Appreciating Cinema

Western : Genre in World Cinema

2009-08-17T03:09:00.000-07:00

As said in the earlier introduction, a Genre is born in a particular social and cultural history.

Western Films or Westerns are the major defining genre of the American film industry,
a nostalgic eulogy to the early days of the expansive, untamed American frontier (the borderline between civilization and the wilderness). They are one of the oldest, most enduring and flexible genres and one of the most characteristically American genres in their mythic origins.

The popularity of westerns has grown over the years. Their most prolific era was between the 1930s and 1960s. More recently in the 90s, there was a resurgence of the genre.

"As far as I'm concerned, Americans don't have any original art except Western movies and jazz." — Clint Eastwood classic actor in Westerns

Attempt at defining Western

Westerns are arts works (films, books, television shows, and paintings devoted to telling romanticized tales of the American West.)

Westerns are often set on the American frontier during the last part of the 19th century (1865-1900) following the Civil War, in a geographically western setting with romantic, sweeping frontier landscapes or rugged rural terrain. However, Westerns may extend back to the time of America's colonial period or forward to the mid-20th century, or as far geographically as Mexico. A number of westerns use the Civil War, the Battle of the Alamo (1836) or the Mexican Revolution (1910) as a backdrop.

Typical elements in westerns include:

* Native Americans
* Guns and gun fights
* Violence and human massacres
* Trains (and train robberies) and bank holdups
* Runaway stagecoaches
* Shoot-outs and showdowns between outlaws and sheriffs
* Cattle drives, cattle rustling and stampedes
* Bar room brawls
* 'Search and destroy' plots
* Breathtaking settings and open landscapes (eg: Monument Valley)
* Distinctive western clothing (eg: denim, jeans, bandannas, boots, etc)

Characteristics of main male character:

* Local lawmen or enforcement officers, ranchers, army officers, cowboys, territorial marshals,
or a skilled, fast-draw gunfighter
* Normally masculine persons of integrity and principle - courageous, moral, tough, solid and
self-sufficient
* Independent and honorable attitude
* The Western hero could usually stand alone and face danger on his own, against the forces of
lawlessness

American popular culture loves cultures of honor, as opposed to cultures of law. The Western portrays a society in which persons has no social order larger than their immediate peers, family, or perhaps themselves alone. Here, one must cultivate a reputation by acts of violence, or they can be generous, because generosity creates a dependency relationship in the social hierarchy.
Western movies, usually filmed in desolate corners of Arizona, Utah, Wyoming or Colorado, made the landscape not just a vivid backdrop but a character in the movie.

The western traces its roots back to The Great Train Robbery - 1903, a short silent film directed by Edwin S. Porter. The film is only twelve minutes long, but it is a milestone in film making and is considered the first movie to tell a fictional story.

Stagecoach - 1939 : Directed by John Ford, starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne. Set in Arizona 1880. The film follows a group of strangers riding on a stagecoach through dangerous Apache territory. Stagecoach was Ford’s first sound western.

What to look for: Humanity against nature, scale of land, American frontier iconography, conflict between law and lawlessness.

Red River - 1948 : Directed by Howard Hawks, giving a fictional account of the first cattle drive from Texas to Kansas along the Chisholm Trail. The dramatic tension stems from a growing feud over the management of the drive.

The Searchers -1956 : 'epic Western' film directed by John Ford, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is the story of Ethan Edwards, a middle-aged Civil War veteran portrayed by John Wayne, who spends years looking for his abducted niece.
It was named the Greatest Western of all time by the American Film Institute in 2008.

What to look for: Frontier landscapes photography, Use of water ( a natural form) part of Iconography.

Cowboys play a prominent role in Western movies, and often fight with American Indians. Natives die like flies. Westerns are quite ‘racist’ in their approach. Other recurring themes of westerns include western treks, and groups of bandits terrorizing small towns.

Eg. The Magnificent Seven - 1960 : Directed by John Sturges about a group of hired gunmen protecting a Mexican village from bandits. It is a resetting of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 film, Seven Samurai.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – 1966 : “Italian epic spaghetti Western” film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood (the Good), Lee van Cleef (the Bad), and Eli Wallach (the Ugly). The film is set in the tail end of the American Civil War and details a race to capture some buried gold. It is perhaps best known for its sparse soundtrack, created by Ennio Morricone.

Once Upon a Time in the West - 1968 : “epic spaghetti Western” film directed by Sergio Leone. The film is generally acknowledged as a masterpiece and one of the best western films ever made.

Examples of "revisionist westerns":
Dances with Wolves - 1990 : Film Developed directed and starred by Kevin Costner which tells the story of a cavalry officer who befriends a band of Dakota Indians, sacrificing his career and his own people.

Unforgiven -1992 : Directed by Clint Eastwood

Open Rage – 2003 : The movie properly belongs to the epic Western genre. Set on probably the Western Slope of Colorado in 1882, directed by Kevin Costner.

Why ‘western’ ends?
The myth of 'frontier' dies. ‘Highway’ the ‘ROAD' which connected the different American states to each other, became the new icon.
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NEXT: "Musical" - Genre in world cinema.

Film Genre in World Cinema 1

2009-08-05T02:12:00.000-07:00

What is Genre?
The word genre refers to the method of film categorization based on similarities in the “narrative elements” from which films are constructed.

A word genre comes from French "kind" or "sort", from Latin: genus (stem gener-), Greek: genos) is a loose set of criteria for a category of composition; the term is often used to categorize literature and speech, but is also used for any other form of art.

Film Genre is a vast topic to look at. Here, there is very little as an overview:

Besides the basic distinction in genre between “fiction” and “documentary”, film genres can be categorized in several ways.

Fictional films are usually categorized according to their setting, theme topic, or mood. The setting is the environment where the story and action takes place. The theme or topic refers to the issues or concepts that the film revolves around. The mood is the emotional tone of the film.

Genres always change, die and re-generate themselves according to social and cultural history, in which a particular genre is born. Many Genres will be explained in possible detail, how they were born, flourished in the next articles.

Here is a list of some of the prominent Genres:
Western
Musical
Gangster
Road
Melodrama
Film Noir
Horror
Sci-Fi
The Bond Films

Some other Genres:
Biography
Children’s
Comedy
Disaster
Fantasy
History
Romance
Sport
Thriller
War
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Next: The birth of "Western Genre"

Film Analysis 4 ( Rising Action Part II - Sholay)

2009-08-03T23:27:00.000-07:00

Rising Action: (Building up)
During rising action the story is built up, sub plots are incorporated and the basic conflict is complicated by the introduction of related secondary conflicts.

Key Factors for Rising Action Part II:
1. Gabbar is introduced and is disappointed with his men and shocked with unexpected incident.
2. Gabbar comes to threaten but leaves for not being able to fight back.
3. Jay and Veeru come to know about Thankur's story.
4. Jay and Veeru return Thakur's money and are ready to work for free.
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As the villagers are happy, the three men return to Gabbar Singh and tell him what happened.
Character of Gabbar singh is introduced. This is a new location where Gabbar Singh and his gang is residing.
Gabbar asks them, how many men were there and gets upset to know that they were only two.
He expresses his disappointment that his men couldn't do anything and returned empty handed. He expresses how his 'position' in the village has shaken because of this incident. He tells the three men that they will have to be punished for whatever they have done. Gabbar kills the three men by a gun shot
The whole scene is very very gripping in terms of dialogues, the sound used for background score, they way he kills the three men - it unveils Gabbar's character and nature and shows how cruel and dangerous he is.

Next: The villagers are singing a song of colors as there is a festival of colors - Holi.
The song signifies that villagers are seeing some colors in their life as Veeru and Jay are there to fight with Gabbar Singh, who has exploited them forever.

The song ends and there is a chaos in the village. Gabar's gang attacks the villagers and start putting everything on fire firing guns all over. People run here and there frightened by this sudden attack.
This is the first reaction of Gabbar singh taking revenge for what the villagers did to him/his men.

Jay and Veeru start responding to the attackers. Thakur watches them while they are in action. Jay gets trapped by 5/6 men. Veeru tries to help him out. When all the bullets are finished in Veeru's gun, he asks for another gun laying at the feet of Thakur, but Thakur doesn't respond. Veeru is annoyed by this. Suddenly everyone hears gunshots. Gabbar has arrived!
Gabbar asks Jay and Veeru to beg for forgiveness. While Thakur and Veeru are restless, Jay walks ahead to touch Gabbar's feet and splashes color powder in Gabbar's eyes. This turns the situation around. Basanti comes forward with her horse cart to help Jay and Veeru and carries them to a safer place. They again start firing. Gabbar remains with no choice but to leave.
Gabbar comes with this overconfidence that the new two men (Jay and Veeru) will bend down to his feet. But to his surprise it doesn't happen. In this whole sequence Veeru and the viewers have this question in their mind that why Thakur did not lift the gun to help Veeru.

Veeru comes angrily towards Thakur and tells that they are no more interested in working for Thakur as he didn't even have courage to lift the gun to save their life. Thakur tells them the reason, why he didn't lift the gun. (Flashback)

Thakur narrates: Long back, when he was in police service, he chased and arrested Gabbar as he was coming to loot another village. Court gave him a punishment of 20 years in jail. Gabbar was furious and warned Thakur that this enmity will cost him a lot. And the day he will manage to get out of jail, Thakur will regret it. After handing over Gabbar to Jail, Thakur goes on leave and starts for his village.

Scene shifts to Thakur's house - where all the family members of Thakur are introduced. Radha and the servant leave for the temple. As others are carrying with their day to day routine, Gabbar arrives and shots everyone one by one, even the young lad.

Scene shifts to Thakur arriving on the railway station. He has bought gifts for everyone in the family. But as he arrives home, there is a huge crowd gathered and he sees all the dead bodies covered with the white cloth. Furious Thakur rides the horse and heads for Gabbar. Gabbar manages to tie him up and takes out all the anger, insult, revenge on Thakur. Gabbar cuts Thakur's both hands as a revenge. (Flashback ends)

Scene shifts to present: Jay and Veeru are speechless. Villagers are standstill. Thakur leaves.
This whole sequence tell a heart souring story of Thakur, his love for his family, his efforts to make villagers' life better, his honesty, his disability, his grief and his helplessness over the situation. It also more explores Gabbar's character of dangerous and cruel monster. The way scene builds up is very emotional and touching.

Police officer comes to the village to complete formalities and to keep the record of whatever happened. Villager tells him that thy didn't see anything as they shut the doors. Police officer tells him to sign. Thakur comes there meanwhile, and tells the officer that police will get gabbar sigh some day.
This scene shows how police force is involved in just formalities and not aware of what is going on in real sense, or doesn't want to be aware of. It also shows that Thakur knows he can not expect anything from police as they can not help him in any way.

Jay and Veeru return the given money to Thakur and say that they will work for Thakur; but they do not want money. Thakur again makes them promise that they will get Gabbar alive to Thakur.
After knowing the reality, the human spirit in Jay and Veeru and they decide against being compensated for this job of Thakur. Instead, they feel part of the village looking at this task as their responsibility to help Thakur and the villagers. It again establishes the good and human side of Jay and Veeru. It also conveys that, Jay and Veeru no more look at it as a task. They consider Thakur and his task as theirs. Now the involvement is personal, for others' benefit.

One can clearly see how the depth of the story, involvement of characters, involvement of viewers is building up.

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Next: Rising Action - Part III

Film analysis 3 (Rising Action- Part I : Sholay)

2009-08-02T00:11:00.000-07:00

Rising Action: (Building up)
During rising action the story is built up, sub plots are incorporated and the basic conflict is complicated by the introduction of related secondary conflicts.

The two characters Jay and Veeru arrive in Ramgarh with a specific goal, "getting Gabbar Singh alive for Thakur" . Here starts the phase, Rising action, where the story builds up.

Key Factors for 'rising action' : Part I
1. Thakur crosschecks Jay and Veeru's ability
2. Human spirit sidelines Jay and Veeru's urge to steal money and run away
3. Gabbar's men run away and villagers see a ray of hope

As they arrive in the village, there are more characters introduced and there some sub-plots around the main plot. Together they form a very gripping screenplay.

Basanti: a new character is introduced who takes them to Thakur's house in her horse-cart. Veeru gets impressed with Basanti and shows his interest in her. (*This leads to a sub-plot.)

Thakur welcomes Jay and Veeru and gives them rs.5000 as promised. They asure Thakur that they will complete the task of getting Gabbar Singh alive to him. Veeru manages to see the locker and the money kept inside. Veeru tells Jay that they can steal all the money from the locker in the night and run away.
Jay notices a young woman in the house, who appears to be a widow. They do not know who she is. (*This leads to another sub-plot.)
They are very clear that they are there only for money. There is a slight touch of mystery to the place and people.

When Jay and Veeru enter the empty house given by Thakur, 7/8 men attack them..they fight back and ask Thakur who these men were. Thakur explains them that they were his men and he sent them to check whether jay and veeru were really able to handle the attack.
Thakur is also very cleaver and very clear about what he wants from these two guys.

At night both of them get out of their house and head towards the locker to steal all the money. But the young woman ( whom Jay notices in the day) appears there, hands over the locker keys and asks them to take all the stuff from the locker..so that Thakur will stop living for false hopes, that these two men will catch Gabbar Singh alive.
Jay and Veeru remain speechless. Next day Jay returns the key to the woman assuring her that whatever happened, will not happen again.
Jay and Veeru don't steal the money and they decide to stay back to fulfill the promise given to Thakur. Here it is established that even if they are ready to do anything for money, their human spirit and helping nature sidelines their will to steal money.

Camera goes to Basanti, Anwar Chacha and then to Radha establishing their developing relationships with Veeru and Jay respectively. ( These scenes are discussed in one of the next articles as 'sub-plots')

The next day as villagers are carrying on their day to day activities, suddenly the gunshots are heard and three men from the gang of Gabbar Singh arrives on the horses, bashing everything which comes their way. They ask frightened villagers what they have got to give away.

Thakur warns the three men, that they can not take anything away, and the death is hovering on them if they try to snatch away villagers' food. The men notice Jay and Veeru standing at a distance with the guns. As the men try to act smart, Jay and Veeru fire the gun and let them know that they can not do anything.

Men are clueless, surprised and go away without taking anything. Delighted villagers carry Veeru and Jay on their shoulders all around the village.
This is the first time villagers are experiencing a feeling of triumph..they see Jay and Veeru as their protectors and there is a ray of hope.

Total time till this scene from the end of the exposition is: 23 minutes including sub-plots.
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NEXT: Rising Action - Part II

Film Analysis 2 (Exposition : Sholay)

2009-08-01T04:53:00.000-07:00

SHOLAY - 1975: is a great example of perfect screenplay and storytelling. The film is analyzed in parts here - on the line of the article - Film Analysis 1.
Running Time: 199 minutes.

Exposition:
(The exposition provides the background information needed to properly understand the story, the characters and the setting. The exposition ends with the inciting moment, which is the incident without which there would be no story.)

Total time used for 'exposition' : 40 minutes.
In 'exposition', the characters of Thakur, Jay and Veeru are introduced and their nature, intentions are made clear. It is Jay and Veeru's decision to go to Ramgarh to help Thakur is what further makes the 'story.'

1. The movie opens with the scene showing a railway station of the village "Ramgarh" where a police inspector arrives and visits 'Thakur'.
*This opening sequence leads viewers through the setting of the Ramgarh village.

2. Thakur tells the constable, that he needs the two criminals called Jay and Veeru, whom he came to know while he was in the police service. He doesn't want to disclose for what reason he wants to contact the two men.
* Respectful character and position of 'Thakur' in the village is established. Viewers also get a hint that there is something on his mind.

3. When the inspector asks, why he wants the two criminals, Thakur tells the story about how he met Jay and Veeru, (flashback) and while traveling through a train, how they helped him to fight with a gang of thieves who attack on the train. And how Jay and Veeru took injured Thakur to the hospital. (flashback ends)
* Jay and Veeru are introduced. Their philosophy for living life, bravery, humanity all is introduced in 11 minutes sequence, ending it with Thakur - emphasizing it again while telling it to the inspector.

4. While Thakur is on the look out for them with the help of the police inspector, the camera shifts to Jay-Veeru's present: The song "yeh dosti.." starts and tells more aspects about Jay and Veeru..their friendship, their love for each other, companionship, young - happy-go-lucky nature.." The character introduction goes ahead telling other aspects about Jay and Veeru.

5. They strike a deal with 'Surma Bhopali' ( Cunning Wood-seller), as the police has announced a prize money to a person who catches Jay and Veeru. They go to jail to get the money and get out of the jail by misleading the jailer.
This scene more establishes that they are clever, brave and ready to do anything to earn money.

6. Police manage to catch them again and put them in jail, where Thakur finds them. Thakur explains them that he wants their help in catching the most wanted criminal "Gabbar" alive. He is ready to give money for this task. Jay and Veeru decide to take up this task and go to Ramgarh.
In the 'exposition'..this scene is the 'inciting moment', where the 2 main characters, Jay and Veeru, decide upon something which becomes a 'story' of the movie.

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Next: Rising Action

Film Analysis 1

2009-07-30T02:58:00.000-07:00

A film, whether it is a Bollywood film or Hollywood production or a small independent effort, has a number of elements that come together in order to guide the audience through the arc of the story. The actors may be the most visible elements on the screen, but a number of other craftsmen had to perform a lot of other functions in order to get that finished film in front of an audience.
If you are interested in analyzing why one movie is a better 'craft' and why other is not, it is important to understand how collaborative film making really is.

Here are some elements to consider when analyzing a film. We can start with "film structure". Each film maker is following a certain structure and there are certain structure traditions. The most commonly used structure in cinema is:
"Classical way of story telling" - or "A dramatic Structure"

This structure is divided into 5 parts.

1. Exposition
2. Crisis (rising action / building up)
3. Climax ( turning point)
4. Falling action
5. Denouement / Resolution

The exposition provides the background information needed to properly understand the story, the characters and the setting.

The exposition ends with the inciting moment, which is the incident without which there would be no story.

During crisis, the basic conflict is complicated by the introduction of related secondary conflicts.

The climax, or turning point, which marks a change, for the better or the worse, in the protagonist’s affairs.

During the falling action, which is the moment of reversal after the climax, the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist unravels, with the protagonist winning or losing against the antagonist.

The comedy ends with a denouement (a conclusion) in which the protagonist is better off than at the story’s outset. The tragedy ends with a catastrophe in which the protagonist is worse off than at the beginning of the narrative.