Myth in World FIm Part 3: Reflection

Zhang Yimou's Artistic Choices

I think that Zhang Yimou chose to tell this contemporary story through the use of a fairy tale because of how it enhances the story. Fairy tales are very simple stories. That simplicity, though artistically complicated, enhances the storyline for the viewer because they see elements of real life and fantasy in one story. They can see an average story that can happen to anybody, while also seeing how true love like that exhibited in The Road Home is hard to find. In addition, this simplicity allows the viewers to something beyond themselves. This story creates a world that is not accessible to the viewers. They get a chance to see the emotional reality of Zhao Di in two different parts of her life: when she meets the love of her life, and when she has to bury him. Lastly, I think Zhang Yimou decided to tell this story through fairy tales because The Road Home and fairy tales exhibit a rite of passage for young women. Zhao Di falling in love with the teacher, waiting for him, and talking to her mother about it is a rite of passage for her. She has grown up. She has found out what true love feels like. Thus, she was able to marry the teacher, and enter married life, womanhood, and motherhood, evidently.

Myth in World Film Part 2: Analysis

Behavior, Background Stories, and Love Stories in The Road Home and Disney's Cinderella

It can be argued that the storyline of Zhao Di in The Road Home  is similar to Cinderella's storyline in Disney's Cinderella. These two main characters parallel one another in their behavior, their background story, and their love story.
Zhao Di and Cinderella share similar behavior because they are both very meek and quiet. Zhao Di kept to herself a lot throughout the film, barely speaking a word to anyone. Zhao Di could also be characterized as meek because of the way she carries herself. In multiple scenes throughout the film, Zhao Di is looking down. This will be discussed more in the visual style section of this post. In Cinderella, Cinderella also portrays the same kind of behavior. Cinderella is meek in the presence of her stepmother and stepsisters. Cinderella is not allowed to speak to anyone outside of her home, which is why she finds comfort in speaking and singing to animals. Cinderella can also be found with her head facing down in the beginning of her story.
The background stories of Zhao Di and Cinderella are also very similar, in the sense that they both worked inside the home a lot. Zhao Di cooked and took care of her mother at home. She also had to fetch water from the well to contribute to the home. Zhao Di's job was to take care of the home and her mother. Cinderella worked at home, as well. She was forced to cook, clean, and do household chores all day. She did not have much freedom, or a life outside of the home, either.
Lastly, Zhao Di and Cinderella have similar love stories. In The Road Home, Zhao Di admired the teacher from afar, and did not say much to him until the time was right. The teacher definitely had a certain charm about him that Zhao Di was attracted to. The teacher was also attracted to Zhao Di, but that was originally only spoken in exchanged smiles and glances. In Disney's Cinderella, Cinderella admired Prince Charming from afar because that's all she could do. Cinderella did not speak to the prince for a long while after she became acquainted with him. Obviously, Prince Charming was a charming man, just like the teacher in The Road Home. This charm attracted Cinderella. In addition, Prince Charming was attracted to Cinderella, as he wanted to know her name at the end of the ball, and find her after she lost her glass slipper. The love stories of these two characters are similar in another way, as well. This is that the men had to "choose" something that belonged to the women involved. In The Road Home, Zhao Di prepared food everyday for the teacher to eat during lunch. Each day she, along with a group of women, watched the teacher and made sure that he chose her dish. Each woman wanted their dish to be chosen by the teacher. In Cinderella, Prince Charming had to choose the foot that fit in the glass slipper. Many women wanted their foot to be the perfect fit, so that Prince Charming would choose them to be his princess.

These photos showcase the developing love stories between the main characters in The Road Home and Disney's Cinderella.

Visual Style in The Road Home and Disney's Cinderella
The visual style in The Road Home and Disney's Cinderella is similar in the way that the lead females (Zhao Di and Cinderella) are seen. Both young women look down frequently in their stories. This could be because of they both have certain levels of submission and humility because of the house work that they are expected to do. Again, this highlights the similarities between the two characters' behavior.

Zhao Di and Cinderella are both shown looking down while they complete work.

Again, Zhao Di and Cinderella are looking down. But, in these pictures they are looking down while they are serving others.

 

Myth in World Fim-Part 1: Research

The Road Home and Disney's Cinderella

The film, The Road Home has many similarities to Disney's Cinderella. These similarities mainly exist between the main characters in the films, Zhao Di and Cinderella. The similarities also exist in their love stories. In the story of Cinderella, Cinderella is a young girl who works as a house maid for her evil stepmother and stepsisters. Because she is the house maid, she is not allowed to go the ball and possibly see Prince Charming. Her animal friends make a dress for her, but her stepsisters destroy it. Cinderella's fairy godmother appears, gives her a beautiful gown, and turns a pumpkin into a carriage, so Cinderella can go to the ball. But, the magical spell wore off at midnight. At the ball, Cinderella danced with the prince. She left the ball at midnight, and lost her glass slipper. Prince Charming searched to find the perfect fit for the shoe, and the shoe fit Cinderella. Prince Charming and Cinderella got married after that, and everyone celebrated.

Music in Film

The above clip is a scene from The Wiz. In this scene, Dorothy has just saved the Scarecrow from the evil crows. They found the yellow brick road and sing their way to The Wiz (note Michael Jackson's awesome dance moves). I thought this music was interesting because it is not only funky (since the movie was made in 1978), but the music contrasts with the lyrics. The song is very upbeat and danceable, but the lyrics are saying, "Ease on down the road". This song isn't an "ease" type of song. The lyrics seem to fit well with music that is more calming and easing. However, I do like that the song is carefree and promising, foreshadowing a positive journey.

Water: A Cultural/Spiritual Approach

The movie Water is heavily influenced by Hindi culture. The romance plot is based upon the Hindi story of Krishna and Radha. The plot of the film also focuses on the widows. The way that the widows are treated and are required to behave is based on the culture of India. Widows can only live together in the Ashrams. Before they go to the Ashrams, they are required to cut their hair off. We see this in the beginning of the movie when Chuyia gets her hair cut after her husband died. The widows are treated poorly and must withstand suffering until their death. The widows must also be self-restrained and chaste. Although this film is fiction, this was the reality for many widows in India at this time, and it is reflected in Water.

Tsotsi Music... Stay Tuned for the Question at the End

The film Tsotsi has a lot of music that is difficult to overlook and ignore. In movies and TV shows, I find it interesting to hear the music that is not part of the soundtrack. This is the music that is played on the radio, or you can hear it through someone's headphones. This was seen in Tsotsi. When Tsotsi was stealing the car, you could hear the music on the radio. When Tsotsi tries to cover up the sound of the crying baby, we heard the music from his radio. I like seeing this in movies and TV shows because it makes the scene more realistic. It also makes me feel as if I'm in the scene with the characters. It also creates a unique feeling of being connected to the characters and the events in the scene.
On that note, here's a question: Why do you think Tsotsi was silent for the majority of the beginning of the movie?
I've been thinking of an answer, but I haven't come up with anything really profound. I'm interested in hearing what you all think!

Special Effect- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

The above photos are from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The images are of the tour of the factory that Willy Wonka takes the children on (with help from his trusty Oompa Loompas, of course). Part of the tour takes place in this super cool, hot pink dragon boat that sails through the chocolate river. Of course, there was no real chocolate river with hills of edible grass, so a green screen was used to create this effect.  

Transition Shot--Elf

The movie Elf has a transition shot that I think is very interesting. The camera fades in and out of different landscapes as Buddy leaves the North Pole and heads to New York City. I think that this fade of shots to different locations is interesting because it really highlights the journey that Buddy is on. As the shots transition, so does Buddy. He transitions to a new world he never knew.

The Whale Rider: Historical Response

In watching The Whale Rider, I had to keep the historical context of the film in mind. The film is centered around the life of the Maori people in New Zealand. Although the movie is contemporary, the film focuses a lot on the ancient ways of the Maori people. Koro heavily focuses on the idea of creating a chief out of one of the first born sons. He could not do so with his own child, or his grandchild. Since he could not find a chief out of the boys in the neighborhood, he thought he had failed. This exhibits how much the ancient teachings and his ancestors meant to him. In the film, the viewers are also told the story of Paikea, the chief  of the Maori tribe that rode a whale to where his people were to settle. Koro believes that Pai cannot be the chief because she is a girl. Again, this relates to the ancient belief. Overall, this film just shows how important the Maori history is to the tribes of people, even to this day.

Camera Movement

Above is a video from my favorite show, Degrassi: The Next Generation. This scene focuses on camera movement. In this scene, the camera is moving closer to the character Craig (Jake Epstein) to make the illusion that the train is getting closer to Craig, in his attempt to commit suicide. This scene was actually created with the camera being on a wheeled cart, moving closer to Epstein. This camera movement is interesting because it builds a lot of suspense in this episode. If you were to watch this episode for the first time, you would probably think that Craig is actually going to die. It creates so much more drama and adds to Craig's overall development and story line (which is VERY interesting, by the way).

Symbolism in "The Road Home"

One of the most prominent symbols in The Road Home is the loom. Zhao Di (the mom) is seen looming in the flashbacks to make a banner for the schoolhouse, and in present-day as she makes a cloth for her husband's funeral. Because the loom is old and broken in the present-day scenes, I think it symbolizes a desire to hold on to the past, and to old customs of Chinese tradition. Zhao Di used the loom in the past when she first got to meet her husband. She uses again to mourn the loss of her husband. It is something that meant a lot to her in the past, and she still wants to use it as a way to hold on to the past.

Visual Style in "The 400 Blows"

One of the scenes in The 400 Blows that had interesting visual style was the scene in which Antoine was alone in the small jail cell, and the viewers could see the rest of the jail from Antoine's point of view. This showed interesting visual style because we could see things as Antoine saw them. That gives us a way to identify with Antoine a little bit. A similar shot to this was when Antoine was in the back of the police truck. We got a view of the Parisian night life, again, from Antoine's point of view. This shows that solitary aspect of Antoine's life. He was constantly alone, and for a moment, we as viewers, get to share that solitude with Antoine. 

Interesting Camera Angle

The Latimore brothers in Eddie Murphy's Norbit (2007)

The interesting camera angle that I chose is a low angle shot from Eddie Murphy's Norbit (2007). This camera angle is interesting because in this scene, the low angle shot shows the Latimore brothers from their victim's point of view. Not only does this angle allow the viewers to see the Latimore brothers from a victim's point of view, but it also shows the toughness of the brothers. All of their faces can be seen clearly, showing their angry expressions. This shot not only shows three people from an angle that you might not otherwise see, but it captures their demeanor and personalities.

Intro

Hi, everyone!
My name is Monica Jimenez, and I'm a senior biology student taking Film Around the World. I love musicals, and movies for kids.