly insistent about wanting to leave. Throughout, he posits whether this visitation was a matter of choice or chance, even as the true and terrible nature of the pair’s encounter makes itself known.</p>
<p>You’ll Never Find Me will appeal to audiences who appreciate a rich atmosphere, character-led drama, and creeping yet tense pacing. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582123/original/file-20240315-28-wwqmdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman's face, half in shadows." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582123/original/file-20240315-28-wwqmdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582123/original/file-20240315-28-wwqmdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582123/original/file-20240315-28-wwqmdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582123/original/file-20240315-28-wwqmdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582123/original/file-20240315-28-wwqmdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582123/original/file-20240315-28-wwqmdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582123/original/file-20240315-28-wwqmdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The film has a rich atmosphere, character-led drama, and creeping yet tense pacing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo Credit Maxx Corkindale. Copyright Lot Film Pty Ltd</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For its many strengths, though, the film may divide audiences with its chaotic, surreal final act. As the pair’s conflict comes to a head, the world of the film tilts in a lurid burst of colour, and the narrative doglegs into a conceit that is challenging to pull off. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/14/youll-never-find-me-review-movie-australian-horror">Some may see</a> this climax as a fitting conclusion that upends some of our assumptions about character, relationships and motivation. Some, including myself, may find this nightmarish sequence, and the film’s denouement, displaces much of the film’s fine earlier work – particularly its manipulation of space and point-of-view – in a frustrating manner. </p>
<p>There is no doubt, though, this film exhibits a distinct sensibility, captivating performances and an exceptionally queasy atmosphere. It is further proof low-budget Australian horror is currently a site of significant innovation, and it successfully showcases Bell and Allen’s ability to do an awful lot with limited resources. </p>
<p><em>You’ll Never Find Me is out now in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.</em></p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/analog-uncanny-how-this-weird-and-experimental-side-of-tiktok-is-forging-the-future-of-horror-222882">‘Analog uncanny’: how this weird and experimental side of TikTok is forging the future of horror</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222606/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erin Harrington does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For its many strengths, the film may divide audiences with its chaotic, surreal final act.Erin Harrington, Senior Lecturer in English and Cultural Studies, University of CanterburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2240652024-03-14T17:07:50Z2024-03-14T17:07:50ZNine years after #OscarsSoWhite, a look at what’s changed<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/6e95de91-d1cf-4295-804b-8236faeb66fc?dark=true"></iframe>
<p>On Sunday, nine years after #OscarsSoWhite, millions of us tuned into watch the 96th annual Academy Awards — some to simply take in the spectacle. And some to see how much had changed. </p>
<p>The hashtag <a href="https://www.essence.com/news/nine-years-after-oscars-so-white/">#OscarsSoWhite</a> started after many people noticed that, for a second year in a row, all nominees for four of five major categories were white. The movement called on Hollywood to do better: to better reflect America’s demographic realities and also to expand its depiction of our histories. </p>
<p>The reason: representation in Hollywood matters. What gets put on screens and by whom has reverberating impacts on how all of us see each other and see ourselves. </p>
<p>So …. how did the Oscars do this year?</p>
<p>Let’s take a brief look at the evening, which started with the anti-war protests outside the theatre slowing down traffic and delaying the broadcast by a full five minutes.</p>
<p>Although there were only seven racialized actors up for nominations, there were some notable wins in that arena.</p>
<p>Cord Jefferson accepted his award for best adapted screenplay for <em>American Fiction</em>. When at the podium, he talked about how many people passed over the project — a Black film with a primary Black cast. To the producers out there listening, he made a plea to acknowledge and recognize the many talented Black playwrights out there that deserve similar opportunities. He suggested one way would be that producers fund 10 small projects instead of one $200 million dollar film. </p>
<p>Lily Gladstone, though she didn’t win, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2317306947668">was the first North American Indigenous woman to be nominated for best actress in its 96-year history</a>. </p>
<p>And Da'Vine Joy Randolph won best supporting actress for her role in <em>The Holdovers</em>, and made a memorable appearance and acceptance speech. </p>
<p>But one night at the Oscars doesn’t paint the full picture.</p>
<p>Just a few months ago, award-winning actor, Taraji P. Henson, broke down in tears <a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/news/taraji-p-henson-cries-quitting-acting-pay-disparity-hollywood-1235847420/">in an interview with journalist Gayle King</a>. She was exhausted from breaking glass ceilings as a Black woman in film. “I’m just tired of working so hard being gracious at what I do getting paid a fraction of the cost,” she said. “I’m tired of hearing my sisters say the same thing over and over.”</p>
<p>Henson explained that in 2008’s <em>The Curious Case of Benjamin Button</em>, she was paid significantly less than her co-stars despite having third billing on the call sheet. Henson nearly turned down her role in <em>The Colour Purple</em> for similar reasons.</p>
<p>The pay disparity for Black and Indigenous women in comparison to white women in Hollywood is nothing new.</p>
<p>Here in Canada, the problem is just as pervasive.</p>
<p>Despite some recent wins, a report from Telefilm Canada revealed that <a href="https://www.screendaily.com/news/report-shows-drop-in-number-of-canadian-women-in-film-tv-compared-to-pre-pandemic-times-exclusive/5185452.article">Black women have the least representation in TV and film</a>.</p>
<p>They also lead the fewest projects and receive the least funding overall.</p>
<p>To shed some light on the issue, we spoke to two women well versed on the challenges of Black, Indigenous and other women of colour in film and TV.</p>
<p>Naila Keleta-Mae, a playright, poet and singer as well as the Canada Research Chair in Race, Gender and Performance and associate professor of communication arts at the University of Waterloo said that while we need more voices at the table, Black female artists have not been waiting for scraps: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We have been making the work all this time and will continue to regardless. While we insist on eating at the table, we will also simultaneously continue to nourish and feast on what we’ve been doing.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We also spoke with actor and director Mariah Inger, the chair of ACTRA National’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging Committee.</p>
<p>Inger warned us to remember that the Oscars represent only one per cent of those working in the industry. And that while many working actors, writers, directors may look to the Oscars as a dream, the reality is that they show up every day because this is where they feel most called to contribute to the world. And she says, in that everyday world, things are shifting.</p>
<h2>Listen and follow</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/"><em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em></a> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_mJBLBznANz6ID9rBCUk7gv_ZRC4Og9-">YouTube</a> or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. Full but unedited transcripts are available within seven days of publication.</p>
<p><a href="mailto:dcmr@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes.</p>
<p>Join the Conversation on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dontcallmeresilientpodcast/">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">X</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/theconversationcanada">LinkedIn</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224065/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
It’s been nine years since #OscarsSoWhite called out a lack of diversity at the Oscars. Has anything changed? Prof. Naila Keleta-Mae and actress Mariah Inger unpack the progress.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientDannielle Piper, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me Resilient, The ConversationAteqah Khaki, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2255152024-03-12T12:36:07Z2024-03-12T12:36:07ZArtdocfest is a crucial outpost of free expression on Russia’s doorstep<p>On the day of the funeral of <a href="https://theconversation.com/alexei-navalny-reported-death-of-putins-most-prominent-opponent-spells-the-end-of-politics-in-russia-223766">Alexei Navalny</a>, Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponent, the biggest festival of documentary film in the former Soviet countries opened in Latvia with a minute’s silence. Artdocfest Riga’s programme spoke out resoundingly against the brutal dictatorships of Russia and Belarus, and provided a valuable space for Ukrainian filmmakers and others fomenting freedom and democracy in the region.</p>
<p>Having permanently relocated from Moscow to Riga in March 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the festival does not permit “<a href="https://artdocfest.com/en/news/mansky-speech-2024/">any film produced in Russian studios</a> in the competition programs”. But it did showcase films by foreign directors showing the Russian legal system’s crushing of dissent: Russia vs Lawyers (Masha Novikova, Germany), The Dmitriev Affair (Jessica Gorter, Netherlands) and The Last Relic (Marianna Kaat, Estonia).</p>
<p>Silent Sun of Russia (Sybilla Tuxen, Denmark) charts the inner turmoil of three young women displaced by the war as they join the <a href="https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/10/25/15-of-russians-who-fled-war-mobilization-have-returned-survey-a82885">more than 800,000 people</a> who have left Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. This number includes filmmakers, such as Vitaly Akimov, now based in France, whose film The Last Summer celebrates a Russian youth scene of alternative art and anti-establishment attitudes.</p>
<p>When The Motherland Aborts You, also titled Country Abortion (Zoya Vodyanova, a pseudonym, Czechia/US) follows a lesbian couple. One of the women, Zakhara, has moved to India and the other, Lina, starts the film in St Petersburg. Zakhara is desperate to help Ukraine, even as a volunteer, but Lina dissuades her. The couple are distressed by the pro-war views of their family and wider Russian society. </p>
<p>This was also a theme in three anonymous Russian-made films: Point of the World, Musicians and Uno. Each depicts the reactions of youthful protagonists to the situation, from biting their lip and hypocrisy, to private tears and failed attempts to leave.</p>
<p>One of three films in the main competition, Pussy Boys (Darya Andreyanava and Mikalai Kuprych) follows gay Belarusians. They not only address the camera in private, but also discuss their sexuality publicly in random conversations on buses – a political act in a country where homosexuality is <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/belarus-proposes-law-against-nontraditional-family-lgbt/32826074.html">soon to be criminalised</a>, as it is in Russia.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for Motherland at Artdocfest.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Motherland (Alexander Mihalkovich, Sweden, and Hanna Badziaka, Norway/Ukraine) focuses on a mother investigating her son’s suicide as a result of the bullying of recruits typical in the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/06/russian-armys-hazing-culture-drove-son-ramil-shamsutdinov-to-kill-soldiers-says-father">Soviet</a> and now <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/belarus-army-suicides-deaths-/28802305.html">Belarusian army</a>. The film is a broader reflection on society’s violence, as recruits realise they will be told to shoot protesters. This is set against the protests against the <a href="https://theconversation.com/belarus-election-contested-result-sparks-massive-unrest-as-europes-last-dictator-claims-victory-144139">falsified 2020 Belarusian elections</a>, when Alexandr Lukashenko brutally suppressed those demanding he resign in favour of the winning candidate, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. </p>
<p>Tsikhanouskaya’s campaign and the protests are the subject of Accidental President (Mike Lerner and Martin Herring, UK). The film received an emotional reception, with the audience shouting “<em>Zhyve Belarus</em>” (Long live Belarus), the slogan of the protests. </p>
<p>Franak Viačorka, Tsikhanouskaya’s chief political advisor spoke at the festival, necessitating heightened security and illustrating Artdocfest’s importance. Latvia shares a border with Belarus and Russia: these dictatorships are a threat to their neighbours as well their own citizens.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/C4AYWYmoooW","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>‘Ukraine Above All’</h2>
<p>The festival screened five films about Ukraine in its main competition, as well as a special programme entitled <a href="https://artdocfest.com/en/program/ukraina-ponad-use--artdokfest-2024/">Ukraine Above All</a>. Artdocfest has promoted films by and about Ukraine ever since the 2014 illegal annexation of Ukraine, even when it was based in Russia. This was a major reason it had to relocate.</p>
<p>However, a global appetite for Ukrainian documentary films about the war means some of the biggest now head to Sundance or Berlin festivals, achieving wider distribution. Such was the case with the 2024 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlab8EvzxRw">Oscar-winning 20 Days in Mariupol</a>. Instead, Artdocfest screened films evoking the war indirectly, but no less poignantly.</p>
<p>The Mist (Dmytro Shovkoplias) is an immersive film conveying the confusion and disorientation of suddenly finding yourself caught in a war. Position (Yurii Pupirin) showed the daily tedium of Ukrainian soldiers waiting in trenches, fighting the weather and mud more than the enemy. A Picture to Remember (Olga Chernykh) and A Bit of a Stranger (Svitlana Lishchynska) both reflect on identity and family history, a process triggered by the displacement forced on Ukrainians by Russia’s aggression. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The Artdocfest Riga 2024 showreel.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This same dislocation of up to <a href="https://www.unrefugees.org/emergencies/ukraine/">10 million people</a> was depicted by winner of the main prize, In the Rearview. Polish director Maciek Hamela filmed the Ukrainian passengers he picked up and ferried to the border as they processed the first days of the war and began their lives as refugees. The documentary evolved from his work as a volunteer driver, as he wanted to document the stories he witnessed. It is a fusion of ethics and aesthetics exemplifying the greatest possibilities of the medium.</p>
<p>British historian and Russia commentator, <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-the-west-can-truly-avenge-navalnys-death/">Mark Galeotti, suggested</a> that one effective way the west could avenge Navalny’s death is by investing in Russian language media. This would offer a different perspective on domestic and world affairs for growing numbers of Russians, realising that their own state is lying to them. </p>
<p>Artdocfest is an important part of that approach, offering an outpost of free expression on Russia’s doorstep. Just as it screened and acclaimed Navalny’s films in life, so the festival continues his legacy, speaking out and amplifying others who do the same.</p>
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeremy Hicks is a member of the UK Labour Party</span></em></p>Artdocfest 2024 was a showcase for films that show the reality of the war in Ukraine, and the spread of Russian politics to neighbouring countries.Jeremy Hicks, Professor of Russian Culture and Film, Queen Mary University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2253042024-03-11T20:05:54Z2024-03-11T20:05:54ZAs ‘Oppenheimer’ triumphs at the Oscars, we should ask how historical films frame our shared future<p><a href="https://variety.com/2024/film/news/christopher-nolan-oppenheimer-post-franchise-movie-era-1235894688/">Box office</a> receipts for Christopher Nolan’s <em>Oppenheimer</em> had already approached the billion-dollar mark worldwide before the 2024 Oscars ceremony.</p>
<p>To this financial success, along with film awards for Best Director, Cinematography, Editing, Sound, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, <em>Oppenheimer</em> garnered Nolan his first Academy Award for Best Picture. </p>
<p>In larger Academy Award history, this raises the tally for historical film wins to 52 over 96 competitions, according to research by <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/historical-film-9781847884978">film scholar Jonathan Stubbs</a> and records at the <a href="https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies">Oscars website</a>. There is a reason why people call big-budget historical <a href="https://collider.com/oscar-bait-movies/">films “Oscar bait</a>.” </p>
<p>The glossy spectacle of this genre often brings attention to its makers. And yet, as I argue in my new book, <em><a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/making-history-move/9781978829770">Making History Move: Five Principles of the Historical Film</a></em>,
because the genre has such an outsized effect on spectators and their sense of historical reality, it’s important to think about and understand how historical films are constructed.</p>
<p>With <em>Oppenheimer</em> having received so much commercial, critical and Academy success, we have an opportunity to think about critical criteria for viewing historical film — and what we are owed by historical filmmakers. </p>
<h2>Highly influential medium</h2>
<p>This genre of film represents much more than a bold quest to win the most sought-after prize at the most celebrated labour union awards in history. These films look to the past to offer us a story and argument in an effort to see ourselves in the present — and to make decisions toward the future. </p>
<p>The genre combines a bookish status, conveying data and the sense of learning about the real world. Facts are served up with a wallop of emotion, excitement, adventure, terror and tears, to large and diverse audiences. </p>
<p>Although far from the most trusted medium for history, a recent <a href="https://www.historians.org/history-culture-survey">large-scale survey</a> of Americans published by the American Historical Association found that historical documentaries and films are the top two sources for information about the past for the public.</p>
<p>Unlike with pure fiction, when we watch a historical film (such as other 2024 Best Picture nominees, <em>The Zone of Interest</em> and <em>Killers of the Flower Moon</em>) we have the sense that we are seeing and hearing the past as we learn details about historical people and events. </p>
<p>These films speak to shared intergenerational and foundational experiences and legacies. We interpret historical films in ways that feel personal. </p>
<h2>Partisan cultural bubbles</h2>
<p>We are well into the experiment of the internet age when social media platforms sort people into tribes. </p>
<p>In the words of Renée DiResta, a researcher at the Stanford Internet Observatory, people are living in discrete spheres operating with distinct media, norms and frameworks of facts — their own <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/30/opinion/political-reality-algorithms.html">“bespoke realities</a>.”
These information silos spawn political convictions and perspectives that reinforce separate interpretations of present and past. </p>
<p>The result creates multiverses of meaning. We exist in partisan cultural bubbles, abandoning the tussle over an objective sense of the past in favour of
ever-expanding and contradictory subjective narratives. </p>
<p>As this happens, mass media platforms, like feature films, gain precedence. They cross boundaries impermeable to history books, museums, university lectures and social networks, speaking to a shared sense of identity at vast communal scales.</p>
<h2>Just a movie?</h2>
<p>Our ability to keep what we are watching at a critical distance is less robust than we may assume. Neuroscience illuminates a central aspect of film’s power to captivate, enchant and convince. </p>
<p>As professor of psychological and brain science Jeffrey Zacks writes in his book <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/flicker-9780199982875?q=jeff%20zacks&lang=en&cc=ca"><em>Flicker: Your Brain on the Movies</em></a>, our brains operate by building neural models to understand our direct experience: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[W]hether we experience events in real life, watch them in a movie or hear about them in a story, we build perceptual and memory representations in the same format [in our brains].” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>He further explains that “it does not take extra work to put together experiences from a film with experiences from our lives to draw inferences. On the contrary, what takes extra work is to keep these different event representations separate.”</p>
<p>Now consider what happens when we make models of the past that we code as historical and non-fiction.</p>
<h2>5 principles of historical films</h2>
<p>For these reasons it is critical that we engage these films as more than mere diversion and amusement. Drawing on philosophy of history, literary and film theory, I have isolated five key principles to grasp and understand their construction, including:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>narration, the stories they choose to tell and how they tell them;</p></li>
<li><p>evidence, the sources and use of data that represents the past;</p></li>
<li><p>reflexivity, the use of <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/engaging-the-past/9780231165754">rupture techniques</a> that pull the audience out of their immersion in the story, reminding them of the structuring process of history;</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674008212">foreignness</a>, the extent to which a film shows the richness of differences in ideas, beliefs, and material realities of the past, rather than creating a pantomime of contemporary people in fancy dress;</p></li>
<li><p>plurality, whether a film presents us a range or new perspectives on the meaning of events through their selection of people as characters.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>These principles help us consider the creation, role and impact of historical films. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/visiting-the-trinity-site-featured-in-oppenheimer-is-a-sobering-reminder-of-the-horror-of-nuclear-weapons-210248">Visiting the Trinity Site featured in 'Oppenheimer' is a sobering reminder of the horror of nuclear weapons</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>About envisioning futures</h2>
<p>What makes historical films so compelling and so difficult is they have to fictionalize and imagine narratives around real people and events.</p>
<p>Filmmakers working with realities of the past are charged with making an interpretation of historical data — and a judgment about what it means to us today, in a way that engages and entertains us as spectators. </p>
<p>To be true to that contract, such films should not simply make things up. They need to strive for accuracy and objectivity, while performing a deft sleight of hand to enthrall and captivate. </p>
<p>On top of box office success and critical success, <em>Oppenheimer</em> does an impressive job of translating <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/shopping/oppenheimer-movie-book-read-american-prometheus-online-1235539040/">biographical source material</a> into an engaging and thought-provoking feature film. As such, this functions as a clarion call in the present, <a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/annie-lennox-stars-sign-open-letter-warning-nuclear-threat-1235623118">sparking real questions about the meaning of the nuclear age today</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225304/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kim Nelson receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Canadian Heritage under their Initiative for Digital Citizen Research.</span></em></p>The success of ‘Oppenheimer’ at the Academy Awards presents an opportunity to think about critical criteria for viewing historical film — and what we are owed by historical filmmakers.Kim Nelson, Associate Professor. Cinema Arts, School of Creative Arts, University of WindsorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2251412024-03-08T16:20:17Z2024-03-08T16:20:17ZThe swashbuckling score for Poor Things sets the tone for an eccentric heroine’s journey<p><em>Note: this article contains spoilers.</em> </p>
<p>For as long as laureates and lyricists have probed the human condition, they’ve eulogised the hero’s journey. Typically undertaken by a trail-blazing “<a href="https://philosophynow.org/issues/93/Nietzsches_Ubermensch_A_Hero_of_Our_Time">übermensch</a>” or barrel-chested Captain Fantastic, this stalwart champion is destined to elevate the life odyssey from the shallow and self-serving to the sovereign and the sacred.</p>
<p>Unlikely protagonist Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) undertakes this high-stakes fate in the bonkers, beautiful steampunk saga, Poor Things. She sidesteps the suffocating litany of leading lady expectations while twirling in satiric glee, affirming that chaos is an essential ingredient in birthing “<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7915225-i-say-unto-you-one-must-still-have-chaos-in">a dancing star</a>”.</p>
<p>The latest screen oddity from auteur director Yorgos Lanthimos draws zany inspiration from Scottish author <a href="https://theconversation.com/poor-things-meet-the-radical-scottish-visionary-behind-the-new-hit-film-220080">Alasdair Gray</a>. It nods to nostalgic monster movies and reimagines fire-and-brimstone scenarios inspired by fantastical figures such as Frankenstein and Phileas Fogg. </p>
<p>Appearing on The Dolby Institute Podcast, composer Jerskin Fendrix drolly <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf0r-Xzr35w&ab_channel=Dolby">summarised</a> the film’s absurdist plot, which tells the tale of a “dead pregnant lady” who “gets cut open and becomes her own daughter and then goes on a sex tour of Europe”.</p>
<p>His first-time film score is a hoot. It brazenly blows raspberries, dips an oboe part to ludicrous lows and hoicks up choristers’ vocals so that they straddle a line between seraph and shriek.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RlbR5N6veqw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Poor Things trailer.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Music works in an audiovisual alliance with fish eye lens cinematography, colour-reversal techniques and sound (curated by visionary audio engineer, Johnnie Burn). In tandem, these elements reveal how Bella’s bewildering, bubble-blowing heroism stems from her relentless curiosity – and the rapidly expanding consciousness of her “questing self”.</p>
<p>The score noisily amplifies Bella’s burgeoning identity of “sugar and violence” with insane instrumentation: Irish bagpipes, arrhythmic chimes and a <a href="https://variety.com/2024/music/focus/the-zone-of-interest-poor-things-the-killer-composers-discuss-strange-scores-1235867125">fictional foghorn harp</a> made out of bicycle parts. </p>
<p>Eclectic orchestration facilitates the riotous range of her emergent personhood and throws itself after her into the abyss. It never demands faultless logic or linearity from Bella. Instead, it enables her to remain both relatable and enigmatic – and, above all, exceptionally entertaining.</p>
<p>During initial scenes, the score belches out squeaky nursery-rhyme sounds and a strange requiem with unpredictable pitch bends – crude, imperfect musical notes finding their way in a confusing world. These stutter along as Bella forges out with a flat-footed stride, trussed up in mutton sleeves and frills like a macaron from Mars: cute and incorrigible.</p>
<h2>Revelling in polite society’s forbidden realms</h2>
<p>In a series of messy escapades, Bella is shown mashing a defenceless frog and scarfing down a forbidden feast of custard tarts, before retching them back up on a scenic Lisbon balcony. She spins in spontaneous dance steps, exclaims a gormless “wheee!” and leaves a defiant little puddle on the floor.</p>
<p>In spite of her antics, the soundtrack remains patient, steering clear of patronising <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-makes-a-film-score-frightening-expert-explains-the-techniques-that-build-tension-and-make-us-jump-216121">gimmicks</a> like stabs, stingers, drones and womps. It never baulks at Bella’s necessary flubs, nor at her many shame-free sexual trysts, variously involving “tongue play” and “furious jumping”. </p>
<p>Likewise the score doesn’t preach or finger-point as Bella endures a “dark period before light and wisdom come”. Instead, its variable volume and extreme registers exalt the impressive breadth of her blazing libido and life-force energy. </p>
<p>Her experiments with a motley clientele in a Paris brothel showcase some eye-popping instances of taboo eroticism. But it’s not all BDSM and ball gags. A pivotal same-sex love scene between Bella and a fellow courtesan – a like-minded equal rather than a customer or custodian – showcases the film’s most fully-formed and flowing musical theme. </p>
<p>The tender string section sounds out in support of their conscious, connected, pleasurable sexuality. Its almost harmonious strains suggest that, by achieving genuine intimacy with another person, Bella has begun to outgrow her transactional, ego-driven desires.</p>
<h2>Scoring a ‘real human being and a real hero’</h2>
<p>The score continues to adapt as Bella evolves, dabbling with a multiplicity of moods and timbres to showcase the rambunctious spectrum of her experiences. It endorses her weird journey from womb to tomb – and vice versa – allowing her to shape shift and recalibrate in real time. </p>
<p>It permits her to fearlessly dip her brush in an expansive palette of personae, both cruel and comical, transgressive and virtuous – <a href="https://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Projects/Reln91/Power/lilith.htm#:%7E:text=One%20story%20tells%20that%20Lilith,Eden%20to%20gain%20her%20independence">Lilith</a> as well as Eve. </p>
<p>In this way Bella transcends Hollywood’s trite comic book heroes and often-fumbled <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/these-women-coined-term-mary-sue-180972182">female stock figures</a> – Pollyannas, cool girls and wonder women in bodacious getups. Instead of staying on script, mimicking masculine behavioural codes or adhering to implausible feminine standards, Bella is actually allowed to be human. </p>
<p>As it turns out, we didn’t need another hero. We needed a Bella – a character convincingly complex and nutty enough to <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45477/song-of-myself-1892-version">contain multitudes</a> – narratively, musically and visually. Even when the closing credits have scrolled by, we can continue to envisage a colourful afterlife for her, in a dance of astral chaos that’s only just getting started.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caitríona Walsh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Composer Jerskin Fendrix’s first-time film score is a hoot.Caitríona Walsh, Lecturing in Film Music & Piano, University College CorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2250352024-03-08T16:20:15Z2024-03-08T16:20:15ZImaginary: I research imaginary friends – here’s what the horror film gets right<p>I was hesitant to watch Imaginary. Not only because horror movies are often too scary for me, but also because, for the better part of my adult life, I’ve researched and studied the way children invent imaginary friends and there is widespread misunderstanding of what is perfectly normal play behaviour. </p>
<p>These misunderstanding sometimes lead people to think imaginary friends have supernatural explanations – especially when the typical play involves seeing and talking to things that are inanimate. But I was pleased to find that overall, the film is unusually well informed.</p>
<p>The movie’s main focus is an imaginary friend. He turns up unexpectedly after a family moves into the step mum’s childhood home – but soon after this, things start to get scary. </p>
<p>The film features a little-known form of imaginary companion – toys or dolls. In my own lectures I often ask for a show of hands for those who had imaginary friends as children. Typically, only a few students will raise their hand. But after explaining that the definition also includes dolls or toys imbued with personality the lecture hall usually gets louder and many more hands shoot up. </p>
<p>Both completely invisible beings and personified objects fall under the umbrella of imaginary companions. This is because creating invisible and personified companions involves creating, and interacting with, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2018.11.046">another mind</a>.</p>
<p>Another accurate element of the film is the adult experience of imaginary companions. One of the adult characters (who I can’t name without spoiling the plot) had an imaginary companion in the past, but did not remember them until they were reminded later on in the movie. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ema8JNnIQpg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for Imaginary.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2018.11.046">Age affects the memory</a> of our childhood imagination. The older we get, the more likely we are to forget. Even the organisers of studies of children sometimes consult parents or guardians to determine if there was an imaginary companion that children <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/icd.349">do not recall</a> immediately. </p>
<p>Women and only or first-born children are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2018.11.046">more likely</a> to create imaginary beings in childhood – and the film follows this pattern. </p>
<p>The presence of a companion in and of itself has been found to influence later adult life. Those that had imaginary companions in childhood are more likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2466/02.04.10.PR0.107.4.163-172">have creative jobs</a> in adulthood. There are also accounts of imaginary companions beyond childhood. One large study of adults found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01665">7% of their respondents</a> reported still having these imaginary beings in their lives.</p>
<h2>When imaginary friends seem sinister</h2>
<p>Something else Imaginary gets right is that invisible friends can easily be interpreted as eerie or supernatural. The reason that we scientists call imaginary friends by another name, imaginary companions, is because they are not always friends. </p>
<p>Some children have companions that are disobedient or even mean. This type of imaginary creature is not an indication of having a mental health issue, or any other problem. But the relationships between children and their imaginary companions fall on a continuum where some are quite agreeable and likeable while others are not.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2018.11.046">Research indicates</a> that the more that children play and interact with imaginary companions the <a href="https://doi.org/10.2190/FTG3-Q9T0-7U26-5Q5X">more autonomous</a> they may be becoming in their minds. This phenomenon is called the “illusion of independent agency”, and it applies to imaginary beings that are mean and vengeful, as well as ones that are compassionate and caring. </p>
<p>For a child, this might feel as if they are not in control of the companion’s actions or words. It could also feel like the being could surprise them, or even have an ability to learn things that the child doesn’t yet know. For example, in <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/icd.2390">one of my studies</a>, a child explained that when her parents are not looking, her imaginary companion teaches her maths. In some situations where a companion might be mean to a child, it could be upsetting. </p>
<p>But in reality, the child is still controlling the companion, they’re just not realising that the companion is not its own person. According to cognitive scientist <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2018.11.046">Jim Davies</a>, this should only happen when the imagined character is played with over time and understood by their creator, but would not be likely in a new creation. </p>
<h2>Imaginary friends in the film</h2>
<p>There are some scenes in Imaginary where the young girl, Alice (Pyper Braun), is talking to her imaginary companion and making responses as well. She is completely alone and doesn’t know anyone else is watching her. </p>
<p>Although it may look a bit creepy, this is actually a very accurate portrayal of companion play. The type of speech that Alice is engaging in when they are talking to and fro in conversation with their imaginary being is called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1655-8_10">“private speech”</a>. </p>
<p>Private speech is thought to be imperative in the formation of our verbal thoughts and links our inner dialogue to words that we use in our social world. In <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2013-33227-002">one of my own studies</a>, we found that children with imaginary companions not only showed more private speech than their peers, but their private speech was developmentally more sophisticated. </p>
<p>Of course as the film goes on there are much less realistic and accurate portrayals of imaginary companions – but that makes sense for a horror film. In the real world, children’s imaginary friends are usually nothing to be afraid of. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paige Davis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some children have companions that are disobedient or even mean.Paige Davis, Lecturer in Psychology, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2244692024-03-05T18:21:36Z2024-03-05T18:21:36ZFrom concert halls to movie soundtracks, Arnold Schoenberg’s legacy as a classical composer still resounds<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579405/original/file-20240303-48934-502jcb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=164%2C329%2C3907%2C2540&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The composer's expressionism is often compared to paintings of his friend and fellow expressionist, Wassily Kandinsky. Kandinsky's 1925 painting 'Yellow-Red-Blue.' </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Wikipedia)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>2024 marks 150 years since the birth of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Arnold-Schoenberg">Arnold Schoenberg</a> (1874-1951), arguably the
<a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631497575">most influential classical composer of the 20th century</a>.</p>
<p>As a significant contributor to musical <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Modernism-art/Modernism-in-the-visual-arts-and-architecture">modernism</a>, Schoenberg’s work reflected a radical shift away from past classical musical forms, signifying a sharp break with tradition.</p>
<p>Despite his popularity <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/arts/music/musical-dissonance-from-schumann-to-sondheim.html">and influence among</a> composers and scholars, Schoenberg remains <a href="http://www.scena.org/columns/lebrecht/010708-nl-schoenberg.html">largely misunderstood by the general public</a>, his music often among other modernist composition discredited as discordant noise. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, his compositions expressed important musical innovations that have shaped generations of subsequent composers, across music heard in concert halls and on film soundtracks.</p>
<h2>Late Romanticism</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Line-type drawing of a man in a suit." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579232/original/file-20240301-30-6o811g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579232/original/file-20240301-30-6o811g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579232/original/file-20240301-30-6o811g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579232/original/file-20240301-30-6o811g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579232/original/file-20240301-30-6o811g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1183&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579232/original/file-20240301-30-6o811g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1183&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579232/original/file-20240301-30-6o811g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1183&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">1917 portrait of Schoenberg by Austrian expressionist artist Egon Schiele.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Wikipedia)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Born into 19th-century Vienna, Schoenberg began composing in the Romantic style. </p>
<p>Musical <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.23751">Romanticism connected with broader</a> socio-political ideas of the time, including the idea of the artist as “genius,” the value of expressing emotions and the importance of nature in a context of intensified industrialism and technological development.</p>
<p>Romanticism greatly developed the musical language of 18th-century classical music by adding a greater variety of sounds and forms and a greater range of notes, instruments and genres — while still being strongly connected to earlier music.</p>
<p>Around the turn of the 20th century, Schoenberg’s musical language evolved to be similar to the late <a href="https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/display/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000023751">Romanticism</a> of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Strauss">Richard Strauss</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gustav-Mahler">Gustav Mahler</a>, who were both inspired by the innovative harmonies of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Wagner-German-composer">Richard Wagner</a>.</p>
<p>Thus, Mahler, Strauss and Schoenberg formed the <a href="https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume4/actrade-9780195384840-chapter-001.xml">first wave of musical modernism</a>. </p>
<p>However, Mahler tragically died in 1911, and Strauss became a more conservative composer, leaving Schoenberg as the flag-bearer of musical modernism.</p>
<h2>‘Air from another planet’</h2>
<p>Around 1910, Schoenberg abandoned Romanticism, as he felt there was nothing left to express. </p>
<p>In the fourth movement of his <em>String Quartet No. 2</em> (1908), Schoenberg added poetry. This was an unusual addition to a genre normally without text.
The poetry, penned by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Stefan-George">Stefan George</a> and sung by a solo soprano, announced the departure from traditional music:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<a href="https://oxfordsong.org/song/entr%C3%BCckung"><em>Ich fühle luft von anderem planeten</em> (I feel air from another planet).</a>” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Schoenberg continued to explore heightened emotions. </p>
<p>In his melodramatic song cycle, <a href="https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/page/1810"><em>Pierrot Lunaire</em> (1912)</a>, a “moonstruck” clown, Pierrot (a character from the Italian <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/commedia-dellarte">commedia dell’arte</a>, sings a number of angst-filled melancholic poems. </p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Schoenberg’s ‘Pierrot Lunaire’ (1913).</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This marked the beginning of Schoenberg’s “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Expressionism">expressionism</a>,” where he sought to radically distort traditional musical elements to explore heightened emotions. </p>
<h2>Abstract expressionism in music</h2>
<p>Schoenberg’s musical expressionism is often compared to the paintings of his friend and fellow expressionist, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wassily-Kandinsky">Wassily Kandinsky</a>. </p>
<p>Schoenberg and Kandinsky had a <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Schonberg-and-Kandinsky-An-Historic-Encounter/Boehmer/p/book/9789057020476">sustained friendship</a> from their first meeting in 1911, and they <a href="https://www.schoenberg.at/index.php/en/schoenberg-kandinsky-blauer-reiter-und-die-russische-avantgarde-2">inspired each other’s artwork</a>. </p>
<p>Kandinsky moved towards abstract art, while Schoenberg moved towards the music parallel of “<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/schoenbergs-atonal-music/schoenbergs-atonal-music/FF4393467C4538AAB31DCC201BADC3B3">atonality</a>,” meaning away from existing musical structures of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/key-music">keys</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/triad-music#ref951825">traditional chords</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_dunOEm1sGk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘How did Schoenberg compose Pierrot Lunaire?’ video by composer Samuel Andreyev.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The result was the sound of more musical tension that Schoenberg called the <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520266070/style-and-idea">“emancipation of dissonance</a>.” </p>
<h2>Serialism</h2>
<p>However, Schoenberg still felt limited by expressionism. </p>
<p>In response, he began to use a novel compositional technique known as the “12-tone technique” or <a href="https://viva.pressbooks.pub/openmusictheory/chapter/basics-of-twelve-tone-theory/">“serialism.”</a> </p>
<p>In 12-tone compositions, all 12 tones of the western tuning system are repeated and varied in successions called “rows.”</p>
<p>By contrast, traditional composers typically employed only around seven or eight tones from a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/scale-music/Common-scale-types">major or minor scale</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107110786">Schoenberg’s <em>Suite for Piano</em></a> (1923) that premiered in 1924 used this technique, making 2024 the centenary of serialism.</p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Schoenberg’s <em>Suite for Piano</em> (1923)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/ca/universitypress/subjects/music/twentieth-century-and-contemporary-music/serialism?format=HB&isbn=9780521863414">Serialism went on to strongly influence many composers</a> who further developed the technique, such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jan/30/milton-babbitt-obituary#">the avant-garde</a> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Milton-Babbitt">Milton Babbitt</a>, recipient of a 1982 Pulitzer Prize in composition, and <a href="https://brahms.ircam.fr/en/pierre-boulez">Pierre Boulez</a>.</p>
<p>Film composers have taken up serialism <a href="https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.93.0.1/mto.93.0.1.neumeyer.php">as an important technique</a>, employing this to yield a high degree of dissonance and ethereal sounds. </p>
<p>This is heard in films such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bMqlj4ZSgw&list=PLNe0UezH0uKCW74x8AsLxU4I6rAD-sy7j"><em>Planet of the Apes</em> (1968)</a>, with what <a href="https://doi.org/10.5406/musimoviimag.6.2.0032">has been called a “landmark” score</a> composed by Jerry Goldsmith. </p>
<p>Schoenberg employed his own serialism in his <em>Accompaniment to a Film Scene</em>.
However, as music theorist Orit Hilewicz notes, the piece wasn’t composed specifically for film, <a href="https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.21.27.1/mto.21.27.1.hilewicz.html">but for concert performance</a>.</p>
<h2>‘Colours’ and the quality of sound</h2>
<p>Schoenberg was also instrumental in developing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.27973">the quality of sound</a>
— known as <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-timbre-9780190637224">“timbre”</a> — as an important musical parameter. Timbre refers to how the same notes played at the same volumes — and by different instruments — can have very different qualities of sound, such as sounding pure, sharp, dull, <a href="https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.22.28.3/mto.22.28.3.mcadams.html">blended</a> or distorted.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=S2DIT1UHqF155cH3&t=450&v=I9-_tVSrCqs&feature=youtu.be"><em>Farben</em> (“Colours”), the third movement of Schoenberg’s</a> <em>Five Orchestral Pieces</em> (1909), the pitch stays largely constant, while a blend of instruments continuously changes to create a variety of different “colours” or timbres. This is one of the first works to experiment with timbre.</p>
<p>Today, timbre is a key musical parameter. Schoenberg’s pioneering of timbre has been influential across many genres of music, including in <a href="https://pittnews.com/article/177488/blogs/the-sound-of-the-cinema-constructing-atmosphere-with-timbre-and-instrumentation/">film scores seeking to establish atmosphere</a> and even arguably in <a href="https://timbreandorchestration.org/writings/project-reports/timbre-in-popular-song#">popular styles</a>. </p>
<h2>Memorializing the Holocaust</h2>
<p>Schoenberg’s use and innovation of musical elements to express dissonance was also used to sonically speak to the horrors of the Holocaust. </p>
<p>Being Jewish, Schoenberg was forced to migrate to the United States after the Nazis seized power in Germany in 1933, eventually <a href="https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/facilities/schoenberg-hall/">settling in Los Angeles</a>. </p>
<p>In 1947, Schoenberg composed <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/737762"><em>A Survivor from Warsaw</em> as a memorial</a> to the victims. The work is scored for men’s chorus and orchestra. A narrator recites terrifying conditions of the Warsaw ghetto over the discordant and fragmented orchestral writing. </p>
<p>Despite being only seven minutes long, the work has had a powerful effect on audiences. Musicologist <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520281868/arnold-schoenbergs-a-survivor-from-warsaw-in-postwar-europe">Joy Calico</a> has examined varied reception of the work as it circulated through West Germany, Austria, Norway, East Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. </p>
<p>She also notes that <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520281868/arnold-schoenbergs-a-survivor-from-warsaw-in-postwar-europe">some found <em>A Survivor from Warsaw</em> to resemble a horror film soundtrack, and thus to be cliché</a>. Yet ironically these “clichés” were actually first developed by Schoenberg in the 1910s and 1920s before being borrowed by Hollywood composers, and then re-employed by Schoenberg.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z51uNyqdk5E?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘A Survivor from Warsaw’ (1947).</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This demonstrates the immense influence of Schoenberg’s music during his own lifetime.</p>
<h2>Innovations from tradition</h2>
<p>Despite Schoenberg’s radical innovations, he remained connected to the traditions of classical music and ensured his students <a href="https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Preliminary_Exercises_in_Counterpoint/BcEakgAACAAJ?hl=fr">mastered traditional methods of composition</a>. Schoenberg believed one needed to understand traditional forms of historical music in order to inform the music of the future. Schoenberg’s teaching methods are still widely employed, including through the work of music theorist <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/analyzing-classical-form-9780199987290?cc=ca&lang=en&">William Caplin</a>.</p>
<p>In the words of Kandinsky, Schoenberg’s “<a href="https://www.google.ca/books/edition/_/mG-VRWgfpuYC?hl=fr&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjMr63s2seEAxVGLFkFHcpNAzkQre8FegQIEhAH">music leads us into a realm where musical experience is a matter not of the ear but of the soul alone, and at this point the music of the future begins</a>.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224469/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aidan McGartland receives funding from McGill University and the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation. </span></em></p>Though composers after Schoenberg used his technique to create atmospheric music in film, Schoenberg’s own ‘Accompaniment to a Film Scene’ was written for concert performance.Aidan McGartland, PhD student, Music Theory, McGill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2245682024-03-05T18:01:12Z2024-03-05T18:01:12ZOscars 2024: How ‘Poor Things’ music scoring brilliantly invents a fresh world for cinematic sound<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579636/original/file-20240304-20-q04dm4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C208%2C2473%2C1332&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The score of 'Poor Things,' by composer Jerskin Fendrix, is one of several Oscar-nominated scores by a composer with solid credentials in popular music.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Searchlight Pictures)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>At first glance the <a href="https://composer.spitfireaudio.com/en/articles/how-poor-things-composer-jerskin-fendrix-embraced-the-unorthodox-with-his-debut-score">British composer</a> <a href="https://jerskinfendrix.bandcamp.com/album/winterreise">Jerskin Fendrix</a> (the stage name used by Joscelin Dent-Pooley) does not seem an obvious candidate for scoring <em>Poor Things</em>, now nominated for best original score at the upcoming Academy Awards.</p>
<p>The film, by acclaimed director <a href="http://www.lanthimos.com/">Yorgos Lanthimos</a> features an A-list cast including <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/emma-stone-and-director-yorgos-lanthimos-on-poor-things/">Emma Stone</a>, who plays Bella Baxter, a woman <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14230458/">brought back to life</a> who must experience the world afresh. </p>
<p>Fendrix had <a href="https://www.synthhistory.com/post/interview-with-poor-things-composer-jerskin-fendrix">no prior experience</a> with composing for the silver screen or working with a director. When he was approached about the job he had released only one solo album, <a href="https://jerskinfendrix.bandcamp.com/album/winterreise"><em>Winterreise</em></a> (2020). </p>
<p>Yet it was just this album with its <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/emma-stone-mark-ruffalo-yorgos-lanthimos-making-poor-things-1235761791/">punk and pop aesthetic</a> that caught the attention of auteur-director Lanthimos. </p>
<p>As such, Fendrix represents a newer generation of film composers, who are more likely to move in the world of rock, pop or alternative music <a href="https://www.johnwilliams.org/reference/biography">scenes than score or conduct</a> for a <a href="https://www.lso.co.uk/seven-times-classical-music-was-used-in-film/">symphony orchestra</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3L6wPs_76vw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Jerskin Fendrix’s <em>Onigiri</em> from the album <em>Winterreise</em>.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Underground scene</h2>
<p>Lanthimos himself has admitted this was the first time he has <a href="https://composer.spitfireaudio.com/en/articles/how-poor-things-composer-jerskin-fendrix-embraced-the-unorthodox-with-his-debut-score">worked with a composer</a>. </p>
<p>Fendrix’s path to that point involved singing <a href="https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/interviews/jerskin-fendrix-viscerally-human-debut-winterreise">original songs</a> in the underground/alternative <a href="https://www.elephantdrums.co.uk/blog/guides-and-resources/live-music-venues-london-brixton/">Brixton music scene</a> in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/09/travel/brixton-hill-village-granville-arcade-london-gentrification.html">South London</a>. </p>
<p>His fast-growing reputation enabled him to stage a <a href="https://www.windmillbrixton.co.uk/events/2018-12-21-jerskin-winter-festival-number-4-black-fendrix-jersk-midi-plus-famous-plus-jerskin-fendrix-plus-acd-the-windmill">four-day festival</a> at the much-vaunted <a href="https://www.bigissue.com/culture/music/the-windmill-brixton-london-music-venue-watch/">Windmill Pub</a> in 2018. </p>
<p>In that same year he tried his hand at <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/event/bnkgGKnk/ubu">electronic opera</a> — a foreshadowing of film scoring? — through a setting of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ubu-roi">absurdist turn-of-the-century play <em>Ubu Roi</em></a> by French writer Alfred Jarry. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/sep/04/ubu-review-alfred-jarry-victoria-and-albert-museum-london"><em>The Guardian</em></a> described the music as “not just atonal but abrasive, brutal and grinding.” </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lxZ24jVxpJM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption"><em>Poor Things</em> soundtrack.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Orchestras at the movies</h2>
<p>In the era of epic film franchises like Star Wars, Harry Potter and Star Trek, the London Symphony Orchestra served as the <a href="https://www.lso.co.uk/about-us/what-we-do/">go-to ensemble for soundtracks</a>, with more people hearing the orchestra through these movies than live in concert. </p>
<p>It stands to reason that the shift from those sprawling cinematic universes to more character-centred stories like <em>Killers of the Flower Moon</em> and <em>Poor Things</em> necessitated a different sound ideal.</p>
<p>Three of the five film scores nominated for the Oscars this year are by composers who possess solid credentials in popular music: Fendrix, <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/07/oppenheimer-music-interview-composer-ludwig-goransson">Ludwig Göransson</a> (<em>Oppenheimer</em>) and the late <a href="https://ew.com/oscars-2024-robbie-robertson-earns-posthumous-first-nomination-8548082">Robbie Robertson (<em>Killers of the Flower Moon</em>).</a></p>
<h2>Popular music collaborations</h2>
<p>Göransson has collaborated with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/may/12/the-rise-of-donald-glover-childish-gambino">American musician and rapper</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/02/23/697124438/how-ludwig-g-ransson-helped-orchestrate-americas-conversation-on-race-in-2018">Childish Gambino</a>. </p>
<p>Robertson was renowned both for his solo artistry and earlier for his work with <a href="https://pitchfork.com/news/bob-dylan-pays-tribute-to-former-bandmate-robbie-robertson/">Bob Dylan</a> and The Band. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-bands-robbie-robertson-leaves-behind-a-legacy-of-rich-worldly-music-211405">The Band's Robbie Robertson leaves behind a legacy of rich, worldly music</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>To this list we might add such recent Oscar nominees as Radiohead lead guitarist <a href="https://variety.com/2021/artisans/awards/jonny-greenwood-power-of-the-dog-score-composer-interview-1235113926/">Jonny Greenwood</a> (<em>The Power of the Dog</em>), Nine Inch Nails band members <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/trent-reznor-atticus-fox-if-only-you-could-save-me-mank/">Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross</a> (<em>Mank</em>, <em>Soul</em>).</p>
<p>Each of these composers have contributed their unique blend of skills and expertise to the scores entrusted to them. </p>
<h2>Fashioning something new</h2>
<p>Yet none of them as “<a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/awards/story/2023-12-15/poor-things-quirky-score-jerskin-fendrix">quirky</a>” and “<a href="https://aframe.oscars.org/what-to-watch/post/jerskin-fendrix-top-5-exclusive">one of a kind</a>” as the work of Fendrix for <em>Poor Things</em>. </p>
<p>According to an interview with the Oscar publication <a href="https://aframe.oscars.org/news/post/jerskin-fendrix-poor-things-interview"><em>A-Frame</em></a>, he and Lanthimos agreed “not to discuss any other composers, film scores or music in general” so as to create a sound unique to <em>Poor Things</em>. </p>
<p>That may be true, and yet Fendrix has indicated that he does have favourite film scores, including Tōru Takemitsu’s “breathtaking” music for <a href="https://www.criterion.com/films/754-ran"><em>Ran</em>, (which re-imagines Shakespeare’s <em>King Lear</em> as a 16th-century Japanese epic)</a>
and the “<a href="https://aframe.oscars.org/what-to-watch/post/jerskin-fendrix-top-5-exclusive">phenomenally inspirational</a>” classical mix in <a href="https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/stanley-kubrick-2001-a-space-odyssey-music/"><em>2001: A Space Odyssey</em></a>. These must have left some imprint on the composer.</p>
<p>In line with the desire to fashion something new for <em>Poor Things</em>, director and composer inverted the customary model of adding music once the film was “<a href="https://filmmakermagazine.com/102417-a-message-from-your-composer-lock-your-picture-please/">locked</a>,” at the end of the creative process. </p>
<p>Fendrix actually started his work <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/awards/story/2023-12-15/poor-things-quirky-score-jerskin-fendrix">six months before shooting</a> began — he based his music on the script and set designs rather than on the finished footage. </p>
<h2>Breath and life</h2>
<p>What he created also subverted scoring norms by relying on <a href="https://filmmakermagazine.com/123969-interview-composer-jerskin-fendrix-poor-things/">woodwinds</a> — symbolic of breath and life — rather than strings, with <a href="https://www.btlnews.com/crafts/hear-two-tracks-from-jerskin-fendrixs-poor-things-score/">bagpipes and organ</a> thrown in. </p>
<p>Lanthimos approved the results of Jerskin’s efforts, which led him to take the unusual step of <a href="https://www.btlnews.com/awards/a-glimpse-into-the-mind-of-poor-things-composer-jerskin-fendrix/">playing the music on set</a> to establish the mood for scenes and characters.</p>
<p>From the opening of <em>Poor Things</em> we realize that we are participants in a fresh <a href="https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/jerskin-fendrix-poor-things-contemporary-pulse/">new world for cinematic sound</a>, by a composer who confesses that he “<a href="https://www.classical-music.com/features/tv-and-film-music/poor-things-soundtrack">had no idea what [he] was doing at any point in the process whatsoever</a>.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman in bronze ornate dress stares into the camera and reflection is in a mirror beside her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579645/original/file-20240304-49731-n28qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579645/original/file-20240304-49731-n28qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579645/original/file-20240304-49731-n28qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579645/original/file-20240304-49731-n28qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579645/original/file-20240304-49731-n28qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579645/original/file-20240304-49731-n28qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579645/original/file-20240304-49731-n28qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fendrix’s score accompanies the character development of Bella Baxter, played by Emma Stone, a woman brought back to life who must experience the world afresh.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Searchlight Pictures)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Samples of acoustic instruments</h2>
<p>Rather than composing from the synthesizer, Fendrix digitally — he says <a href="https://filmmakermagazine.com/123969-interview-composer-jerskin-fendrix-poor-things/">“surgically”</a> — edited <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/features/craft/poor-things-soundtrack-lisbon-bella-exclusive-track-1234925877/">samples of individual acoustic instruments</a>, whereby he could manipulate each part. </p>
<p>Such editing would not have been possible if he had taped an orchestra or ensemble at one place and time, a <a href="https://www.routledge.com/On-the-Track-A-Guide-to-Contemporary-Film-Scoring/Karlin-Wright/p/book/9780415941365">standard approach</a> for recording film soundtracks.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxZ24jVxpJM">opening cue</a> — associated with the lead character Bella — immediately immerses us into its sound world of the film: it begins with a six-note, <a href="https://filmmakermagazine.com/123969-interview-composer-jerskin-fendrix-poor-things/">pitch-bent pizzicato</a> (plucked strings). </p>
<p>We might say that its shifting reflects the character’s initial awkwardness and uncertainty in the world, which the following lush string gesture seems to dispel. </p>
<h2>Freshness, iconoclasm</h2>
<p>However, if we listen carefully we realize the bending continues under the strings, suggesting the endurance of Bella’s curiosity and unique orientation to life even as she becomes experienced. </p>
<p>Her <a href="https://filmmakermagazine.com/123969-interview-composer-jerskin-fendrix-poor-things/">musical accompaniment expands</a>, filling or creating sonic space of scenes as she physically, emotionally and intellectually develops in the film. </p>
<p>Yet the Bella theme <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/poor-things-movie-review-2023">persists</a> throughout, the only <a href="https://filmmakermagazine.com/123969-interview-composer-jerskin-fendrix-poor-things/">leitmotif</a> introduced by Fendrix.</p>
<p>Fendrix has brilliantly demonstrated that one does not need to follow standard film-scoring practices to express intense and profound emotions in music.</p>
<p>Perhaps the <a href="https://variety.com/2024/music/focus/the-zone-of-interest-poor-things-the-killer-composers-discuss-strange-scores-1235867125/">freshness and iconoclasm</a> that he and his colleagues from popular music bring to scores are just what we need to inspire contemporary cinema and viewers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224568/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Deaville does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Using a variety of instruments and playing live music on the film set are all part of how composer Jerskin Fendrix generated brilliant sonic accompaniment for ‘Poor Things.’James Deaville, Professor of Music, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2236302024-03-05T13:59:33Z2024-03-05T13:59:33ZScorsese’s gods of the streets: From ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ to ‘Silence,’ faith is rarely far off in his films<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578959/original/file-20240229-26-vvk7wh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C0%2C744%2C447&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Even in films where religion isn't front and center, Martin Scorsese's attention to ritual and devotion comes through. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Apple TV+</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A widely circulated still from the set of Martin Scorsese’s latest film, “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5537002/">Killers of the Flower Moon</a>,” shows the director sitting in a church pew. Next to him is Lily Gladstone, who plays the role of Mollie Kyle, an Osage woman whose family is targeted as part of a broader conspiracy by white Americans to steal the tribe’s wealth, to the point of marrying and killing its members.</p>
<p>In the photograph, Scorsese appears to hold <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-rosary-why-a-set-of-beads-and-prayers-are-central-to-catholic-faith-192485">rosary beads</a>, a common devotional object for many Catholics. Mollie is Catholic, so the rosary makes sense as a prop. But as <a href="https://udayton.edu/directory/artssciences/religiousstudies/smith_anthony.php">a scholar</a> of <a href="https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700636150/the-look-of-catholics/">religion and film</a>, I’m struck by how it calls to mind the director’s own complex Catholicism and its imprint on his decades of filmmaking.</p>
<p>Scorsese stands in a long line of Catholic American filmmakers, stretching back to the 1930s and 1940s – one that includes Irish Americans <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/searcher">John Ford</a> and <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/julyweb-only/fof_mccarey.html">Leo McCarey</a>, and Italian immigrant <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/features/frank-capra-earned-his-wings-with-it-s-a-wonderful-life">Frank Capra</a>. At a time when Catholicism still seemed foreign to many Americans, those directors <a href="https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700636150/the-look-of-catholics/">helped normalize the faith</a>, making it seem like part of a shared American story. </p>
<p>Yet in his films, Scorsese has taken a much more personal approach to exploring Catholic faith and experience. He doesn’t feel the need to defend the religion or burnish its image. His movies are steeped in Catholic sensibilities, but embrace painful questions that often accompany belief: what it means to hold on to religious commitment in a world where God can seem absent.</p>
<h2>From altar boy to auteur</h2>
<p>Scorsese has often spoken of <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/filmmaker-martin-scorsese-talks-about-his-faith-upcoming-movie-silence?fbclid=IwAR1JWRy3irXQQlldezkIduAqJ3zH3iBUaU5qPh6Llr1v6ylXl1GnwlbyO48">his Catholic background</a>. Born in New York City’s Little Italy, he went to Catholic schools and served as an altar boy at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, which <a href="https://untappedcities.com/2014/04/03/monthofscorsese-nyc-film-locations-for-martin-scorsese-mean-streets/">appeared in his early masterpiece</a> “Mean Streets.” Scorsese even began seminary training, but he quickly realized the priesthood was not for him.</p>
<p>Yet the church proved influential. Scorsese has described St. Patrick’s as <a href="https://www.franciscanmedia.org/st-anthony-messenger/martin-scorsese-s-trilogy-of-faith/">a spiritual alternative</a> to the violence in the streets around his neighborhood. A priest <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/filmmaker-martin-scorsese-talks-about-his-faith-upcoming-movie-silence?fbclid=IwAR1JWRy3irXQQlldezkIduAqJ3zH3iBUaU5qPh6Llr1v6ylXl1GnwlbyO48">introduced the young Scorsese</a> to classical music and books that widened his cultural horizons.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578968/original/file-20240229-16-2fnzga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The view of a sanctuary with stained-glass windows, seen from above with a man playing the organ in the foreground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578968/original/file-20240229-16-2fnzga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578968/original/file-20240229-16-2fnzga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578968/original/file-20240229-16-2fnzga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578968/original/file-20240229-16-2fnzga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578968/original/file-20240229-16-2fnzga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578968/original/file-20240229-16-2fnzga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578968/original/file-20240229-16-2fnzga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Organist Jared Lamenzo performs at the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral on June 21, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/organist-jared-lamenzo-perform-during-the-friends-of-the-news-photo/1151298772?adppopup=true">Kris Connor/Getty Images for NAMM</a></span>
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<p>A similar tension runs through many of his films: Catholic devotion, mystery and ritual interwoven with ruthless crime. Indeed, the struggle with faith amid brutality is a theme Scorsese returns to over and over, asking what religion might have to offer the world as it actually exists, with all its cruelties, greed and despair.</p>
<h2>Presence and absence</h2>
<p>That struggle can be described as one between “<a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674984592">presence” and “absence</a>,” to use the terms of <a href="https://history.northwestern.edu/people/faculty/affiliated-faculty/robert-orsi.html">religious studies scholar Robert A. Orsi</a>. </p>
<p>Religious presence refers to all the ways people experience their gods’ existence in the world and in their lives. For Catholics, for example, the Eucharist is not just a symbol of Christ; the consecrated bread and wine in Communion actually <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-communion-matters-in-catholic-life-and-what-it-means-to-be-denied-the-eucharist-163560">become Jesus’ flesh and blood</a>, according to Catholic teaching.</p>
<p>Orsi describes religious absence, on the other hand, as the experience of doubt and spiritual struggle about a god not felt directly on Earth.</p>
<p>Both presence and absence shape Scorsese’s rendering of religion. God’s absence takes the form of violence and greed in his films. But some characters also carry their gods with them in the world. This is most dramatically seen in “Silence,” released in 2016, which was based on the novel by <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2023/04/25/shusaku-endo-245116">Japanese Catholic writer Shusaku Endo</a>. </p>
<p>“Silence” is the story of two Jesuit missionaries who travel to 17th century Japan in search of their mentor, another Jesuit who is believed to have renounced the faith during a wave of violent persecutions. One of them, Father Rodrigues, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/dec/10/silence-review-the-last-temptation-of-liam-neeson-in-scorseses-shattering-epic">profoundly questions his own faith</a> after witnessing the torture of Japanese Christians.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cuTjBL28l0U?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Silence’ dramatically explores faith, doubt and suffering.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Why, he wonders, does God allow such suffering? Eventually he himself will renounce his faith in order to save the lives of those to whom he ministers.</p>
<p>The silence of God is the film’s major preoccupation, yet it is filled with devotional imagery. At <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOX8-c-_uVY">the climax of the film</a>, Rodrigues tramples on an image of Christ in order to end the torture of other Christians. But just at that moment, he experiences the presence of his God.</p>
<p>The very final scene depicts his burial, years after the film’s main events – a small crucifix clasped in his hand.</p>
<h2>Penance ‘in the streets’</h2>
<p>This preoccupation with Catholicism stretches back to Scorsese’s 1973 breakthrough film, “Mean Streets.” Harvey Keitel plays a young Italian American man, Charlie, who <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/5130/film/his-catholic-conscience">grapples with his faith</a> in the unforgiving world of New York’s Lower East Side. </p>
<p>Presence, as Orsi points out, <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674984592">is often as much a burden</a> as a solace. Indeed, part of the emotional power in “Mean Streets” lies in Charlie’s own impatience toward Catholic practices and rules. He wants the freedom to be Catholic in his own way.</p>
<p>“You don’t make up for your sins in the church,” he insists <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdQ4_AzBxXg">in the opening voice-over</a>. “You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit, and you know it.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578972/original/file-20240229-24-ca054r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white photo of a man in a jacket and sunglasses leaning against a lamppost on a street with graffiti." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578972/original/file-20240229-24-ca054r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578972/original/file-20240229-24-ca054r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578972/original/file-20240229-24-ca054r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578972/original/file-20240229-24-ca054r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578972/original/file-20240229-24-ca054r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578972/original/file-20240229-24-ca054r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578972/original/file-20240229-24-ca054r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Martin Scorsese at the corner of Hester and Baxter streets in 1973, one of the locations he used in his New York film ‘Mean Streets.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/full-length-portrait-of-american-director-martin-scorsese-news-photo/3204086?adppopup=true">Jack Manning/New York Times Co./Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Over the years, Scorsese’s own ambitions have led him far beyond the streets of Little Italy. A number of his films have little to do with religion. Yet movies such as “Casino,” “The Aviator” and “The Wolf of Wall Street” elaborate the same basic question as “Mean Streets”: What is important in a world that so often feels dominated by absence, money and violence? Through a long career, Scorsese has framed both the sacred and profane as compelling but competing forces of human desire.</p>
<p>Shortly before the release of “Silence,” Scorsese <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/27/magazine/the-passion-of-martin-scorsese.html">visited St. Patrick’s</a> during an interview with The New York Times. “I never left,” he said. “In my mind, I am here every day.”</p>
<p>One might take him at his word. Even in his most recent movie, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2023/10/26/killers-flower-moon-osage-catholics-246377">a Catholic sensibility sneaks through in numerous ways</a>. Characters attend Mass at parish churches and bury their dead on consecrated Catholic ground. </p>
<p>Further, the film’s attention to Osage religious practices demonstrates Scorsese’s sensitivity to the power of ritual and devotion. The movie opens with the burial of a ceremonial pipe, highlighting how objects can assume sacred significance. As Mollie’s mother dies, she has a vision of the elders.</p>
<p>But the questions that haunt Scorsese hang over moments that hardly feel religious, too. </p>
<p>Toward the end of the film, when Mollie asks her duplicitous husband, Ernest, to come clean, his refusal to fully confess the harm he did to her and her family epitomizes the depths of his ethical emptiness. Her silence as she gets up and leaves, with an FBI agent standing quietly in the corner, offers a more powerful moral indictment than any legal sentence. The refusal to pay for one’s sins at home and in the streets has rarely looked so damning.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223630/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Though only a few of Scorsese’s films focus on religious stories, deeper questions about faith, doubt and living in a violent world tend to haunt his movies.Anthony Smith, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2243402024-03-05T13:58:57Z2024-03-05T13:58:57ZBradley Cooper, Cillian Murphy and the myths of Method acting<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579255/original/file-20240301-26-y48ck5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C11%2C2544%2C1812&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein and Carey Mulligan as Bernstein's wife, Felicia Montealegre, in 'Maestro.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.newyorker.com/photos/6580a0cc97c77278da928c1c/master/pass/Maestro_20220928_20662r.JPG">Jason McDonald/Netflix</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Should actors and actresses who go to extremes to prepare for their roles get more love from Oscars voters? </p>
<p>This year, best actor nominees <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614165/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk">Cillian Murphy</a>, who played nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15398776/">Oppenheimer</a>,” and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0177896/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_1_tt_3_nm_4_q_bradley%2520cooper">Bradley Cooper</a>, who starred as <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/12/15/the-legend-of-lenny">Leonard Bernstein</a> in the biopic “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5535276/">Maestro</a>,” are getting lots of buzz not only for their performances but also for how those performances were achieved.</p>
<p>The already slim Murphy lost roughly 20 pounds and took up smoking fake cigarettes to mimic the look and habits of the real-life Oppenheimer. His preparation for the role <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/07/inside-cillian-murphy-intense-oppenheimer-prep-i-didnt-go-out-much">was purportedly so intense</a> that he isolated himself from his co-stars during the making of the film.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Cooper allegedly <a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/features/bradley-cooper-spike-lee-maestro-no-chairs-set-method-acting-1235821551/">spent six years training</a> in the art of conducting in order to film a key sequence for “Maestro.” And on a December 2023 episode of the podcast “SmartLess,” best actress nominee <a href="https://podcasts.musixmatch.com/podcast/smartless-01gttmmw40q3na01cxg9j6kp91/episode/carey-mulligan-01hhxzwj46vx83k5ne3vfhv53p">Carey Mulligan</a> recounted how Bradley Cooper called her on the phone and spoke to her in Leonard Bernstein’s voice years before they had begun filming “Maestro.”</p>
<p>Reporting on the actors’ preparation often references <a href="https://www.nfi.edu/method-acting/">Method acting</a>, a psychological approach to performing that’s designed to make the character seem more real and believable. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/theatre/scott-malia">But as someone who has taught theater for over 20 years</a>, I’ve found that much of what is said or written about Method acting perpetuates a number of myths about the technique. Sometimes, it can be tough to tell whether actors are genuinely preparing for a role or simply “performing” their preparation for their co-stars, the media and the public.</p>
<h2>The origins of ‘the Method’</h2>
<p>Method acting – sometimes called “the Method” – derives from “the system,” an approach to acting developed by Russian actor and director <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/94675.An_Actor_Prepares">Konstantin Stanislavski</a>, which he describes in the 1936 book “<a href="https://archive.org/details/2015.126189.AnActorPrepares">An Actor Prepares</a>.” </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579257/original/file-20240301-48072-drn68t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Painting of a middle-aged man with gray hair." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579257/original/file-20240301-48072-drn68t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579257/original/file-20240301-48072-drn68t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579257/original/file-20240301-48072-drn68t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579257/original/file-20240301-48072-drn68t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579257/original/file-20240301-48072-drn68t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1184&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579257/original/file-20240301-48072-drn68t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1184&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579257/original/file-20240301-48072-drn68t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1184&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Konstantin Stanislavski’s techniques have been hugely influential in the training of European and American actors.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-the-actor-konstantin-sergeyevich-stanislavsky-news-photo/1144560864?adppopup=true">The Print Collector/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Stanislavski asks actors to identify the forces that motivate and drive their characters. In doing so, the actor strives to be in the moment with their fellow actors, responding as their character would to imaginary circumstances.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000008/">Marlon Brando</a> brought mainstream awareness to Method acting. To prepare for his role in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042727/">The Men</a>,” in which he plays a paralyzed war veteran, Brando reportedly <a href="https://www.slashfilm.com/846709/marlon-brando-only-broke-method-once-during-his-intense-prep-for-the-men/">spent time in a veterans hospital</a> using a wheelchair and did not initially reveal to the other patients that he was not disabled. He also reportedly stayed in his wheelchair between takes while filming.</p>
<p>In the decades since, Method acting has become associated with actors losing themselves in their characters, such as Daniel Day-Lewis <a href="https://screenrant.com/daniel-day-lewis-wild-method-acting-stories/">having people spoon-feed him</a> in order to prepare for his role as a painter with cerebral palsy in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097937/">My Left Foot</a>” (1989).</p>
<h2>This is the new me!</h2>
<p>Despite all of the attention these stories get, some of the extremes actors go to would have likely made Stanislavski laugh.</p>
<p>“An Actor Prepares” is built around a fictional acting class in which a teacher – most likely a stand-in for Stanislavski himself – breaks his actors’ bad habits and teaches them the foundations of the system. </p>
<p>Many of the exercises the teacher designs are to help the actors imagine what they might do if they were in the same situation as their characters – not to recreate those circumstances in real life. </p>
<p>Along the way, Stanislavski’s acting teacher regularly lampoons actors going to phony extremes to achieve what they think is authenticity. </p>
<p>Not unlike the ethically questionable issues of Brando and Day-Lewis <a href="https://theconversation.com/on-screen-and-on-stage-disability-continues-to-be-depicted-in-outdated-cliched-ways-130577">appropriating disability</a>, one of the actor characters in Stanislavski’s book adopts mind-bogglingly racist approaches, including blackface, as he prepares to play Othello. </p>
<p>Decades later, there are echoes of this critique in the work of Robert Downey Jr., <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/robert-downey-jr-tropic-thunder-blackface-regrets-1202204722/">who wore blackface</a> in an irony-drenched but nonetheless problematic sendup of Method acting in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0942385/">Tropic Thunder</a>” (2008).</p>
<h2>Does this character make me look fat?</h2>
<p>Much of the debate around <a href="https://time.com/6240001/the-whale-fatsuit-controversy/">last year’s best actor winner, Brendan Fraser</a>, had to do with his wearing prosthetics to play the morbidly obese Charlie in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13833688/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_the%2520whale">The Whale</a>.”</p>
<p>It should be noted that Cillian Murphy denies that he is a Method actor – as does Day-Lewis – and Murphy has refused to disclose the <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/07/inside-cillian-murphy-intense-oppenheimer-prep-i-didnt-go-out-much">weight loss tactics</a> he used to shed pounds for his role in “Oppenheimer.” Yet one of his co-stars, Emily Blunt, semi-jokingly referred to Murphy as eating an almond a day to maintain his underweight physique during filming.</p>
<p>What any actor does with their body is between them and their doctors; however, there are major medical and ethical implications when weight loss and weight gain are marked as evidence of a disciplined commitment to one’s craft. </p>
<p>Stanislavski didn’t tell actors to bulk up or go on a crash diet for their roles; in fact, early in “An Actor Prepares,” the acting teacher admonishes his students for practicing in front of mirrors and being too focused on their outward appearance. Later in the book, the teacher also warns against what he calls an exhibitionistic approach to acting, in which the actor is trying to show the audience how hard they are working at their craft.</p>
<h2>Come at me, bro</h2>
<p>And then there are stories of actors who prod, tease and surprise their co-stars to try to elicit authentic responses.</p>
<p>During the height of the #MeToo movement, <a href="https://people.com/movies/meryl-streep-dustin-hoffman-slapping-overstepping/">a story about the filming</a> of “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079417/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk">Kramer vs. Kramer</a>” (1979) resurfaced. Meryl Streep recalled that co-star Dustin Hoffman slapped her before shooting one of their scenes in order to get a response from her. Those actions were allegedly part of a larger pattern of behavior and strained relations between the two during the making of the film.</p>
<p>Similarly, when “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1386697/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_suicide%2520squad">Suicide Squad</a>” (2016) was being filmed, Jared Leto reportedly sent gag gifts to his co-stars from his character, The Joker, that included dead animals and used condoms. <a href="https://www.eonline.com/news/1309072/jared-leto-defends-his-gag-gifts-to-castmates-says-he-never-crossed-any-lines">Leto has alternately endorsed and walked back</a> the stories about the pranks.</p>
<p>Contrast these stunts with Stanislavski’s take on working with acting partners: Create communion and engage in active listening. Ticking them off, whether it’s in service of a scene or part of their own technique of “staying in character,” is selfish.</p>
<h2>Is it process or privilege?</h2>
<p>Since Stanislavski’s book was published, a number of acting approaches have emerged that do favor the kind of personal psychological investment that seems to blur the line between actor and character, most notably those of American acting teacher and theater director <a href="https://newyorkimprovtheater.com/2023/09/28/the-legacy-of-lee-strasberg-stella-adler-and-sanford-meisner-shaping-american-acting-methods-derived-from-stanislavski/#:%7E:text=Strasberg's%20emphasis%20on%20emotional%20recall%2C%20Adler's%20championing%20of%20imagination%20and,on%20the%20art%20of%20acting.">Lee Strasberg</a>.</p>
<p>However, in Chapter 8 of “An Actor Prepares,” Stanislavski makes a clear distinction between what’s true and real for the actor and what’s true and real for the character they are playing.</p>
<p>In other words, he did not subscribe to the idea that an actor can lose themselves in their part.</p>
<p>Yes, the media loves these kinds of stories, and they can demonstrate a certain type of commitment. But they can also paint actors as pampered and pretentious “artistes” <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/12/13/on-succession-jeremy-strong-doesnt-get-the-joke">whose process is self-indulgent</a>. A working actor struggling to pay the bills doesn’t have the luxury of, say, insisting that everyone address them by their character’s name.</p>
<p>In fact, these narratives about Method acting can swing the other way: Much of the praise around Ryan Gosling’s turn in “Barbie” plays on the idea of a serious actor’s willingness to get blond, goofy and take a decidedly un-Methody approach, something <a href="https://www.vulture.com/article/ryan-gosling-ken-casting.html">the actor cheekily embraced while doing press for the film</a>.</p>
<p>So when the acting Oscars get handed out, hopefully it will be because voters believed in the performances – not because of some meta narrative about their off-screen behavior.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224340/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott Malia does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Hopefully, Academy Award winners will be chosen because voters believed in the actors’ performances − not because of some meta narrative about their off-screen behavior.Scott Malia, Associate Professor of Theatre, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2250502024-03-05T12:03:12Z2024-03-05T12:03:12ZWicked Little Letters: this hilarious detective story is a meditation on the art of swearing<p>Wicked Little Letters is not a film about swearing, but it’s safe to say that swearing is a big part of what makes it such a great story. In 1920 Edith Swan (Olivia Colman), a well-to-do, devout Christian spinster who lives with her elderly parents in the southern English seaside town of Littlehampton, receives anonymous, abusive letters that are bristling with expletives. </p>
<p>Suspicion falls on Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley), the Swans’ next-door neighbour. Gooding is hard-drinking, foul-mouthed and – horror of horrors – does not clean out the bath that she shares with the Swans. Inspired by a true story, the film is part soap opera about neighbourly conflict, part cosy teatime detective story. And it’s also a showcase for some delightful swearing – <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/for-fcks-sake-9780190665067">a topic I explored in my recent book</a>.</p>
<p>In the course of telling the true story of the Littlehampton letters, Wicked Little Letters shines a light on some of the most fascinating aspects of swearing. One of these aspects is the hilarity that can result from the incongruity of encountering a swearword at an unexpected moment, from an unexpected person, and in an unexpected context. This can be unpleasant, especially if it’s you who’s on the receiving end of a sweary insult. But it can also lead to delight and glee. </p>
<p>The latter is what we get with this film, and it’s a time-tested formula. As philosopher Immanuel Kant remarked in his <a href="https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/bernard-the-critique-of-judgement">Critique of Judgement</a>: “In everything that is to excite a lively convulsive laugh there must be something absurd.”</p>
<p>It’s unlikely that anyone who chooses to watch Wicked Little Letters is going to be caught off guard by swearing, but even so, we very much hit the ground running. The film opens in the Swans’ front room, just as Edith has received yet another anonymous letter. </p>
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<p>Edith herself is demure and prim, and the family gathering (her parents are sitting at the table with her) is straight-backed and proper. If this atmosphere of austere respectability is the setup, then the sweary contents of the letter are the punchline.</p>
<p>Hypocrisy is another theme explored in the film through swearing. Many characters who are outraged by the letters (or, perhaps more accurately, at the idea of letters like these being penned by a woman) are unconcerned by far more pressing moral matters. </p>
<p>Edith’s father (Timothy Spall) is contemptuous of the suffragette movement’s attempt to give women like his daughter the right to vote. Police officers who condemn the sweary letter writer unhesitatingly use similar language to gossip about their sexual escapades. </p>
<p>Hypocrisy is evident, too, in contemporary attitudes about swearing. In 2012, the team working on the Ken Loach film, The Angel’s Share, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/may/22/ken-loach-bbfc-hypocritical">complained about the hypocrisy</a> of the British Board of Film Classification. The board refused to grant a 15 certificate, opting for an 18 due to the film’s swearing. Yet it has awarded 15 certificates to films depicting torture, racism, violence and cruelty. All subjects far more shocking and concerning than swearing.</p>
<h2>The power of swearing</h2>
<p>The film also explores how satisfying it can be to swear. Letting rip with powerful language is so cathartic that, as <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19590391/">research has shown</a>, it can help us withstand pain. </p>
<p>Swearing has this power in large part because we know we’re not supposed to be doing it. It’s fun because it goes against the rules. For the characters in Wicked Little Letters, there are plenty of exasperating rules to rail against. </p>
<p>The values of the time not only forbade women from voting, but also held them to high and ridiculous standards of decorum. The ridiculousness of these values did not stop women from internalising them. Rose Gooding forbids her daughter from the unbecoming activity of playing the guitar, while Edith Swan pastes on a smile while her father exerts his tyrannical authority over the household. </p>
<p>It was an especially frustrating time for women to endure such oppression. As Mabel (Eileen Atkins), a neighbour of Swan and Gooding, observes at one point, women were called upon to do all manner of traditionally masculine work during the first world war. But once the war ended, they were expected to return to docile domesticity. They had plenty to swear about.</p>
<h2>The right way to swear</h2>
<p>Toward the end of the film, there’s an entertaining discussion about how to swear properly.</p>
<p>Rose Gooding thinks that “foxy ass piss country whore” – a real turn of phrase from the Littlehampton letters – is an inept attempt at swearing. Historian Christopher Hilliard, who wrote <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Littlehampton_Libels/IjwkDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover&bsq=foxy%20ass%20piss%20country%20whore">a book on the letters</a>, agrees. “Just what is a ‘foxy ass piss country whore’?” he asks, before complaining that multiple dictionaries have failed to enlighten him. </p>
<p>But what’s the difference between competent and incompetent swearing, and who makes the rules anyway? As children, we’re not taught by our parents or teachers how to swear. Nor is swearing a skill that tends to be taught to foreign language learners – an oversight that the linguist Geraldine Horan <a href="https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1403857/1/10.1080-14708477.2013.804533.pdf">has argued should be corrected</a>. </p>
<p>Sometimes, as in the case of “foxy ass piss country whore”, we view an unusual sweary expression as evidence that the speaker doesn’t know how to swear properly. But in other cases the same thing points to the speaker being an impressively creative and imaginative swearer. Think of the <a href="https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/film-and-tv/20-of-the-thick-of-its-malcolm-tuckers-most-cutting-insults-595074">original expressions uttered by Malcolm Tucker</a>, the notoriously sweary character in the British political satire show, The Thick of It. What makes the difference here? Very little, I suspect. </p>
<p>Whether we view someone as an incompetent swearer or an especially clever swearer probably depends largely on whether they strike us as the sort of person who is good at swearing. Well brought-up women in 1920 did not strike anyone as the sort of people to be good at swearing. This is what made the Littlehampton letters so shocking to the nation in 1920, and Wicked Little Letters such a fun watch today.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Roache does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The film is part soap opera about neighbourly conflict, part cosy teatime detective story. And it’s also a showcase for some delightful swearing – my area of expertise.Rebecca Roache, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2239332024-03-04T13:41:28Z2024-03-04T13:41:28ZStanley Kubrick redefined: recent research challenges myths to reveal the man behind the legend<p>Even 25 years after his death, Stanley Kubrick remains one of the most widely known directors of the 20th century. Many of the 13 films he made – including <a href="https://theconversation.com/2001-a-space-odyssey-still-leaves-an-indelible-mark-on-our-culture-55-years-on-209152">2001: A Space Odyssey</a> (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971) and <a href="https://theconversation.com/kafka-is-the-real-ghost-of-kubricks-the-shining-41853">The Shining</a> (1980) – are still revered today and remembered as some of the best movies ever produced. </p>
<p>To coincide with the anniversary of his death on March 7 1999, I have co-authored the first full-length <a href="https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571370368-kubrick/">biography of Kubrick</a> in more than two decades. Based on the latest <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/898140">research</a> into Kubrick, access to his <a href="https://www.arts.ac.uk/students/library-services/special-collections-and-archives/archives-and-special-collections-centre/the-stanley-kubrick-archive">archive</a> at the University of Arts London, other repositories around the world, family members, cast and creatives, we have delved into his life in detail that few others have achieved.</p>
<h2>Shy but not reclusive</h2>
<p>During his life Kubrick was famously shy with the media, and frequently <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2010/04/kubrick-199908">interpreted</a> as reclusive. He granted very few interviews, and only when he had a film to publicise. He learned early on that he was not good at promoting his films personally. In the few interviews with Kubrick that survive, he comes across as nervous and ill at ease. </p>
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<p>Kubrick was so shy and protective of his private life that few people recognised him publicly. Though born and brought up in New York, he settled in England in the 1960s and remained there. He could wander into Rymans in St Albans and buy stationery (he loved paper, pens and the like) or get a new pair of spectacles and no one would recognise him. It helped that he often used his brother-in-law’s name when doing so. </p>
<p>In fact, Kubrick was such an unfamiliar figure that an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/1999/mar/14/andrewanthony">imposter</a> went around London’s clubs and bars in the early 1990s pretending to be him. The imposter was only found out when Kubrick started receiving strange phone calls from spurned lovers and bars with huge unpaid drinks tabs. </p>
<h2>Kubrick archive</h2>
<p>His archive only opened in 2007, but it provides an insight into this extremely private director’s world as never before. Kubrick was a hoarder and held on to the miscellany and detritus of his personal and professional worlds. This included high school yearbooks, photographs he took for Look magazine, receipts, bills, invoices, as well as the voluminous amount of material a film production (especially a Kubrick production) generated.</p>
<p>Through studying this archival material, combined with our new interviews, we learned about the human being behind the mythology. Kubrick was a film director but he was also a son, brother, husband, father and friend. </p>
<p>He liked to entertain, chat, make jokes and cook. He loved making American-style fast food and huge sandwiches, often using a microwave as he was a lover of gadgets, adopting new technology as soon as it became available. This was as true of his private life (where he used car phones, pagers and computers) as his working life where he was an early adopter of Steadicam cameras and the Avid editing system. </p>
<p>He had a fear of flying, but it was based on his own knowledge as a trained pilot and frequent monitoring of radio traffic control. It’s not true that he never went over 30mph in a car, as has been <a href="http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/faq/index3.html">claimed</a>. Rather, he loved cars – fast German ones in particular – but frequently crashed them.</p>
<h2>Kubrick at work</h2>
<p>We uncovered much about Kubrick’s working practices too. Kubrick was a master of the insurance claim. He never hesitated to file one following an accident or fire on set. Not only did this help him to recoup his budget but it also gave him precious time to regroup and think about his options. </p>
<p>We also discovered how Kubrick had to beg, borrow and virtually steal to get most of his projects greenlit. It wasn’t until he signed with Warner Brothers in the 1970s – from A Clockwork Orange onwards – that he had a permanent financial backer. But even then he wasn’t guaranteed funding if the project wasn’t right. </p>
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<img alt="A black and white close up of Stanley Kubrick's face." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577010/original/file-20240221-22-d3kke5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1789%2C1078&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577010/original/file-20240221-22-d3kke5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577010/original/file-20240221-22-d3kke5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577010/original/file-20240221-22-d3kke5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577010/original/file-20240221-22-d3kke5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577010/original/file-20240221-22-d3kke5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577010/original/file-20240221-22-d3kke5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Kubrick was famously shy in public.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stanley_Kubrick_in_Dr._Strangelove_Trailer_(1).jpg">Mayimbú/Wikimedia</a></span>
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<p>And those projects included the famously never made <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20190808-was-napoleon-the-greatest-film-never-made">biopic of Napoleon</a> as the time wasn’t right, or his never-to-be-made Holocaust film, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/archive-fever-stanley-kubrick-and-the-aryan-papers">Aryan Papers</a>, which lacked a big star and came too close on the heels of Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/2001-a-space-odyssey-still-leaves-an-indelible-mark-on-our-culture-55-years-on-209152">2001: A Space Odyssey still leaves an indelible mark on our culture 55 years on</a>
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<p>It is also tempting to wonder what would have happened had he made the film <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jul/15/stanley-kubrick-lost-screenplay-burning-secret-found">Burning Secret</a> in 1956, with MGM studios, with whom he had signed a contract. Would he have become another studio stooge or been fired for being too much of a maverick? What would have been the implications for his career?</p>
<p>While we can only imagine how those projects would have turned out, what remains is an extraordinary body of work that includes thousands of photographs, three documentaries and 13 feature films. Stanley Kubrick may have shunned the limelight, but his films have had a profound influence on the movie and television industries, as well as a lasting impact on popular and political culture.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223933/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nathan Abrams receives and has previously received external funding, including charity and research council grants.</span></em></p>25 years after the death of the legendary director, a new book offers fresh insights into Stanley Kubrick’s personal and professional life.Nathan Abrams, Professor of Film Studies, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2224842024-03-04T13:38:53Z2024-03-04T13:38:53ZHow non-English language cinema is reshaping the Oscars landscape<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579014/original/file-20240229-28-jndcqr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=46%2C1%2C1153%2C715&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Best picture nominee 'Past Lives' was directed by South Korean-Canadian filmmaker Celine Song and has scenes in Korean and English.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gq.com/photos/64ea9f7905e3a8acb2fa7700/16:9/w_2560%2Cc_limit/MCDPALI_EC043.jpeg">A24/Everett Collection</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past few years, the Oscars have taken a decidedly international turn. </p>
<p>This year, of the 10 films nominated for an Academy Award for best picture, <a href="https://abc7news.com/oscars-2024-lily-gladstone-native-american-oppenheimer/14453217/">three of them</a> – “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17009710/">Anatomy of a Fall</a>,” “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13238346/">Past Lives</a>” and “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7160372/">The Zone of Interest</a>” – are non-English language films. </p>
<p>In the first two decades of the Academy Awards, only three foreign films – all European – earned Oscar nominations: the 1938 French film “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028950/">La Grande Illusion</a>,” which was <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/118332/world-war-i-film-la-grande-illusion">nominated for best picture</a>, or outstanding production, as it was then known; the 1944 Swiss film “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037899/">Marie Louise</a>,” which was the <a href="https://collider.com/oscars-first-non-american-film-win-marie-louise/">first foreign film to win an Academy Award</a>, for best screenplay; and the 1932 French film “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022599/">À nous la liberté</a>,” nominated for best production design.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://miamioh.edu/profiles/cas/kerry-hegarty.html">scholar of film history</a>, I see the recent recognition of non-English language films as the result of demographic changes in the industry and within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences itself. </p>
<h2>Hollywood’s dominance wanes</h2>
<p>During World War II, Hollywood experienced record financial success, with <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/motion-picture-industry-during-world-war-ii#Foreign_Markets">one-third of its revenue</a> coming from foreign markets – mainly the United Kingdom and Latin America. The industry leveraged the appeal of American movies to employ them as cultural ambassadors to promote democratic ideals. Notably, a popular film like “Casablanca” not only entertained audiences but also <a href="https://brightlightsfilm.com/casablanca-romance-propaganda/">served as potent anti-fascist propaganda</a>. </p>
<p>After the war, co-productions and distribution agreements with foreign studios opened new markets, <a href="https://www.mheducation.com/highered/product/film-history-introduction-thompson-bordwell/M9781260837476.html">boosting Hollywood’s economic influence</a> and reinforcing English language cinema’s global dominance. </p>
<p>However, by the late 1940s, Hollywood experienced some challenges: Studios lost an anti-trust case that <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/paramount-decrees-antitrust-hollywood-1235581215/">challenged their monopoly</a> over producing, distributing and exhibiting films, while television threatened to siphon away theatergoers. With studios undergoing major budget and production cuts, a 1949 Fortune magazine article posed the question “<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/paramount-decrees-antitrust-hollywood-1235581215/">Movies: The End of an Era?</a>” </p>
<p>During that same period, <a href="https://www.mheducation.com/highered/product/film-history-introduction-thompson-bordwell/M9781260837476.html">art film movements</a> in nations such as Sweden, France, Italy and Japan arose to contest Hollywood’s dominance, breathing new life into the cinematic arts. </p>
<p>These works <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/beyond/hollywood.html">contrasted sharply with Hollywood films</a>, many of which had become formulaic by the 1950s and were constrained by an outdated censorship code. </p>
<h2>A category of their own</h2>
<p>Between 1947 and 1956, foreign films received honorary Oscars, with <a href="https://www.mheducation.com/highered/product/film-history-introduction-thompson-bordwell/M9781260837476.html">France and Italy dominating the accolades</a>. In 1956, the category of “best foreign language film” was officially established as an annual recognition, marking a pivotal moment in Oscars history. </p>
<p>However, any film nominated in that category is also <a href="https://www.oscars.org/sites/oscars/files/96o_complete_rules.pdf">eligible to be nominated</a> in the broader best picture category. The only stipulation is that it needs to have had a theatrical run in a Los Angeles County commercial movie theater for at least seven consecutive days. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Black and white photo of a middle-aged man running his hands through his hair while sitting in a chair next to a large camera." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579017/original/file-20240229-25-5t3mij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579017/original/file-20240229-25-5t3mij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579017/original/file-20240229-25-5t3mij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579017/original/file-20240229-25-5t3mij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579017/original/file-20240229-25-5t3mij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579017/original/file-20240229-25-5t3mij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579017/original/file-20240229-25-5t3mij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Italian director Federico Fellini’s ‘La Strada’ won the first Academy Award for best foreign language film in 1957.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/federico-fellini-on-the-set-of-the-film-rome-shot-at-news-photo/956703168?adppopup=true">Louis Goldman/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Until this year, only 10 foreign films have garnered this dual nomination. </p>
<p>In 2020, the South Korean film “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6751668/">Parasite</a>” became the first non-English language film to win both best international feature film – formerly known as best foreign language film – and best picture. Director Bong Joon-Ho also won the award for best director that year. Accompanied by an interpreter, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekMl5VHBH4I&ab_channel=Oscars">he gave his acceptance speech in Korean</a>. </p>
<p>During the 2019 Oscars, Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón – introduced in Spanish by actor Javier Bardem – accepted the Academy Award for what was then still called best foreign language film for his film “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6155172/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_1_tt_3_nm_4_q_roma">Roma</a>.” During his speech, he joked that he had grown up “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHk957dxJsI&ab_channel=Oscars">watching foreign language films</a> and learning so much from them. … Films like ‘Citizen Kane,’ ‘Jaws,’ ‘Rashomon,’ ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Breathless.’” </p>
<h2>Breathing new life into film</h2>
<p>Cuarón’s comments wryly question why English is considered the default language of a global industry. They also highlight how the categories of “Hollywood film” and “foreign film” aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive.</p>
<p>As in the past, many of the filmmakers pushing the boundaries of the medium are from outside the U.S. This isn’t due to a lack of talent within the U.S.; instead, it’s <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/cj.2020.0041">largely due to a lack of institutional funding</a> for independent productions. </p>
<p>On the other hand, in countries such as France, Germany, Canada, South Korea and Iran, there are state-sponsored programs to support filmmakers. These programs, which aim to promote national cultural expression, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/screen/hjr014">allow for more experimentation</a>. </p>
<p>In recent decades, the cinematic landscape has been revitalized by movements from abroad, such as Denmark’s <a href="https://www.artforum.com/columns/dogma-95-201300/">Dogma 95 collective</a>, <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Life-Arts/Arts/How-South-Korea-became-the-home-of-noir-film">South Korea’s IMF noir genre</a> and <a href="https://www.curzon.com/journal/greek-weird-wave/">Greek Weird Wave films</a>. Filmmakers associated with these movements often transition to making English language cinema.</p>
<p>Take Yorgos Lanthimos, director of the Best Picture nominee “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14230458/">Poor Things</a>.” Lanthimos <a href="https://collider.com/yorgos-lanthimos-greek-weird-wave/">first gained recognition</a> for his contributions to the Greek Weird Wave, a cinematic movement that uses absurdist humor to critique societal norms and power structures. It emerged during <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/24/greece-debt-crisis-timeline-it-all-started-in-2001.html">the country’s economic crisis in the 2010s</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6751668/">Parasite</a>” director Bong Joon-ho, known for his earlier Korean language films, is emblematic of the IMF noir movement, which explored the profound repercussions of <a href="https://courses.washington.edu/globfut/req%20readings/KimFinchKoreanStudies.pdf">the late 1990s financial crisis in South Korea</a> that was caused by policies dictated by the International Monetary Fund.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Balding middle-aged man with beard and red jacket." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579018/original/file-20240229-18-efk0yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579018/original/file-20240229-18-efk0yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579018/original/file-20240229-18-efk0yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579018/original/file-20240229-18-efk0yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579018/original/file-20240229-18-efk0yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579018/original/file-20240229-18-efk0yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579018/original/file-20240229-18-efk0yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/yorgos-lanthimos-attends-the-50th-telluride-film-festival-news-photo/1655989058?adppopup=true">Vivien Killilea/Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>The nomination process</h2>
<p>As Michael Schulman, author of “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/oscar-wars-michael-schulman?variant=41063519387682">Oscar Wars</a>,” argues, viewing the Academy Awards as a “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/oscar-wars-michael-schulman?variant=41063519387682">pure barometer of artistic merit or worth</a>” is a mistake. </p>
<p>Numerous factors, including the aggressiveness of Oscar campaign strategists and publicists working around the clock, as well as the composition of the awards committee, exert great influence over the outcome. </p>
<p>In the case of foreign films, the process is twofold. To secure an Oscar nomination as a country’s entry, a foreign film must first gain approval from a committee in its native country. It is then submitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and subjected to a vote by the academy. Only one entry is allowed per country. </p>
<p>The intricate dynamics of this process are illustrated by the case of the French film “Anatomy of a Fall,” which was nominated for a best picture Academy Award but not best international feature from France. This decision was <a href="https://variety.com/2024/film/global/france-dysfunctional-oscar-committee-anatomy-of-a-fall-1235880857/">influenced by France’s small national nominating committee</a>, which, disconnected from the current climate of the U.S. academy, favored the nostalgic, culinary romance “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19760052/">The Taste of Things</a>,” starring Juliette Binoche. </p>
<h2>A more diverse academy</h2>
<p>The role of the voting committee in determining which films even reach consideration cannot be overstated. Over the last few years, this is what has most radically changed in the academy. In 2012, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-unmasking-oscar-academy-project-20120219-story.html">its composition was 94% white, 77% male</a> and had a median age of 62.</p>
<p>As highlighted by Schulman, the #Oscarssowhite controversy in 2015 <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/oscar-wars-michael-schulman?variant=41063519387682">spurred changes</a> to the academy’s makeup, in the hopes of addressing the industry’s under-recognition of the achievements of people of color. </p>
<p>There was also a concerted effort to enhance geographical diversity and infuse the awards with a more global perspective. In 2016, the new invitees to the academy <a href="https://press.oscars.org/news/96th-oscarsr-nominations-announced">were more diverse</a>: 46% were female, 41% were nonwhite, and they came from 59 different countries. This year, a groundbreaking 93 countries submitted nomination ballots, signifying unprecedented global participation in the Oscars. </p>
<p>Perhaps most significantly, beginning in 2024, the academy has required that, for a film to qualify for a Best Picture nomination, it must meet <a href="https://www.oscars.org/awards/representation-and-inclusion-standards">two out of four standards</a> established by the academy. </p>
<p>The criteria include having at least one lead or significant supporting actor from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group, or centering the main storyline on an underrepresented group. They also require representation in creative leadership positions and crew roles, along with paid apprenticeships for underrepresented groups. Even senior marketing teams require representation. All of these requirements lend themselves to the inclusion of more international film nominees. </p>
<p>Streaming distribution has also <a href="https://variety.com/2019/film/awards/oscar-international-film-category-name-change-1203393900/">democratized access</a> to non-English language cinema, which was previously limited only to niche audiences in art house theaters in large cities.</p>
<p>The distribution company Neon, established in 2017, has been another crucial factor in reshaping the Oscars landscape. Led by Elissa Federoff, Neon is <a href="https://cineuropa.org/en/interview/1369/432732/">committed to breaking industry barriers</a>, diversifying content, transcending language barriers and engaging with younger audiences through platforms like YouTube and TikTok. Neon distributed both “Parasite” and “Anatomy of a Fall.”</p>
<p>As the Oscars evolve into a more globally conscious platform, the future of film seems destined to be shaped by those who think beyond the limitations of what was once considered “foreign,” and remain advocates for the universal language of the cinema.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222484/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kerry Hegarty does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Non-English language cinema – previously seen by niche audiences – is increasingly finding acceptance and recognition, reflecting the many demographic changes taking place within the academy.Kerry Hegarty, Associate Professor of Film Studies, Miami UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2240332024-02-27T11:48:41Z2024-02-27T11:48:41ZMavka: The Forest Song – Ukrainian animation echoes the ecocide of wartime<p>As a child, I remember watching FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992) with a sense of horror. I grew up in Ukraine, playing on construction sites, picking up dandelions and cigarette butts on city playgrounds and breathing in the smoke of nearby machine plants. So I felt tremendous sympathy for the forest fairies and was devastated by the scenes of mass tree felling by the evil humans. </p>
<p>I didn’t recognise the dissonance of watching the cartoon in a concrete nine-storey apartment block that had recently risen on the meadows devoured by my city. At the time, I even loved the polluted city more than my grandparents’ idyllic lakeside home. There was more to do on the littered sidewalks, glistening with the multicoloured film of oil byproducts. But a desire for nature to prevail took root.</p>
<p>On a family trip to the forest the weekend that followed, I refused to cut mushrooms and tried to catch a glimpse of magical life under the ferns and occasional pine trees of the Ukrainian steppe. FernGully’s ecological message had prevailed through my concrete-covered childhood.</p>
<p>Ukrainian nature has had its own eco-stories. In 1911 Lesya Ukrainka, a young Ukrainian woman who’d spent most of her short life in a sick bed, used her imagination to travel into the wilderness of folklore. She wrote a play, <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674291874">The Forest Song</a>, about Mavka, an eternal forest nymph who falls in love with a young man from the village and finds herself torn between two worlds. Her lover’s family builds a house on the brink of the forest, slowly cultivating it into a field. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576842/original/file-20240220-26-viqi6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Lesya Ukrainka in a black and white photo." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576842/original/file-20240220-26-viqi6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576842/original/file-20240220-26-viqi6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576842/original/file-20240220-26-viqi6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576842/original/file-20240220-26-viqi6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576842/original/file-20240220-26-viqi6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1009&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576842/original/file-20240220-26-viqi6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1009&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576842/original/file-20240220-26-viqi6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1009&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lesya Ukrainka.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lesya_Ukrainka_portrait.jpg">Wiki Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the early 20th century, happy endings were rare in Ukrainian (or, perhaps, any) fiction. Mavka ends up compromising her principles, paying with her blood for allowing humans to cut the ancient trees. She grows disillusioned with humans as her lover trades his musical talents for household comforts, marrying a local widow, who proves better at farming. </p>
<p>Mavka gives her body to “the one-who-sits-in-the-rock”, a spirit of natural vengeance and disasters, and pays her revenge. Her former lover becomes a werewolf and freezes to death under a tree.</p>
<p>Ukrainka depicted the forest as a safeguard of joy and primordial memory of the land. Nature grows increasingly fragile as the old agreements between humans and spirits break. </p>
<h2>Adapting The Forest Song</h2>
<p>As a child, I was sure that FernGully was an echo of The Forest Song. With one significant difference – in the cartoon the man becomes a positive influence on nature. </p>
<p>The new animated adaptation of Ukrainka’s play, Mavka: The Forest Song, took 10 years to produce. It faced multiple financing problems, not to mention the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia. I feared that the filmmakers might reduce Ukrainka’s story to a Disney-style feel-good tale. I was right. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GXaMT5pX12w?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for Mavka: The Forest Song.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Spirits became cat-like animal side-kicks and Mavka’s lover became her slightly annoying assistant – and nobody dies in the end. </p>
<p>What surprised me most was the unexpected success of Mavka, both among Ukrainian and international audiences. Watching the animation in Paris, my Ukrainian friends reported roaring laughter and applause from the little French viewers. The animation was screened in 148 countries and dubbed in 32 languages.</p>
<h2>Ecocide in Ukraine</h2>
<p>The Russo-Ukrainian war has made Ukrainian law <a href="https://www.euam-ukraine.eu/news/ecocide-in-ukraine-won-t-go-unpunished-united-for-justice-united-for-nature/">recognise ecocide as a crime</a>, punishable by a prison term of up to 15 years. </p>
<p>It is almost inconceivable to imagine the Russian officers who <a href="https://theconversation.com/kakhovka-dam-breach-in-ukraine-caused-economic-agricultural-and-ecological-devastation-that-will-last-for-years-208629">blew up the Kakhovka dam</a> and caused the destruction of thousands of homes being prosecuted in the near future. But Ukrainian eco-activists, biologists and lawyers are determined to bring this question <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/ukraine-war-kakhovka-dam-ecocide-international-law/">into the international law too</a>. </p>
<p>From the beginning of the invasion, Ukrainians have <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00471178231191297#fn10-00471178231191297">used animals and nature</a> to engage the world audience. Attention was drawn to the Kakhovka dam through <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edkP9zTC11M">videos of volunteers rescuing animals</a> from the water. <a href="https://www.eurobats.org/bat_news/donate_bat_rehabilitation_center_kharkiv">Fundraisers</a> organised by the Kharkiv bat activists who save bats affected by the war have <a href="https://undark.org/2022/10/31/amid-war-bat-rescue-continues-in-ukraine/">attracted international attention</a>.</p>
<p>Nature has become both one of the most painful and most visible reminders of the war. Mavka uses animals in similar fashion, converting “the one-one-who-breaks-dams” (one of Mavka’s love interests in the original play) into Swampy, a “kitty-frog” who follows her every step. It also features a lynx, an endangered species from Chornobyl that has <a href="https://www.travelwiseway.com/section-news/news-in-chornobyl-a-eurasian-lynx-has-been-spotted-which-was-last-documented-there-in-the-previous-century-photo-20-11-2023.html">become extremely rare</a>. </p>
<p>I sympathise with this innocent manipulation. The forests where I tried to find FernGully characters as a child have been heavily mined since the occupation of the Kharkiv region in 2022. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Dzqyc95zcxo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for FernGully: The Last Rainforest.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most recently in February 2024 oil byproducts spillage caused by a Russian-Iranian drone, leaked into two of the three Kharkiv city rivers, endangering the water and killing <a href="https://ecopolitic.com.ua/en/news/harkiv-yani-pochali-ryatuvati-otruienih-naftoproduktami-kachok-2/">wild ducks and other species</a>. </p>
<p>The same drone attack killed seven people. Yet, it feels almost impossible to interest a world audience with the alien images of a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/10/deaths-reported-as-russian-drone-attack-on-kharkiv-petrol-station-in-ukraine-sparks-large-fire">Ukrainian family burnt alive</a>. Nature, however, is something that we all share.</p>
<p>Sometimes I feel that after <a href="https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/focus/chernobyl/faqs">the Chornobyl disaster</a> our land is cursed by the ancient gods of nature (Mavkas and mermaids) to eternal suffering. Hearing about French children watching Ukrainian Mavka in a Parisian cinema, I felt hope. Perhaps someday they will recall Mavka, like I remembered FernGully, with an understanding that action needs to be taken to make our coexistence with nature more harmonious.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Viktoriia Grivina does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Sometimes I feel that after Chernobyl our land is cursed. Hearing about French children watching Mavka in a Parisian cinema, I felt hope.Viktoriia Grivina, PhD Candidate, School of Modern Languages and Social Anthropology, University of St AndrewsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2238542024-02-26T23:31:54Z2024-02-26T23:31:54ZYoung people are drinking less in real life. But film and TV paints a different picture<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577810/original/file-20240226-26-t1kw3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C8%2C5973%2C3979&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pile-empty-beer-green-glass-bottles-1118733461">Nokwan007/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The new Mean Girls is a fresh take on a classic teen comedy, this time appealing to a new audience: Gen Z. So how does the film paint the new generation? As one that loves to drink. </p>
<p>Mean Girls is filled with references to and depictions of alcohol. There’s drinking at parties, a scene where Cady gets drunk, and even a joke about a <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/mean-girls-2024">vodka-filled inhaler</a>. </p>
<p>On-screen alcohol exposure is an important issue, particularly when underage drinking is shown. Greater on-screen exposure to alcohol is associated with an increased risk of beginning to drink alcohol <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15332640.2018.1548319">at a younger age</a>, and increased likelihood of weekly drinking and binge drinking <a href="https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article-abstract/135/5/851/33689/Alcohol-Use-in-Films-and-Adolescent-Alcohol-Use">among young people</a>. </p>
<p>But despite the attempts to appeal to a young audience, the new Mean Girls film doesn’t reflect most of Gen Z’s attitudes towards drinking. In fact, research shows <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dar.12255">young people are increasingly rejecting alcohol</a>, especially when compared to older generations. So why does alcohol retain a chokehold on our screens? </p>
<h2>Drinks all round?</h2>
<p>A 2023 <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/resources/collections/australian-secondary-school-students-alcohol-and-drug-survey">Cancer Council report</a> found in 1996, 90% of Australian secondary school students aged 16–17 reported drinking alcohol in the past year. By 2023, this had dropped to 64%.</p>
<p>The report also found recent risky drinking – that is, consuming five or more alcoholic drinks on any day within the past week – among 16- and 17-year-olds has particularly declined, dropping from 22% in 1996 to 9% in 2023. </p>
<p>This trend isn’t <a href="https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/31/2/424/5981990">unique to Australia</a>. Gen Z-ers across the world are drinking much less alcohol than previous generations. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/youth-drinking-is-declining-myths-about-the-trend-busted-216948">Youth drinking is declining – myths about the trend, busted</a>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577813/original/file-20240226-17-wqqskz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Teenagers with beer bottles." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577813/original/file-20240226-17-wqqskz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577813/original/file-20240226-17-wqqskz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577813/original/file-20240226-17-wqqskz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577813/original/file-20240226-17-wqqskz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577813/original/file-20240226-17-wqqskz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577813/original/file-20240226-17-wqqskz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577813/original/file-20240226-17-wqqskz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Gen Z are drinking less alcohol than other generations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/people-friendship-togetherness-hangout-youth-culture-514499065">Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>But we’re yet to see this decline reflected in films and television targeting young people. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1067828X.2018.1561575">2019 analysis</a> found alcohol remains the most frequently portrayed substance in films, and substance use (including alcohol) on screen was more often portrayed as having either neutral or rewarding consequences (such as increased popularity), in comparison to unrewarding consequences (such as vomiting or headaches). </p>
<p>One-fifth of teenage characters in PG-13 (roughly equivalent to an Australia M rating) and R-rated <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10810730.2012.688251">films are shown drinking alcohol</a>, and nearly half <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11389259/">of G-rated</a> animated films show alcohol use. </p>
<p>One prime example is Ratatouille (2007). This Disney-Pixar film is so beloved by Gen Z it got turned into a <a href="https://time.com/5925560/ratatouille-tiktok-musical/">TikTok musical</a>. The film shows alcohol <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24799536/">a whopping 60 times</a>, even though it’s rated PG and aimed at children.</p>
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<p>Alcohol imagery isn’t limited to film or broadcast TV. Recent research found more alcohol in streaming content from <a href="https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/2/e025807">Amazon and Netflix</a> than in broadcast television. </p>
<p>And despite the sheer volume of on-screen alcohol depictions, our research shows films depict alcohol exposure nearly <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11469-022-00998-5">five times more frequently</a> than the average Australian adult thinks they do. </p>
<h2>Lack of regulation – and young filmmakers</h2>
<p>Locally, alcohol exposure in films is governed by the Australian Classification Board. The board considers <a href="https://www.classification.gov.au/classification-ratings/how-rating-decided">six classifiable elements</a>, such as sex and violence, when deciding on a rating. </p>
<p>Currently, alcohol is not explicitly represented among these, although excessive consumption and alcohol dependency is considered under the element of “themes”. </p>
<p>This has an impact: alcohol brand placements have nearly doubled in the last two decades, and alcohol brands appear in 41% of <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/911945">children’s films</a>. </p>
<p>When we consider why young people are so often shown drinking in films, it’s not just a matter of what can be shown under Australian regulations. Film and television is largely not yet directed, written or created by Gen Z-ers. A lack of representation can lead to young people’s perspectives not being understood, or unaccounted for.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577814/original/file-20240226-24-5t517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A film director" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577814/original/file-20240226-24-5t517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577814/original/file-20240226-24-5t517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577814/original/file-20240226-24-5t517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577814/original/file-20240226-24-5t517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577814/original/file-20240226-24-5t517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577814/original/file-20240226-24-5t517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577814/original/file-20240226-24-5t517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">As Gen Z enters the film industry, the depiction of alcohol on screen may change.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Grusho Anna/Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>The mismatch between Gen Z’s drinking habits and the overexposure of alcohol in films is also surprising when we consider <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/dar.13756">most adults in our research</a> were supportive of a range of policies restricting alcohol exposure in films. A significant number of adult Australians support policies <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/dar.13756">de-glorifying alcohol consumption and beverages in films</a> – especially in films aimed at children. </p>
<p>Australia intends to <a href="https://www.classification.gov.au/about-us/media-and-news/media-releases/classification-amendment-bill-passed-parliament">reform its National Classification Scheme</a>. Perhaps these changes – along with Gen Z entering the film industry themselves – will allow for young people’s actual drinking habits to be reflected more accurately on screen. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australians-are-embracing-mindful-drinking-and-the-alcohol-industry-is-also-getting-sober-curious-160931">Australians are embracing 'mindful drinking' — and the alcohol industry is also getting sober curious</a>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maree Patsouras receives funding from an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Pennay receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation and the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Riordan's research is funded by La Trobe University, the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth), the Australian Research Council (ARC), the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), and National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA; US).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emmanuel Kuntsche receives funding from La Trobe University, the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth), the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the Australian Research Council (ARC), and the University of Bayreuth Centre of International Excellence "Alexander von Humboldt". Emmanuel Kuntsche serves as that Secretary of the Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs (APSAD).</span></em></p>Research shows young people are increasingly rejecting alcohol, especially when compared to older generations. So why does alcohol retain a chokehold on our screens?Maree Patsouras, La Trobe UniversityAmy Pennay, Research Fellow, Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe UniversityBenjamin Riordan, Research fellow, La Trobe UniversityEmmanuel Kuntsche, Director of the Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2239452024-02-23T12:57:15Z2024-02-23T12:57:15ZPerfect Days: Wim Wenders’ reflection on ageing, told through the toilets of Tokyo<p>The hero of German filmmaker Wim Wenders’ new film, Perfect Days, spends his time cleaning toilets. </p>
<p>Hirayama (Kōji Yakusho) has opted for a simple and solitary life as a toilet cleaner in a park in Shibuya, one of the busiest districts in Tokyo. He seems content and happy with his life, which is self-determined and without any luxuries. His everyday routine is well organised, from watering the bonsai plants in his small apartment, to donning his work clothes, drinking canned coffee in front of his home and driving his big van to the park. </p>
<p>The only exotic place in the film appears to be The Tokyo Toilet, where Hirayama works. The toilet is clean, modern, spacious and even free to use. The basic human instinct is guaranteed to be satisfied here.</p>
<p>He encounters various toilet users and park regulars. There are young children, busy businessmen, a homeless man and a sultry young lady on her lunch break. Their detailed behaviour and Hirayama’s after-work and weekend hours of drinking beer and highballs, enjoying simple food and going to the public bathhouse are captured quietly and slowly. </p>
<p>Without much spectacle or drama, the film offers an entertaining and beautiful moment of reflection.</p>
<p>An elderly man from the neighbourhood complains that all beautiful things lose their beauty when they get older. The film depicts several naked elderly people in the public bath, including Hirayama, as part of its reflection on dealing with ageing. </p>
<p>The film invites viewers to reflect on the elderly man’s comments, by showing Hirayama’s body, which is not young, but is still good looking – a strong senior body. Elderly male bodies have rarely featured in cinema, except for a few, such as the ghostly image of the naked dead old bodies in the horror film The Shining (1980). </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A clip from Perfect Days.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The film’s few dramatic moments come from Hirayama’s encounters with young and older women, including his younger co-worker’s girlfriend (Aoi Yamada), his niece Niko (Arisa Nakano) and a barmaid called Mama-san (Sayuri Ishikawa). Subtle facial expressions, gestures and words express his still-vivid desire for the company of the opposite sex. </p>
<h2>Life through the toilet</h2>
<p>Hirayama does not seem to have found it difficult to afford a comfortable lifestyle, despite his presumably small salary. His taste also seems to testify to his intellectual, highly educated and cultured background: he regularly goes to his local bookshop and reads books by Patricia Highsmith and Japanese authors every evening. </p>
<p>Hirayama has voluntarily opted for a simple, frugal lifestyle that allows him to participate in economic, social and cultural life, and he seems to enjoy every moment of it. </p>
<p>And yet he still cries silently in a poignant scene while driving his car. In this last moment, shown through close-up, his tearful facial expression does not let the viewer know what kind of past he had. It’s unclear whether he has regrets about his present life, or even whether he’s crying because he’s happy or unhappy. His past can only be seen in the shadowy features of his dreams.</p>
<p>The open-ended narrative of this emotional moment does not demand that the viewer identifies with the hero but rather invites them to reflect on their own life and thoughts about growing older.</p>
<h2>Wim Wenders’ Japan</h2>
<p>Born in Düsseldorf in 1945, Wenders’ hometown had the largest population of Japanese people in Germany, with many Japanese restaurants, grocery stores and expats in the second part of the 20th century.</p>
<p>Japan is not a new setting for Wenders to explore. In 1985, he made the documentary Tokyo-Ga, which was awarded the coveted Un Certain Regard prize at the Cannes Film Festival. </p>
<p>Tokyo-Ga was inspired by the Japanese filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu (1903-63), his 1953 film Tōkyō Monogatari (Tokyo Story) and Ozu’s cinematographers. Tokyo-Ga therefore explores “his” Japan, with a camera view that is partly borrowed from Ozu’s films. </p>
<p>Now, 38 years later with Perfect Days, Wenders is attempting to capture his own Japan in greater depth, in collaboration with Japanese colleagues. The screenplay was written by Wenders and Japanese filmmaker Takuma Takasaki and features only Japanese actors. </p>
<p>With Perfect Days, Wenders has created another “festival film” with its typical genre aesthetics: minimalist in cast, plot and colours, with long takes and mostly slow narrative development. The sound, both in the music and dialogue, is minimalist and concentrates on documenting the everyday life and small moments of the film’s unheroic hero, in documentary style.</p>
<p>I really enjoyed both the film’s aesthetics and subject matter, and the way it addressed in a contemporary way both how to deal with growing older, and the changing social dimension of other generations and cultures. In making the film, Wenders, a European auteur filmmaker has also become a trans-cultural Japanese filmmaker.</p>
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hyunseon Lee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Wim Wenders’ latest film invites viewers to reflect on their ageing bodies.Hyunseon Lee, Professorial Research Associate at Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, and Centre for Creative Industries, Media and Screen Studies, SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2236142024-02-22T17:09:13Z2024-02-22T17:09:13ZOut of Darkness: I’m an expert on human origins – here’s how this stone age thriller surprised me<p>Neither the choice of genre (survivalist horror) nor time period (43,000 years ago) bodes well for Out of Darkness. After all, films set in the stone age tend to be comedic, sexualised or woefully historically inaccurate. Think Ice Age (2002), Clan of the Cave Bear (1986) or 10,000BC (2008) – in which <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVzdHEhC8YI">mammoths help build the pyramids</a>. Yet this film is neither. It goes way beyond expectations with its attempts at historical accuracy, and what’s more it is fun to watch – especially if suspense or a high body count are your thing.</p>
<p>A film set at the time of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-long-did-neanderthals-and-modern-humans-co-exist-in-europe-evidence-is-growing-it-may-have-been-at-least-10-000-years-222762">modern human and Neanderthal interactions</a> is long overdue, given both the better public understanding of this period and Neanderthals being thought of in <a href="https://www.sapiens.org/biology/hominin-species-neanderthals/">more humanised terms</a> than ten years ago.</p>
<p>What’s more, as we face more existential threats there is a greater tendency to look to the distant past for inspiration for how we should live, both <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-living-like-a-hunter-gatherer-could-improve-your-health-208813">physically</a> and <a href="https://universitypress.whiterose.ac.uk/site/chapters/m/10.22599/HiddenDepths.k/">emotionally</a>. Still, the producers of Out of Darkness should be applauded for having the guts to tackle some of the real challenges of setting a film in this period. </p>
<p>They have used as authentic a language as possible – hiring linguist Dr Daniel Andersson to create a stone age-sounding language especially for the film, translated for the audience using subtitles. They also cast actors with accurate skin tones. The makeup of the group at its heart is realistic, with older and vulnerable members and, refreshingly, a competent, proactive woman lead (who is dressed in appropriate clothing, rather than a <a href="https://www.biography.com/actors/a42940234/raquel-welch-fur-bikini-mixed-feelings">fur bikini</a>). </p>
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<h2>Is the film historically accurate?</h2>
<p>Out of Darkness follows a small group of modern humans who set out across the Europe of 43,000 years ago, trying to find new land and rescue the leader’s son, who has apparently been taken by some strange creatures. </p>
<p>There are amazing landscapes, tense scenes and – as is expected from a survivalist horror – few people left standing after the carnage. For those of us looking for meaning under the macabre, there is a cautionary tale about acting on assumptions and the dangers of rage and fear.</p>
<p>There is plenty of detail here which fits the evidence we have about this period of the stone age (known as the middle-upper palaeolithic transition). There’s fitted clothing with fur inside, decorated spears, fire-lighting kits, a <a href="https://www.donsmaps.com/discs.html#:%7E:text=Discs%20from%20the%20stone%20age,objects%20in%20their%20own%20right">rondelle</a> (a bone disc with a central hole) and Neanderthals with raptor feather headdresses. </p>
<p>There are even rather slick references for the knowledgeable. Dead mammoths are shown at the bottom of a ravine modelled on <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-this-spot-on-the-jersey-coast-was-like-a-magnet-for-neanderthals-70369">La Cotte de St Brelade</a>, a Neanderthal hunting site in Jersey. Neanderthals are shown taking and wearing modern human jewellery as a nod to the <a href="https://phys.org/news/2016-09-evidence-ancient-jewelry-grotte-du.html">Châtelperronian bone pendants</a>, found in the south of France.</p>
<p>People are buried at a location that looks remarkably like the most famous Neanderthal burial site, <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/shanidarz">Shanidar Cave</a> in Iraq. Even depictions of <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10816-016-9306-y">cannibalism</a> are not at odds with what we know of mortuary practices in the period.</p>
<p>The wider social settings also bring some welcome authenticity. Telling firelight stories of courageous journeys into new lands, the elderly, young and pregnant work together.</p>
<p>Is Out of Darkness entirely prehistorically accurate? No, of course not. But it goes way beyond most depictions. In reality, stone age people would have carried tents and built shelters, not fought over a cold damp cave. They would also have found a fair bit of food in the tundra rather than starving. And of course it is not clear how the characters in the film managed to shave. </p>
<p>I would also expect links to other groups, or perhaps more of a story as to why this group is so isolated. And the voices of the Neanderthals are a bit too far fetched (more like a squawk than high-pitched language). What’s more, the lack of other living things depicted feels like a missed opportunity to include more predators, which were <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12520-015-0248-1?origen=app">genuinely dangerous and scary</a> in the stone age.</p>
<h2>Stone age bad guys</h2>
<p>As a professor of the archaeology of human origins, the one thing I dislike about the film is that subservience to the “bad guys” doesn’t fit <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376635717303698?casa_token=6nkGRzHGKkwAAAAA:yrmVb7eFtEzSxibNdEJ1HNt0Utw94yl2p0IJRcCR514KP6RZ0P_SsaT226vYMhEiIyJnf3X7">what we know</a>. </p>
<p>The leader of this small band of travellers, Adem (Chuku Modu), is a bit of bully, who tells women what to do or say, and supports some hierarchy in which “strays eat last”. Neither the impulsiveness nor the violence fit what we know of <a href="https://www.academia.edu/12015116/Myths_about_hunter_gatherers_redux_nomadic_forager_war_and_peace">hunter-gatherer populations</a>. Their <a href="https://universitypress.whiterose.ac.uk/site/books/m/10.22599/HiddenDepths/">emotional regulation</a> (capacity to feel emotions consciously rather than simply act on them) was actually far better than ours in our <a href="https://api.repository.cam.ac.uk/server/api/core/bitstreams/f6f8491c-dbf5-46ed-bf5b-c62342a7ae3b/content%7DChaudbury%20ref">comparatively dysfunctional</a> modern societies. </p>
<p>It is also hard to see how humans and Neanderthals could <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-long-did-neanderthals-and-modern-humans-co-exist-in-europe-evidence-is-growing-it-may-have-been-at-least-10-000-years-222762">live contemporaneously</a> for as much as 10,000 years with such a mutual wipe out. But given that bloodshed comes with the genre, all of this may be something we need to forgive. </p>
<p>I might perhaps let them get away with this if we accept these people were some kind of <a href="https://openquaternary.com/articles/10.5334/oq.ai">dysfunctional outcast party</a>, in which dominance tactics might be more tolerated and normal rules didn’t apply.</p>
<p>There is, after all, plenty to love. Out of Darkness offers a great portrayal of a capable stone age woman protagonist – and equally capable Neanderthal woman. Beyah (Safia Oakley-Green) is adept with both knife, spear and any convenient rock, dispatching people whenever the occasion demands (which seems to be pretty regularly).</p>
<p>There will always be some gripes over accuracy here and there but Out of Darkness is fun to watch, and it is great to see the period opening up to more informed popular imagination. I’m hoping for a sequel.</p>
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Penny Spikins was amongst several academics who spoke to the film producers in the very early conceptual stages of the film. </span></em></p>Out of Darkness attempts at historical accuracy are a welcome surprise, and what’s more, it is fun to watch.Penny Spikins, Professor of the Archaeology of Human Origins, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2240972024-02-22T12:21:30Z2024-02-22T12:21:30ZIt Happened One Night at 90: the film that defined the romantic comedy<p>The renowned British philosopher <a href="https://www.philosophersmag.com/footnotes-to-plato/57-introducing-footnotes-to-plato">A.N. Whitehead once said</a> the entire history of European philosophy can be described as a series of footnotes to Plato. I would argue the entire history of the romcom is a series of footnotes to Frank Capra’s cynical romantic fable, It Happened One Night. As the film celebrates its 90th anniversary, it’s due a revisit.</p>
<p>It Happened One Night tells the story of a mismatched pairing between wealthy heiress Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert) and cynical journalist Peter Warne (Clark Gable), who meet on a Greyhound bus in southern Florida bound for New York City. Ellie has abandoned her sheltered upbringing to elope with a playboy fiancé. Peter, on the other hand, is a down-on-his-luck journalist looking for his latest scoop. </p>
<p>In a move that will surprise absolutely nobody, Ellie and Peter don’t stay mismatched for long. Indeed, after a few shared adventures, the two start finding qualities in one another they hadn’t noticed before. </p>
<p>I shan’t spoil exactly how those events unfold, but it is unlikely to shock anyone with even a passing knowledge of romcom tropes. But don’t confuse familiarity for cliche. Far from drawing from well-worn tropes, It Happened One Night charts the terrain within which all modern romcoms now seek to journey.</p>
<h2>The secret to the film’s success</h2>
<p>The film was a sensation on its release in 1933, becoming a star-making vehicle for its director, Frank Capra (who would go on to direct other classics including It’s a Wonderful Life). It is one of only three films in history to nab the Oscar “big five”, winning prizes for best actor, actress, adapted screenplay, director and picture. </p>
<p>The two pictures with which it shares this accolade, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991), highlights its achievement even further. The film won over the hearts and minds of a critical establishment who have always privileged the wrought suffering of drama over the seemingly lighter pleasure of comedy.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The original trailer for It Happened One Night.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The film’s success can be attributed to simple but important things like the quality of its script, the lightness of its direction, and the charisma of its two leads. But there were other factors at play as well, namely the social and economic context in which it was made.</p>
<p>Released during the height of the Great Depression, the film’s class consciousness struck a chord with audiences seeking light relief from difficult circumstances in the story of two young, attractive people trying to traverse the country with only four dollars to their name. Economic deprivation has never looked so fun.</p>
<h2>A classic screwball comedy</h2>
<p>It is also a classic screwball comedy, a genre noted for its <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jfilmvideo.63.3.0045">risque approach</a> to gender and sexuality. It was released only a few months before the implementation of the infamous <a href="https://www.acmi.net.au/stories-and-ideas/early-hollywood-and-hays-code/">Hays Code</a>, Hollywood’s strict rules on morality which censored what filmmakers could and could not show onscreen for decades. </p>
<p>Aware of the potential for scandal in having its two leads share a number of motel rooms, the film’s screenwriter, Robert Riskin, transformed this source of tension into one of the film’s most charming plot lines. </p>
<p>Every night, to appease Ellie’s worries, Peter constructs a makeshift curtain he labels “the walls of Jericho”. This literally splits their lodgings in half to keep the couple as far apart as possible. And the film’s climax doesn’t half have fun when those <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOkqSKhKd40">walls come tumbling down</a>, metaphorically and literally.</p>
<p>But if the film is timely, it is also timeless. There were plenty of screwball comedies made during this era, many of which are wonderful films in their own right. But It Happened One Night exceeds all others in terms of its lasting influence, setting a template not only for future romcoms, but establishing a precedent that the genre continues to try to live up to this day. </p>
<p>Romcoms might not quite be the same box office phenomena they once were. But, judging by Netflix’s <a href="https://arstechnica.com/culture/2023/12/netflix-finally-reveals-viewing-data-across-its-entire-catalog/#:%7E:text=Its%20first%20report%2C%20released%20on,2023%2C%20with%20812%20million%20hours.">recently published</a> viewing figures, it is interesting to see how films like Your Place or Mine (2023) and TV shows like <a href="https://theconversation.com/emily-in-paris-why-its-so-hard-to-admit-love-for-the-show-despite-it-being-so-popular-196606">Emily in Paris</a> (2020-2024) or the South Korean series Business Proposal (2022) rely on a template not too far away from Ellie and Peter’s famous journey. </p>
<p>Fans of such works, and the broader holistic healing powers of the romcom, would be wise to check out where it all began.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Sergeant does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It Happened One Night is one of only three films to nab the Oscar “big five”, winning prizes for best actor, actress, adapted screenplay, director and picture.Alexander Sergeant, Senior Lecturer in Film & Media Studies, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2239142024-02-21T13:04:40Z2024-02-21T13:04:40ZThe Settlers flips the western genre to explore cinema’s role in colonial crimes<p>How can filmmakers depict genocidal violence in ways that audiences can both comprehend and bear to watch? Bar the extensive and still-growing number of films about the Holocaust (with recent releases including <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-one-life-gets-wrong-about-nicholas-winton-and-the-kindertransport-story-220965">One Life</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-zone-of-interest-new-holocaust-film-powerfully-lays-bare-the-mechanisms-of-genocide-222017">The Zone of Interest</a> and Occupied City), mainstream cinema has found this challenge daunting. </p>
<p>The challenge only becomes more urgent as contemporary awareness of the enormity of the murderous ethnic cleansing that underpinned European colonialism grows. Such <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674929777">“unmasterable pasts”</a> remain charged and contested political terrain within national mythologies of origin and nation building. </p>
<p>As director Felipe Gálvez Haberle’s ambitious and disturbing debut film, The Settlers, reminds us, movies have themselves often played a crucial role in helping establish and disseminate such mythologies. </p>
<p>The early 1970s cycle of “Vietnam westerns” such as Little Big Man (1970) and Soldier Blue (1970), challenged these mythologies and inverted the frontier narratives of the classic Hollywood western. These movies placed Native Americans, the principal victims of <a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/the-early-republic/age-of-jackson/a/manifest-destiny#:%7E:text=Manifest%20Destiny%20was%20the%20idea,or%20destroy%20the%20native%20population.">“manifest destiny”</a> (the idea that white Americans had a divine right to settle the continent), at their centre and presented US cavalrymen as mass murderers. For counterculture youth audiences, the analogy between historical settler violence and contemporary US aggression overseas was unmistakable. </p>
<h2>The Settlers</h2>
<p>There are echoes of the western in The Settlers. The film depicts, with unremitting grimness, the genocide of the indigenous <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/03/chile-indigenous-selknam-not-extinct-constitution">Selk’nam people</a> of Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia, at the turn of the 20th century. The Spanish landowning elite commissioned the violence, with the collusion of the nascent Chilean state. They saw the native population merely as a hindrance to their sheep-rearing empires. </p>
<p>Spectacular shots of the three horsemen dispatched on this bloody mission, led by Scottish ex-army man and self-styled “Lieutenant” McClellan (Mark Stanley), call to mind countless cinematic odysseys as they travel across the prairies and peaks of the American west. Simone d’Arcangelo’s impressive cinematography avoids pictorialism, rendering the archipelago’s awesome, savagely beautiful grasslands and mountains in muted, sombre hues.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for The Settlers.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The characters traversing Monument Valley in Wagonmaster (1950) or The Searchers (1955) were themselves raised to epic stature by their sublime surroundings. Whereas the protagonists of The Settlers seem to contaminate their pristine environment with their moral squalor. This is underlined by including the veteran “Indian fighter” Bill (Benjamin Westfall) in the party. His unrelenting, vicious white supremacy borders on caricature. </p>
<p>McClennan’s <a href="http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/%7Ethinred/collection/lg2.htm">“thin red line”</a> trooper’s tunic signposts another revision of the western genre. It recalls the upstanding imperialist chaps of old-school cinematic colonial fantasies, like Stanley Baker in Zulu (1964) or Michael Caine in The Man Who Would Be King (1975). Unlike them, however, the corrupt, ruthless McClennan is as debased and degraded as his uniform is tattered and stained. He is as murderous and brutal as his local, anything but fond, nickname “The Red Pig” suggests. </p>
<p>A surreal, violent encounter with another ragged British cast-off, the deranged Colonel Martin (Sam Spruell), only confirms the film’s depiction of the entire imperialist “mission” as irredeemably depraved.</p>
<h2>Horror and complicity</h2>
<p>Felipe Gálvez Haberle already has a challenge on his hands, persuading audiences to endure his film’s unbroken succession of killings accompanied by, in one almost unwatchable sequence, sexual violence. But it’s exacerbated further by the perhaps questionable decision to place the dramatic focus almost entirely on the perpetrators, rather than the victims.</p>
<p>Bar a single cutaway shot revealing a group immediately before their slaughter and a small, though significant, female speaking part, the indigenous Salk’nam are barely seen other than as bloodied corpses. The closest to an empathic character is the increasingly appalled, yet inescapably complicit, mestizo sharp-shooter Segundo (Camilo Arancibia), who completes the roving trio.</p>
<p>It becomes clear how crucial Segundo’s spectatorship is to the film in the daring and unexpected final act. Here the film leaps forward seven years. It moves straight from the primal, violent scenes on the pampas to the hushed refinement of a palatial townhouse. A tense meeting ensues between a semi-retired and eminent rancher named Menéndez (Alfredo Castro) and an urbane Chilean government official (Marcelo Alonso). The official is ostensibly investigating the now embarrassing bloody excesses of the recent past.</p>
<p>The trail leads him back to Segundo, the expedition’s sole survivor, nursing his traumatic memories and guilt in an isolated hut at the ocean’s edge.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, the government’s real agenda is to whitewash, rather than redress, Menendez’s scandalous but hugely profitable crimes and to reincorporate indigenous trauma into the national narrative. This is symbolically accomplished in the film’s unsettling final moments. Segundo and his Selk’nam wife Kiepja (Mishell Guaňa) are made to dress in European costumes and drink tea, for the benefit of the official’s movie crew. </p>
<p>Kiepja’s gazes resistantly back at the camera. Her expression shows her refusal to consent to the charade of a happy Europeanised nation, challenging the crew’s attempt to create propaganda. But it also invites our own reflection on the role movies, images and ideology have played, and continue to play, in framing and repressing traumatic memory.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barry Langford does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As The Settlers reminds us, films have often played a crucial role in helping establish and disseminate colonial mythologies.Barry Langford, Professor of Film Studies, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2218672024-02-20T19:56:50Z2024-02-20T19:56:50ZThe Zone of Interest: the dark psychological insight of Martin Amis’s Holocaust novel is lost in the film adaptation<p>Martin Amis, who died last year, was always very concerned about his future place in the literary canon. He said that, since the “truth” about writers is only revealed 50 years after their death, they “feel the honour of being judged by something that is never wrong: time”. </p>
<p>Jonathan Glazer’s new film <a href="https://a24films.com/films/the-zone-of-interest">The Zone of Interest</a> is based on Amis’s <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-zone-of-interest-9781448192366">2014 novel of the same name</a>. It will undoubtedly revive general interest in the author’s work. But in truth Glazer’s film has very little in common with Amis’s original novel. </p>
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<p>Its use of the same title verges, in some ways, on travesty. The verbal complexity of Amis’s narrative has been displaced by Glazer’s visual brilliance, but it makes for a completely different kind of artistic experience.</p>
<p>Discussing Nazi Germany in a 1992 interview, Amis said: “In many ways it’s the central event of the 20th century, the culminating event of history.” His novel <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/times-arrow-9781446401408">Time’s Arrow</a> (1991), narrated in reverse chronology, begins with a genteel doctor’s retirement in suburban America before tracing his life story back in time 40 years to depict him dismembering Jewish bodies in the concentration camps. </p>
<p>In 2002, Amis said that he had “unfinished business with Hitler”. The Nazi world in the middle of the 20th century was something to which his bleak imagination constantly cycled back. John Self, the central character in Amis’s best novel <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/money-9780099461883">Money</a> (1982), is characteristically reading a book about Hitler as he contemplates the accumulation of financial resources in New York. </p>
<p>Throughout his work, Amis was drawn to landscapes of cruelty and excess, not only in Nazi Germany, but also the gulags of Stalin’s Russia in <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/koba-the-dread-9780099438021">Koba the Dread</a> (2002) and what he saw as the dehumanised capitalist wastelands of the Californian sex industry in <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Pornoland.html?id=e-ZxOQAACAAJ&redir_esc=y">Pornoland</a> (2004). </p>
<p>His point was that such brutal instincts are woven intricately into the human condition, and that the dividing line between the “normal” and the repugnant is perilously thin.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-pre-eminent-novelist-critic-of-his-generation-martin-amiss-pyrotechnic-prose-captured-lifes-destructive-energies-206069">The pre-eminent novelist-critic of his generation, Martin Amis's pyrotechnic prose captured life's destructive energies</a>
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<h2>A dehumanised environment</h2>
<p>Amis’s Zone of Interest is told by three narrators, who consecutively articulate their perspectives in each of the book’s six chapters. </p>
<p>His first narrator is Angelus Thomsen, a Nazi officer who falls in love with Hannah, the wife of Auschwitz commandant Paul Doll, the second narrator. </p>
<p>The third narrator is Szmul Zacharias, one of the Jewish prisoners spared from death because of his potential usefulness. Szmul’s job as <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/sonderkommandos">Sonderkommando</a> at Auschwitz is to clean up the detritus of exterminated bodies. </p>
<p>Thomsen is entirely eliminated from Glazer’s film, which also restores to Doll the German name <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/rudolf-h-ouml-ss">Rudolf Höss</a> – the SS officer who was one of the historical models for Amis’s character. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576339/original/file-20240218-18-1hqsu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576339/original/file-20240218-18-1hqsu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576339/original/file-20240218-18-1hqsu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576339/original/file-20240218-18-1hqsu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576339/original/file-20240218-18-1hqsu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576339/original/file-20240218-18-1hqsu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576339/original/file-20240218-18-1hqsu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576339/original/file-20240218-18-1hqsu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Richard Baer, Josef Mengele and Rudolf Höss, Auschwitz (1944).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richard_Baer,_Josef_Mengele,_Rudolf_Hoess,_Auschwitz._Album_H%C3%B6cker.jpg">Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
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<p>Amis put a lot of scholarly effort into ensuring factual accuracy for his novel, as the acknowledgments in his book amply testify. But his particular contribution was to get under the skin of history, as it were, and to recover the imaginative landscape that licensed such horrors.</p>
<p>In this sense, it is crucial for the novel that Paul Doll is presented as a vicious type and not just a specific Nazi commander. Though he is a caricature with recognisable affinities with other thuggish characters in Amis’s novels, he inhabits a post-human world where violence has become unsettlingly normalised. </p>
<p>Thomsen comments several times in the novel on the “tuxedoed appearance” of the black and white cat Maksik, who delights in tormenting and devouring mice. This overlap between human and animal is characteristic of Amis’s radically dehumanised environment. It is a world in which human beings are dissected and reduced to the “natural wastage” of their body parts, literally but also metaphorically.</p>
<p>This is not, of course, to suggest that Amis’s novel lacks a clear ethical perspective. He mentions in his acknowledgments the “moral solidity” of his position on the Holocaust. But he also says that his priority was to investigate closely “the moods and textures of daily life in the Third Reich”. </p>
<p>Rather than just an expression of horror, Amis’s novel probes how such “disgusting” practices could have entered into the realms of human consciousness. </p>
<h2>A psychic space</h2>
<p>The resonance of Paul Doll as a fictional character derives from the way Amis allows us to enter into his thought processes via his first-person narrative. Doll resembles other Amis characters in his vulgarity, aggressiveness and voyeuristic tendencies. He insists, though, that his elimination of emotion and refusal to show weakness is “completely normal”. </p>
<p>Similarly, Thomsen’s narration draws in the reader, not only through his distaste for Doll’s excesses, but through his romantic affection for Doll’s wife, Hannah. Thomsen also refers in familiar terms to his “Uncle Martin”: Hitler’s private secretary Martin Bormann. This adds to the illusion of Amis’s character being at some level a real human being, with regular social interactions and feelings.</p>
<p>In Glazer’s film, Hannah’s name is changed back to her original German prototype, Hedwig Höss. This again serves to alienate rather than engage the viewer. </p>
<p>In Amis’s novel, the relationship between Hannah and Thomsen is presented quite sympathetically. To Hannah, Thomsen comes to seem a “figure for what was sane. For what was decent and normal and civilized.” Though Amis’s Hannah has become part of the Nazi establishment through her marriage, she eventually becomes appalled by it. </p>
<p>During World War II, the Germans euphemistically classified the area surrounding Auschwitz as a “zone of interest”. For Hannah, this zone is primarily psychological rather than geographic or administrative. The most telling aspect of National Socialism, she thinks, was that in this world “you looked in the mirror and saw your soul”. The reflecting glass reveals uncomfortable aspects of the human psyche:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Who somebody really was. That was the zone of interest.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The film sticks rigidly to the Nazi sense of spatial enclosure. But Amis’s novel represents the liminal zone more as a psychic space, with characters moving uneasily from one side of the line to the other.</p>
<p>This is why Amis took issue in a 1985 interview with the notion “that what I’ve been writing is satire”. He argued that he was merely reflecting the way people actually behave. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/moral-ambiguity-and-the-representation-of-genocide-is-there-a-limit-to-what-can-be-depicted-177537">Moral ambiguity and the representation of genocide – is there a limit to what can be depicted?</a>
</strong>
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<h2>Cloacal dreams</h2>
<p>There are several references in The Zone of Interest (and other Amis novels) to the Irish satirist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jonathan-Swift">Jonathan Swift</a> (1667-1745), a famously scatological writer. Doll’s “cloacal dreams” highlight what Time’s Arrow calls the “fiercely corpocentric” universe of Auschwitz: one that is “<em>made</em> of shit”. </p>
<p>This immersion in filth has parallels with the work of great American writers whom Amis admired inordinately. These included Saul Bellow, whose novel <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Augie_March">The Adventures of Augie March</a> (1953) obliquely embraced the violence of Chicago gangsters, and the Russian expatriate Vladimir Nabokov, whose <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita">Lolita</a> (1955) entered the criminal imagination of a paedophile. </p>
<p>Both Bellow and Nabokov preserved a strong ethical and political compass, but the power of their fiction emerged from a willingness to confront a chaotic and disturbing world. Amis’s fascination with Donald Trump during the latter part of his career showed again his interest in exploring how darker lusts for power become a compelling force, even within more mundane and supposedly civilised societies. </p>
<p>Amis’s memoir <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/experience-9780099285823">Experience</a> (2000) recalls how his cousin was killed by serial murderer Frederick West. It also discusses the process through which powerful creative writing “comes from the back of your mind, where thoughts are unformulated”, rather than the front. </p>
<p>Amis always took issue with the more polite tradition of the liberal-humanist novel, because he suggested people often do not behave for good reasons. He described himself as working within a looser form of comedy, where “laughter in the dark”, as Nabokov put it, becomes integral to the work of art. </p>
<p>When The Zone of Interest was first published, Amis said it was not well received in Germany because Germans “make an absolute division between what is comic and what is serious, and no interpenetration between the two”. </p>
<p>Yet his earlier Nazi novel Time’s Arrow was welcomed by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, which regarded the book as a serious imaginative treatment of the Holocaust. It was only English critics, Amis claimed, who accused him of trivialising the subject.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lolita-why-this-vivid-illicit-portrait-of-a-pervert-matters-at-a-time-of-endless-commodification-of-young-girls-189688">Lolita: why this 'vivid, illicit' portrait of a pervert matters at a time of endless commodification of young girls</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<h2>The Martian school</h2>
<p>The Zone of Interest, like other Amis novels, is organised around voice rather than plot. In this case, there are three distinctive voices allowing access to the characters’ inner worlds. This is entirely different from the aesthetic of Glazer’s film, which minimises dialogue and works instead through visual tableaux and sound effects. </p>
<p>Glazer takes care to reconstruct with minute accuracy Höss’s idyllic family home just outside the Auschwitz camp. His aim is to frame the domestic routines of the Höss family household within a “Big Brother” format, capturing the smallest details of everyday life. He emphasises the Nazi capacity to keep the large-scale horrors of the concentration camp, operating just beyond these family walls, out of sight and out of mind. </p>
<p>Adaptation, with its combination of different sources, is always a problematic form. Glazer’s film has its distinct technical successes in its deployment of sound and vision, along with the cool objectivity of its focus. </p>
<p>But in verbal terms it carries nothing like the charge or challenge of the original novel. Amis represents the Nazi world as not just objectified and distant, but, in more sinister and amorphous ways, as still a living part of the human condition. </p>
<p>Amis’s fiction was strongly influenced by the “Martian” school of poetry pioneered by his friend Craig Raine in the 1980s, which imagines how planet Earth might appear when viewed from the perspective of an extraterrestrial visitor. In The Zone of Interest, Amis represents our familiar world from a radically unfamiliar angle. </p>
<p>For all of its virtues, the clinical realism of Glazer’s film never aspires to this level of unsettling insight.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221867/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Giles does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In The Zone of Interest, Martin Amis represents our familiar world from a radically unfamiliar angle.Paul Giles, Professor of English, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, ACU, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2228372024-02-20T14:33:21Z2024-02-20T14:33:21ZBisexuality is better depicted in TV than film, where it’s still linked to ‘transgression’<p>More films and TV shows featuring queer characters are being made <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/record-year-lgbtq-representation-film-gay-white-men-n1234054#:%7E:text=For%20its%202020%20report%2C%20which,in%20the%20report%27s%20eight%2Dyear">than ever before</a>. But while there has been great progress in depictions of gay, trans and gender-nonconforming characters, the B in LGBTQ+ – bisexuality – has struggled to make progress, notably in film.</p>
<p>Filmmakers often assume that audiences need to see the romantic and sexual relationships between characters to recognise and categorise their sexualities. A character may do this explicitly by engaging in a romantic relationship onscreen, or there may be coding – dress, performance, or use of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09589236.2014.916203">symbols and props</a> to imply their sexuality. </p>
<p>In recent years, TV shows have started to explicitly state a character’s sexuality, either in dialogue or through a coming out scene. Brooklyn 99 and Heartstopper are two of the best-known examples. But bisexual characters rarely have such scenes in film.</p>
<p>Instead, bisexuality is implied in film through partner choice. A character must have a history of dating one gender and then switch – and if this is made clear visually, so much the better. Velvet Goldmine (1998) and Disobedience (2017) both feature characters that follow this pattern. </p>
<p>Bisexual characters, it seems, have to be seen actively dating both genders for them to be identified as bisexual. And even this doesn’t guarantee it is understood in such a way – sometimes a character’s bisexuality is <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15299716.2011.572018">seen as a temporary identity</a>, a stop on the journey towards “true” homosexuality, or a mere “blip”. In The Kids Are Alright (2010), for example, Jules (Julianne Moore), who is married to a woman, sleeps with a man but still defines herself as a lesbian. </p>
<p>This mirrors biphobic ideas in society, where bisexuality isn’t seen as a “real” sexuality in itself, but as a stepping stone to either hetero or homosexuality. </p>
<p>The 2021 <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/en/lgbt-pride-2021-global-survey-points-generation-gap-around-gender-identity-and-sexual-attraction">Ipsos global survey</a> offered options for sexuality including “mostly attracted to same/opposite sex” and “equally attracted to both sexes”, as well as “only attracted to same/opposite sex”. “Mostly” and “equally can both be categorised as bisexual sexualities, which shows how defining the sexuality <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Activating_Theory.html?id=nQyHAAAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y">can be complicated</a>. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eerDpt3QVRM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Rosa Diaz comes out as bisexual in Brooklyn 99.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The problems with this representation</h2>
<p>Films that refuse to categorise a character as bisexual without first "proving” their sexuality reinforce the idea that it is a sexuality that needs to be “proven” in the real world. </p>
<p>Even when it is proven, bisexuality is often linked to more negative characteristics in film. Historically, the bisexual character has been aligned with criminality – think <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9780203024676-23/jo-eadie-extracts-activating-bisexuality-towards-bi-sexual-politics-1993-merl-storr">Basic Instinct</a> (1992) as perhaps the epitome of the criminal bisexual. Catherine Trammell (Sharon Stone) is being investigated for murder and is shown moving between different gendered partners and taking drugs. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tM0wsT6xoFU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Nick comes out in Heartstopper.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bisexuality is frequently presented as both <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15299716.2016.1168335">“excessive”</a> and <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&amp;lr=&amp;id=x0IwDwAAQBAJ&amp;oi=fnd&amp;pg=PT112&amp;dq=maria+san+filippo+bisexuality&amp;ots=xUUbW4ztJi&amp;sig=plWe1uGhNO8hjn4ucLi4bchd674&amp;redir_esc=y#v=onepage&amp;q=maria%20san%20filippo%20bisexuality&amp;f=false">“transgressive”</a>. The recent film Saltburn (2023) continues this trend. </p>
<p>Oliver (Barry Keoghan) moves through the film with his sexuality undefined, but has sexual encounters with both male and female characters. Though there is no fuss made about the gender of his sexual partners nor a demand that he must define himself, Oliver’s murderous intent potentially links his sexuality with an idea of him as transgressive more broadly. </p>
<p>This film could be interpreted in a number of ways. Perhaps aligning bisexuality with murderous intent or psychopathy returns us to the time of Basic Instinct, where sexual “deviance” is paired with other deviance. Or perhaps the film’s satirical edge allow us to think about how bisexuality is often used as a shorthand for derogatory characteristics. </p>
<p>Television manages to create more nuanced bisexual characters of both genders, who discuss their bisexuality and are not also defined as criminal or excessive – see Nick in Heartstopper, <a href="https://bi.org/en/bi-characters/callie-torres#:%7E:text=Callie%20and%20Erica%27s%20relationship%20was,and%20proudly%20owns%20her%20bisexuality.">Callie Torres in Grey’s Anatomy</a>, and <a href="https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a45097931/sex-education-adam-bisexual/#:%7E:text=Adam%20pointedly%20expressed%20that%20his,him%20out%20on%20a%20date.">Adam Groff in Sex Education</a>. In film, though, bisexual characters are still failing to be given a voice, and are still aligned with excess.</p>
<p>To bridge this gap, filmmakers need to create bisexual characters who are more than a stand-in for personality traits, and who can speak about their identity without having to rely on it being “proved” throughout the film. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christina Wilkins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In recent years, TV shows have started to explicitly state a character’s sexuality. But bisexual characters rarely have such moments in film.Christina Wilkins, Lecturer in Film and Creative Writing, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.